Dangerous Sanctuary J Q Rose Romantic Cozy Mystery Release

Today I welcome J. Q. Rose to Writer’s Gambit. J. Q. is a romantic suspense author and just released her second book in that genre. I first met J.Q. through Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) in 2014 when I joined. We have gotten to know each other over time and this last October she contributed a story, Sorry, to Storytime blog hop, which I support here on my website.  There is a BONUS keep reading till the end.  

THE INTERVIEW

Welcome J. Q.
Hi Juneta. Thank you for hosting me on my Dangerous Sanctuary Virtual Book Tour. I’m celebrating the release of my romantic suspense, Dangerous Sanctuary, by giving away a PDF copy of the book. A lucky commenter will win the book just by leaving a comment below. The winner will be chosen Friday, December 23, at 10 pm EST.

 

Hello, Readers of the Writer’s Gambit. Looking forward to answering questions from you on my book, writing process, publishing and marketing.

1. Dangerous Sanctuary is your second romantic suspense book released by Books We Love. Tell us a bit about the premise.

Yes, it’s my second mystery and the main character is Pastor Christine Hobbs. The pastor has been in the pulpit business for over five years. She never imagined herself caring for a flock that includes a pig, a kangaroo, and a murderer.

Detective Cole Stephens doesn’t want the pretty pastor to get away with murdering the church music director. His investigative methods infuriate Christine as much as his deep brown eyes attract her.

Can they find the real killer and build a loving relationship based on trust?
Available at amazon
Kindle 
Paperback 

TAGLINE: Pastor Christine Hobbs never imagined she would be caring for a flock that includes a pig, a kangaroo, and a murderer.

2. Your main character is a female pastor and a murder suspect, which I found unique. What gave you the idea?

I interviewed a female pastor for my book for girls, Girls Succeed: The Stories Behind the Careers of Successful Women. I was intrigued with her story about her entry into the ministry at a time when it was basically a man’s career. When she discovered women were making breakthroughs into becoming ordained ministers in a few denominations, her dream of becoming a minister became a reality. She succeeded in earning her Master of Divinity Degree at Yale University Divinity School and was ordained by the General Conference of the Mennonite Church in Pennsylvania.

At the time I interviewed her she was the District Superintendent of the Grand Rapids District of the United Methodist Church Conference in Michigan. She was responsible for sixty-nine United Methodist churches and their pastors. Her devotion to God, her determination, and her experiences sparked the idea for the story. That same year, a woman was assigned to our local church. I learned even more about being a woman pastor from her e.g. no one tells a male pastor he’s wearing cute shoes!!. With these two great role models, I created the character of Pastor Hobbs. Since I’m a mystery writer, there had to be murder suspects and what a contrast to have the good pastor accused of such a horrendous crime. Afterall, Detective Cole Stephens discovered she had the opportunity and the motive. Pastor Hobbs was an attractive and smart woman, so he didn’t mind investigating her either!

3. In your first book Deadly Undertaking, I thought the location of the murder scene unique, a funeral home, and the connection to your main character, the daughter of the funeral director, because it is her family’s business. In the second book, as stated a female pastor becomes a murder suspect. What type of research did you do or experience did you rely on to help you write these stories?

I used the funeral home as the setting in Deadly Undertaking because my dad was an undertaker, so I lived many of the scenes as a kid growing up. I also had my two brothers who followed in my dad’s footsteps as resources and they were very helpful. In Dangerous Sanctuary, my former pastor answered my questions.

4. How long have you been writing?

I, like many authors, began writing when I was a kid. My mother was my second-grade teacher. When I finished my schoolwork, I was a bit of a social butterfly and would talk a lot to my classmates and disrupt the class. Well, you can imagine how unhappy that made my mother/teacher, so I began writing stories to keep out of trouble. After my husband and I sold our floral business, I wrote many freelance articles for magazines, newspapers, and e-zines. Eventually, I wanted to play with writing so I began penning fiction, mainly short stories. Then I tackled writing a novel during Nano, the National Novel Writing Challenge to write 50,000 words in one month. Eventually, I developed that manuscript into a book. With a lot of encouragement from my writers’ group, I submitted it and received a contract. That was six years ago, so I plan to re-issue that book this winter after tweaking and adding more to it.

