New Book Release – Easter Hair Hunt

Easter Hair Hunt, #16 in the Bad Hair Day Mysteries, is now available in print and ebook formats!

LAUNCH PARTY tonight on Facebook from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm EDT. Join us for Fun & Prizes!

Ebook: ISBN 978-0-9997932-6-8, Orange Grove Press, $4.99
Print: ISBN 978-0-9997932-7-5, Orange Grove Press, $14.99
Genre: Cozy Mystery | Print Pages: 302

Hare today, dead tomorrow… Can a stylish sleuth pull a rabbit out of her hat to solve an Easter murder in this to-dye-for cozy mystery?

When hairstylist Marla Vail attends an Easter egg hunt at historic Tremayne Manor, she’s only there to fix hair for a client, Bonnie “Blinky” Morris. But when she’s asked to comb the grounds for leftover goodies, Marla discovers more than just a few dyed eggs. The dead body in the bunny costume is definitely not having a good hare day. And Blinky seems to have disappeared down a rabbit hole.

When trying to solve a murder, everyone needs a friend who’s all ears. For Marla, that’s her husband, homicide detective Dalton Vail. They make an eggcellent team. Dalton isn’t the kind to leap to conclusions, but with his wife seven months pregnant, and knowing Marla finds crime-solving to be irresistible, he worries about her running off on another hare-raising adventure.

Marla’s peeps are hoping for a happy ending, but she may have found a basketful of trouble this time. Can she crack the case before Blinky becomes the next victim?

Recipes Included!

“Marla is drawn into an investigation that involves a missing friend and a stolen Fabergé egg. As Marla and husband Dalton proceed, she finds her family life and pregnancy challenged in more ways than one, with everything overshadowed by Easter and a mystery steeped in South Florida history and culture.” Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review

“Intrepid sleuth Marla Vail goes looking for her friend Blinky and instead finds a dead gardener. She also finds a Faberge egg on the estate grounds. In a case of classic misdirection in which no one is who they appear to be, Marla snips out the lies to reveal the truth and the killer. Another fun installment in Cohen’s entertaining Bad Hair Day series.” Muddy Rose Reviews

“Easter Hair Hunt is another delightful mystery for Marla as she embarks on new changes in her life while she works to solve a mystery that delivers an exciting and fun read.” 5 Stars! Liz Konkel, Readers’ Favorite

BUY LINKS

Amazon Kindle – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083TZ78G1
Amazon Print – https://www.amazon.com/Easter-Hair-Hunt-Bad-Mysteries/dp/0999793276/
BN Nook – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1136016947?ean=2940162711889
Apple – https://books.apple.com/us/book/easter-hair-hunt/id1494917053?ls=1
Kobo – https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/easter-hair-hunt
Books2Read – https://books2read.com/EasterHairHunt
IndieBound – https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780999793275
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50494022-easter-hair-hunt
BookBub – https://bit.ly/2u7ggIu
Website – https://nancyjcohen.com/easter-hair-hunt/

Booksellers & Librarians – This title is also available on Ingram.

Follow my Blog Tour March 11 – 18 for Reviews, Spotlights, Interviews, Guest Posts & Giveaway. Please leave comments to support my hosts.

New Book Release - EASTER HAIR HUNT, #16 in the Bad Hair Day Mysteries. An Easter egg hunt is not all it’s cracked up to be in this #mustread #cozymystery Share on X

GIVEAWAYS

Enter Here March 10 – 23 to win an Easter Fun Box with a signed proof copy of Easter Hair Hunt, a scarf, cosmetic bag, gardening gloves, candy, hair ties, dish towel and socks.

Enter Here March 1 – 18 to win a free book from Booklover’s Bench

Publix Cooking Class – Noble Vines Winery

This past weekend, we attended a cooking class at Publix Aprons Cooking School. The guest speaker was from Noble Vines Winery, describing the wines that accompanied our meal. These are from the Delicato Family Wines in California. We started out with a welcome aperitif. I liked the Noble Vines 242 Sauvignon Blanc. It wasn’t too fruity and would make a pleasant drink just to sip or perhaps to accompany fish or poultry. Meanwhile, the chefs were busy creating our dishes and demonstrating how to make them.

