Title: Nipped in the Bud
Publisher: Barbour Publishing
Cover blurb: Paige Turner has secured her first landscaping contract, sprucing up the city park for the upcoming Pickle Fest. But after a confrontation with the city manager, she finds him dead in a mound of mulch. With no alibi for the time of death and, according to the police chief, with plenty of motive to carry out the murder, Paige must dig her way out of the mess by finding the real killer. Attorney Adam Hayes aids in her search as he works hard to keep her out jail—and his heart.
1) How did this story come to you?
I love to garden and I love to kill people—on paper that is, LOL—so it was only natural for me to combine both together in Nipped in the Bud. I also wanted to share gardening tips in a humorous format a cozy mystery like Nipped in the Bud is a perfect format to do so.
2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
Wow, that’s a story. I was awarded my contract for Nipped in the Bud at the American Fiction Christian Writer’s conference in September of 2008 for Barbour’s Heartsong Presents Mystery imprint. Then in January, the line folded and my dreams died. Or so I thought. But a year later Barbour decided to publish the contracted mysteries in a new single title line called Hometown Mysteries and they selected Nipped in the Bud to release in the first six mysteries.
3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
Hmm, let’s see. I have lived in nine states, one twice. But that was Texas and it’s such a big state you have to live there twice, LOL. I used to teach computers to kindergartners through eighth graders and that job also included doing hardware repair for the computer lab. One day, in my younger years, my husband went to work and I decided to take down all of the walls in the second story of our house to open up the rooms. He came home and all that was left were wires hanging from the ceiling. FYI, we were planning to this, I just got a head start.
4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I am working on the edits for Behind the Badge, a romantic suspense book releasing in June with Love Inspired Suspense and writing Relentless Pursuit another romantic suspense book releasing in the fall of 2011 also with Love Inspired Suspense
5) Parting comments?
Thank you for having me here, today and I’d like to say a special thank you to all the readers who have bought both High-Stakes Inheritance and Nipped in the Bud this fall. I am so appreciative of all the kind readers out there.
6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
I love to connect with readers and here are a few places I can do that.
http://www.susansleeman.com/ Personal website
http://www.thesuspensezone.com/ Book review website
http://hometownmysteries.com/ Hometown Mystery Website
http://www.twitter.com/susansleeman Twitter
http://www.facebook.com/susan.sleeman Facebook friend’s page
http://www.facebook.com/SusanSleemanBooks Facebook fan page
http://www.loveinspiredauthors.com/ Love Inspired Authors
