Life Changes by Lucinda Race

In 2022 my life changed in a way I hadn’t expected. I had time to fill and needed to have a new challenge. At this point in my writing career, I had written and released over 20 romance novels. I love writing romance, but I was and still am a huge cozy mystery fan. It all started with Nancy Drew…and then Agatha Christie.

I wanted to try and write a cozy and I read craft books on how to write a captivating cozy mystery. Based on expert advice, it seemed I needed to create an outline and plan for my book, but I’m what’s called a pantser when I write. I don’t have each chapter planned in advance. Typically, I have character names and a rough idea for the setting and dive right in. This time, to keep my motivation high, I bought four-cozy mystery covers in a premade sale. They were sitting in a folder on my desktop. I’d open the file from time to time and look at them, hoping for inspiration to strike. Finally, I said to my daughters, "I’m going to try and write these stories."

With my fingers poised over the keys, and the occasional look at the cover for book one, I began typing. This was the hardest book I had ever written. A true cozy mystery has likable characters, a charming setting, and, of course, a murder.

As I began to write, letting the characters guide me, I’d have to stop and go back in the book to add a clue or two. Or change something to hopefully keep the reader engaged. Then the editing process was also more challenging. I wrote all the clues down to make sure they made sense by the end of the book. After I finished Book 1, I kept writing, and over the Christmas break, I wrote Book 4, Scares & Dares, which is my Halloween-themed cozy.

But the entire time I was writing the first 4 books in the Bookstore Cozy Mystery Series I had already begun to think about this Christmas cozy, Holidays & Homicide.

I grew up in a small town with amazing friends and my family, not unlike Pembroke Cove, my setting for the books. Well, except for the overabundance of murders and witches, of course. In my hometown, we had a charming town square, a tree-lighting ceremony, caroling, and amazing Christmas cookies. The only element missing was the skating rink, but being a writer, I just added that in. After all, it’s what writers do: change the setting to fit our story.

I’m thrilled with the end result, and I’m happy to say at this point, I’ve written three more books in this series, to be released next year. However, when I sat down to write this blog post, it’s three days before Thanksgiving. Miss Muse is poking me, and I think there will be a Thanksgiving-themed cozy mystery for 2024. Stay tuned… But if you’d like to purchase a copy of Holidays & Homicide just click this link. https://books2read.com/HolidaysandHomicide

Thank you for joining me today. I wish you and your family a joyous holiday season filled with love and happiness.

Happy reading and don’t forget to sparkle.

Lucinda Race

Award-winning and best-selling author Lucinda Race is a lifelong fan of fiction. As a young girl, she spent hours reading mystery and romance novels and getting lost in the fun and hope they represent. While her friends dreamed of becoming doctors and engineers, her dreams were to become a writer—a novelist.

As life twisted and turned, she found herself writing nonfiction but longed to turn to her true passion. After developing the storyline for the McKenna Family Romance series, it was time to start living her dream. Her fingers practically fly over computer keys she weaves stories about with mystery and happily ever afters.

Lucinda lives with her two little dogs, a miniature long hair dachshund and a shitzu mix rescue, in the rolling hills of western Massachusetts. When she's not at her day job, she’s immersed in her fictional worlds. And if she’s not writing mystery, suspense and romance novels, she’s reading everything she can get her hands on.

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