Introducing Lucy Kerr! — Erica O'Rourke & Lucy Kerr

I have a secret.

A not-so-secret secret, actually.

I love mysteries. All kinds of mysteries. Cozies, traditionals, noir, British, classics, new, Chicago-set….all of them. And while I have been happily reading and writing young adult novels for a long time, my love of detectives has never faded. (This is the not-so-secret part.)

Last summer, my beloved agent Joanna asked if I would like to try my hand at writing a mystery. It took me all of thirty seconds to respond, “YES. YES I WOULD!” I turned off the internet, retreated into my writing bunker, and began to figure out whodunit – and more importantly, who solved it.

The answer to the latter was a snarky, commitment-phobic ER nurse whose family relationships were strained, to say the least. A woman who was good in a crisis, but less adept at managing daily life. A woman who fled her hometown for excellent reasons, and returned home for even better ones.

Her name, by the way, is Frankie Stapleton. I’ll be telling you more about her soon. And happily, you’ll be reading about her, too, because…

WE SOLD FRANKIE’S BOOK!!! (That’s part of the secret.)

TIME OF DEATH, a Stillwater General Mystery, will be published by Crooked Lane Books on December 13, 2016. Yes, that’s THIS December. Yes, it would make an excellent Festivus gift. Yes, I’ll have more details forthwith.

But here’s the second part of the secret.

Erica O’Rourke didn’t write Time of Death.

Lucy Kerr did.

Now, Lucy looks…a lot like me. She talks a lot like me. She is equally fond of coffee, books, and pajama pants. Here’s the difference: Erica writes young adult books with magic and scifi. Lucy writes adult mysteries. Different genres, different names-- but still, at their heart, stories about strong ladies making things right for the people they love.

Here’s the official announcement: