Today’s special author guest is E.C. Bell to chat with me about her new paranormal mystery, Tying the Knot (Marie Jenner Mystery #7).
During her virtual book tour, E.C. will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!
Bio:
E.C. Bell is the author of the award-winning paranormal Marie Jenner Mystery series. She lives in Alberta, Canada, and when she’s not writing, she’s scouting out new locations for her upcoming novels or renovating her round house where she lives with her husband and their two rescue dogs.
That’s right. Her house is round.
Welcome, E.C. Please tell us about your current release.
In Tying the Knot, Marie Jenner, who can interact with ghosts, go to Las Vegas with her boyfriend, P.I. James Lavall, to help his dead uncle—Jimmy “anything for a buck” Lavall—move on to the next plane of existence, and to have a little holiday. Of course, things don’t go as planned.
Marie soon realizes that Jimmy isn’t ready to move on. He’s determined to find out what happened to Rita, the love of his life. And Marie also realizes that Jimmy and Rita had been into bad things before he died.
Things really start to go sideways when the most powerful man in the hotel starts to take an interest in Marie and James, because money went missing from the hotel the year before, and he’s pretty sure Jimmy had been involved, and that they know something about it.
And then, there’s the lieutenant of a drug kingpin from Edmonton, who shows up at the hotel where they’re staying, and who James decides to befriend. And the wedding Marie suddenly has to plan.
It was just supposed to be a little holiday, but nothing’s ever simple when Marie Jenner is involved.
What inspired you to write this book?
When I wrote Seeing the Light, the first book in the Marie Jenner Mystery series, James’s uncle Jimmy died in Vegas, and I knew that eventually Marie was going to have to go there to move him on. And here we are!
Excerpt from Tying the Knot:
Crystal’s living room was crowded with a couch and three overstuffed chairs, all which held at least one cat. A TV droned in the corner, but I didn’t see a ghost anywhere.
“Where is he?” I asked.
“The bathroom,” Crystal replied. “He’s—nervous.” She walked over to a closed door crowded between two of the chairs on the far wall, then pounded on it, hard.
“Come on, Jimmy,” she cried. “Your nephew is here. They’re both here. Come out and talk to them, please.”
“Not yet,” came the muffled reply from behind the door. “Give me a minute, will you, woman?”
“He doesn’t sound nervous,” I muttered.
Crystal turned to us and shrugged. “He’ll come out when he’s ready,” she said. “I’ll make tea, if you like.”
James didn’t reply. Just walked to the bathroom door and pushed it open. “We’re here,” he said. Then he looked at me. “Can you see him?” he asked. “Is he really here?”
Jimmy the Dead walked out of the bathroom and stared at James for a long moment. “I didn’t think you’d show up,” he said. “You always said you hated Vegas.”
“Oh,” I said. “Oh.”
I don’t know what I was expecting, but I never thought James’s dead uncle would be in his underwear.
“What’s wrong?” James asked.
“He’s in his tighty-whities,” Crystal tittered, and grinned at me.
“You’re embarrassed.”
“I died in my sleep,” Jimmy said, glaring at me. “At least I had underwear on, for heaven’s sake.”
He turned to Crystal. “I thought she was some kind of expert.”
What exciting story are you working on next?
I’m writing the final book in the Marie Jenner mystery series! I can barely believe that I made it to the end, but I did. It’s a hard book to write, because after it’s all over, Marie’s life will have completely changed. And I kind of like the girl, in spite of all the nasty things I’ve done to her over the years. I’m going to miss her, and the world I built around her.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I always thought of myself as a writer, but it was about twelve years ago that I decided to get serious about it. I didn’t just want to be a writer—I wanted to be a published writer. So, I worked hard, met a group of wonderful people who helped me figure everything out, and began to get short stories and anthologies published.
While I was doing that, I was writing Seeing the Light, the first book in this series. And then, it was published. That was really when I felt like I’d achieved my goal.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I write full time now. I did have other work before, but slowly shed it all so that I could put more time into my writing career.
Before the pandemic started, I used to get up at 5 AM every morning and write for four to seven hours a day. (Writing in the morning is awesome!) But the pandemic has really messed with my schedule! (Yeah, going to blame the pandemic!) I don’t get up so early anymore, but I still try to write for at least four hours a day. Except for Sunday. I take that day off, unless I have a deadline to hit.
Deadlines trump everything, including days off!
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I don’t listen to music while I write, because I find I fixate on the lyrics, for some reason. I listen to old TV shows that I’ve seen before. For this book I listened to episodes of “Star Trek,” “Lost in Space,” and “Supernatural.” Good cheesy fun!
As a matter of fact, I’m listening to “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” as I write this.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a vet, or a ballerina. The ballerina thing went away when I found out my legs were too short. The vet dream disappeared when a “helpful” teacher told me I’d never make it because my math scores were too low.
So, I let both dreams go. I couldn’t do anything about the length of my legs, but, I made certain I got 95% on my final math exam. Just to prove that teacher wrong.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
Don’t freak out if you haven’t read any of the other Marie Jenner Mystery novels yet. They all stand alone quite wonderfully. But if you’d like to jump into Marie’s world, the first five books are on sale!
Join her mailing list on her website for news about new books, upcoming appearances and, occasionally, recipes. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
Marie Jenner Mystery series books, in order:
Seeing the Light
Drowning in Amber
Stalking the Dead
Dying on Second
Hearing Voices
Haunting the Haunted
Tying the Knot
Amazon buy link for Tying the Knot
Thanks for being here today, E.C.
Thanks for hosting!
Sounds like a good book.
Thanks so much for having me here! I’ll check in over the day to answer any questions that your readers may have.
Great interview
Sounds like a good read.
Thanks again for hosting me!
Sounds like a good read