Finding the Right Plot - by mystery author Susan Cory

Have you ever wondered what could happen if you didn't totally wipe your hard drive before getting rid of your old computer? Or what could happen if any of the blank checks sent by credit cards fell into the wrong hands?

I live in a close-knit community in Cambridge, Mass. Most of us know Joe, our long-time mail deliverer, and he knows us. So when Joe was instructed to forward a certain household's mail to an address in a neighboring town, he knew that the family hadn't moved. He alerted the police who discovered a ring of con artists who were diverting people's mail in order to steal their identities and checks.

While this scam was coming to light, I was busy trying to figure out how to get rid of my old computer.  Some computer stores and charities advertise that they'll remove your personal information before recycling your old equipment, but what if one of their employees is less than honest?

These two ideas came together to suggest a plot for my third book in the Iris Reid mystery series, DOPPELGANGER. A family of grifters uses Iris Reid's stolen identity to commit a crime. While stripping Iris' data off of her old computer, Rosica Bakalov, notices her own striking resemblance to this new “mark”. She becomes fascinated with Iris and starts to stalk her. Meanwhile, Iris, out on bail, is desperate to pick up her doppellgänger's trail before her case goes to trial.

Kirkus reviews says: “The plot becomes more unnerving as it progresses, and an impressive twist leads to a lengthy final act featuring Rosica (the Doppelgänger) at her most ferocious...Cory’s concise prose establishes a consistent pace that never wavers, and even her descriptions of architecture are exhilarating. An engagingly nerve-wracking tale with gradually escalating suspense.”

I'd love to know how YOU get rid of your old computers, and also, what you think of DOPPELGANGER.

By the way, my husband smashed my hard drive with a hammer before I took my last computer to be recycled. I wasn't taking any chances...

Let me know on my author's facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/authorsusancory

or check out my author's website: http://www.susancory.com/

CONUNDRUM, FACADE and DOPPELGANGER are all available here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075V2LWNX/

Susan Cory lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her architect husband and bossy rescue dog, Chloe. Like her sleuth, she is a residential architect practicing out of a turreted office. Also, like Iris Reid, she has a brown belt in karate.

Susan grew up in New Jersey devouring mysteries and loved seeing order restored by ingenious sleuths. But the visual arts were her medium of expression. As an Art major at Dartmouth, she imagined that designing buildings was just a larger-scaled version of creating sculpture. Susan soon discovered the many differences. At graduate school at Harvard's G.S.D., she found a setting—insecurities and egos riding a runaway train of Design Obsession—just ripe for murder.

Conundrum, Facade and Doppelgänger are odes to her profession and all the deviously clever practitioners within it. She's hard at work on Book 4 in the series in which Iris Reid will continue to uncover the architecture of evil in her world.

Happy Easter: FREE AUDIOBOOK SAMPLES!

H

 

Happy Easter!

 

I wish you a blessed day and hope you get a bit of warmth and blooming flowers today. We've had some beautiful days this past week but it's gotten all cool and rainy again. Today dawned with heavy fog! I hope the Easter Bunny can find his way out there. ;o)

 

I haven't posted in a while 'cause I had surgery a few weeks ago, on April 3rd. It was to hopefully fix my reflux that was getting into my lungs and stopping me from doing pretty much anything, such as walking to the mailbox or carrying a laundry basket or especially planting or weeding. You should have seen the weeds last summer! It wasn't a fun experience, but the operations is in my past now and I'm getting a little bit better every day. 

 

The Asylum has just been released as an audiobook, and it you'd like to listen and review I will have a limited amount of special codes to share soon. It's recorded by the phenomenal Gwendolyn Druyor, who can create any voice type in the world. The way she represents Carmen and Rosita, my two Mexican American heroines, or Rocco, a warmhearted African American gentle giant, is simply outstanding. She really "gets" my writing and every nuance is just as I intended. 

 

I'll only be able to choose a few special listeners to do this, so let me know if you'd like to review. ;o) 

 

All of my books are available as audiobooks and if you haven't tried them yet, it's really easy and fun. You just download the Audible app on your phone and sign in. You can even use your Amazon account ID and password. Once you select a book, you can listen while you walk, drive (via Bluetooth), fall to sleep, or do household chores. I love audiobooks and listen constantly. ;o) The cool thing is you have them forever in your Audible library, to listen and re-listen whenever you wish. 

 

I'm often asked which of my books is my favorite. It's a hard question to answer. I enjoyed writing them all so much. The Seadog springs to mind first. I'm not sure if it's because I can uncover secrets on Cape Cod again, or because of the awesome dog, "Bubba," who my character, Scout, gets to adopt.  Then there's The Disappearance of Billy Moore, a green marble time travel novel steeped in nostalgia and mystery. Lady Blues: forget-me-not, is another favorite, where Gus is an integral part of saving a man's memory and reuniting him with his forbidden, lost love. And then there's Essentially Yours, with a case of the most delicious unrequited love supporting one of the wildest chase scenes through the Adirondack wilderness. But if I was forced to choose, I think I'd go back to Gus's childhood, in Don't Let the Wind Catch You, where young Gus befriends a hermit and the spirit of a Native American girl in the woods. Riding horses in the woods with young Siegfried and Elsbeth is the best. And the secrets Gus uncovers include some deep life lessons about tolerance and love. 

 

It's hard to choose. Almost like picking a favorite child, which is impossible!

 

I've decided to load up some audiobook samples for you to listen to at Soundcloud.com. Just click on the play button and see who is your favorite narrator of all. I'd love to hear what you think. ;o)

 

I've  included some books by fellow authors, below, for you to browse and enjoy. 

 

I hope you have a wonderful Easter Sunday and can enjoy family and friends today. 

 

Best wishes always,

 

Aaron Lazar

www.lazarbooks.com

 

 

 

Free audiobook excerpts (click on image for sound link)

 

 

The Asylum, narrated by Gwendolyn Druyor:

 

 

The Seadog, narrated by Gwendolyn Druyor:

 

 

The Disappearance of Billy Moore, narrated by George Kuch:

 

 

Lady Blues, narrated by David Kudler:

 

 

Don't Let the Wind Catch You, narrated by Erik Synnestvedt:

 

Don't Let the Wind Catch You

When young Gus LeGarde befriends a cranky old hermit in the woods who speaks to an Indian spirit, he wonders if the man is nuts. But when the ghostly Penni rattles tin cups, draws on dusty mirrors, and flips book pages, pestering him to find evidence to avenge her past, things change. 

What Gus doesn’t understand is why his mother hates Tully, until his relentless investigation uncovers a hint of scandal about Tully and Gus’s grandfather, Marlowe Wright. 

On horseback, Gus and his friends ride through woods overlooking Conesus Lake to Tully’s abandoned house, reportedly still infected with the Genesee Valley Fever from the 1700s. Unafraid, they enter and find shocking evidence that could rewrite history. 

Can Gus convince his mother to forgive Tully? And will the proof he found free Penni’s spirit? Gus summons courage beyond his years in this poignant and powerful telling of the summer of 1965.

Don't Let the Wind Catch You - Amazon

Don't Let the Wind Catch You - Audible