Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Secrets and Murder by Marilyn Levinson


LUCY BURDETTE: We've enjoyed our visits from fellow Crooked Lane author Marilyn Levinson (aka Allison Brook) before on the blog, so I'm delighted to welcome her back with a new book!

MARILYN LEVINSON: Not that I’m biased or anything, but I think a good cozy mystery is the perfect reading choice in the Time of COVID. What's more relaxing than a picturesque small-town setting peopled with mostly likable characters who deal with everyday life and local issues. Pandemics and contentious presidential races are never mentioned. Sure murders happen but they do so with a minimum of  bloodshed or mess, and the killer is always brought to justice. A cozy mystery often conjures up the wish to return to the good old days when life was simpler. As if those days ever existed.


In CHECKED OUT FOR MURDER, my sleuth Carrie Singleton, the head of programs and events at the Clover Ridge Library, meets a young woman who wants to give a program on psychic phenomena at the library. Evelyn the Ghost recognizes the woman as someone who used to live in Clover Ridge and whose father, an abusive drunk, was murdered twenty years earlier. Meanwhile, Carrie's self-absorbed mother come to town with her younger, second husband. Tom is in a movie being filmed in Clover Ridge playing opposite his beautiful ex-fiancée who sure acts as if she wants him back. A murder occurs, then another. Carrie and Evelyn wonder if they are connected or even related to the twenty-year-old murder.

Someone once told me that every character should have a secret—a useful piece of advice that I follow. My characters are complex and harbor all sorts of mysteries that impact their actions and their relationships with one another. The subject of mother-child relationships arises in CHECKED OUT FOR MURDER. Can a strained mother-daughter relationship mother improve years later if one of them never changes? Can a mother who has abandoned her child be forgiven? What lasting effects does an abusive drunkard have on his family members? How does a festering secret keep a woman from the people she holds most dear? (Read CHECKED OUT FOR MURDER and find out.)

Aside from the identity of the murderer, what was the most intriguing secret that was revealed in a mystery you’ve read?


A former Spanish teacher, Marilyn Levinson writes mysteries, romantic suspense, and novels for kids. Her books have received many accolades. As Allison Brook she writes the Haunted Library series. DEATH OVERDUE, the first in the series, was an Agatha nominee for Best Contemporary Novel in 2018. Other mysteries include the Golden Age of Mystery Book Club series and the Twin Lakes series. Marilyn lives on Long Island, where many of her books take place.


You can follow Marilyn here: 

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36 comments:

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  2. Congratulations on your new book, Allison . . . it sounds quite intriguing and I’m looking forward to finding out about if the murders are related.

    I recently read a book where the main character believed something about himself that was not true . . . and his best friend knew the truth, but kept the secret. Of course, it all comes out in the end . . . .

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  3. Congratulations on the new book! You have had quite the journey. Yesterday we were talking about how we stay sane in the pandemic – – any ideas?

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    1. Thanks, Hank. How to stay sane . . .taking walks helps. And meeting with friends. And watching lots of mystery series on Netflix and Prime.

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  4. Congratulations, Marilyn. "Every character has to have a secret." So true.

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  5. Congratulations on CHECKED OUT FOR MURDER, Marilyn/Allison! So many of us have talked about how we're loving cozies as an escape from the real world.

    And I love the idea behind the "B plot": a movie being shot in Clover Ridge challenging the relationship s between husband and wife and mother and daughter.

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    1. Thanks, Julia. I love writing about relationships. Forever fascinating!

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  6. Intriguing, Marilyn. Congratulations on your new book. We have been talking about how nice it is to have cozy mysteries to take us away during this troubling time.
    It's true about secrets and murder mysteries. I'd say that Jenn's Hat Shop series (Assault and Beret) has one of the best character secrets ever, (coulda knocked me over with a feather type of secret) but I can't tell you what it is because it is a spoiler, for sure;-)

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  7. Not a book... but the Netflix show DEAD TO ME is chockablock with secrets that turn the viewers' assumptions upside down. Definitely worth a watch for mystery lovers. Congratulations on the new book, Marilyn! Sounds like a fun read.

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  8. Thanks, Hallie. And thanks for suggesting my next Netflix series. I just finished reading Laura Lippman's WILDE LAKE. A wonderful study of secrets.

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  9. Roberta,
    Thanks for having me here as your guest. It's always a privilege to visit the Jungle Reds.

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  10. Congratulations on Checked Out for Murder. I'm looking forward to a fun read.

    Have you seen the 9.28.20 edition of Woman's World? Checked Out for Murder is the cozy feature for the Woman's World Book Club.

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  11. A character with a secret - the first I can think of is, because I'm reading her books again, is Eve Dallas in the JB Robb series. The other part of the secret is how and when to tell others what the secret actually is. A library with a ghost and a movie and a mother/daughter relationship - oh and there is a murder too? Okay, you got my attention. A new distraction in the time is always welcome. Off to work with a short trip to the Kindle library.

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  12. Your book sounds like the perfect pandemic getaway. I always enjoy a supernatural element in a story like this.

    I think we all have secrets, but we may not always think of them as things we must protect at all cost. Some of them--like, the first record I bought for myself was "Sugar Sugar" by the Archies--may not reflect well on our character and taste. (C'mon, I was 12!) They're certainly not the facts we lead with, when meeting a new person we want to impress, but they are secrets our friends uncover as they get to know us better.

    I applaud Marilyn for "I love writing about relationships. Forever fascinating!" People, and the things we protect or project, offer endless avenues to explore in the stories we tell.

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  13. Cozies certainly are a nice respite from the current world and you know good will triumph over evil - always a bonus! Congrats on the new release, Allison!

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  14. Oh yes, secrets! Hallie is right. Dead to Me is rife with plot twists. I'm trying to think of the last thing I read or watched that elicited a "no way!" out of me. I've been watching a lot of Miss Marple mysteries on Britbox lately and some of those definitely qualify. Checked Out For Murder sounds rife with plots and secrets and opportunities for evildoing.

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    1. I'm going to give "Dead to Me" a try tonight. Yes, there are many secrets in Checked Out for Murder.

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  15. My favorite mystery secret is the identity of Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar. We've always known who he isn't--what a delight to learn who he is!

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    1. BRAT FARRAR is one of my favorite books. I reread it when I wrote MURDER THE TEY WAY. I was so glad to see it still held up after my first reading many years ago.

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  16. Congrats on the new book.

    Some of my favorite secrets are spoilers, so I won't talk about them. :)

    Unfortunately, some cozies do seem to involve things from the real world. They are hard to read right now as a result.

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    1. I include real issues in my cozies, but I deal with them in a positive and constructive manner.

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  17. Congratulations on the new book! And welcome to Jungle Reds! I LOVE cozy mysteries. It's perfect for enduring the pandemic right now. I have been reading many ARCs of cozy mysteries from NET GALLEY.

    Some of my favorite secrets in cozy mysteries are unusual or unpredictable. Reading some books, I can guess what the secret is before it comes out. Reading other books, with lots of red herrings, it's a surprise when a secret is revealed. Sometimes I guess the wrong secret.

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  18. Try my cozies. I've been told by readers that the murderer turned out to be a surprise.

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