Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles - In Full Swing for 2024

New year, new mysteries to solve in our favorite small town in the Texas Hill Country. Author CW Hawes just published the first Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles mystery for 2024. Who Mourns Elektra? book 21 in the MBCC series released in February and is available in ebook and paperback. And if you have a Kindle Unlimited account, you can download and read it for FREE.

This is the third novel Hawes has written for the (currently) 21 book series and it's wonderful. If you've been reading along, you are aware that Harry Thurgood, the owner of the Really Good Wood-Fired Coffee Shop has been smitten with the Reverand Ember Cole since the first book, Death Wears a Crimson Hat. Now, twenty-one books later, they are planning their wedding. But as tends to happen in small town Magnolia Bluff, murder and mayhem are trying to get in the way of their happiness. The police detective wants to hang the murders on the couple and arch nemesis, Mary Lou Fight is doing everything in her power to dig up anything she can find to steal their joy and destroy their lives.

The police arrest Harry and Ember for murder, and after they're able to post bail, they begin the quest for proving their innocence. But will they be able to find the real killer and at the same time stop Mary Lou's assault on their good names, or will the couple fall victim to circumstances beyond their control and end up on trial for Murder One?

You can find out for yourself by clicking the link here and grabbing a copy of the newest Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles mystery: Who Mourns Elektra? 

CW Hawes is one of my favorite writers. He has written somewhere in the neighborhood of forty-five to fifty books covering several different genres. He is also an award-winning poet. You can learn more about CW and his work by clicking the link here: CW Hawes

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The Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles is a unique multi-author crime fiction series that began is 2022. The nine books released during the first year were so well received that the authors decided to continue the series the next year. Now, in 2024, we begin year three with another round of fun and interesting mysteries to keep you reading late into the night. 

The Underground Authors started as a small group of mostly Texas based writers who banded together to encourage each other and help cross market their individual work. After the group published a book of short stories, each written by one of the authors, with every story being tied to one thread - the boat on the book cover - CW Hawes tossed out the idea of producing a mystery series where the common thread would be a small town in the Texas Hill Country that would be written as a collaborative, yet each book penned by a different member of the Underground Authors. A unique idea in the mystery genre.

Since that time, we've grown from that small group of Texas based authors to a larger group and are spread out from as far north as Canada, all the way across the United States, and even (sometimes) down into Mexico. What we all still have in common, however, is the passion to continue writing stories about all the shenanigans that take place in a small little Texas town called Magnolia Bluff.

You can find the entire series by clicking the link here: MBCC Series

You can find the short story compilation here: Beyond the Sea

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As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. And of course, your thoughts and comments are always welcome. 😊

You can find my books here: The Razzman Mystery Crime Files

Until next time...😎

Rough start to the year, but finally... I can get back to writing!

I ended 2023 the same way I started 2024 -- sick! I came down with what I thought was a severe cold over the Christmas holiday weekend. By December 26th, I was feeling bad enough that I went to see my doctor. They tested me for Covid and the flu. I didn't have Covid, but I was diagnosed with the B strain of the flu. I picked up my Tamiflu prescription and went home where I preceded to have the worst ending to an old year and an even worse start to a new year that I can ever remember. 

Let's just say January was pretty much a blur. I spent the last week of December and most of the first week of the first month of the year in bed. Then, when I thought I was finally on the other side, the wonderful aftereffects of the flu kicked in for the next three weeks culminating in an extremely lo-o-o-ong night in the emergency room due to an elevated heart rate and some other issues. They ran a battery of tests, and thankfully, everything turned out okay in the end. But let's just say I did not get much writing accomplished during the first month of the year.

Although 2024 began with a whimper rather than a bang for me, I choose to believe that it can only get better as the months roll along. The good news is that I am back at my desk and diving into the two projects I've committed to writing this year. First up is my second book in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series. It will be the twenty-sixth book in that series and will be released in July. I'm also working on the fifth book in my Razzman Mystery Crime Files series, which will be out towards the latter part of the year.

