1--What is the title of your latest release?
DIAL M FOR MEOW
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
When Christy reaches her aunt's bookshop, instead of small-town hospitality she finds a dead body! Christy is determined to find the real killer and clear her aunt's name... before her story ends in tragedy!
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I live in rural Indiana and love small town life, so I chose fictional Green Meadow, Indiana as the location.
4--Would you hang out with your sleuth in real life?
Yes! Christy Bailey would be totally fun to hang out with, even though we’d probably get into some kind of trouble.
5--What are three words that describe your sleuth?
Quirky, Funny, Caring
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That even if you think the edits will go on forever, they’re eventually done :)
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I wait until I’m done with a few chapters, then do an initial edit. If I take time to edit as I write, I’m afraid I’ll lose my momentum and train of thought for my story.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I’m always torn between, chocolate, pizza and chips. Why can’t a girl have all three?
9--Describe your writing space/office!
We have an attached porch with lots of windows, where I sit in a comfy recliner to write. My three cats love to help me (um, I mean nap) out there while I work.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Mary Higgins Clark was always one of my favorites. Her mysteries were some of the very first I ever read.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Honestly? The Bible. It’s a living word that’s as fresh and new whether you’ve read it once or a thousand times
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)
My agent called me to tell me the news. I think my response was a cross between a delighted scream and a squeak. I was thrilled to be published by Gemma Halliday Publishing.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Cozy mysteries and psychological thrillers.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
While You Were Sleeping. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve seen it but love it just the same.
15--What is your favorite season?
Fall, when the leaves have turned, the temperatures have cooled, and the bugs go away!
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
My birthday is at the end of January, so sometimes we’re snowed in. If it’s good weather, my husband and I will go out to eat. If we stay in, he makes it just as special by cooking something special.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I’ve been reading a lot of books by Sally Hepworth. Each one is amazing!
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian – if it has anything to do with pizza, meatballs, or pasta, I’m there!
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Take walks on a nearby trail with my husband, read, binge watch shows and herd cats.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’ll have a cozy mystery out next Spring with Level Best Books. And I’m working on Book 4 of my mystery series about a cat café, The Kitty Beret Café Series.
Bookshop Kitties Mysteries #1
From author Ruth J. Hartman comes a purrrrfect new cozy mystery series...
When children’s book author, Christy Bailey, receives a call from her aunt Betty to help out at her bookshop, she drops everything to go. Christy packs up her two cats—Milton and Pearl, the stars of her children's mystery books—and leaves busy Philadelphia for tiny Green Meadow, Indiana. The timing of the call is perfect, as Christy’s letch of an ex-boyfriend has just cleaned out her savings, leaving Christy with a pile of unpaid bills and a desire to start over. And what better place to do that than a charming small town in Middle America?
But when Christy reaches her aunt's bookshop, instead of small town hospitality she finds a dead body! Even worse, her aunt is passed out in the corner, hands covered in blood. The dead woman is an old frenemy of her Aunt Betty, and while Christy knows her aunt is innocent, the local detective isn't so sure. With Milton and Pearl prowling for clues, Christy is determined to find the real killer and clear her aunt's name... before her story ends in tragedy!
Mystery Cozy [Gemma Halliday Publishing, On Sale: January 10, 2023, e-Book, ISBN: 9798371507129 / eISBN: 9798371507129]
Bestselling author Ruth J. Hartman spends her days herding cats, and her nights spinning mysterious tales. She, her husband, and their cats, love to spend time curled up in their recliners watching old Cary Grant movies. Well, the cats sit in the people's recliners. Not that the cats couldn't get their own furniture. They just choose to shed on someone else's.
Ruth, a left-handed, cat-herding, farmhouse-dwelling romance writer uses her sense of humor as she writes tales of lovable, klutzy women who find trouble without even trying. Ruth's husband and best friend, Garry, reads her manuscripts, rolls his eyes at her weird story ideas, and loves her despite her insisting all her books have at least one cat in them.
Most of her books include cats. Her characters, like Ruth in real life, live with several cats, and love every minute of it. Well, maybe not the litter box, but you get the idea.
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