Julie Anne Lindsey is a multi-genre author who writes the stories that keep her up at night. She’s a self-proclaimed nerd with a penchant for words and proclivity for fun. Julie lives in rural Ohio with her husband and three small children. Today, she hopes to make someone smile. One day she plans to change the world. Until she gets around to changing the world she is on tour with Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours for her newest book, MURDER IN REAL TIME and she is going to tell us a little bit about a possible alternative career *wink*. Be sure to take a minute to say hi to Julie in the comments below and if you want a chance to win e-copies of all three books in the Patience Price Mysteries, be sure and go HERE.
If Writing Falls Through, I’m Going to Open a T-Shirt Shop
I’m a collector of T-shirts. Not intentionally. In fact, I only just realized my collection was a collection when I cleaned my closet and found a few shirts with tags still attached and one shirt in multiple sizes (my weight fluctuates from tolerable to don’t-look-at-me, so the wardrobe accommodates). The deeper I dug through the recesses of old bridesmaid dresses and school sweatshirts, the more t-shirts I found. When my husband came home that night, I had the t-shirt pile centered on the kitchen table, and it nearly reached the light.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“They’re t-shirts form my closet,” I said. “Did you know I had this many goofy t-shirts?”
I should stop and point out my t-shirts aren’t nice, high-end, scoop-neck numbers in gorgeous hues with endless thread counts. No. Mine are the Hanes Her Way / Fruit of the Loom, novelty kind. They have rectangular boy shapes, come mostly in neutral colors and some kid in sunglasses probably pressed a decal onto them while hitting on a tourist over the counter. My shirts say things like, “I make stuff up.” It’s funny because I’m a writer. I really do that. Another long-time favorite is: “Plagiarism is faster.” I think I got that one in college. My professors loathed it. “Talk Nerdy to Me” was the shirt I had in multiple sizes. A silhouette of rectangular-framed glasses supported the big pink words. Cute, right? I’m old enough to embrace my inner nerd these days. Definitely adorable.
Anyway. That day with my husband and the pile on the table, he said, “Well, if writing falls through, you can always open a t-shirt shop.” Bless his heart. He meant to open a shop and sell all the shirts blocking his dinner. What I heard was, “Sweetie, you should open your own t-shirt shop! Think of how much fun that would be. You can create all the shirts you want. Choose the styles and designs, hire kids who won’t wear sunglasses indoors, and you can make up all the cutie sayings you want.” I was in love with that idea. He still wanted dinner.
Sadly, I don’t have time to open an actual-anything, so I made a virtual shop in my cozy series with Carina Press, The Patience Price Mysteries. Patience’s parents have an island t-shirt and holistic shop. Her dad sells all sorts of goofy shirts. Most are the do-it shirts. Do you know those? For example: when the fall birders come to town, he makes shirts that say things like Birders do it in the forest. Patience’s best friend works at the local FBI, so her dad makes a little pink shirt, FBIs do it undercover, shirt and horrifies his daughter by presenting it to the friend – who loved it. His shirts are sometimes funnier because he’s so sincerely excited to make them. At Halloween, he has a line of ghost hunter shirts. Ghost hunters do it in the dark. I had an absolute blast making up t-shirt slogans for her dad, especially ones I knew would drive my heroine crazy. Her name’s Patience, but the poor thing wasn’t blessed with her namesake. Impossible, I love her more than the shirts.
If you’re in the mood for a fun new series with lovable characters, intrigue and silly shirts, I hope you’ll give Murder in Real Time a try. I did my best to make you smile.
Murder in Real Time
With the chaos of summer tourists and fall birders out of town, counselor Patience Price is looking forward to the quiet life she remembers. She longs for some peace. And an apple fritter. But the calm is cut short when a reality show sets up camp to film a special about ghosts on her little island. Now fans, reporters and crew have flocked to sleepy Chincoteague. Who knew ghost hunters had an entourage?
When two cast members are killed in a room at the local B&B—a room usually occupied by Patience’s FBI agent boyfriend, Sebastian—she finds herself on the case. Sebastian doesn’t want Patience ruffling any feathers but, as always, she can’t help herself.
Patience promises to let Sebastian handle the investigation—he is FBI, after all—but after a drive-by shooting, her wicked curiosity gets the best of her. And with the TV show forging ahead with filming, the list of suspects (and the line of food trucks) only grows. But has the shooter already flown the coop? And how do you find a killer when you don’t know who the target is?
MY REVIEW
This was a fun new mystery. I liked the characters and the location. While you can jump right in and start with this book and not be at all lost, it stands alone, I find I want to know more and will go back to read the first two in the series. Always the best recommendation I can give a book. ♥♥♥♥
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TOUR PARTICIPANTS
October 14 – The Gal in the Blue Mask – Review, Interview
October 15 – Booklady’s Booknotes – Review, Guest Post
October 16 – A Blue Million Books – Guest Post
October 17 – deal sharing aunt – Interview
October 18 – Kelly P’s Blog – Guest Post
October 19 – Cozy Up With Kathy – Interview
October 20 – The Ninja Librarian – Review
October 21 – Carole’s Book Corner – Review
October 22 – 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too! – Guest Post
October 23 – rantin’ ravin’ and reading – Review, Guest Post
October 24 – Shelley’s Book Case – Review, Guest Post
October 25 – Brooke Blogs – Review, Interview
October 26 – Dalene’s Book Reviews – Review
October 27 – Back Porchervations – Review
Kate Eileen Shannon 
Ummm…now I don’t feel quite so bad about my t-shirt “collection”
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Ummm…now I don’t feel so bad about my t-shirt collection.
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I love a book that is a stand alone but yet is also part of a series. This is a great idea for authors since in generates more impulse sales if the buyer doesn’t feel like they must get the first book to enjoy a later book. I agree that t-shirts are one of the best piece of clothing to share your point of view and can’t wait to obtain a copy of your book to read.
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Thank you so much for being a part of my book tour, letting me borrow your blog space for a while and for reading my book! The absolute best thing you can do for an author. You read me! I am especially thankful for everyone’s support and enabling on the t-shirt addiction 😉 We were all obviously meant to be friends 🙂 Thank you!!
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Reality shows can be a blast. Adding in a murder sounds like a great idea for a book!
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Please keep writing. We don’t need another t-shirt shop.
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