Mystery We Write: Marja McGraw's Bogey's Ace in the Hole

It’s day six of the Mystery We Write blog tour and it’s a pleasure to welcome back Marja McGraw. Marja is originally from Southern California, where she worked in both criminal and civil law enforcement for several years. She’s lived in Nevada, Oregon, Alaska and Arizona.

Marja wrote a weekly column for a small newspaper in No. Nevada and she was the editor for the Sisters in Crime Internet Newsletter for a year and a half. She’s appeared on television in Nevada, and she’s also been a guest on various radio and Internet radio shows.

She writes the Sandi Webster Mysteries and the Bogey Man Mysteries, and says that each of her mysteries contain a little humor, a little romance and A Little Murder!

She currently resides in Arizona with her husband, where life is good.

Anne - When did you first realize you were destined to be an author?

Marja - I’ve always been a storyteller and in fact I’m pretty sure I sometimes drive people crazy. I’ve got a story for almost any occasion. Putting stories on paper is definitely different than telling them, but it’s a lot of fun – probably the most fun I’ve ever had.

However, in all honesty, I’m still waiting to find out if writing is my destiny or not. Every time someone buys one of my books, I feel just a bit closer to having my answer.

Anne - Tell us about your most recent release.

Marja - My latest book is Bogey’s Ace in the Hole (A Bogey Man Mystery).

The only people who might strike terror in Chris and Pamela Cross’s hearts are the Church Ladies, who want them to find a missing friend. When the friend turns up on her own, Chris finds a new kind of terror—a Murder for Hire plot the woman has overheard.

Ride along in Chris’s 1950 vintage Chevy with the Church Ladies, his wife Pamela, their son Mikey, and two overzealous yellow Labrador retrievers while they try to find not only a potential killer, but the intended victim.

Anne - I often write while sitting in my car. Parked. In my driveway! Do you have a unique place to write? Tell us about it.

Marja - I only write in my office, but ideas come to me in the oddest places – in the shower, pacing back and forth in the backyard (I do pace a lot), driving down a country road, and sometimes when I’m walking through the grocery store. I can be anywhere, with no exceptions, and an idea will suddenly pop up, front and center, in my mind. Sometimes it’s annoying because by the time I find a piece of paper to write on, the idea flits away. I know, I should keep paper and pencil with me, but I don’t.

Anne - What does the current state of your home office say about you?

Marja - That I’m disorganized and I need to catch up on my To Do stack. I’ve got letters to write (not everyone has email), an historical CD to listen to, notes to sort through, blogs to write, people to call and a current Work in Progress that desperately needs my attention. Let’s see, bills to pay… Oh, the heck with it. I think I’ll go look for a chocolate bar and head out to the backyard for some pacing.

Anne - Chocolate works for me! Are you a glass half-empty or half-full kind of person?

Marja - Both, depending on the situation. I’m a natural born worrier, and when I’m worried the glass is half empty. Under normal circumstances, I’m pretty upbeat. I try to find the good in people and situations, and I become excited easily when something good happens. I’ll cry over something joyful as well as something sad.

Anne – Would you share an excerpt of Bogey’s Ace in the Hole?

Marja – With pleasure!

“Pamela, there are some women sitting at the bar and they’re asking for you.” 

Someone was tapping on my shoulder and whispering in my ear. Turning around, I found Daniel, our bartender, looking at me with a question in his eyes. I raised my eyebrows at him with a question of my own. Who wanted to see me?

“They said it’s a matter of life and death. I asked them if I could give you their names, and they said, ‘Just tell her the Church Ladies are here.’”

“The Church Ladies are here? It’s a matter of life or death? And they’re in our cocktail lounge? Drinking?” I wanted to gulp, but my mouth had suddenly gone dry.

“Two are drinking iced tea and one is having wine.”

“Wine?”

“Are you aware that you’re repeating what I say to you?” he asked.

“I am?”

He shrugged his shoulders and left me standing there while he returned to his station.

The Church Ladies? The Church Ladies! Sitting in our cocktail lounge? A feeling of dread seeped into my heart. These were good women, but sometimes they were trouble. If they’d come into the restaurant for dinner, I wouldn’t be worried. But they’d bypassed the restaurant and seated themselves at our bar. It seemed like these women usually had some kind of a crusade going. I wondered what it could be this time, and how I figured into it. I could hear 1940s music playing in the lounge. They’d like that, I was sure.

Glancing around at my surroundings, I stalled for time. My husband and I had opened our restaurant, Bogey Nights, in Los Angeles less than a year ago, after our original restaurant burned to the ground. It had been an old house, built in the 1920s, and we’d renovated and remodeled it into a restaurant and cocktail lounge with dancing. I couldn’t help but feel some pride as I looked around at the tables, all full, and listened to the hum of voices. The smiling faces should have added to a feeling of well-being. They didn’t.

Anne - Thanks you! Where can readers reach you online?

Marja – At my website, blog, or via email: hello@marjamcgraw.com

At the end of this tour TWO names will be randomly selected from those who've left comments and they'll each receive a copy of Bogey's Ace in the Hole. Be sure to leave your email address. I’ll announce the winner April 28 on my blog. 

Thanks, Marja. Bogey’s Ace in the Hole is on my TBR list!

Just a final word… I’m visiting Jean Henry Mead’s blog today on the Mystery We Write blog tour. Leave a comment to win an ecopy of Frank, Incense and Muriel, book one of the Muriel Reeves Mysteries. 

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