5. You’re also an advocate for inspiring and empowering girls, tell us about that.

When my husband and I worked at a girls summer residence camp, I met so many amazing young women and girls. The counselors and campers were smart and fun to be with. I wondered what they would do with their lives. The whole world was open to them. In this day, women are not boxed into being secretaries, nurses or teachers like we were in my youth. So I interviewed women who are successful in their careers e.g. doctors, scientist, professional clown, semi-truck driver, horticulturist, athletes, and more. Many of them had their dream career chosen when they were girls. I found their stories of overcoming obstacles on their paths to achieving their dream inspiring. The role models in this interactive e-book are the perfect guides for empowering girls to make their dream careers come true.

6. I saw on your website a photo of you in a red convertible. Tell us about that. This tickled me because I drive a dark blue mustang convertible. Is there a story there?

Funny you should ask about that Mustang. Yes, there’s a story to that. My husband, Gardener Ted, surprised me with the Mustang for my birthday 21 years ago. He had ordered it in January from the Ford car dealership that was owned by our neighbor. The car arrived in March, way ahead of my birthday in May. Everyone in the flower shop and friends knew the red Mustang on display in the dealer showroom was mine, except me. People can be so sneaky!!

Our neighbor’s daughter asked her dad if she could use that car for the prom. She said, “Noone will know it.” He assured her that yes, someone would know it!

On my birthday, you can imagine how flabbergasted I was when Gardener Ted told me to look on the kitchen table for my present. It was a set of keys. He walked me out the side door of our house and when I came around to the front, a gorgeous, gleaming red Mustang decorated with a huge red bow sat in our driveway. What a fantastic surprise! I have always wanted a Mustang convertible, so he made my dream come true.

7. You enjoy gardening and photography. You even have a book about gardening. I have seen some beautiful photos of garden vegetables on your blog, are these out of your garden? Tell us about that.

My husband is the gardener in the family. In fact, he loved it so much, we bought a flower shop and greenhouse business which grew from his gardening hobby. I’m writing a memoir now on that year we moved our family to Michigan to a small town where we didn’t know anyone and leaped into learning to operate a business and especially a flower business. The interesting part is we had NO experience in retail or floral design. After twenty years, we sold it and that’s when I got serious about writing. So I started a blog about our garden. Much of the information in the book, Quick Tips on Vegetable Gardening: Starting Your Garden, is included in the e-book. I hope to have a follow-up to it out before spring. The photos you see on my J.Q. Rose blog and Facebook are from our garden. Now that we spend winters in Florida, Ted can garden twelve months out of the year—his dream came true too.

8. Is there anything you’d like to say to our readers before we go?
If you’d like a copy of Quick Tips on Vegetable Gardening, please email me at jqrose02 at gmail dot com, and I’ll send you a PDF copy of the eBook. It’s also available on amazon kindle for 99 cents.

 

 

Buy Links:

Deadly Undertaking

Book I in this cozy mystery series

Quick Tips on Vegetable Gardening
Amazon

Girls Succeed! Stories Behind the Careers of Successful Women
Amazon 

I love hearing from readers and especially enjoy reading comments online and reviews of my books at amazon.

I have the best of both worlds, connecting with readers through fictional mystery books and non-fiction books with how-to advice.

BONUS:  J. Q. ROSE IS GIVING AWAY A BONUS COPY, PDF FORMAT, TO ONE LUCKY WINNER WHO COMMENTS ON THE POST.  PICK WILL BE RANDOM.  YOU MUST COMMENT TO WIN FREE COPY.  

 

Connect with J.Q. Rose online at
J.Q. Rose blog 
Girls Succeed blog 
Facebook 
Google+ google.com/+JQRose
J. Q. Rose Amazon Author Page 
Goodreads- 
J.Q. Rose YouTube videos- 
Pinterest