Journeys To Joy Welcomes Lorena McCourtney with her Cate Kinkaid Files ~

If you've not read Lorena McCourtney's books, you're in for a surprise ~

~THE CATE KINKAID FILES Series is READ~WORTHY~MATERIAL~

Lorena McCourtney is a  Christian New York Times Multi-Series Author ~

Lorena, please tell my followers/your readers something about your writing they may not be aware of ~

 My last two mystery series involved older-age characters (The Ivy Malone Mysteries and The Andi McConnell Mysteries), and I was looking for a change of pace. So I came up with 22-year-old Cate Kinkaid, desperately trying to find a job during a time of steep economic downturn all over the country.

Yes, she agreed, she was desperately trying to find a job. But her name was Cate Kinkaid, and she wasn’t 22; she was 29.

Okay. Whatever.

Would she like to be a private investigator? I asked.

Not particularly, she grumbled, but she’d dip her toe into the world of private investigating if necessary, just until she could find a “real” job.

And how was her romantic life?

There was this incident called The Cappuccino Disaster with a man she thought she was going to marry, then a bunch of frogs who did not turn into princes. She hasn’t barred men from her life forever, but she’s very cautious now and isn’t interested in having some guy dumped on her.

Nothing like creating a character with a mind of her own.

But the author is in control, right? So I complicated Cate’s life with a murder on her very first case as a PI, a case that was supposed to be easy and uncomplicated, no mayhem or murder. She also encounters a deaf white cat with an attitude, a guy named Mitch Berenski (hunk or computer-nerd, she isn’t certain), and a killer. (Or is it killers?)

So all of that became the first book in the Cate Kinkaid Files, “Dying to Read.” Which, I’m pleased to say, made it onto a New York Times bestseller list.

Then came Book #2, “Dolled Up to Die.” The idea for this came from a doll my stepdaughter has, a boy doll so realistic looking that my first thought  when I saw him sitting in a chair in her house was, “Hey, who’s that? I’ve never seen him around here before.”

The most realistic looking of dolls, however, are a little short on human DNA, as Cate discovered when she got a frantic call about three shootings at a woman’s home. But another victim there definitely had plenty of human DNA.

This book involved research into how such realistic looking dolls are made, although most of the information didn’t actually make it into the book. (Research is often like that; you may use only a smidgen of what you actually learn.) I also needed to learn about psychic stuff, specifically about people who claim to be able to tell you about past lives you’ve supposedly lived.

And I needed to know more about motorcycles. My husband and I have had and enjoyed various motorcycles in the past, but I discovered a fact I hadn’t known before. Did you know those high-up handlebars are called ape-hangers? Somehow that makes me giggle every time I think about it.

There’s a wedding in this book too, and the book could have had a different title. “Three Dolls and a Wedding” might have been appropriate. But there’s that killer in there too.

Anyway, you can see how it all hangs together in that second book, ”Dolled Up to Die.”

Now, the latest (and final) book in this series is just-released Book #3, “Death Takes a Ride.”

This book involved research into some subjects new to me: Bicycle races. Antique cars and their restoration. A medical coma. Tattoos.

This series is set in the western Oregon city of Eugene. I’ve been through there many times, but in writing this series I realized there were a lot of specifics I didn’t know. So we made a special weekend trip up there from our home in southern Oregon so I could pick up more details. I also had a chance to meet my great editor at Revell, Lonnie Hull DuPont, who drove down to meet me there.

I also had fun in this book with an ex-trophy-wife, a big dog with a peculiar affinity for motorcycles and an ongoing hostility with Cate’s cat, Octavia. As well as Cate’s foray into the last place she ever expected to be, a biker’s bar. And the serious problem of Mitch’s hangup with her being a private investigator that threatens to end their entire relationship.

I hope you’ll enjoy the bang-up conclusion to the Cate Kinkaid series. And, for readers who keep asking me, yes, I am working on another Ivy Malone Mystery.

READ ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW

NO CHEATING

 For the fun of it ~ I'm going to post parts of the three back-of-the-book blurbs from the books above. See if you can match which one goes to which title.

Please leave your choices in a comment WITH your email addy ~

 GIVE AWAY INVOLVED

I'll be posting the answers next Monday night~

No cheating by going to look up the books either. LOL!

B~O~T~B Blurb #1

It's official. This case is above her pay grade-and Cate's in over her head.

Despite having been merely a bystander, Cate finds herself sucked into the case. And the deeper she gets, the more she begins to suspect that the shooting may  not have been as cut~and~dried as it appeared.

B~O~T~B Blurb #2

When Cate Kinkaid receives a frantic phone call ~ she drives to the scene of the crime against her better judgement. After all, aren't triple homicides more up the police department's alley? New rule ~ Always find out if the victims have human DNA ~ these three do not.

B~O~T~B Blurb #3

All Cate Kinkaid has to do as an investigator is to find if a particular woman lives at a particular address. Simple, right? When the big and brooding house happens to contain a dead body, this routine PI job turns out to be anything but simple. Is Cate in over her head?

Be sure to leave a comment with your choices as to which book belongs to which Back~Of~The~Book Blurb and learn the answer next Monday evening. 

CORRECT ANSWERS and EMAIL ADDRESSES IN COMMENTS - WILL GET PUT IN DRAWING FOR NEXT MONDAY EVENING -  Lorena is offering an AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF DEATH TAKES A RIDE to the winner! I can't notify the winner without an email address!

Thanks for stopping by Journeys To Joy ~ Blessings on your week!