Randy Overbeck launches his latest novel Scarlet at Crystal River

 

Welcome to thriller writer Randy Overbeck!

Dr. Randy Overbeck is an award-winning educator, author and speaker. As an educator, he served children for four decades in a range of roles captured in his novels, from teacher and coach to principal and superintendent. His thriller, Leave No Child Behind (2012) and his recent mysteries, the Amazon No. 1 Best Seller, Blood on the Chesapeake, Crimson at Cape May and Scarlet at Crystal River have earned five-star reviews and garnered national awards including “Thriller of the Year--ReadersFavorite.com, “Gold Award”—Literary Titan, “Mystery of the Year”—ReadersView.com and “Crowned Heart of Excellence”—InD’Tale Magazine. As a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Dr. Overbeck is an active member of the literary community, contributing to a writers’ critique group, serving as a mentor to emerging writers and participating in writing conferences such as Sleuthfest, Killer Nashville and the Midwest Writers Workshop. When he’s not writing or researching his next exciting novel or sharing his presentation, “Things Still Go Bump in the Night,” he’s spending time with his incredible family of wife, three children (and their spouses) and seven wonderful grandchildren. 

Social Media Handles

https://twitter.com/OverbeckRandy/media

https://www.facebook.com/authorrandyoverbeck

https://www.instagram.com/authorrandyoverbeck/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-KOC0LH2GQRSAjwxOFr5rg

Tik Tok @authorrandyo 

What would you say are your strengths as an author?

As a writer, I think I’ve benefitted from my habits and experience as an educational leader. They’ve taught me to persevere, even when the task is daunting as that has helped me continue through obstacles and challenging. Also, my earlier experience with research has allowed me to do the significant research required for my fiction

How often do you write, and do you write using a strict routine?

Pretty much every day I work on different aspects of my writing and/or marketing. Lately my time has been monopolized by promotional tasks, but I plan to devote more time and effort to continued work on my next manuscript.

Five years from now, where do you see yourself as a writer?

I’d love to have one or two novels on the NYT Best Sellers list…and five years ought to be enough.

If you could offer once piece of advice to a novice writer, what would it be?

Writing may be a solitary act, but you do not need to be in this alone. You should attend one or two writing conferences where you can learn a great deal about the art, skill and business of writing. Also, you can get great encouragement and motivation from other successful authors.

What would you consider to be the best compliment a reader could give your book?

When a readers writes and says that he couldn’t put down my novel, or that she stayed up all night to find out what happens or they ask me when the next entry is coming—these are the best compliments I could receive.

What are you working on now?

I’m nearly finished with the full first draft of my next manuscript, another amateur sleuth mystery. This narrative is the story of a new drug being sold to middle school kids who die in a car crash.

 

SCARLET AT CRYSTAL RIVER

·       Release by Wild Rose Press—September 13, 2021

·       Paranormal mystery

·       All Darrell Henshaw wanted was to enjoy his honeymoon with his beautiful wife, Erin, in the charming town of Crystal River on the sunny Gulf Coast of Florida. Only a pair of ghosts decide to intrude on their celebration. And not just any ghosts, the spirits of two young Latino children. Unwilling at first to derail the honeymoon for yet another ghost hunt, Darrell finally concedes when a painting of the kids comes alive, weeping and pleading for his help.

When he and Erin track down the artist, they discover the children’s family were migrant workers the next county over. But when they travel there, their questions about the kids gets their car shot up and Erin hospitalized. Torn between fear and rage, Darrell must decide how far he will go to get justice for two young children he never even knew. 

Tagline

            Darrell and Erin thought they were heading to Florida for a carefree honeymoon, but the ghosts of two immigrants children haunt them, pleading for help. 

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLhuf7RGtCs 

Review Blurbs

“Scarlet at Crystal River is an eerie paranormal mystery I couldn't stop reading. Randy Overbeck is a masterful writer of the paranormal, drawing the reader in before instilling shivers down the spine. 5+ stars." –N. N. Light's Book Heaven

“A rollercoaster of a mystery, hurtling up and down hills and sharp corners until the very end, when the reader is left slightly breathless, waiting for their hearts to beat back to a normal rhythm. ★★★★★—ReadersView

“Scarlet at Crystal River is a suspenseful paranormal novel with compelling characters and an enigmatic mystery that drives the story to a riveting conclusion. Overbeck is a master at building tension–-this is easily a one-sitting read.” ★★★★★—Literary Titan

 “This is another masterpiece from Randy Overbeck. His excellent writing style has left me speechless for one more time. He writes in a way that makes you feel what the characters feel and you have no choice but to partake in the journey with them.” ★★★★★—Ioanna’s Reviews, Greece 

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.com/Scarlet-Crystal-Haunted-Shores-Mysteries/dp/1509237879

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/scarlet-at-crystal-river-randy-overbeck/1139873947?ean=9781509237876

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57841458-scarlet-at-crystal-river?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=RTpsYLU6mO&rank=3

https://www.bookbub.com/books/scarlet-at-crystal-river-by-randy-overbeck

 

Link to Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLhuf7RGtCs

Jane Kelly talks about her new novel Greetings from Ventnor City

 

Welcome to writer Jane Kelly!

