Paint Me a Crime (A Rose Shore Mystery) by Holly Yew | Author Guest Post

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Paint Me a Crime (A Rose Shore Mystery)

by Holly Yew

Paint Me a Crime (A Rose Shore Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Okanagan Valley in BC, Canada
Touchpoint Press (June 13, 2023)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 252 pages

Art curator Jessamine Rhodes has left behind her gig at a prominent gallery in the city to open her own community art center in the small town of Rose Shore. She’s all set to host an extravagant opening watercolors class and has even booked a famous artist to teach it. Gabriella Everhart brings along her priceless painting Tranquil to showcase as the centerpiece of the event.

The opening class is just wrapping up when suddenly Tranquil disappears before Jessamine’s eyes. Next, the lights of the art center flicker out and leave the crowd in complete darkness as a scream pierces the air. To her horror, Jessamine’s flashlight reveals that prestigious art collector Victor Carlisle has been murdered, and now her dreams are as shattered as the champagne glass found near the scene.

Determined to save her now teetering reputation, Jessamine sets out to search for answers and the missing painting on her own. She has invested everything into her art center and is too anxious to step back and do nothing. Along the way, she teams up with a handsome paramedic who seems to have his own reasons for wanting justice for Victor’s tragedy.

Author Guest Post: Pets in Cozy Mysteries

I love pets in cozy mysteries: when the sleuth has a furry friend to aid in the crime-solving or even just being there for comfort after she’s faced down a murderer. I included a pet for my main character, Jessamine Rhodes, in Paint Me A Crime. Margo is a beagle who Jessamine adopted from a dog shelter and named after her favorite surrealist painter, Boris Margo. I love writing about their bond, how they go for walks along the sandy shores of the lake behind Jessamine’s cottage, how Margo snuggles with Jessamine when she’s blue, and how Margo makes Jessamine laugh with her goofy ways.

Some of Margo’s characteristics are based on my own two dogs, though Margo is much better behaved! Echo, our first dog, is a Formosan Mountain dog. Every time I say her breed to someone who is unfamiliar with it, they say, “Wow, that must be a big dog!” I think people get Formosans mixed up with Bernese Mountain dogs because Echo is only twenty pounds, and she is very slim. Formosans are also known as Taiwanese dogs, and that is where Echo came from. They are a common street dog in Taiwan and still have a lot of wild in them. Echo, despite being a princess who needs to start each day with cuddles, is a mouse hunter and loves to protect her humans from squirrels, birds, cats, deer, and sometimes even those pesky leaves that blow past the windows. Echo is short for Echo Seven, Han Solo’s call sign in The Empire Strikes Back because we are big Star Wars fans in our house! Like Echo, Margo is protective of her human but also a big cuddler.

Our second dog is Lillybelle who came from a rescue in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. She was a tiny puppy when we adopted her and based on her coloring, the rescue guessed her to be a German Shepherd mix. One of her siblings got DNA testing done and turns out, Lillybelle is a husky and golden retriever mix. Huskies can be a lot of work, and golden retrievers can be very needy, so let’s just say that Lillybelle is a bit… much. But she is very sweet and loveable. Her name came from the Lillybelle train in Disneyland because I thought it was a pretty name. Like Lillybelle, Margo is wary of non-dog lovers, demands to be fed first, and always has to curl up beside her human on the couch.

In Paint Me A Crime, Jessamine’s neighbor Jackson Yeung is also a dog owner. His dog is Poe, an Italian Greyhound named after Poe Dameron (again, big Star Wars fan here.) I enjoy writing about the two dogs’ dynamics when they get together. Our two dogs can get up to a lot of shenanigans together. Once, Echo and Lillybelle went on a little adventure. Our gate had been left open, and they went running into the forest behind our house. We searched for them, and they were only gone for about an hour, but suddenly they came running back out of the forest toward our house, neck in neck. I’m positive they’d been together the entire time they were off on their little adventure, never leaving each other’s side. I wish they could speak and tell us all about where they went. So far, there are no scenes in the Rose Shore Mysteries where Margo and Poe get lost together, but they do get into other mischiefs like chasing gulls off the beach and annoying Mrs. Connors, Jessamine’s other-side neighbor who is terrified of dogs.

Despite her role, and size, being small, Margo is one of my favorite characters to include on Jessamine’s adventures in Rose Shore. Do you have a dog or a different type of pet? Do you like reading about animals in cozy mysteries?

Learn more about Jessamine and Margo in Paint Me A Crime.

About Holly Yew

After having called many places around the world home, Holly Yew has settled in the Okanagan, BC with her husband, son, and two rescue dogs. When she’s not writing or reading, she’s playing the piano, watching Star Wars, or enjoying a Dole Whip in Disneyland.

Holly is a member of Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers. She loves connecting with other writers and bookworms on social media, and you can find her at hollyyew.com.

Author Links

Website https://hollyyew.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/samara.yew.books
Twitter https://twitter.com/HollyYew
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/holly.yew.author/

Purchase Links – Amazon – Amazon Canada – Barnes and Noble