Noble Vines 446 Chardonnay was paired with the first course, clams with linguini. While our friends indulged in this dish, I had written ahead to request mushrooms instead of clams. I am not a big shellfish eater except for shrimp. The linguini with mushrooms was delicious and would make a satisfying meal in itself. We liked the Chardonnay as well. In fact, all the wines tonight were really good.

Next up was pan-roasted duck breast served with mushroom farro and cherry vinaigrette. I’d never had farro before, and I liked this grain that reminded me of barley. The duck was tender. It was paired with Noble Vines 667 Pinot Noir. I could have eaten this dish for a meal alone.

The main dish was grilled Korean beef short ribs with coconut rice and wok-friend bok choy. Noble Vines 337 Cabernet Sauvignon was the accompanying wine. The short ribs were done just right, but I’ve had better. Actually, the ones I tasted recently in my blog post about the Epcot Festival of the Arts were much more tender. I prefer short ribs slowly braised or done in a slow cooker so that the meat practically falls off the bone. The rice was okay but the bok choy had more taste.

We left enough room for the dark chocolate raspberry tart and the Noble Vines 515 Rose wine. What’s not to like about chocolate?

By now, we were more than stuffed and woozy from all the wine. It had been an enjoyable evening with entertainment and an appealing meal experience. The best part is that we got to take the recipes home.

GIVEAWAY

Enter Here March 1-18 to win a free book from Booklover’s Bench

Packing Checklist for a Writers Conference

SleuthFest is on the horizon, and I’m already gathering materials for what I’ll need to bring. Writers’ conferences require advance preparation, especially if you’ll be speaking on a panel or giving a writing workshop. You’ve already determined your goals in participating, some of which may be referenced here: https://nancyjcohen.com/benefits-of-writers-conferences/

Aside from determining your objectives—i.e. attending specialized craft sessions, learning about new publishing options, meeting editors, making new author friends, greeting fans—there’s the physical prep. Here’s a checklist of things to bring. (Note – This is an update to a previous post.)

Prepare for your talks. If you’re a panelist, it can be easier because you might not have to do much prep other than jotting down some notes about the points you want to get across. Moderator-run panels in general mean more work for the moderator but less work for the panel guests, unless you are each expected to present your material for xx minutes.

If you are conducting a workshop on your own, you’ll need to compose or update your material, prepare a PowerPoint presentation if desired, and make copies of handouts. Sometimes the conference coordinators will offer to make the copies for you. Bring your laptop or thumb drive with these files and another flash drive for backup.

If you’re speaking on different topics, assemble each handout in a separate manila envelope to keep them organized.

Order business cards unless you have them already in stock. Consider updating them with QR codes or with your social network URLs.

Design, order, and pack brochures, bookmarks, and/or postcards about your books. Bring along display containers so they don’t get strewn across the promo tables. That’s assuming your conference has space available for this purpose. If not, you can hand them out at your workshop or as you meet people one-on-one.

Design, order, and pack swag for the promo tables or goody room. These are items such as magnets, pens, door hangers, candy, and other giveaways. If you are driving, toss a box of extra books into your trunk in case the on-site bookseller doesn’t get your books in time or is unable to obtain copies of a particular title.

Bring a checkbook in case the bookseller offers to sell you leftover stock at a discounted price. Bring cash for raffle tickets, drinks at the bar, gratuities and other incidentals.

Pack a book or two to display at your presentations and panels.

Bring a copy of your receipts showing your registration and any other special paid events.

If you’re donating a raffle basket, either get your materials to the coordinator ahead of time or bring the basket prepared and ready to go.

Bring a signup sheet for your newsletter to circulate at your workshop and to put out at signings.

Print out the conference workshop schedule and highlight your appearances. List these on your website and other online sites and include these papers in your suitcase.

