Q & A With Author of Cosy Mystery "Trouble at the Manor", Ann Summerville

Trouble at the Manor

Q. Tell us about Trouble at the Manor

A. Trouble at the Manor is the fourth book in the Lowenna series and set in a fictional English coastal village. 

From the back cover:

In the quiet village of Lowenna on the west coast of England, a local police constable patrolling the harbor area finds a body covered in foam. Gia is the first to identify the victim who is from a small hamlet on a manor estate which is being pursued by investors. Gia has suspicions that the two events are connected, but while she investigates the murder, she also has deal with something more personal, something that may unhinge her marriage.

Q. Tell us about a favorite character from a book.

A. Rose is my favorite character. She is very loyal to her friends and doesn’t take any nonsense from anyone. She wears dresses with floral prints and her salt and pepper hair always looks like she’s come in from a wind storm. She’s not out to impress anyone.

Q. Where do you dream of traveling to and why?

A. Italy is my favorite country to visit and Venice especially. I haven’t been to Tuscany though and would love to plan a trip that incorporated a visit to that area.

Q. Who is your favorite author?

A. Richard Russo’s characters were wonderfully developed in Empire Falls. I also like Jan Karon’s Mitford series. 

Q. What was one of the most surprising things you learned while writing your books?

A. How relaxing writing is. It’s something I love to do and is an escape for me.

Q. Do you hear from your readers? What kinds of questions do they ask?

A. I was invited to a book club recently. They  read the first book in the Lowenna series, A Graceful Death. They commented on how much they liked the descriptions of Lowenna and wanted to know if it was based on an actual village. It is actually a combination of several Cornish villages two of which are Perranporth and St. Agnes where I lived for several years.

Q. What are your favorite TV shows?

A. I like a lot of the British series that are on PBS. Of course, Downton Abbey is one of my favorites. I also liked Foyle’s War.

Q. Are you currently working on another cozy mystery?

A. I am finishing up Grandmother’s Flower Garden which should be available in the next few weeks. The series is called Pecan Valley and each book will be based on a quilt pattern.

Excerpt:

Bea peeked through the blinds in her kitchen. They were still there, both of them. Two feet clad in mud-covered brown boots protruding, uninvited, from beneath the vines of her sunshine yellow squash or was it a cucumber vine? She couldn’t tell from the window. Regardless of which vegetable patch these boots were invading, she had no doubt that the owner was lifeless. After all, who lies beneath vegetation in someone’s well tended garden in the middle of a Texas summer?

This wasn’t what Bea had anticipated when she told her friends she was starting a new life, moving from the hustle and bustle of the city, moving to the country and she said  . . . . Bea paused for a moment, thinking of the words she had used.

“I’ll have a vegetable patch, grow raspberries. I’ll buy storage jars for the vegetables and make jam. Perhaps even pickles.”

But there in the middle of her prized squash . . . Bea lowered one of the blinds with her finger until it resembled a v-shape, scrunched her brow and considered looking for her glasses. No, the feet were definitely pointed toe up among the yellow flowered cucumbers. 

What was she to do? The garden club tour was in less than a week and having yellow tape and crime scene people traipsing around just simply wouldn’t do. But regardless which vegetable from the cucumber family had been invaded, this was the second death in as many weeks and she began to reconsider her life changing decision.

Author:  Ann Summerville

ISBN: 9781301453337

Available for purchase at:
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