Christy Barritt this week’s guest/countdown

» Posted on May 5, 2008 in Blog | Comments Off on Christy Barritt this week’s guest/countdown


Congratulations, Daniela6968. You are the winner of Delia Latham’s Goldeneyes.

If you want to be part of the drawing this week of Christy Barritt’s novel, Suspicious Minds: A Novel, please leave a comment with your email address included or email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawing ends Sunday evening.

Christy Barritt’s bio:

Rock and roll may never die, but the King is definitely dead . . . again.

In this smart and suspenseful sequel to Hazardous Duty, crime-scene cleaner Gabby St. Claire finds herself stuck doing mold remediation to pay the bills. But her first day on the job, she uncovers a surprise in the crawlspace of a dilapidated home: Elvis, dead as a doornail and still wearing his blue suede shoes. How could she possibly keep her nose out of a case like this?

Elvis turns out to be Darnell Evans, a down-on-his-luck impersonator whose luck just got a lot worse, and there is no shortage of suspects. When his widow begs her to help, Gabby takes on the case of who-killed-the-King. In the meantime her would-be rival, Chad Davis, is turning into one hunka hunka burnin’ love and starting to dish out some serious TLC, which is the last thing Gabby needs right now.

Realizing the futility of running from God and from her responsibilities, Gabby decides to reconsider her priorities her life. But when the ersatz Elvis killer catches on to her investigation, will she survive long enough to be able to?

“Suspicious Minds plays havoc on the nerves and the funny bone as crime-scene cleaner Gabby St. Claire wisecracks her way between dead bodies and flying bullets. A treat not to be missed!”

-Jill Elizabeth Nelson

Author, To Catch a Thief series

Christy Barritt is a freelance writer, author and speaker.

Her newest book, Suspicious Minds (Kregel, 2008) is a lighthearted mystery about a sassy crime-scene cleaner who likes to stick her nose into police business. The first book in the series was Hazardous Duty, a finalist in the ACFW Book of the Year contest. She’s also the co-author of Changed: True Stories of Finding God in Christian Music (Standard, 2005).

When she’s not working on books, Christy writes articles for various publications. She’s been published with The Lookout, Brio, Campus Life, The Plain Truth, Marriage Partnership, Evangel, The Secret Place, Devozine, Encounter, Kidz Chat, and more. She writes a weekly feature article called Thumbs Up, which salutes someone doing something positive in the community, for The Chesapeake Clipper, part of The Virginian-Pilot.

Christy enjoys teaching and speaking at various functions, from writers groups to women’s luncheons. She has a passion for sharing the truths and lessons that she’s learned throughout her life.

For two years, she was an assistant editor at Standard Publishing. When her father became ill, she moved home to be closer to him. The move propelled her back to her first love-writing-and she hasn’t stopped since.

She’s married to Scott, a teacher and funny man extraordinaire. They have one son, Eli Samuel, and two dogs, Duchess and Benji.

When Christy’s not writing, she enjoys having coffee with friends, taking crazy road trips that usually involve no maps and flipping coins, and making her 24-month-old son giggle.

Counting Down/Margaret Daley

I’m counting down to the end of school. I’m subbing in a classroom while the special ed teacher is on maternity leave. I’m eager to get back to writing full time. I got used to it the three months I was retired. I hate wishing my life away, but I’ll be glad when May 23rd arrives. Have you ever counted down to an event?

In a suspense I’ve used that technique to up the suspense in the book. Not that waiting for school to be over is really suspenseful. One of the most suspense movies was D.O.A. where the man had a day to solve his own poisoning before he died. Now talk about a countdown. What books or movies have you seen where there was an exciting, suspenseful countdown to an event?

Oh, and I almost forgot. Buried Secrets (October 2007 Love Inspired Suspense) and Vanished (May 2007 LIS) were finalists in the Golden Quill Contest.