For anyone who has read Second Chances, which is book seventeen, but my first novel in the Magnolia Bluff series, I think you'll be pleased with my follow up coming in July. The action in the new book starts off quick and intensifies as the story moves along. So, if you haven't had the opportunity to read Second Chances yet, you have until July to get caught up on how my protagonist, retired NYPD narcotics officer Brandon Turner assimilates himself along with his two-year-old Labrador Retriever, into the crazy, crime filled, murderous world of that small-town nestled in the heart of the Texas Hill Country.

You can certainly read Second Chances without having read any of the other books in the series, but in my opinion, you're missing out on some mighty fine storytelling if you don't devour all the books in this wonderful series. And the best part about it is that you can read them in any order you'd like as they are all standalone novels set in the same town. The authors even share characters that interact with their own to keep a continuity in the stories across the series. You can find all the books in the MBCC series by clicking here: MagnoliaBluffCrimeChronicles

For those of you who have read any of my Razzman PI mysteries, I hope you'll be interested and maybe even looking forward to knowing that Tony Razzolito, his partner Scott McHenry, and of course, the inimitable, pizza loving, Brooklynite, Vinny Gabrianno, along with the rest of the cast of characters that are a part of the series will be making a return before the end of 2024. I've got a cool mystery cooked up for the next full length/fifth installment and I can't wait to share it.

More about my new Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles book and the new Razzman Mystery Crime Files book as we get closer to the release dates.

Meanwhile, you can find all the Razzman mystery books by clicking the link below the line🠟

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As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. And of course, your thoughts and comments are always welcome. 😊

You can find my books here: The Razzman Mystery Crime Files

Until next time...😎

Meet Underground Author Jinx Schwartz

USA Today Best-Selling Author Jinx Schwartz is best known for her fabulous Hetta Coffey Mysteries. Her series is still going strong fifteen books in and with the popularity of sassy Texan, Hetta at the helm of each story, I'm certain there will be more books to come in this wonderful series. 

Last December, Jinx wrapped up the first year of the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles with Born and Bred Texan. We were introduced to Blue Bonet, a recent widow who returns to her hometown of Magnolia Bluff. And of course, murder and mayhem find its way into Blue's life. This year, Jinx is rounding out the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles for 2023 with her release of Texas Summers Are Murder, book 20 in the series. 

In her new book, we get to check in with Blue Bonet as she becomes involved in trying to help clear the name of one of Magnolia Bluff's long-time citizens of a murder charge. She and her best friend, Gloria, stick their noses in where some think they don't belong and soon find themselves in more danger than they bargained for.

Jinx Schwartz has written twenty books, including her most recent release, Just Like That, book 15 in the Hetta Coffey Mystery Series. A ninth-generation Texan, Jinx has lived and worked all over the globe. Much like the protagonist in her mystery series, she navigated her boat in the Sea of Cortez for thirty years. Nowadays, she spends her time between Arizona and Mexico. But now she mostly navigates using her RV, more affectionately known as her land yacht and she's not afraid to use it. 

Texas Summers Are Murder is available for preorder and will be released on Wednesday December 20th. You can purchase it NOW by clicking here: Amazon. And you can learn more about Jinx and all of her books on her website: JinxSchwartz.com

Here is the blurb for the book:

Blue Bonet, a well-known watercolorist in the Texas Hill Country, looks forward to a peaceful summer of painting. She has a backlog of commissions to complete and believes her studio on the lake is the perfect workplace. However, her small hometown of Magnolia Bluff has an astonishing number of murders, and this summer is no different. When a murder occurs in the park, the small-town police grab a harmless drunk known as Fergus. Blue and her best friend, Gloria, come to Fergus's defense. This move draws the ire of some who want to see Fergus tarred and feathered. But as they snoop to find the real murderer, Blue and her friends unwittingly put themselves in the crosshairs of a dangerous criminal. Join them in their struggle to bring the true culprit to justice and clear Fergus's name.

