“The Broken Bridge” follows a plant shop owner turned succulent sleuth as she unravels small-town secrets and navigates unexpected twists to solve a captivating cozy mystery surrounding a missing college student. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I regularly walk or run on the trails in our local park district. On a run on one of these trails, I was struck with the “succulent sleuth” term and knew I needed to use it in my series title. I also really wanted to incorporate trails in my novel. I thought about making one up but decided I should use the real-life Buckeye Trail that makes a loop within my home state of Ohio.

Did you plan the mystery at the heart of this story before writing, or did it develop while writing?

It’s so funny to say this but I knew who I wanted to kill before I started writing the book along with who the suspects were going to be – the red herrings. I thought I knew who the killer was, but that person evolved a bit as I was writing. 

What scene in the book did you have the most fun writing?

I wrote the showdown between Molly, my main character, and the killer long before I was done with the middle of the book. I still get goosebumps when I reread those chapters!

What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?

I have a short story in an anthology that’s coming out in April – it’s the second story in the Succulent Sleuth Cozy Mystery Series. My story is called The Library Attic Attack. Molly and her BFF are organizing a plant swap at the local library. Someone collapses in the attic  – Molly thinks she smells something planty and our Succulent Sleuth is on the case again. The ebook will be available on April 11 and the print book will be out in May.

https://books2read.com/ABookwormofaSuspect

I’m working on the second Succulent Sleuth novel, but it’s slower going this time around for some reason.

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