Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for A Pawsome Summer For Murder (Samantha Davies Mystery) by S. A. Kazlo. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
A Pawsome Summer For Murder (Samantha Davies Mystery)
by S. A. Kazlo
A Pawsome Summer For Murder (Samantha Davies Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Setting – New York
Publisher : Adk Foothills Publishing (May 1, 2025)
Paperback : 218 pages
It’s summer in Wings Falls, New York and Samantha Davies is geared up for the annual trout tournament sponsored by Al Gorman, owner of the Sport’s Shop. Sam, along with her Southern Belle cousin, Candie Parker-Hogan, are determined to beat the pants off their significant others, Sam’s new fiancé, Hank Johnson, a detective on Wings Falls police force and Mark Hogan, Candie’s husband. The ladies feel they have a secret weapon-they learned from the best fisherman in Hainted Hollar Tennessee, Grandpop Parker. Sam once won a trophy for the largest fish in the Fins and Tails Fishing Derby.
To Sam’s surprise instead of reeling in the day’s biggest catch, she “hooked” into the body of the town’s most vocal activist, Luna Wheeler.
Raylene Carrigan, owner of a traveling doggie daycare Sam uses for her lovable dachshund, Porkchop, becomes a prime suspect, when it becomes known Luna tried to shut down the town’s doggie park she depends on for the pets in her care. Since Sam has successfully helped solve murders in the past, Raylene begs her for help to prove her innocent.
Sam reluctantly agrees but knows her fiancé won’t be happy with her involvement in yet another murder case.
Determined to help Porkchop’s buddy, Sam starts digging for clues only to discover that Luna, with her over-zealous demands to many of the town’s businesses to recycle, upset more than a few of her friends. Can Sam land Luna’s murderer before she gets ‘hooked’ by the killer?
Author Guest Post: A foot and a half long bundle of love
Wiener Dog, hot dog, sausage dog, doxie—all names for the beloved dachshund breed. Over the years I’ve been the pet momma to Spunky, Lucky, Wilson and Porkchop, all dachshunds and now Buddy, a wannabe dachshund. So, when I decided to write my Samantha Davies cozy mystery series, I decided to give Sam a dachshund sidekick and what better name than Porkchop. Actually, if any of you ever watched the cartoon series. Doug Funny, as I did with my son when he was younger, I lifted the name from that show. A lot of cozies feature an animal as part of the story so when I set out to write mine, I wanted to give my main character a loving pet who would help her through a nasty divorce from her husband of 25 years, George. Porkchop never really did cotton up to George which Sam feels should have been her first clue that something just wasn’t right about him. Concerning George, Porkchop was a lot wiser than Sam after she discovered her mortician husband was picking up more live bodies than dead ones especially a very lively one—the secretary of the funeral parlor they co-own, the Do Drop Inn Funeral Parlor. My day for writing on my series begins about nine o’clock in the morning, with my pup, Lucky, laying on the floor next to me. His brother, Buddy, is too busy sitting on the back of my living room sofa guarding the neighborhood. My hubby was a state trooper for twenty-six years so I often pick his brain about the cases he was involved in or if one of my characters really could have performed a particular criminal act. In fact, in my Samantha Davies Mystery, Chilled to the Dog Bone, I took the method of murdering my baddie directly from a case hubby was involved in, a person froze to death outside. Never having witnessed a person frozen to death, I quizzed him on the particulars.
My surroundings are also a great inspiration. In my newest book, A Pawsome Summer For Murder, I was inspired by a school bus that I drove past one day. It was used to transport dogs to a doggie day care. Hmmm, what if Samantha used this business to watch Porkchop a few days a week and the owner was accused of murder?
I’ve often said that writing is my drug of choice. I get such a mental high from putting in a couple of hours in the morning of pounding on the keyboard. I have a goal of adding one thousand words to my story when I sit down to visit my characters. I know a lot of writers far exceed that, but it is what I can manage and still have a somewhat normal family life.
In my series, along with drawing inspiration from my surroundings, parts of my own life are also included in my books. Like Sam, I’m a hooker, a rug hooker that is, and drive a VW Bug convertible. Sam has written a children’s book and I use to write for kids before writing cozy mysteries became an obsession. Sometimes my characters will share the same names of people I know. I have a dear friend who wanted to be the murderer so in my book, Pups Pumpkins and Murder, she got her wish.
Like Sam, I also live in upstate New York near the Adirondack mountains. Her town of Wings Falls is modeled after a small town near me.
Most of all, Sam and I share a love of dachshunds. Whether you call them wiener dogs, sausage dogs, or hot dogs, I call my doxie a foot and a half long bundle of love.
P.S. Never give up on your dreams. I was seventy-four when I had my first cozy picked up by a publisher. Now, three years later I have seven cozies published and am working on number eight, Muskets, Mutts and Murder to be released in Spring of 2026.
About S. A. Kazlo
Syrl, a retired teacher, lives in upstate New York with her husband and two lively dachshunds. She writes the Samantha Davies Mystery series, featuring Samantha Davies and her loveable dachshund, Porkchop. When not writing she is busy hooking, rug hooking that is, and enjoying her family. Her newest book, number seven in the series, A Pawsome Summer For Murder, was released May 1, 2025
Author Links
Website – https://www.sakazlo.com/
Blog – https://www.sakazlo.com/blog
Twitter-@sakazlo
Instagram- sakazlo
Facebook- sakazlo
LinkedIn- sakazlo
Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Bookshop.org
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A Pawsome Summer for Murder TOUR PARTICIPANTS
May 7 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
May 7 – Deal Sharing Aunt – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
May 8 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
May 8 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER GUEST POST
May 9 – View from the Birdhouse – REVIEW
May 9 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
May 10 – Frugal Freelancer – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
May 10 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – REVIEW
May 10 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
May 11 – Cozy Up With Kathy – CHARACTER GUEST POST
May 12 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
May 12 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT
May 13 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST
May 14 – Sneaky the Library Cat’s Blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
May 14 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
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Sounds great, thank you for sharing.
Thank you! Syrl Kazlo