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The Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles is a unique multi-author crime fiction series that began is 2022. The nine books released in the first year were so well received that the authors decided to continue the series into 2023. 

As the year closes with book 20 in the series, we are hard at work putting together all the mysterious shenanigans that will invade the small town of Magnolia Bluff during 2024. The fun begins again in February when CW Hawes releases book 21.

The award-winning writers who pen the stories for this little town in the Texas Hill Country are as diverse as the stories they've written for this superb series. But we all have one thing in common - the love of a good mystery.

You can check out the entire Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series here: MBCC Series

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As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. And of course, your thoughts and comments are always welcome. 😊

Meanwhile, you can find my books here: The Razzman Mystery Crime Files

Until next time...😎

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles Book Tour

The Underground Authors are excited to announce that we have teamed up with Lone Star Literary Life to send the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series on a Book Blog Tour. The tour runs from Monday November 27th through Friday December 8th. This is a full series tour and highlights the first two years of the series. 

Each day the tour will feature a different author and their Magnolia Bluff book(s). You will get to know a little bit about the author and their contribution to the series. You will also have the opportunity to read a review for each book and sign up for some cool giveaways.

Here is the schedule for the tour:

LONE STAR BOOK BLOG TOURS

SCHEDULE:

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles

By the Underground Authors

November 27-December 8, 2023

Giveaway ends midnight, CDT, 12/8/23

 LSLL TOUR PAGE (live 11/25/23):

https://www.lonestarliterary.com/content/magnolia-bluff-crime-chronicles-underground-authors

 

11/27/23	Boys' Mom Reads	10 Million Ways to Die	Review
11/27/23	Reading by Moonlight	Death Wears a Crimson Hat	Review
11/27/23	Hall Ways	Series Spotlight
11/28/23	The Plain-Spoken Pen	Death in the Absence of Rain	Review
11/28/23	StoreyBook Reviews	Eulogy in Black and White	Review
11/28/23	LSBBT Blog	Series Spotlight
11/29/23	Forgotten Winds	The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy	Review
11/29/23	Carpe Diem Chronicles	Only the Good Die Young	Review
11/29/23	It's Not All Gravy	When Bad Things Happen to Good Mice	Review
11/30/23	Rox Burkey Blog	You Won’t Know How. . .or When	Review
12/01/23	StoreyBook Reviews	The Flower Enigma	Review
12/01/23	Writing and Music	The Killer Enigma	Review
12/02/23	Reading by Moonlight	Men Lying Dead in a Field	Review
12/02/23	The Clueless Gent	The Shine from a Girl in the Lake	Review
12/03/23	Jennie Reads	The Dewey Decimal Dilemma	Review
12/03/23	Forgotten Winds	The Dog Gone Diamond Dilemma	Review
12/04/23	Chapter Break Blog	Justice	Review
12/04/23	The Plain-Spoken Pen	Bye Baby Bye	Review
12/05/23	Shelf Life Blog	Texas Summers are Murder	Sneak Peek
12/05/23	The Book's Delight	Born and Bred Texan	Review
12/06/23	It's Not All Gravy	Who Killed Lilly Paine?	Review
12/07/23	Hall Ways	Second Chances	Review
12/08/23	The Page Unbound	A Chance of a Ghost	Sneak Peek

I hope you'll take a moment each day to check in and read the reviews and the author profiles... and of course, if you'd like, maybe even purchase a book or two, or perhaps the whole series😎 There's an awful lot of good reading here. Just click on the hyperlink for each day and you will be transported to the blog page for that day's book review, author, and giveaway information.

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As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. And of course, your thoughts and comments are always welcome. 😊

Meanwhile, you can find my books here: The Razzman Mystery Crime Files

Until next time...😎

Meet Underground Author Kelly Marshall

Award winning, bestselling author Kelly Marshall is no stranger when it comes to writing a good mystery. Her highly acclaimed Winston and Strom mystery series proves that. Last year she gave us Justice, the eighth book in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series, which went on to be a category bestseller on Amazon. This time around she is treating us to a new mystery titled, Bye Baby Bye: Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles, Book 19.

