Reviewer 510558
A rare laugh-out-loud combination of murder, wit, and mirth. Honestly, a delight. This is a fast-paced mystery told in a homespun style with dialogue that literally crackles. The protagonists are two elderly women in rural Indiana trying to make ends meet by taking a shared job as detectives in training at a small detective agency. Having lived through the late 60s and 70s I loved their references to America's past: a purple Gremlim car makes an appearance along with notes on making out at the drive-in. Had me literally rolling on the bed in laughter and reading parts out loud to my partner.
Nicole G.
If you're looking or a fast paced humorous mystery involving senior sleuths then this book is for you. Lots of laugh out loud moments along with a well planned mystery. Do not read this book in public because you might make a spectacle out of yourself when reacting to this engaging and funny book. I really enjoyed the story and characters and the author portrayed the setting in a such a detailed manner that you'll think you've been transplanted right in the middle of an apple orchard in Knobby Waters, Indiana! I thought this was a great first in series and I'm eager to read more books by this author.
Sabine F.
If you like laugh out loud cozy mysteries this book is for you! This is some "serious" fun and makes it onto my Top10 list of 2018. There was never a dull moment and I was giggling and laughing my way through the book. The two old ladies are the hoot! Ruby Jane, called RJ by almost everyone, and Veenie arer working for Harry's PI agency to make some extra cash to be able to afford some Twinkies and "mystery meat" sandwiches in their old age. Old farmer Dode hires them to find out what the ghosts are doing that he has been seeing in the old mansion that's been empty and neglected for decades. It was hard to put this book down and I am very happy that the next two books in the series are already scheduled to be released.
I turn 60 this year and my mother is 84. We are both lifelong mystery readers, dating back to our shared love of Nancy Drew. But although we grew up, Nancy did not.
In some mother-daughter phone chats last winter we found ourselves in need of new authors to read. We both craved older, adventurous, female protagonists. My mother suggested that since I had retired from a career as an internet marketer, I head back to the keyboard and pound out some stories.
Being of the mind that if there’s a problem, I ought to act to create a solution— a great notion from the 1960s and 70s— I took my mom up on the challenge and researched the marketplace.
I was puzzled by the dearth of older characters. Baby boomer readers are a mighty tribe. This is especially true in the mystery genre. In fact, a 2010 study of readers by Sisters in Crime, which supports mystery writers, found that 67% of mystery readers are women. Moreover, a whopping 71% of these are age 50 or older.
In contrast, the average age of a mystery leading lady is 33. I immediately decided there is a need for novels that better reflect my demographic, as well as my mother’s.
Alas, the publishing industry disagreed. I pitched the idea to American publishers. Each time, they “loved the writing,” but declined the series with a note that my characters were “simply too old.” Make them young and we’ll gladly rep you, I was told.
After several months of rejection I decided I was the right woman to take a risk on this new niche. The result, a year later, is The Shady Hoosier Detective Agency. Book 1 of the series, The Ghost Busting Mystery, features detectives-in-training whose ages, 67 and 71, fall far outside the 30-something range favored by publishers. I founded Hot Pants Press and adopted the pen-name Daisy Pettles to develop entertainment for boomer women.
Both my mother and I worked for a living, so we decided to model our protagonists on women much the same as us. Studies show that Americans age 60 and over are not retiring, some out of necessity, but many by choice. In The Shady Hoosier Detective Agency, the protagonists are lifelong friends who share a house and a 1960 Chevy. One in particular, named Veenie, has been a lifelong snoop. The other, Ruby Jane, has great computer and research skills. For them, the decision to work again is both a way to supplement their incomes and a way to exercise their innate curiosity.
I believe there is pent up demand for older, upbeat female characters. Back in the 80’s, the most successful TV drama was the “Golden Girls,” about five widowed women 55+ sharing a home and laughter.
My goal is to update the mystery novel to better serve this core reading demographic, by creating books that mirror my life and the evolving lives of boomer women. I don’t think there has ever been a more active generation of women. Our literature should reflect that.
————————————————————-
Ghost Busting Mystery, the first book in Daisy Pettles’ new boomer mystery series, is available as a 99 cents ebook download. It may also be purchased in print form from ($10.99) from Amazon, Ingram Spark and Indie Bound.
BEDFORD, Ind. (PRWEB) August 23, 2018
When June Phillips, of Bedford, Indiana, ran out of mystery books to read, her daughter, Vicky Phillips, a writer, decided to author a new series of mystery and crime novels that would keep them both entertained through the long Indiana winters.
“My mother has a great sense of humor, and she loves Indiana history, so I decided to create for her the fictitious town of Knobby Waters, Indiana, and to populate that town with quirky rural characters and historical incidences of the kind we both knew and loved while growing up in Jackson and Lawrence Counties,” said Phillips in speaking of her inspiration to create the Shady Hoosier Detective Agency book series.
Advance reviewers have praised Book 1 of the series, the Ghost Busting Mystery as, “A rare laugh-out-loud combination of murder, wit and mirth,” dubbing Daisy Pettles as, “the new Queen of Comic Crime.”
The Ghost Busting Mystery is set in the small river town of Knobby Waters, in fictitious Pawpaw County. It chronicles the crime-cracking hijinks of two nosy retired ladies, lifelong Baby Boomer friends, Ruby Jane Waskom and Veenie Goens. Short on funds, but high on hope, the two friends launch late-life careers as detectives.
Veenie and Ruby Jane always get their man – or ghost, or blind wiener dog, as the case may be. Ghosts, lost gold, hillbilly hoodlums and a wiener dog with a drinking problem all figure in the plot of Book One, the Ghost Busting Mystery, a comic crime novel.
Writing under the pen name Daisy Pettles, Ms. Phillips, who turns 60 this year, decided to make her detectives senior women, ages 67 and 71. Short on retirement funds, but full of spunk and spirit, the lifelong friends decide to take their natural nosiness to the professional level and sign on as PI trainees with the Shady Hoosier Detective Agency.
“Senior women and rural characters aren’t well represented in fiction these days, but the original small-town detective was Miss Marple, of British fame, later Americanized as Jessica Fletcher in the “Murder She Wrote” TV series,” says Phillips.
“In writing the Shady Hoosier book series I wanted to tap into nostalgic memories of the 60’s and 70’s in rural Indiana. I wanted to write a feel-good, humorous mystery series that both my mother and I could enjoy,” said Phillips.
The Ghost Busting Mystery plays on real-life Hoosier historical elements, such as the lost gold from the Reno Brothers’ historical Jackson County train robberies. A limestone plaque carved by turn-of-the-century stone crafters in Bedford plays a central role in what appears to be a ghost haunting in an old apple orchard. Knobby Waters is located on the East Fork of White River and has both a covered bridge and a brick plant, much like Medora, IN, where Phillips attended high school, graduating in 1977.
Book 1 of the series, the Ghost Busting Mystery, is being released under the pen name Daisy Pettles in e-book and print formats September 1, 2018. The mystery book will be available as a 99 cent download until the end of 2018. It will also be available for purchase in print format on Ingram Spark, Indie Bound, and Amazon and through local bookstores ($10.99).
