Guest Post

Guest Chick: Scott Graham

Please welcome Scott Graham, award-winning author of the National Park Mystery Series! We’re so happy to have Scott visiting us today; Mesa Verde Victim, book six in the series, is available now!

Despite the fact that I use the pronouns he, him, and his, I’m honored to be a Guest Chick in coordination with the August 25 release of Mesa Verde Victim, No. 6 in my National Park Mystery Series with Torrey House Press (more info than you could ever want at torreyhouse.org and scottfranklingraham.com).

My thoroughly enjoyable perusal of other Guest Chick posts has informed me that humor and cleverness are the posts’ lingua franca. For all I admire those traits in others, however, I’m not all that great at either myself. Therefore, rather than make what assuredly would be a weak attempt at humor or cleverness here, or an even worse attempt at both, I’m betting Chicks on the Case readers instead will prefer my recent Prose & Cons review of three just-released Colorado cozies, including Cynthia’s terrific No. 5 Lila Maclean Academic Mystery, The Study of Secrets.

I also bet Chicks everywhere will enjoy all three mysteries every bit as much as I did.

Three Colorado Cozies Offer Welcome Escapes

            Three just-released cozy mysteries by top notch Colorado authors offer a trio of exceptional reading escapes tothose who like their diversions tinged with murder.

            Denver author Cynthia’s Kuhn’s fifth Lila Maclean Academic Mystery, The Study of Secrets, finds effervescent English professor Lila on sabbatical in the intrigue-filled Colorado college town of Larkston. The story takes off when literary agent Gillian Shane is found strangled in the elegant lakeside mansion of Bibi Callahan, Lila’s wealthy patron. Gillian was a member of the Larks, a group of lifelong frenemies from Larkston whose intertwined backgrounds, and those of their husbands, makes each a prime suspect in the strangulation-by-fetching-scarf of their fellow Lark.

            Kuhn won the vaunted Agatha Award for The Semester of Our Discontent, the first installment in the Lila Maclean series. Five years later, The Study of Secrets finds Kuhn in full command of her cozy genre, which eschews violence and brutality for murderous doings of more genteel nature. In Kuhn’s assured hands, Lila is a spunky, inquisitive, and relentless heroine who is more than happy to risk her life to solve a murder, or two or three, when the authorities aren’t up to the task. The result, with The Study of Secrets, is a satisfying midwinter’s tale set high in the frigid Colorado Rockies, perfect for a hot summer of sheltering in place.

            Kate Lansing has written a tasty Colorado-based cozy with her debut Colorado Wine Mystery, Killer Chardonnay, set in Lansing’s hometown of Boulder. In the tony enclave outside of Denver, heroine Parker Valentine has poured herself into the creation of Vino Valentine, her dream winery, only to have food and wine blogger Gaskel Brown keel over in the guest bathroom during the winery’s grand opening. Gaskel was notorious for his ruthless reviews of local eateries and drinkeries, making his murder by poisoning plausible, if not laudable, by any number of aggrieved suspects.

            Then again, Gaskel died after sipping Parker’s signature Chautauqua Chardonnay. Rather than murder, was Parker’s rookie winemaking attempt, possibly resulting in a cask of contaminated intoxicant, to blame? With her dream livelihood on the line, Parker must clear her name by putting a cork in the real killer’s getaway plans.

            Colorado Springs author Nora Page’s third Bookmobile Mystery, Read or Alive, is yet another cozy gem, this one set in seemingly bucolic Catalpa Springs, Georgia, the hometown of the series’ spry, seventy-something heroine, Cleo Watkins. In the midst of the Georgia Antiquarian Book Society’s annual fair, deceitful book dealer Hunter Fox is found with his throat slit behind the home of Henry Lafayette, Cleo’s beau and a book restorer of some renown.

            The fair has brought to Catalpa Springs a wealth of suspects, many of whom, it transpires, harbor perfectly acceptable reasons to wish Hunter dead. But false evidence mounts against Henry instead, leading the local police to pursue the wrong plot line, and forcing the ever-intrepid Cleo to track down, and book, the real culprit.

            All three of these fine, new Colorado cozies are available at your favorite independent bookstores and everywhere else books are sold.

Scott Graham is the National Outdoor Book Award-winning author of the National Park Mystery Series for Torrey House Press. The sixth book in the series, Mesa Verde Victim, was released August 25. 

Ordering information at scottfranklingraham.com.

37 thoughts on “Guest Chick: Scott Graham”

  1. Welcome, Scott! I love Cynthia’s series, too. Obviously there is a lot of talent in Colorado. I’m not sure how I’ve managed to never hear about your series before, but I find the idea of setting mysteries in national parks very intriguing. Love the cover of your latest, and happy book birthday!

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    1. We Chicks think Scott and Liz have great senses of humor! All authors (and people in general) have different ideas about what’s funny (or not)—and how to share that humor (or not). These days, my own sense of humor is up and down. Yesterday I kept replaying a clip of a cute barking seal, sigh.

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      1. What great and generous reviews and how nice of you to share them! All make me want to visit Colorado again. Your series sounds wonderful. I don’t think anyone should be allowed to run for president who hasn’t visited at least one national park.

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      3. Lisa, I’ll have to check out the seal video! Two accounts I follow on Twitter and look forward to seeing in my feed are Daily Bunny and Daily Otter — recommend both for smiles!

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  5. Welcome, Scott, and congratulations on your new release! Your series sounds fantastic.

    What lovely reviews! I love humor, and seek it out in books, TV, movies…the list goes on. I just wish creating it were as fun (and easy) as consuming it!

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  6. I’ve read two of those three books and enjoyed them, so I’ll have to check out the third.

    And, since I also love the National Parks, I’m adding your series to my TBR list.

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  7. It’s so nice to meet you, Scott, and thanks for introducing us to your National Park Mystery Series. It sounds fantastic (timely, too) and big congrats on the pub of Mesa Verde Victim. That’s one awesome, sun-drenched cover. Thanks also for highlighting these great CO authors—including our very own Cynthia—and for being a guest “Chick.” We welcome all misters as well as sisters!

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  9. It was so incredibly nice of you to read and write about these books, Scott! Thank you very much.

    And let me take a moment to say to all that Scott’s mysteries are great suspenseful mysteries with plentiful twists situated in gorgeous parks—you should try one right now! 🙂

    Congratulations, Scott, on Mesa Verde Victim and the whole series!

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  10. Thank you so much for reading and sharing your thoughtful reviews, Scott!! I’m honored to be included with such talented local authors whom I’ve long admired ❤ And a huge congratulations on Mesa Verde Victim!

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  11. Great reviews, Scott, and I always love hearing about my CO peeps! I love all Cynthia’s and Nora’s books and I’m so excited that we’re reading Kate’s book for our SinC-CO book club!

    Can’t wait to read your Mesa Verde book, Scott. I grew up in CO and have traveled most of these roads. When we took our own kids to Mesa Verde I told my husband how many times I had been there as a kid. Later, hubs mentioned that to my mom who said, “I think we went once.” LOL! It made a great impression on me, I guess!

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    1. Thanks, Becky! You’re going to enjoy Killer Chardonnay.

      Agreed, Mesa Verde is one impressive place. I’m fortunate to live nearby and never tire of visiting. I can see why it made such an impression on you!

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