Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for The Friday Night Mystery Club (Friday Night Mystery Club Series) by Joanna Campbell Slan. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
The Friday Night Mystery Club (Friday Night Mystery Club Series)
by Joanna Campbell Slan
The Friday Night Mystery Club (Friday Night Mystery Club Series)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Illinois
Spot On Publishing (September 18, 2021)
Paperback : 346 pages
Decatur, Illinois/1986 – A nasty divorce leaves Cragan Collins with a mountain of bills and her grandmother to support. She takes a job as an ad salesperson for The Gazette. The market is tough, but Cragan finds a mentor in business reporter, Robert Smithson. One icy January day, Robert is found dead in a city park. His murder is dismissed as gay-on-gay crime. Cragan asks The Friday Night Mystery Club to find justice for Robert. Will Cragan’s quest for the truth land her on the obituary page?
Excerpt
Sadness turned to anger. Who had killed him? And why? Was it because he was gay? Or was it because of his job? I knew that Robert had gotten death threats before. He was a hard-hitting investigative reporter and his beat was area businesses. His work had uncovered fraud, malfeasance, misconduct, and mistreatment of employees. No one wanted to answer the phone when Robert Smithson called.
Guest Post from the author
People often ask, “How long does it take you to write a book?”
My answer is, “It varies.”
The Friday Night Mystery Club was started more than 30 years ago. Honestly, I can’t remember why I put it aside, but I suspect that it didn’t around interest from a traditional publisher or my then agent. Yet, I always loved the concept: A young divorcée struggles to sell newspaper advertising in a challenging environment. It was a storyline I knew well because I had lived it.
Back in the early 1980s, I divorced my abusive husband. This happened shortly after I was hired to sell newspaper advertising. If there ever was a wrong time to launch a career as an ad salesperson, I had picked it. The town where I lived—Decatur, Illinois—was in the top ten cities in the US for unemployment. The paper that I worked for—the Herald & Review—was in the top ten of all US newspapers for advertising rates. Still, you do what you have to do to survive. I worked my backside off, and I became the best ad salesperson the paper had.
Not long ago, I pulled out my copy of The Friday Night Mystery Club (FNMC)and reread it. The book brought back what it had been like to be a single woman in the 1980s. In a rush of nostalgia, I remembered all that I had loved about working for a big daily paper. After giving the book a good polish, I published it. I expected it to be a standalone, a one-off. But readers really, really liked the book and the characters. As one reviewer said, “The book is filled with wonderful characters, good friends, and vivid descriptions.” Another remarked, “I laughed so hard at some of the things going on in the story that I thought I would lol a blood vessel.”
I admit that I’d forgotten some of the zeitgeist of the 1980s, what with prejudice against working women being an accepted part of our culture. After such a good reaction to FNMC, I sat down and wrote Monday Morning Blues, Book #2 in the Friday Night Mystery Club series. Fortunately, it did not take me 40 more years! Only a couple of months. Diane Donovan of Donovan’s Book Reviews said, “Monday Morning Blues is a vivid story that will appeal to working women, cozy mystery fans, and those who want a sense of place and people embedded in their intrigue.”
Now I’m finishing Tuesday Trash and Trouble, Book #3. Since my grandson was born in the middle of this book, it’s taken me a bit longer than I expected. After all, I had to set aside time to crochet booties! But the new book will be done this week or next. Certainly, it won’t take another 40 years
About Joanna Campbell Slan
Joanna is a New York Times Bestselling, USA Today Bestselling, and Amazon Bestselling author as well as a woman prone to frequent bursts of crafting frenzy, leaving her with burns from her hot glue gun and paint on her clothes. And the mess? Let’s not even go there.
Otherwise, Joanna’s a productive author with more than 80 written projects to her credit. Her non-fiction work includes how to books, a college textbook for public speakers, and books of personal essays (think Chicken Soup for the Soul).
Currently, she writes six fiction series: The Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series (Agatha Award Finalist, contemporary, St. Louis setting, crafting), the Cara Mia Delgatto Mystery Series (contemporary, Florida setting, DIY, and recycling), the Jane Eyre Chronicles (Daphne du Maurier Award Winner, 1830s England, based on Charlotte Brontë’s classic), the Sherlock Holmes Fantasy Thrillers (late 1800s, based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s books), the Tai Chi Mystery Series (featuring a mature female amateur sleuth!) and the Friday Night Mystery Series (set in Decatur, IL in 1986 with a spunky female heroine.)
A former TV talk show host, college teacher, and public relations specialist, Joanna was one of the early Chicken Soup for the Soul contributors. She won a Silver Anvil for her work on the original FarmAid concert to benefit farmers.
In her ongoing quest never to see snow again, Joanna lives with her husband and their Havanese puppy, Jax, on an island off the coast of Florida. You can email her at jc****@jo********.com or visit her website at https://linktr.ee/jcslan
Author Links
Newsletter sign up: https://joannacampbellslan.com/
Street Team sign up: https://joannacampbellslan.com/
Website — https://joannacampbellslan.com/
Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/JoannaCampbellSlan
Facebook Group — https://www.facebook.com/groups/1602372550058785
Twitter — https://twitter.com/JoannaSlan
Amazon Author Page — https://amzn.to/3MxiC5U
Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/JCSlan/
Goodreads —https://www.goodreads.com/joannacampbellslan
Bookbub —https://www.bookbub.com/profile/joanna-campbell-slan
LinkedIn —https://www.linkedin.com/in/JoannaSlan
Pinterest — https://www.pinterest.com/joannaslan/
Purchase Link – Amazon
Enter the giveaway
The Friday Night Mystery Club TOUR PARTICIPANTS
July 25 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
July 25 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
July 26 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
July 26 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – GUEST POST
July 26 – Readeropolis – SPOTLIGHT
July 27 – Island Confidential – SPOTLIGHT
July 27 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
July 27 – Cassidy’s Bookshelves – GUEST POST
July 28 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT
July 28 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST
July 28 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
July 29 – Jane Reads – CHARACTER GUEST POST
July 29 – Books to the Ceiling – CHARACTER GUEST POST
July 29 – Novels Alive – REVIEW
July 29 – Novels Alive – SPOTLIGHT
July 30 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
July 30 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
July 31 – Lady Hawkeye – SPOTLIGHT
July 31 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog – SPOTLIGHT
July 31 – BookishKelly2020 – SPOTLIGHT
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Looks like a fun book.
Thanks for the contest.
I am trying to expand my genre and mysteries is where I am trying to go. Cozy ones are a good place to start!
This sounds like an entertaining book in a charming mystery series.
It sounds like a great read , thank you for the chance.
Thanks for sharing!
I love the cover. It sets the stage for the book.