Guest Post

Guest Chick: Michelle L. Cullen & #Giveaway

Jen here. Excited to host Michelle on the blog today! We did a recent panel together, and I’m excited about her debut mystery. A cross-generational sleuthing duo? Yes, please! Michelle has also enjoyed the exciting traveling life of her main character Harry–see her amazing pics below!

Who’d have thought that thirty minutes on a Saturday morning as a kid in front of a TV would influence the rest of your life. But that was me, riveted by the children’s show Big Blue Marble, which featured the lives of kids all over the world. Every episode I was fascinated by how different life could be based on your geography—and yet somehow despite the variations, how many commonalities could be found. It’s what led me to study anthropology and sparked my wanderlust to travel the world.

Decades later, I’ve got a few well-stamped passports and a lifetime of amazing experiences. I’ve worked as a (decent if powered by enough espresso) bilingual secretary in Paris, backpacked around Europe, Central America, and Southern Africa, and helped rebuild communities after war throughout Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific. In other words, I’ve accumulated a lot stories: like the time when a witch put a scorpion in my bed, or when a giant vulture feasted on a leftover meal at the table next me at an al fresco dinner, or when I was a guest of the King and Queen of Jordan, or when my team and I got lost in a barren, tumbleweed-ridden wasteland and in order to get to the nearest village, had to follow a man on a corroded bike with a live goat tied to the back of it, with the goat bleating the entire way.

Perhaps this drive to want to live good stories came from my love of reading them. My mom took us to the library every weekend, and I was allowed to check out as many books as I could carry, which despite my small size, was a lot. Ever since, I’ve been addicted to that feeling you get when engrossed in a book that takes you to a new place, a new time, or a new perspective.

So it was hardly a jump for me to want to write and to make one of the main characters an anthropologist; someone who shares my curiosity about this big blue marble we inhabit. In my debut mystery, A Field Guide to Murder, many but not all of Harry Lancaster’s memories and feelings have been inspired by my own. And by telling Harry’s story, I got the chance to go back and revisit some of my adventures again.

Do you have a travel story you cherish? Commenters will be entered to win an audio version of A Field Guide to Murder.

ABOUT MICHELLE

Michelle L. Cullen has lived and traveled all over the world, from working as a bilingual secretary in Paris, to backpacking around Europe, Central America, and Southern Africa, to helping rebuild communities after war throughout Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific. She obtained her PhD from the London School of Economics’ Sociology Department and her master’s degree in anthropology from Melbourne University in Australia. She currently lives in Annapolis, Maryland, where she’s either doing yoga, playing outside, or plotting murder.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A cranky widower and his spirited caregiver team up to solve his neighbor’s murder in this charming and original mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Benjamin Stevenson.

Once a globe-trotting anthropologist, Harry Lancaster is now certain that all his grand adventures are behind him. Recently widowed and suffering from a fractured hip, Harry spends his days and nights behind a pair of binoculars, nose-deep in his neighbors’ affairs. His millennial caregiver, Emma, is determined to get him out of his armchair and back into the world.

Fate intervenes when Harry’s mysterious neighbor, Sue, phones, pleading for help. But instead of rescuing her, Harry and Emma find Sue dead: poisoned, days after a break-in at Sue’s house. Harry resolves to find out what happened, and Emma insists on going along for the ride. Together, they discover motives and suspects abound in Harry’s quaint condominium community—putting them both in the crosshairs of a cold-blooded killer.

Readers of Kristen Perrin and Deanna Raybourn will be charmed by this quirky, cross-generational murder mystery.

BUY LINK

32 thoughts on “Guest Chick: Michelle L. Cullen & #Giveaway”

  1. Michelle, congrats on your book release and I can’t wait to read the next book with Harry and his friends.

    My cherish travel story is going to France and visiting 10 of their counties and spending two days in Paris. I especially loved going to Mont-Saint-Michel.

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  2. Love all the stories, Michelle. The goat on the bicycle made me laugh.

