Return to Blue Lake:

I’ve been in Blue Lake for months now. I arrived on a stormy October day; the town was beautiful, even in the rain, and I fell in love with my employer, the famous novelist Camilla Graham, along with her big house on the bluff. I fell in love with the Blue Lake people, too, especially with a certain eccentric neighbor and with the friendly police detective who seemed to be at our place all the time.

Now, in the midst of a frigid January, Blue Lake is shrouded in snow. Normally I would be able to stay in my warm upstairs room, working on Camilla’s novel and cuddling my cat, Lestrade, appreciating the snow from the inside.

But once again, Blue Lake is the scene of a murder, and once again I have managed to be at the center of events. In order to solve it, I’ll have to visit my favorite haunts:

• Bick’s Hardware, where Marge Bick, with her eye and ear for gossip, has become a helpful source of clues.
• The Blue Lake Library, where I’ll make a new friend and find a powerful new ally in my search for information
• The Blue Lake Police Department, where my friend Doug Heller works and where I can try to get updated information on my quest
• Camilla Graham’s office, where I have regular strategy meetings with my employer which have nothing to do with her new book-in-progress
• The scenic overlook above the town, on the bluff trail just above me. It’s here that people love to take in the vista of Blue Lake and its endless horizon, but it also might be the place where a murderer lurks, waiting to strike again.

Don’t get me wrong; Blue Lake is a beautiful town, and people who come there rarely want to leave. I’m one of those people; I can barely even remember what it was like to live in my apartment in Chicago.

Until this latest mystery is solved, though, I’ll step with care through the drifts of snow, and I’ll be looking over my shoulder for the murderer who is still at large.

You can read more about Lena in Death in Dark Blue, the second book in the “Writer’s Appentice” mystery series.

An aspiring suspense author finds herself writing mysteries by day and solving them by night in the second Writer’s Apprentice Mystery by the author of A Dark and Stormy Murder and the Undercover Dish Mysteries.

In the quaint town of Blue Lake, Indiana, Lena London is settling into her dream job, but someone is making her life a nightmare. . .

Things are beginning to go right for Lena. She’s got a new job assisting suspense novelist and friend, Camilla Graham. She lives rent-free in Camilla’s beautiful, Gothic house. She even has a handsome new boyfriend, Sam West.

After being under attack by the media and his neighbors, Sam has recently been cleared of suspicion for murder. Journalists and townsfolk alike are remorseful, and one blogger would even like to apologize to him in person. But when she’s found dead behind Sam’s house, Lena must dodge paparazzi as she unravels the many mysteries that threaten to darken the skies of her little town and her newfound love with Sam.

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About the author
Julia Buckley is also the author of the Undercover Dish Mysteries, including Cheddar Off Dead, The Big Chili and Pudding Up With Murder, coming in September 2017. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Romance Writers of America, as well as the Chicago Writers Association. Julia has taught high school English for twenty-eight years. She lives in Chicago with her husband, two sons, four cats and a dog.

All comments are welcomed.

Death in Dark Blue is available at retail and online booksellers or you can ask your local library to get it for you.