Shay sits down for a question-and-answer session with dru’s book musings so that we, the readers, can get to know her better.
What is your full name?
Hi there, my full name is Shayleigh Myers or Shay, as my friends and family call me. However, here’s a little known fact that I just learned about my name. Apparently, Shayleigh means fairy princess in Gaelic. How cool is that?
How old are you?
I am so glad you didn’t ask me how old I feel because after the past couple of years dealing with a series of my ex-husband’s betrayals and discovering he was having an affair with my assistant, it would be a completely different age than my official one of thirty-five.
What is your profession?
That is a tough one. Let’s see … I went to college in New Mexico and studied geology, where I fell in love with rough gemstones. I don’t know exactly what it was, but there was something about their raw beauty that stirred a creative side of me that I never even knew existed. After graduation, none of the jobs available in the geology field inspired me. As a result, I found myself dabbling in jewelry making and design and eventually established my own gemstone and jewelry design business. Sadly, due to my ex’s betrayals, not only of our wedding vows, but financially, too, I lost that business along with everything else I owned and was left destitute. So, let’s just say I’m between careers at the moment. Although, I recently inherited an eclectic tea and psychic shop that is brimming with Irish lore and Celtic symbols … so, who knows what the future has in store for me.
Do you have a significant other?
That’s a quick no. After Brad, my ex, pulled the stunts he did, I’m sworn off relationships. Although there is a strikingly handsome pub owner, who speaks in a gentle brogue that … but, yeah. Bad timing, so I’ll stick with no.
Do you have any children?
None at this time.
Do you have any siblings?
Yes, I have an amazing sister, Jennifer Philips, or Jen as everyone calls her. Actually, she’s married to a sheriff’s deputy, a fellow she started dating back in high school. He’s a real nice guy. She really lucked out.
Are your parents nearby?
No, they were killed in a boating accident when I was seventeen.
Who is your best friend?
I’d have to say Jen. We have and always have had such a strong bond that we share most everything.
Do you have any pets?
I have never personally adopted any pets. However, there is an elusive pure-white German shepherd everyone calls Spirit that seems to have adopted me.
What town do you live in and is it small or big?
After a sixteen-year absence, I have returned to my home town of Bray Harbor, California. It’s a small artsy community just down the coast from its sister city, Carmel-by-the-Sea.
What type of dwelling do you own or rent?
Part of my mysterious inheritance was the ownership of a small two-bedroom white-washed cottage in a location known today as Crystal Beach Cottages. From the beach, you’ll see mine. It’s the one on the far left, nestled against the wooded hill. Interestingly enough, it’s thought to have been the original home of Bray Harbor’s founder, John O’Toole, a fisherman from Howth, Ireland, and dates back to 1854.
What is your favorite spot in your home?
I have two favorite spots in my cottage, depending on the weather. The first being my cozy living room, which has a large stone hearth and chimney, where I love to curl up on cooler nights in my blue overstuffed chair beside a blazing fire. In milder weather, you’ll find me lazing on my front porch just watching the waves crashing against the beach, which is practically on my doorstep.
What is your favorite meal and dessert?
That’s another tough one as Bray Harbor has this amazing Boardwalk, where you can find everything from corn dogs and sliders to fish tacos, funnel cake, saltwater taffy, churros, and Greek baklava to name a few. I guess my favorite depends on what I feel like eating that day.
Do you have any hobbies?
My hobby now I suppose—if you can call it that—is learning about Irish folklore so I can gain a better understanding about half the items I inherited along with the teashop.
What is your favorite vacation spot?
That’s a hard one. I haven’t been away on a vacation in a few years and live in a sea-side town that others come to for their vacation. I suppose it’s like being on holiday every day.
What is your idea of a really fun time?
Fun time? I don’t know. It’s been so long since my life wasn’t in chaos that for me, sitting on the porch, watching Spirit play tag with the waves on the beach is fun. I guess that’s a pretty sad answer though, isn’t it?
If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
A Series of Unusual Events
Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
I’m strictly an amateur when it comes to sleuthing. Though, I’ve always had, what my sister Jen calls inky feelings, and sometimes I get lucky with those and can figure things out that others don’t see or feel about a situation or person.
What is a typical day in your life like in general and when you are on a case?
There is nothing typical about my days anymore. I’ll tell you, running a teashop is a completely new world to me, and I certainly don’t go looking for dead bodies, but on occasion they seem to seek me out. That’s when I head upstairs to the plant conservatory on the upper floor of the teashop and have a little chat with my benefactor—did I mention she was dead?
Steeped in Secrets, A Shay Myers Tea Shop Mystery #1
Genre: Cozy
Release: November 2022
Purchase Link
From the USA Today bestselling author of the Beyond the Page Bookstore Mysteries comes the first in a new series featuring an intuitive gemologist and owner of a New Age tea and crystals shop in beautiful coastal California’s Monterey Peninsula.
Flat broke and divorced, intuitive gemologist Shay Myers has changed since leaving her artsy hometown of coastal Bray Harbor sixteen years ago. But when she moves back under strange circumstances, old instincts may be the only key to spilling the tea on a deadly mystery.
Even with her life in ruins in New Mexico, Shay feels uneasy about settling into the small seaside town where she grew up on California’s Monterey Peninsula and taking over an estate bequeathed to her by Bridget Early, a woman she had barely known. Her heightened senses—an empathic gift she’s had since childhood—go into overdrive upon touring Crystals & CuriosiTEAS, Bridget’s eclectic tea and psychic shop brimming with Irish lore and Celtic symbols. They reach a boiling point when Shay looks up to discover a stranger’s body sprawled across the shop’s greenhouse roof . . .
With her new business a crime scene and questions brewing over Bridget’s so-called accidental death, Shay fears she’s also inherited the attention of a killer. The terrifying realization sets her on an impractical investigation for answers aided by her sister, an elusive pure-white German Shepherd, a strikingly handsome pub owner who speaks in a gentle brogue, and a misunderstood young woman with perceptive talents of her own. As Shay struggles to figure out her true purpose in Bray Harbor and the powerful connection she has with the tea shop, she must trust her judgment above all else to identify a ruthless murderer and save herself from becoming victim number three.
About the author
Lauren Elliott is the USA Today bestselling author of the Shay Myers Tea Shop Mysteries and the Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery Series. She grew up devouring Nancy Drew, graduated to Agatha Christie, and then began writing her own mysteries, as well as bringing her passion for storytelling to careers in professional theater and journalism. She can be found online at LaurenElliottAuthor.com.
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