A Conversation with Kate Young

At a murder mystery–themed wedding reception on Georgia’s picturesque Peach Cove Island, the bride is doing an awfully good job playing dead . . . — Southern Sass and a Battered Bride (A Marygene Brown Mystery) by @KAYoungBooks
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What inspired the idea for your book?

I’m not sure where the inspiration came from. I knew I wanted to write about a wedding, and I loved the idea of a mystery themed party. From there it just sort of took shape.

What was the most surprising thing you learned in writing this book?

How bittersweet it is to type the end.

How do you define success as an author?

I suppose finding a nice base of readers who enjoy my work and look forward to the next release. I try to provide a fun and intriguing escape from the everyday.

If you were friends with a character in this book, what kinds of things would you do together?

Lay in the sun and cook together. Marygene and I would be bffs for sure.

What are you reading now?

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James.

What would your dream library look like?

That’s an easy one. I wrote it into the second book in my Jane Doe Book Club Mysteries. Curious? It’s the cover of Reading Between the Crimes. Check it out! It’s fab!

If you had a secret room that opened by pulling a book on a shelf, what book would you choose?

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

If you knew you could not fail, what would you do?

Write. What I’m doing now.

SOUTHERN SASS AND A BATTERED BRIDE (Book 3 of the Marygene Brown Mysteries) has a little bit of sumthin tropey for every cozy lover. Great recipes for the foodies, terrifically fun and quirky secondary characters and even a sassy ghost. Marygene Brown, co-owner of the local diner has been asked to cater the wedding reception of her ex. It is, of all things a murder mystery themed party. The real mystery begins when the bride is found dead and then her body disappears. Marygene and her trusty besty, Betsy, head into investigation mode to clear the growing suspicion that they might be the killers.

It is a page turning, read in one session kind of book with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader fully engaged until the big reveal. There is plenty of drama, a few chuckles and a fair amount of misdirection along the way.

Though this is my first read in the series, I know it won’t be my last.

I received an advance review copy for free through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

Marygene Brown always figured she’d marry her childhood sweetheart, Alex Myers, not cater his wedding. But the Peach Diner could use the exposure. Most of the island is showing up—although more for the role-playing murder game at the reception than for the widely loathed bridezilla, Lucy Carmichael. Marygene may have to smile through the festivities, but Mama doesn’t have to hold her peace—especially since only Marygene can hear her mother’s ghost. Mama says she sees an aura of darkness around the wedding.

So when Marygene finds Lucy lying beside the wedding cake, buried in batter, with no pulse, it looks like Mama called it. This is no game. And when the bride’s body simply vanishes, it’s up to Marygene and her best friend Betsy (cousin to the groom and no fan of the bride) to solve a real-life mystery—with a little help from Mama’s sassy spirit . . .

Includes Seven Recipes from Marygene’s Kitchen!

buy links: Amazon – Bookshop – B&N – Kobo

Kate Young writes Southern mystery novels. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Guppy Chapter. Kate lives in a small town in Georgia with her husband, three kids, and Shih Tzu. When she is not writing her own books, she’s reading or cooking.

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