Bring a highlighter so you can go through the conference schedule and mark sessions you want to attend.

Print out contact info for friends you want to meet at the conference.

Decide which outfits to wear to the different events. Business attire for daytime, dressier clothes for evening? Don’t forget matching accessories.

Determine which gadgets to bring along—iPad or Laptop? Kindle or Nook? Camera to take photos for your blog? Charging devices?

Pack a notebook to take notes if not using an electronic device for this purpose. Later, write blogs about the sessions you attended to share your knowledge. If you intend to paraphrase a large portion, ask permission of the presenter at the end of their session. Or send an email afterward stating your request.

Include Sharpie pens for signing books and ballpoint pens for note taking.

If you belong to a professional writing organization, bring along chapter brochures to hand out to potential members.

What else would you add to this list?

Packing Checklist for a Writers Conference #writers #writingcommunity Share on X

Learning About Love Bugs

Writers learn about all sorts of esoteric topics as research for our books. Most of the time, readers can enjoy learning about new things along with us, as long as we avoid what our editors call “info dumps.” But what we don’t put into our story can make an interesting topic for a blog post.

For EASTER HAIR HUNT, #16 in the Bad Hair Day Mysteries, I decided to learn more about love bugs. These pesky insects plague us during spring and fall months. When driving up the Florida turnpike at these times, you might hear the bugs go splat on your windshield. Your visibility might diminish since using windshield wipers will only smear them. They can also make a mess of your car’s finish if not promptly washed off.

The black-bodied insects with a reddish-orange thorax — scientific name Plecia Nearctica—are sometimes called honeymoon flies because of their coupled flight. They came to the Florida via Central America in the 1940s. Because love bugs do not have many natural enemies, their population continues to grow. People consider them to be a pest.

During copulation, males face the opposite direction of the female. Love bugs remain paired this way for about three days. Then the male gets exhausted and dies. The female lays her eggs and then she perishes. Love bug larvae use decaying vegetation as a source of food. This aids in decomposing plant matter and provides nutrients to the soil.

May and September are their most popular months. They wait until the sun comes up and the air warms before moving around. Thousands of males may be seen hovering over a single pasture, waiting for the females to stir. Once mated, they forage for food, which is pollen and nectar. They stop feeding in the late afternoon. The pairs land on vegetation to rest during the night.

Love bugs are attracted to freshly painted surfaces and may be seen in dried paint on buildings. They’re especially attracted to car fumes on highways. These fumes contain organic compounds that smell similar to the decaying organic material where females lay their eggs. For this reason, the bugs will also congregate at gas stations.

Along the road, they splatter against car windshields, leaving a residue that can become a driving hazard. Using windshield wipers will only smear the mess. Their bodies can cause damage to car paint if you don’t clean them off. Their natural elements of decomposition plus heat from the sun cause compounds that can dissolve the paint. Other sources say their bodies are acidic, hence the damage. Here are some measures you can take, although I haven’t personally verified them:

When you arrive at your destination, wash the front of your car with water. Scrub it with a dryer sheet or a bug splatter sponge, and rinse again.

Use a deflector screen on the front of your car to prevent the bugs from sticking to the grill, or spray the front grill with cooking spray before driving.

Buy a bug remover solution that will remove the residue.

Take your vehicle to a professional car wash as soon as possible and pay extra for custom attention. (This one is my choice.)

What bugs you about love bugs? Have you encountered these pesky critters?

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Easter Hair Hunt, #16 in the Bad Hair Day Mysteries

An Easter egg hunt at historic Tremayne Manor leads hairstylist Marla Vail to discover more than just dyed eggs. The dead body in the bunny costume is definitely not having a good hare day. Marla and her husband, homicide detective Dalton Vail, make an eggcellent team. He knows Marla finds solving mysteries and hare-raising adventures to be irresistible, but she may have found a basketful of trouble this time. Can Marla pull a rabbit out of her hat and crack the case of the body in the bunny suit? Recipes Included!