The new book continues the story of Madison Jackson, who is a State Conservation Police Officer with the Department of Parks & Wildlife in Magnolia Bluff, Texas. As Jackson's life finally starts to calm down and get back to normal following her harrowing experience in Last year's Justice, she discovers that her infant daughter has been kidnapped from right under her nose. She can only think of one person who would carry out such a horrible act and it is her job to find her daughter and prove that the man who is most likely responsible pays for what could be an act of revenge.

Kelly Marshall always knew communication would dominate her life. She thought it would be as a writer and hoped to pen best-selling novels. But life took a turn and instead, she ended up at a broadcasting school in Colorado, then spend the next thirty years playing music, interviewing interesting people, and loved doing love song dedications. Although the experience was intense, she says it didn't seem like work at all. In fact, she had a ball. After thirty years, she walked away from the microphone and decided to follow her first love... writing.

Bye Baby Bye will release on Wednesday November 22, 2023, and will be available for purchase by clicking KellyMarshallBooks or Kelly's Amazon Page. You can also find all of Kelly's other fantastic crime and mystery books at the same two links.

Here is the blurb for the book:

Texas Law Enforcement Officer, Madison Jackson awakes to discover her infant kidnapped from her crib.

Was it revenge for someone Madison had arrested or something far more sinister?

Madison's estranged husband is incarcerated in Supermax. As the second in command of a deadly Mexican cartel, did he issue the order to abduct their daughter?

"This novel, the 19th in a series, is a quick read that is well-paced and boasts emotional heft... an effective thriller." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Bye Baby Bye is a gripping tale that traverses the terrain of love, loss, and the darker shades of humanity, making it a must-read for those who appreciate layered crime fiction." -- Literary Titan Review

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The Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles is a unique multi-author crime fiction series that began in 2022. The nine books released during the first year were so well received that the authors decided to continue the series into 2023 and beyond. We are currently hard at work putting together all the mysterious shenanigans that will take place in Magnolia Bluff in 2024.

The award-winning writers who pen the stories for this little town in the Texas Hill Country are as diverse as the books they've contributed to this superb series. But all of them have one thing in common-- the love of a good mystery.

You can check out the entire Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series here: MBCC Series

_____________________________________________

As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. And of course, your thoughts and comments are always welcome. 😊

Meanwhile, you can find my books here: The Razzman Mystery Crime Files

Until next time...😎

Book Writing: AI vs. Human - My Thoughts

It seems like everywhere I turn lately, AI is being pushed at me. Maybe I'm old fashioned when it comes to Artificial Intelligence as a way of life, but I prefer to do the work myself. Now don't misunderstand, I believe that AI can be a good thing in small doses and may even be helpful for certain things. But as a writer I have a hard time accepting the idea that a book written using AI will somehow be a better story than one written by a human. As a member of the human species, I can add emotion to my writing that, in my opinion, cannot be equaled by artificial means regardless of the "intelligence" behind it.

AI simply cannot match the blood, sweat, and tears a real person pours into the written words that will give birth to the masterpiece they've dreamed of creating. The idea of working hard to improve over time with each new story is a feeling that is lost if the book was produced by typing in a few key words and asking a machine to compose the manuscript. I get that the "author" may go in and edit, add and/or subtract to try and make it their own work, but it doesn't change the fact that they didn't take the time to actually write the story themselves. And if that's the case, should the author really claim the finished product was written by them? 

I know there are authors who have used AI to help create covers for their books. To each his own, but again, I feel that the give and take between a cover artist and the writer will always produce a product that will better express the vision the author is looking for. Not to mention keeping the cover artist employed to do what they are trained to do--produce quality artwork that gives the reader a glimpse at what's in store for them on the pages between the front and back covers.

