Sometimes the best way to know a person is by asking questions, where you can learn more about what makes them tick. Let’s see what Josiah has to say with her answers below.

What is your full name?
Josiah Louise Reynolds

How old are you?
I’m a little bit older than my teeth. It says 54 on my driver’s license.

What is your profession?
I used to be an art history professor at the University of Kentucky. Now I am a beekeeper and sell honey at the local farmers’ market. I also board horses and have a small catering business.

Do you have a significant other?
I’m a widow. Before my husband’s death of a heart attack, he left me for a younger woman. I guess wishes do come true. I know that sounds harsh, but he lied and stole from me.

What is their name and profession?
He was Brannon Reynolds, an architect who specialized in restoring antebellum homes. However, we lived in the Butterfly, a mid-century marvel which I designed. Brannon hated it.

Do you have any children?
I have one daughter, Asa. She is a retired Secret Service agent, and she now works for insurance companies tracking down stolen art. At least, that is her current cover. I think she works for the CIA.

Do you have any siblings?
I haven’t spoken to my sister in twenty years. I don’t like to speak of her.

Are your parents nearby?
They have both gone to meet the Lord.

Who is your best friend?
Baby, an English Mastiff weighing over 200 pounds, is my best animal friend. My human besties include Lady Elsmere, who lives next door, and Matt Garth, who looks like Victor Mature, a golden-age actor from Louisville.

Do you have cats, dogs, or other pets?
Oh, boy, do I! I board racing horses since I live in the Bluegrass. I also take in stray animals-sheep, peacocks, goats, cattle, llamas, chickens, and barn cats. That does not included the wild animals which live on the farm-foxes, turkeys, deer, and bobcats.

What town do you live in?
The nearest town is Lexington, Kentucky, but I live in the country.

What type of dwelling do you own or rent?
I live in the Butterfly constructed of local river marble, slate, and wood. The entire back of the house is glass overlooking the Kentucky River. The Butterfly sits on a cliff system call the Palisades and sits about 100 feet up on a cliff. It is called the Butterfly because the roof is raised to look like butterfly wings.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
The great room. I like looking at the river below.

What is your favorite meal and dessert?
Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, greasy green beans, skillet-fried corn, spoon bread, and blackberry cobbler.

Do you have any hobbies?
Tending to my animals and reading 1930s Mona Moon Mysteries by Abigail Keam.

What music do you listen to?
Bluegrass, jazz, standards, and 1970’s rock and roll.

What is your favorite color?
Blues and greens.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
My home.

Are you a morning or night person?
I have a hard time sleeping. I had a terrible accident and am always in pain. I walk with a limp and wear a hearing aid. Because I am chronically in pain, I do not suffer fools well, and I am known for my sharp tongue. Since my accident I am constantly stumbling over corpses. It is very unnerving. There have been twenty-one bodies so far. I can say with pride I have solved every murder.

What is your idea of a really fun time?
Sleep.

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
Up A Creek Without A Paddle

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
I am an amateur sleuth due to circumstance. If I have any partner, it is my dog, Baby. The professionals just get in my way.

What is a typical day in your life like?
I get up to check on the animals, let the horses out to the pastures, check on my bees, pay bills, and try to stay out of mischief like finding yet another dead body. My hair is starting to fall out due to the stress.

Death By Trauma: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery, Book 21
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: February 2025
Format: Digital (Print to follow)
Purchase Link

In the Bluegrass world of oak-cured bourbon, antebellum mansions, and Thoroughbred horse farms are secrets—deadly secrets! Josiah Reynolds knows that and with good reason. She’s solved many a murder, but Josiah prays that she does not stumble across another body. The stress is too much.

She is happy to be invited to a winter sledding party at Haze Corbyn’s home. Corbyn is a former syndicated movie critic for newspapers and magazines, who retired to the Bluegrass, dabbling in his love of horses.

The party is a kickoff for the Angela Weathers retrospective at a local theater. Miss Angela is even coming for the showing of her first movie and Corbyn’s event. Josiah is excited to meet her movie idol, so it comes as a big surprise when Haze Corbyn turns up dead at his own party. Kentucky is not called “the dark and bloody ground” for nothing!

About the author
Abigail Keam is an award-winning and Amazon best-selling author who writes the Josiah Reynolds Mystery Series about a Southern female beekeeper turned amateur sleuth living in the glamorous world of oak-cured bourbon, antebellum mansions, and Thoroughbred farms.

Tagline – There’s justice, and then there is Josiah’s justice!

Besides loving history, Kentucky bourbon and chocolate, Abigail loves honeybees and for many years made her living by selling honey at a farmers’ market like her protagonist, Josiah Reynolds. She is an award-winning beekeeper who has won many honey awards at the Kentucky State Fair including the Barbara Horn Award, which is given to beekeepers who rate a perfect 100 in a honey competition.

She currently lives on the Kentucky River in a metal house with her husband and various critters. She still has honeybees.