BUY NOW

Amazon Kindle – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083TZ78G1
Amazon Print – https://www.amazon.com/Easter-Hair-Hunt-Bad-Mysteries/dp/0999793276/
BN Nook – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1136016947?ean=2940162711889
Apple – https://books.apple.com/us/book/easter-hair-hunt/id1494917053?ls=1
Kobo – https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/easter-hair-hunt
Books2Read – https://books2read.com/EasterHairHunt
IndieBound – https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780999793275
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50494022-easter-hair-hunt
BookBub – https://bit.ly/2u7ggIu
Website – https://nancyjcohen.com/easter-hair-hunt/

Learning about Love Bugs #research #cozymystery Share on X

GIVEAWAY

Enter Here March 1-18 to win a free book from Booklover’s Bench

Epcot Festival of the Arts

We visited Epcot International Festival of the Arts at Disney World in Orlando. The tram let us off directly in front at the entrance instead of making us detour like last time due to construction. There was plenty of that going on inside the park. I liked how the baggage inspection is now in a shadier location with fans and multiple personnel so the process goes quicker. Spaceship Earth was open but the whole rest of the central portion of Future World was sectioned off due to remodeling.

We made our way around to the Land and watched the new film Awesome Planet. The scenery depicted was awesome indeed, including simulated flashes of light in the auditorium to accompany lightning on the screen and a sprinkle of water on my wrist when the screen showed rain. The film made me want to go right out and sign up for a conservation effort. We need to preserve our beautiful home planet so it’s safe for future generations.

At World Showcase, we turned left toward Mexico. Along the way, we stopped at the Pop Eats booth and sampled the sous-vide chicken roulade ($6.75). The dish was artistically presented and very tasty.

Next we tried the red wine-braised beef short ribs ($8.00) at Germany. The meat was very tender, accompanied by a dollop of mashed potatoes and broccolini. It was really good but didn’t leave much room in our stomachs for more.

I’d seen a dessert I wanted back at Pop Eats, so we returned there after making a full rotation around the lake. My husband got the cookie with strawberry filling ($4.50). I had the almond frangipane cake ($4.50) as I’m a fan of rainbow cakes. This was nice and moist. I’d ordered the popping bubbles cocktail as well. This champagne drink has gel pearls that burst in your mouth with extra flavor ($10.50).

There were other dishes I might have liked to try, but I got too full. Plus, it was hot out with temps in the eighties, and I was beginning to wilt. After a very long walk to the exit, we boarded the tram to the parking lot and headed home to relax in our air-conditioned condo.

Amelia Island Book Festival Author Expo

The last day of the events I participated in at the Amelia Island Book Festival included an all-day Author Expo where we displayed and sold our books. The event was set up in a middle school gymnasium. We’d been assigned booth numbers prior to our attendance, and people were standing by at the curb to check authors in and assist carrying their stuff to the booths. We also received a ticket voucher for a box lunch.

Guests started streaming in starting at 10:00 am. Various celebrity authors gave talks during the day, and there was always an influx to the marketplace when these authors came in to sign books. I enjoyed meeting readers as well as other writers.

Dinner was at Brett’s Waterway Café downtown at the marina. We had a lovely view of the water as we dined on jumbo shrimp cocktail and stuffed flounder. This was a fitting conclusion to our weekend on Amelia Island.

A variety of interesting restaurants and gift shops, historic buildings and museums, state parks and boat rides are only some of the things you can do on the island, aside from lounging by a hotel pool or hunting for shark’s teeth on the beach. It’s worth a long weekend during one of their monthly festivals to relax, dine, shop and stroll along the beach. Amelia Island is north of Jacksonville nearly to the Georgia border and then east toward the beaches. Plan ahead so you can make the most of your time while there.

Amelia Island Book Festival Writers Workshop

On Friday at the Amelia Island Book Festival, I headed out of town in early morning and pouring rain to present my “Developing a Mystery Series” workshop. This event was held on a college campus about thirty minutes inland in the town of Yulee. A brief introduction by the day’s organizers at 8:00 am led to two workshop tracks, one on craft and one on the business of writing. Coffee and muffins were available to attendees.

I set up my book table out in the hallway by the check-in desk. At the allotted time, I gave my presentation to the group. Then I manned my table until lunch, which was a lovely buffet.

Bestselling author Sandra Brown gave the luncheon speech, talking about her career and about how the industry has changed.

The event concluded by 1:30 pm. I drove back to our hotel for a rest. The weather had cleared somewhat but was windy and cool. We went for dinner a block away at the beach to Sliders Seaside Grill. I ordered grilled shrimp that came with hush puppies and other accompaniments. We retired early as another big day was ahead tomorrow.

Amelia Island Book Festival Authors Reception

We arrived on Thursday for the start of the Amelia Island Book Festival. There was an author reception sponsored by The Book Loft in the downtown historical district. We parked in a free public lot by the historic post office building and strolled along Centre Street to browse in the shops. Here you’ll find boutiques, souvenir shops, homemade fudge and olive oil specialty items, along with numerous restaurants and a tavern or two.

The independently-owned bookstore held the party upstairs and tempted us with appetizing hors d’oeuvres and glasses of wine. A crowd ensued and we made some new acquaintances. The event made me feel welcome as a guest author, and I looked forward to the next day of writing workshops.

GIVEAWAY

One More Day! Enter Now to win all 6 books in Booklover’s Bench anniversary giveaway: https://bookloversbench.com/win-six-free-books-february-2020/

Are Blog Tours Worthwhile?

Blog Tours can gain exposure for your new release on sites with a different readership than your own. If anything, readers might be prompted to go look up your book if the post piques their interest. Name recognition and exposure is the goal more so than selling books. You want to expose your work to new audiences. A blog tour can be an important tool in your marketing and book promotion arsenal.

Another huge benefit is that you’ll gain reviews. The tour hosts, if this is what they offer, may post a review on their blog sites, Goodreads, Amazon, and in some cases on BookBub.

Decide if you want to book your own virtual blog tour or if you’re rather hire a tour organizer. You can also do both if you have a list of bloggers you can approach on your own. How do you find these people to start? Check out the blog tours of authors who write in the same genre. Go to each site and look for contact information and submission guidelines. Some will do reviews. Others will offer interviews or spotlights. Begin a list of possible sites with these details, including if there’s an online submission form. If you want to cast a wider net, consider a Bookstagram tour or look for YouTube Book Vloggers or podcasters that will host you.

To arrange a virtual tour yourself, send a query to the host. Mention your book title and details, the release date, a short book description with buy links, and if you have digital or physical advance reading copies available. On your list, jot down the date when you sent this query. If you get no response and several weeks have passed, send out a reminder letter. Also note down when you get an answer and the date you send the ARC to the host. Keep meticulous records, because you’ll use the same people again for the next book if they follow through. When they do post a review or host an interview, write the date and add the link to your notes.

Once you’ve been accepted by the hosts, write your blogs. What do you write about? My advice is to scribble down topics as you are writing your work-in-progress. Subjects can relate to the research you had to do, to the writing process itself, or to the reason why you were inspired to write this book. Another popular item for a post is a character interview or a “day in the life” essay by your protagonist.

At the end of each post, put your book blurb and buy links; plus an author bio with links to your social media sites. Send an author photo and book cover along with your post to the host.

To attract readers, offer a grand prize drawing from all commenters during the tour and/or do a giveaway on each site.

Publish your tour schedule on your website and broadcast it on your social media. Create an eye-catching graphic and use it to make this an event. Post it as an event on your Facebook author page and with your Appearances on your website. Use these sites to create memes: BookBrush, https://bookbrush.com or Canva, http://www.canva.com

Be sure to show up the day of the posting on each site to answer comments. Thank the host for having you on her site.

If you’d rather hire a tour organizer, you’ll get the benefit of their network of hosts and their publicity on your behalf. You’ll also perhaps get a graphic you can use to publicize the event. Decide if you want to do guest blogs, interviews, spotlights, or reviews.