I understand that using AI to write a novel isn't technically plagiarism. And I get that the content is being written from scratch and not from stealing someone else's ideas, but for me, it just feels like a shortcut that I'm not willing to take. I want to feel good about the content I produce. Even if it doesn't turn out great, I can claim it as all mine, produced from my thoughts, emotions, and creativity with me connecting all the dots to form the story.

I am not asking anyone to agree with my thoughts on this. I know that some might even pushback hard on this subject... and that's okay. Just as it's okay for me to express my thoughts and my opinion on AI as used for writing, I respect anyone who disagrees with me. What's right for some doesn't mean it's right for all and we're all entitled to our opinions on this subject. The idea that we can think and use our minds to form an opinion is what makes us human. It's also what makes us different from the machines.

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As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. And of course, your thoughts and comments are always welcome. 😊

Meanwhile, you can find my books here: The Razzman Mystery Crime Files

Until next time...😎

Prolific Author CW Hawes

October marks the 18th installment of the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series with Ten Million Ways to Die, written by CW Hawes. Hawes is a founding member of The Underground Authors and the brainchild behind the series starring that little town in the Texas Hill Country with a murderous reputation.

Hawes has said that he is very proud of this book and that it's a bang up mystery. I agree. I had the privilege of being able to pre-read a bit of the story and all I can say is that we are all in for a treat. This is one of Hawes' best mysteries. And there is a lot going on in this one. We get to check in with everyone's favorite will they or won't they couple, coffee shop owner Harry Thurgood and Reverend Ember Cole. We also get to witness the nastiness of town socialite Mary Lou Fight, and we have a front row seat as Brother John's Traveling Salvation and Holiness Extravaganza blows into town. And that's just for starters. To see how all these, and other fun, tense, and mysterious characters all come together, mark your calendar for Monday October 23rd when Ten Million Ways to Die hits Amazon.

CW Hawes recently gave us a teaser of his fabulous book when he did a reading on Rob & Joan Carter's Meet the Author Podcast (click to visit site). It's a great little snippet as to why this book needs to be in your personal library. You can see him perform his reading here: CW Hawes Reads!

Hawes is an award-winning poet as well as a bestselling author. He spreads his writing talent throughout many different genres, including horror, mystery, science fiction, post-apocalyptic, decopunk, occult detective, and weird. He has penned several series, standalone, and short stories and has over fifty titles available. You can find them all by clicking here: Amazon.

You can order your copy of Ten Million Ways to Die by clicking here: Ten Million

Here is the blurb:

Secrets. Deadly secrets. Secrets to die for.

Harry Thurgood has a secret life he wants to keep secret. Magnolia Bluff, Texas seemed like the perfect place where he could leave his cares behind.

But when he falls in love with Ember Cole, trouble has found him. Again.

The Reverend Ember Cole has a past and it's a past she wants to keep in the past.

Mary Lou Fight, on the other hand, will leave no stone unturned to find out what the minister is hiding. And if she can destroy Harry Thurgood as well, who has thwarted her plans to defrock Ember, that will be even better.

But Mary Lou isn't the only trouble Harry and Ember face. Police Detective Reece Sovern has two murders to solve. Harry and Ember find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time helping the wrong people. And to Sovern that means the couple is guilty. He just has to find the evidence to prove it.

Now it is a race against time. Can Harry and Ember stay out of hail long enough to untangle themselves from suspicion of murder? And thwart Mary Lou Fight's mission to run the couple out of town?

Ten Million Ways to Die is a killer of a murder mystery. It's an exciting and deadly romp through the small town of Magnolia Bluff. Where murder is always waiting in the wings.

Ten Million Ways to Die. A read to die for. Get your copy today!

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You can check out the entire Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series here: MBCC Series

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As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. And of course, your thoughts and comments are always welcome. 😊

Meanwhile, you can find my books here: The Razzman Mystery Crime Files

Until next time...😎