#GuestPostTour ~ Tragic Tuesday by Denise Jaden @denisejaden @dollycas

Location, Location, Location – by Denise Jaden

Hi! I’m Denise Jaden and I’m thrilled to visit Mystery, Thrillers & Suspense Blog today! I’ve written several books for teens, nonfiction books for writers, a series of cozy culinary mysteries, and most recently, a paranormal cozy mystery series. I’m also a co-author of the Rosa Reed historical mystery series with Lee Strauss.

I am here to celebrate the launch of the seventh book in my Tabitha Chase Days of the Week Mysteries, Tragic Tuesday. All of these standalone mysteries center on Tabby and the small seaside town of Crystal Cove, Oregon. (Read on until the end of this post to find a special bonus!)

Aside from writing, I also work as a background performer for many TV shows and movies shooting around the Vancouver area. I just finished homeschooling my son through thirteen years and I enjoy Polynesian dancing in my spare time. I live just outside Vancouver with my personal-trainer husband, my filmmaker son, and a spoiled cat named Indy.

When people find out that I work full time and write and release several books per year, they often want to know how I do it. Working as a background performer gives me lots of opportunity to hang around other creative minds. When there is downtime on set, I also get plenty of time to write. I used to wish there was such a thing as a daytime job that paid an hourly wage where I could just sit around and write all day, and lo and behold, there is such a thing!

If you’ve ever watched the series WHEN CALLS THE HEART, you may have seen me as one of the regular townsfolk. I’ve had a reoccurring role in Hope Valley since season two, and spending time in an old western town, removed from the real world, is great to help me put the worries of everyday life aside and lose myself in a story.

Aside from the wonderful allotment of writing time, working on this show is like family. We have become a tight-knit group, and several of the other background performers sit around through the days and help me plot out new books. 

Location is everything to me, both in my fiction and in my life. At home I write at my kitchen table, often in the midst of people coming and going and no shortage of distractions. On set, there can also be a certain amount of chaos, but because most of it does not involve me, I’m easily able to tune it out. 

Like I said, my Tabitha Chase Days of the Week Mystery Series is set in a fictional seaside town in Oregon called Crystal Cove. One of the most enjoyable parts of writing this series has been exploring and describing the quaint little town with all of its fun idiosyncrasies. Tabby lives on her late aunt’s houseboat, originally fixing it up to sell, but she falls in love with the town, and the houseboat, and decides to stay.

I’ve always dreamed of staying on a houseboat, and so I’ve had a lot of fun writing about Tabby’s adventures in doing so. If you could travel anywhere and stay in any type of structure, where and what would it be?

In Witchy Wednesday, our sleuth, Tabby, begins the story as a junior realtor. She soon expands her employment to include café barista and property manager over several houseboats. I love it when my characters live varied and interesting lives! 

Tabby starts the series as a skeptic of all things magical and supernatural, and I admit, she was a lot like me in this way. I like my fiction to be solidly based in the real world. However, a little over a year ago, when I was about to start writing a new series, I polled my readers to see what kind of mystery they wanted me to tackle next. The overwhelming preference was for a magical or paranormal mystery series.

Then I had a dream one night (many of my plots and characters have started with a dream) in which a skeptic arrived in a magic-infused seaside town. I immediately felt as though I could write that character, and Tabitha Chase was born, but creating the town was what really got my creative juices going. Crystal Cove, even with its problems, is a town I would love to visit…or possibly even live. Through getting to know the magic-infused town, my own belief in supernatural occurrences has grown along with Tabby’s. 

What are some of your favorite magical or supernatural occurrences you’ve read about in a cozy mystery? I have to say, the talking cat is still one of my favorite mystery tropes and this series has Sherlock the short-legged, glasses-wearing, mind-speaking cat. Do you prefer a cozy with lots of otherworldly elements, or cozies firmly based in realism?

I hope you’ll visit Tabby in Crystal Cove and take part in one of her adventures! For a limited time, you can get Book One in the Tabitha Chase Days of the Week Mysteries, Witchy Wednesday, for free on my book shop at http://shop.denisejaden.com . All of Tabby’s books are standalone mysteries, but also build on each other, culminating in Book 7, Tragic Tuesday. 

Thank you to Mystery, Thrillers & Suspense for inviting me to be here today! I look forward to hearing from you in the comments.

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