    I have fond memories of the six months I spent in the Caribbean – three in Puerto Rico, three in St. Croix. But I also remember a road trip three friends and I took to Milwaukee to see a college basketball game. The sun setting in the Midwest to the notes of Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait and the voice of James Earl Jones was magnificent.

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    1. The goat made me laugh as well…not so much at the time, but definitely once we found the village we were looking for 🙂 I haven’t spent much time in the Caribbean, but it’s on my list for desired trips. And I love road trips, especially the ones where there’s not a set itinerary and you’re guided by nothing but beckoning roads.

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  3. Harry and Emma sound like a delightful duo and I need to make their acquaintance!

    Thank heaven for books as there is never enough time to visit all the places and experience all of the adventures I’d like. I did love my two week visit to Israel back in the more peaceful days and am always up for a road trip. Did a 3 week cross-country drive some years ago and simply loved it! Might be willing to pass on that scorpion and vulture as a dining companion though!

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    2. Congratulations, “Makennedyinaz!” Your name was drawn to win an audiobook of A Field Guide to Murder. I’ll be reaching out via email with instructions on how you can redeem your copy on Spotify. I hope you enjoy it!

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  5. Michelle, welcome! What a fascinating life! And the book sounds equally so.

    I think every trip I’ve taken leaves a special memory. But I think staying at Nab Cottage in the Lake District has a special place because of its literary links to 19th century romantic poets. I’m also a Brontephile and I only recently learned that Branwell Brontë stayed there! He was visited Hartley Coleridge, who died at Nab. My mother and I spent a good part of our stay trying to figure out in which room!

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  6. I love visiting new places, though I sometimes need a recovery period after–ha! My fave recent visits? When I went to the Cotswolds last summer. I also really enjoyed Bouchercon in NOLA. 🙂

    And thanks for being here, Michelle! Yay on your debut!!

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    1. Thank you, Jen. The Cotswolds are another on my “must visit” list. I’ve briefly passed through, but I don’t really count that because I didn’t get to see much. Between you and Ellen, I see my next trip ideas forming 🙂

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  7. What great stories, MIchelle, and what an amazing life you’ve lived so far! I’ve traveled quite a bit, as well, thanks to my professor father who took the family with him on sabbaticals and junkets. We spent a year in South America when I was six, and I think that’s the trip that most affected me, since I was so young. After that, all travel seemed exciting and relatively easy.

    Thanks so much for visiting the Chicks today, and congrats on the debut mystery–it looks terrific!

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    1. Thank you, Leslie! I haven’t been to South America yet, but hopefully one day. Did you pick up any Spanish or Portuguese while you were there? Your father sounds a little bit like my main character, Harry, who also had his family join him on his travels.

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      1. I didn’t learn to speak Spanish that year, but when I did start studying it in 7th grade,it came easily to me (as do languages in general), so I’m sure that year hearing it spoken had a big effect on my ear.

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  9. Michelle! Thank you so much for visiting Chicks on the Case. Congratulations and very best wishes on your new release. It sounds wonderful. I’m looking forward to reading it and I think my sister will enjoy it, too. I’m not much of a traveler. Traveling usually finds me, taking me out of my comfort zone every time. Ha! Congratulations again!

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    1. Thank you, Patricia! As much as I love traveling, I’ll admit it also feels great the moment I walk back into my own home, with my own bed, and my own food, and my own stuff — especially if I’ve been gone a long time. I hope you enjoy Harry and Emma as much as I do 🙂

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  10. Hi Michelle! It’s inspiring hearing about all of your travels! I grew up where travel meant getting in the station wagon and driving to a contiguous state, but as soon as I got out on my own, I developed a good case of wanderlust. I still love a good roadtrip, but they tend to be more ambitious than my parents planned. Congrats on your release!

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    1. Thanks, Marla. My family had a station wagon too! I have great memories of family road trips in that car. I’d usually be immersed in a book and then look up to find we were in a different state 🙂

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  12. Michelle, thanks so much for visiting us Chicks–my apologies for chiming in late, as I was on the road. (Not to anywhere exciting, alas.) Congrats on your debut, which sounds awesome and has landed atop my TBR!

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