Hello friends!
Today we are happy to have a guest post by author Lauren Carr for her latest book Killer Deadline. I hope you enjoy today’s post. Don’t forget you can enter the special giveaway at the bottom of the post!
What’s So Funny About Murder?
By Lauren Carr
Warning: Before you declare me morbid and warped, let me explain. No, I do not believe murder is funny, but, I do have a firm belief that laughter is a great reliever of stress and when used correctly in a murder mystery, can make for an entertaining read.
They say that often we do not choose who we become, but rather, who we become chooses us. I don’t know who they are and, that being the case, I’m not sure if they speak with any authority. But, in my case, there appears to be some truth in that.
I did not set out to write humorous murder mysteries. I simply set out to write murder mysteries.
When I first started penning murder mysteries, I envisioned myself as Elizabeth George or Agatha Christie—creating complex cases with witty detectives chasing the clues and bringing the dastardly killers to justice.
After my first two books met with some moderate success, I went in search of a new publisher for a variety of reasons. Then, for a full year, I suffered from writer’s block.
Then, I made a decision. A writer, I could not stop writing. I had to write. But, I was going to write what I wanted to write and I was going to have fun doing it—whether my books sold or not. After rejecting two offers from traditional publishers, I choose to self-publish.
Within six months, It’s Murder, My Son, the first Mac Faraday Mystery was released and became my most successful book. It went to number one on Amazon in mysteries.
To my surprise, not only do my readers enjoy the complex nature of my mysteries, but then really enjoy the humor. Some have commented on how my books will make them laugh out loud.
Luckily, they aren’t laughing out loud at how ridiculous my writing is … at least, I don’t think so.
Upon reflection, I have determined that when I made the decision to write for myself, not literary agents or publishers or even reviewers, but for myself, and vowed to have fun while doing it—I released my natural sense of humor to have fun.
The humor in the each one of my books (approaching thirty books now) stem from now common, and silly way, in which we humans have come to live.
Take for example this scene from Killer Deadline:
Nikki didn’t hear Ryan. Instead, she was busy watching a black pickup truck roll by. It made its way through the fleet of emergency vehicles and up the block to park in the same spot where it had been parked before.
“That’s him!” Nikki grabbed Ryan by the arm and pointed at the truck that she had seen drive off after she had run out of the house. She called to the sheriff deputies guarding the front of Ashleigh’s house. “That’s him! That’s the man I saw running out of the house when I found Ashleigh’s body.”
Uncertain about what she was talking about, the two deputies froze. Nikki sprinted down the sidewalk past them. “Grab him! He’s the killer!”
“The killer?” One of the deputies pointed at the truck.
Nikki ran ahead of them. “He’s returning to the scene of the crime!”
“You do know that doesn’t really happen, don’t you?” Ryan called to her.
Becca, the news journalist, directed the camera operator to record the action as Nikki ran up behind the truck. The two deputies drew their guns and aimed them at the driver climbing out with a plastic tub clutched in his hand. Upon seeing the police, he threw both hands up in the air. The tub swung from his thumb.
“Drop it!” one of the officers bellowed.
“What’d I do?” the man asked.
“Do as I say! Drop the bucket now!”
Gingerly, the man lowered the tub to the ground.
“What do you think it is?” one of the deputies asked Nikki in a low voice.
“Maybe it’s a bomb,” Ryan muttered with a chuckle.
“They think it’s a bomb,” Becca reported into the camera.
The news spread like wildfire. Everyone dove for cover.
Nikki darted behind Ryan, who ushered her behind his SUV. Elmo crouched down inside the cab and covered his eyes with his paws.
Hearing that there was a bomb in the vicinity, the driver of the truck scurried to crouch behind his vehicle.
Tanya and two detectives ran out of the house. “What’s going on?”
“It’s a bomb!” someone yelled.
The sheriff and her detectives ran for cover behind the police cruisers. “Where?” Tanya demanded to know. “Where’s the bomb?”
“In the bucket!” The lead deputy pointed at the tub resting in the middle of the street.
“Call the bomb squad!” Tanya ordered one of her deputies.
Oblivious to the people cowering around her, a pregnant woman emerged from the house where the truck had parked and waddled to the plastic tub. “It’s about time you got back, Peter. I thought I was going to die.” She picked up the tub and ripped off the lid.
There was a collective gasp around her.
She dug two fingers into the confines of the tub and extracted a helping of ice cream which she plopped into her mouth. She let out a moan of pleasure. “Whoever invented chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream deserves a medal.”
Tanya sprang up from behind the police cruiser. “Are you kidding me? Ice cream! We’re shielding ourselves from a tub of ice cream.”
“Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, to be exact,” one of the detectives said.
“The Food and Drug Administration does warn against eating raw cookie dough,” Ryan said.
Get my point? I’m not funny. Humans are.
Book Details:
Book Title: Killer Deadline (A Nikki Bryant Cozy Mystery) by Lauren Carr
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 232 pages
Genre: Mystery/Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Acorn Book Services
Release date: April 23, 2020
Content Rating: G. This is a true cozy mystery. No sex. No on-stage violence. No swearing. Just good clean fun!
“This book is a wonderful read to pick up at the end of a long day. It truly is a “cozy murder mystery.” I promise, it’ll draw you in right from page one and keep you turning the pages until you reach the very last page. I can’t wait for the second book in this series.” – Marilyn R. Wilson, Olio by Marilyn
Book Description:
Folks in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, claim that where Nikki Bryant goes, trouble is not far behind. Her refusal to back down from a challenge has made Nikki Bryant a top investigative journalist.
When an online friend nudges her to join him in a pact to reconnect with their first loves, Nikki and her boxer dog Elmo leave the bright lights of Las Vegas for the charming town of Pine Grove. There, she must face the biggest challenges in her career and life—the first love she had left behind and her father’s unsolved murder.
But before she has time to unpack her car, Nikki stumbles upon the dead body of local news anchor, Ashleigh Addison, her childhood rival. Could Ashleigh’s death be connected to an explosive news story that she had teased about airing live? Did that explosive story have anything to do with the murder of Nikki’s father?
With the clues in her father’s cold case hot again, Nikki intends to chase down the story of her life until she catches his killer—no matter what it takes.
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Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, Chris Matheson Cold Case, and Thorny Rose Mysteries—over twenty-five titles across three fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!
Killer Deadline marks Lauren’s first venture into mystery’s purely cozy sub-genre with a female protagonist.
Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr’s seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, crime fiction, police procedurals, romance, and humor.
A popular speaker, Lauren is also the owner of Acorn Book Service, the umbrella under which falls iRead Book Tours. She lives with her husband and two spoiled rotten German Shepherds on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.
Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest
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Lamon Reviews 
Thank you so much for sharing this fun guest post. I hope your readers enjoy it as much as I have writing it. Here’s wishing each one luck in the giveaway for the Amazon Gift Card.
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