Here are some tour host companies:

Great Escapes – http://www.escapewithdollycas.com/great-escapes-virtual-book-tours/

Partners in Crime – http://www.partnersincrimetours.net/

Goddess Fish Promotions – http://www.goddessfish.com/

Bewitching Book Tours – http://bewitchingbooktours.blogspot.com/

Xpresso Book Tours – http://xpressobooktours.com/

Historical Fiction – http://hfvirtualbooktours.com/

Enticing Journey – http://www.enticingjourneybookpromotions.com/p/welcome.html

Give Me Books – https://givemebooksblog.blogspot.com/

Audiobookworm Promotions – http://audiobookwormpromotions.com/tours/

To summarize, follow these steps:

Solicit Hosts or Hire a Tour Organizer
Decide Topics
Write Blogs
Send Posts to Hosts or Tour Organizer
Offer Prizes to Commenters or a Grand Prize for the Tour
Publicize Schedule
Thank the Hosts
Tally Results

Are Blog Tours Worthwhile? #blogging #bookpromotion Share on X

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Follow my Virtual Book Tour March 11 – 18

Booklover’s Bench Giveaway, Feb. 1 – 18

It’s our group’s anniversary at Booklover’s Bench and we’re celebrating by gifting six mysteries to one lucky winner! We founded our site in Feb. 2013, so we are seven years in the running and still going strong. You can rely on Booklover’s Bench for great reads and monthly giveaways. CLICK HERE TO ENTER

Backlist Book Updates

You may have noticed that I’ve been subtly rolling out cover changes for my earlier mystery titles. It’s important for author branding that series covers have the same overall look in terms of fonts, text placement, color palette, series logo and image style. My cover artist, the talented Patty G. Henderson, has been working diligently on these updates. So far we’ve completed the ebook covers. The paperbacks are more complicated because these also involve the book’s spine.

Some of the cover changes are subtle and some are drastic. Here’s the most dramatic one. Permed to Death really needed a makeover from the cartoony cover to a more modern image. Old covers are on the left, new covers are on the right. Don’t you just love this new one?

For Hair Raiser, we changed out the old logo for the new one and straightened the title. Murder by Manicure, however, has a partial new look with a spa pool on the image.

We removed the nurse on Body Wave. She served her purpose at the time but now she looked too cartoony to me, so we took her out along with swapping logos and straightening the title. We added my RONE Award badge to this one.

Highlights to Heaven didn’t get much done except ditto to above. The only other change was on Hair Brained, where my author name had been in all caps. It’s not that way on the other books so we changed this one to make things more cohesive.

The paperbacks are taking longer because the series and publisher logos need to be made consistent on the back covers and the spines. And I need them to be compatible with Ingram as well as KDP. That’s so booksellers and librarians will have access to order them. Alongside with the cover updates, I’m revising the back matter in the interior files. This is a book-by-book project to see what needs to be done. It’s also forcing me to clean out my files, getting rid of old versions and material that’s no longer useful.

I’ll be adding my four Five Star books to this repertoire when all the updates are finished. Since I’ve just received rights reversions, I need to get them back for sale online so readers can access the complete series. They will all be needing new covers and reformatting.

This is what I’ve been working on, with the help of my cover designer and formatter. What’s next? I still have six romance titles to do but those will be ebook only. And then there’s the audiobooks… But some day, I will finish all these updates and the entire series will have a fresh look. Yay! Then we can celebrate before moving on to box sets…

Backlist Book Updates for the Bad Hair Day Mysteries #amreading #cozymystery Share on X

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Category: Blog

New Book Release – Easter Hair Hunt

Publix Cooking Class – Noble Vines Winery

Packing Checklist for a Writers Conference

Learning About Love Bugs

Epcot Festival of the Arts

Amelia Island Book Festival Author Expo

Amelia Island Book Festival Writers Workshop

Amelia Island Book Festival Authors Reception

Are Blog Tours Worthwhile?

Backlist Book Updates

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