My name is Cora Mae Bingham and I am the mayor of Spicetown, Ohio. For many years, I taught fifth grade at Peppermint Elementary and my husband, George Bingham, was mayor. When my husband passed away, I retired from teaching and took over his duties to finish out his elected term. There was so much to do that I just couldn’t get it all done in time, so I ran for election. Now more than a decade has passed and I’m still working on completing all my plans for the city. I just couldn’t leave until everything on my list was marked off!
Today, I am busy arranging for Christmas tree deliveries to City Hall, the police department, and the Spicetown Community Center. I have a number of telephone calls to make to finalize details for the City Hall Christmas party, and I’m overseeing the decorating of the lobby of our Spicetown Community Center. The devoted and talented citizens of Spicetown are preparing the first production for our new community center. They will be presenting the play, Arsenic & Old Lace with Jimmy Kole, my supervisor of Spicetown Streets and Alleys, in the leading role of Mortimer Brewster. Once the drama with his leading lady subsides, I expect the outcome to be the talk of the town!
My assistant, Amanda Morgan, is helping me construct a plan to fully utilize the new community center throughout the year with regular local events. We have so much talent in Spicetown, that I had hoped to share all of that with the world. We want to dedicate one weekend each month to displaying a different local craft, as well as raise money for our library and local animal shelter. We have already booked the state quilt display and have begun stirring up the competition for a chili cook-off.
Spicetown has a new subdivision development blooming on the edge of town and it has created so much activity for City Hall. With annexing, street development, ordinances, and outdoor lighting all in great demand, I have to drag the City Council into the future and force them to support the positive development of our city. A new flower shop has opened, there are rumors that a bookstore is in the planning stages and a permit request just came in the office today from someone interested in opening another bed and breakfast in town.
Spicetown is growing because it is a wonderful place to live! We are nestled in the hills of southern Ohio and overflowing with kind, albeit eccentric, people who keep a watchful eye on their homes and their friends. When uninvited trouble sneaks into town, my police chief, Conrad Harris, is always on top of the situation. His right-hand man, Wink Hobson, and his newly trained police dog, Briscoe, make certain the residents of Spicetown are safe. That is really all I strive to do each day.
I create long lists day and night to ensure I don’t forget any detail or any citizen, but at the end of each day, what matters most is that my town is safe and happy. I’m so delighted to have the opportunity to meet all of you and I do hope you come and visit us in Spicetown real soon.
You can read more about Cora Mae in the “Spicetown” cozy mystery series, the first one, Welcome to Spicetown, released February 12, 2019 and the most recent, Blue Collar Bluff, September 17, 2019.
When a crime stopper senior citizen starts to act oddly, a new business sells fake products and the New Year’s Eve fireworks display disappears, Mayor Cora Mae Bingham and the Spicetown Police Chief Conrad Harris have to get involved.
Cora keeps an eye on her quaint small town nestled in the southern hills of Ohio. Although Spicetown is sprinkled with culinary street names, stores full of spices, and quaint life-long citizens, out-of-towners can bring in a dicey element.
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Meet the author
The author, Sheri Richey, currently resides in Georgia, but originates from Illinois, with a few states in between. The joy of writing is that it can be done anywhere you are!
Her passion is sheltering those that have no one else and her house is filled with animals that found her at their last moments. Senior and/or special needs dogs rule her household and her heart.
To learn more about Sheri, visit her website at sheririchey.com. You can also connect with her on social media: Facebook, or on Twitter, or on Instagram, or on BookBub, or on Goodreads, or on Blog, or on Amazon Author Page.
All comments are welcomed.
It is so refreshing for me to read a cozy which has an older main character and I’m truly looking forward to reading this book. I’m not familiar with this author and wish I had heard of this release last February or in September when book two came out. It’s never too late to catch up, however.
Thank you Dru for the introduction.
This is a new-to-me author and series. It sounds good, and I’m adding it to my TBR list.
I love the covers on the books in the series, and now that I have discovered” them. they are on my list to read! Thanks Dru Ann for today’s post!