Jane Kelly is a native of Philadelphia close to the Jersey Shore settings of the Meg Daniels mysteries from Plexus Publishing. She is also the author of the Widow Lady Mysteries and the Writing in Time Mysteries available via Amazon. Jane has an MS from Drexel University in Library and Information Science and an MPhil in Popular Literature from Trinity College, Dublin which she earned as a very mature student in 2008. Jane has served as President of the Delaware Valley Sisters in Crime and on the board of the New York Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Her fifth Meg Daniels mystery, Greetings from Ventnor City, was published in January 2020. The fourth, Missing You in Atlantic City, won an Independent Publisher Book Award silver medal for mid-Atlantic fiction.

Jane Kelly currently lives in the Philadelphia area.

www.janekelly.net

https://tinyurl.com/JaneKellyAuthorAmazon

www.facebook.com/JaneKellyAuthor

www.pinterest.com/janekelly80

jane@janekelly.net

 Tell us about your life outside of writing.

Given the pandemic, I have no idea what my new life outside of writing will be. I had just left my part-time job to get in better shape. I started singing in a choir and teaching English as a Second Language. Then, the pandemic hit. ESL is moving to Zoom but I don’t have the voice for a Zoom choir. I love to travel and had a list of places to go, but now all my plans are on hold. I am playing things by ear. And, about getting in better shape? How about a different shape? I gained nine pounds.

Do you have a work in progress?

I started a book that turned too dark for my humorous heroine. I liked the story, so I took Meg out and saved the plot for future use. It took me a few false starts to decide on a mystery for Meg to solve. She is now investigating a missing person from the disco era. Spoiler alert: she’ll solve it. I am not quite sure how yet, but she will. I am a pantser.

What was the most difficult section/piece you ever wrote? What made it difficult?

I enjoy the writing process. I never find it difficult but I always find it challenging. My books have a humorous touch and often the first draft will strike me as a bit dull. I try to put myself into the scene with the characters and watch them react to each other. That also is a way of checking that they don’t sit down twice before they get up once. Keeping an eye on logistics is a huge challenge for me.

 What sort of research do you do for your work?

My current day amateur sleuth researches incidents related to past events. Most recently, her investigations involved the 1964 Democratic Convention and the 1968 Miss America protests, both in Atlantic City. I loved doing the research.

My biggest problem when it comes to research is stopping. To me there are two aspects: 1) basic research, where I gather broad background for the topic or the era, and, 2) defensive research, where I search for that one misstatement, literally one word, that can pull a reader out of a story. And, it only takes one word to do that. Missing You in Atlantic City includes accounts from witnesses to a 1964 crime told from their point of view at the time of the crime. On the last read-through, I noticed that a character had observed of the victim that “she kept her cool.” It struck me that not in 1964, she didn’t. She could keep a cool head, maintain a cool demeanor or display a cool manner, but she could not keep her cool until at least 1967. I used one of my favorite tools to check: Google Ngrams. That is all I’m going to say because when I get started talking about Google Ngrams I have a real problem stopping.

Which books and authors do you read for pleasure? Is there an author that inspires you?

I try to read all the books written by my Delaware Valley Sisters in Crime and authors I meet at the New York Chapter of MWA. The titles run the gamut from political thrillers to cozies. I might have one in hand, one on Kindle and one on audio. Still, I am hopelessly behind. I tend to read a lot of non-fiction. I have been reading history backward and have gotten to the 1930s. There is so much to read that I can’t get past that era. I need to make a change so I can devote a couple of hours on my daily schedule to reading.

Was there a person who encouraged you to write?

Many people throughout the years have been supportive but, oddly enough, I do not recall the name of the most encouraging. I had gone to lunch with coworkers and one brought along a friend I had never met. Midway through the meal, the woman turned to me and asked, “Are you a writer?” I had never published anything, so I answered, “No.” She replied, “You should be.” Why would I value advice from a total stranger? I think because she was a total stranger. That afternoon, I started to take writing seriously.

 

With a newly-earned reputation for finding lost people and a newly-acquired sidekick to help her, Meg Daniels, amateur sleuth, sets out to discover why a 19-year-old coed disappeared after protesting at the Miss America Pageant in 1968. Did the rebellious teenager get swept up in the counterculture or did someone want her out of the way... permanently? Meg won’t stop until she finds the answer.

 "Greetings From Ventnor City has it all: a gripping mystery, twists and turns, and Kelly’s signature humor! Don’t miss this one."   —Lisa Regan, USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Crime Fiction Author’’