AND ALL THAT MADNESS

KATE: Joan Merrill is stopping by on her book tour today and I am thrilled to have her here. Hi Joan. You must LOVE producing Jazz shows. I used to work the Newport Jazz Festival every year so I have met a lot of the stars. So I know you have some great stories (I have great Buddy Rich ones – he was a PIA but I had a blast the year I was his ‘minder’). Tell us one of your favorite ‘star stories’.

Joan: I’ve heard the Buddy Rich story about the jazz musician who never tired of calling Rich’s home to hear he had died.

My most memorable moments are the in person interviews I did for NPR’s Jazz Profiles with artists such as Rosemary Clooney and Anita O’Day. I met Rosemary in her Beverly Hills home in her huge living room with photos all over every table surface. She wore a sweat suit , no makeup and was very down to earth.

I saw Anita in a sort of senior center in a totally impersonal space. She was very outspoken and funny, causing me to laugh several times during the interview, much to the chagrin of the editor who had to remove it from the final piece. Each of them thanked me enthusiastically for the interview, which mattered to me a great deal.

Kate: Thanks for stopping by Joan, and all you readers might like to listen for a while to an excerpt from her book:

BLURB

Publisher: CreateSpace (February 20 2013) Category: Mystery
ISBN: 13: 9781 489278981
Tour Dates: September, 2014
Available in: Print , Audio, and E-book, 227 Pages

AND ALL THAT MADNESS is a Casey McKie mystery. When the New York Jazz Society acquires a fifty-year old letter from Georgia Valentine, questions arise over the legendary vocalist’s death. Did she give herself a fatal dose of heroin, as the original investigators ruled, or did someone kill her? And if it was murder, what was the motive?

Casey moves her operation from San Francisco to New York to investigate the cold case, questioning Georgia’s musician friends, her widower, a drug dealer, a Broadway actress, a mafia boss and the authorities who declared the death a suicide. This quest takes Casey to New York’s most venerable jazz clubs, a Harlem nursing home, a mob-owned Italian restaurant, a lesbian bar and One Police Plaza, home of the NYPD.

She joins forces with an attractive detective from the Organized Crime unit, and, as the case progresses, so does their relationship. With no shortage of suspects, Casey ultimately uncovers evidence revealing a surprising killer.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joan Merrill has written five Casey McKie mysteries, all taking place in the world of jazz: And All That Murder (2009), And All That Sea (2010), And All That Stalking (2011). And All That Madness (2012), And All That Motive (2014).

All books (except Motive, which will be published in early fall), are available at amazon.com and Kindle. And All That Madness is available as an audio book, narrated by long-time KCSM radio host, Alisa Clancy. To download, go to audible.com or iTunes.com or for the CD version, go tojoanmerrill.com. An audio book of And All That Stalking is under production.

Joan Merrill has worked in the jazz field for over twenty years, producing fourteen shows for NPR’s Jazz Profiles and four shows for the Smithsonian/PRI series Jazz Singers. She’s represented various jazz singers; produced the video documentary “Saying It with Jazz” featuring Carmen McRae and others; and produced three CDs under her own label. She also created and curates the website: carmenmcrae.com.

Merrill is currently producing a musical revue tribute to Doris Day, entitled “Que Sera! Celebrating Doris Day” with Kristi King. See QueSeraTheMusical.com Paperback versions of the Casey McKie mysteries may be purchased at reduced rates from the website: joanmerrill.com.

Joan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoanMerrill20

BUY AND ALL THAT MADNESS:

Amazon
joanmerrill.com
Barnes and Noble
Book Depository

MY REVIEW

Really enjoyed this one. Casey spends her tie solving a 50 year old cold case while worrying about her biological clock. I learned a lot of jazz history but it was done in such a way as not to be distracting to the mystery. There was also some interesting information about the early days of drug prohibition, a topic I am very interested in. The solution to the mystery was a bit unusual but I deffinately will be reading more of Ms. Merrill’s books. ♥♥♥♥