Regional publisher Scorpius Carta Press will release the fourth book in the Cardboard Cottage Mystery series by Jane Elzey on Saturday, April 20.
“Killer Croquet on the Emerald Isle” is a murder mystery adventure to Ireland with a charismatic group of women reader fans are calling the Arkansas 4.
As one reviewer said, “Think Evanovich with a southern flair, Jane Elzey could be the next Big Thing in Cozy.”
A book launch is planned from noon to 3 p.m. Satueday, April 20, at Iris at the Basin Park gallery in Eureka Springs. A second author book signing being sponsored by the Friends of the Berryville Library will be held at Poncho Goldenstein’s Irish Pub on the Berryville Square from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 27. Books, food, and drink will be available for sale.
Jane Elzey will be at the Garland County Library author showcase on May 1; at White Street Studio Walk on May 17; and on tour in St. Louis May 28 and 29.
A retired journalist, Janie Pritchett-Clark is the writer behind this contemporary mystery fiction. She pens her murders under the Jane Elzey nom de plume from her home in Eureka Springs, where she claims to eavesdrop on tourists for plausible and highly entertaining plots as to why the husband might bite the dust. Since her first book, “Dying for Dominoes,” published in 2020, the tagline has stuck. #The-HusbandAlwaysDies Why punish the husband? It’s a murder mystery,” Elzey says. “Someone’s gotta go. Might as well be that unpleasant husband. What wife doesn’t want him to disappear at some low point in the marriage?”
Tongue in cheek, Elzey says some of her best ideas for characters and victims come from the VIP Killer Club. For a nominal membership fee, Elzey will write a husband, boss, or ex into the script, retaining full literary license for what she does with them. Except, she guarantees to do him in (on the page).
“No one will recognize him in the book except you and me and our sense of satisfaction,” she claims.
The Cardboard Cottage Mystery series published by Scorpius Carta Press includes “Dying for Dominoes” (2020), “Dice on a Deadly Sea” (2021), “Poison Parcheesi and Wine” (2022) and “Killer Croquet on the Emerald Isle” (2024).
What’s next for book 5? “A cold case,” Elzey say-s. “Something from the 1920s, I think, set in the Bluff Springs Silent City. That’s another name for the graveyard,” she explains. “It’s a great place for research.”
Books will be available for purchase at these events, on Amazon, on the author’s website, and various bookstores. To schedule Jane Elzey for a book signing or other author engagement, contact the author directly through her website at JaneElzey.com.
