Cozy Florida

We are thrilled to have Traci Hall as our guest author this month. Traci is a prolific author who writes across several genres. She lives in Florida, but her cozy series is set in Scotland.

I am so excited to be here!

I moved to South Florida from Washington State twenty years ago in June. I grew up near the Pacific Ocean, but much prefer the Atlantic—can you blame me? Brrr. I don’t miss it at all. Pacific Northwest is pretty, sure, but there is more than beauty to consider. 

Seattle has rain. Not a lovely mist but a gray drizzle with a chill. I love the rain in Florida because a) it will pass, and b) it’s usually warm. I learned right away that flip-flops were the best because you could take them off or get them wet and it didn’t matter if the puddles were up to your ankles.

There are mountains all over the place in Washington…nothing in Florida except Mount Dora, which I don’t really count. I like flat after all of the snow and winding roads I grew up with. I don’t ski, and I’m afraid of heights. Don’t have to worry about that now, except for the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in St. Pete’s. OMG. I just close my eyes from the passenger seat—no way am I driving lol.

I adore the ocean and I was so glad to discover that it could be warm. I had an instant heart connection when my toes dug into the soft sand and I walked the beach all of the time, in shock that I lived in Paradise. After twenty years, I still feel the same way. Warm dunes, dolphins, shells, blue skies….sigh. It’s my happy place! I saw sun showers and double rainbows. Manatees. Pelicans. There is no place like South Florida anywhere else in the world. 

When I wrote Murder in a Scottish Shire, book one of the Scottish Shire mysteries that takes place in seaside Nairn, I recalled my memories of the feel of the cold sand and brisk breezes that were more like Seattle than South Florida. (All of my contemporary novels take place on the water.) As one half of Traci Wilton (co-written with Patrice Wilton) we write the Salem B and B mysteries set in Salem MA. She is also an ocean girl and lives in Ormand Beach. 

I figure that it’s good to know the colder places to really appreciate our subtropical climate. Contrast and compare. South Florida for me always comes out on top. 

I’d love to tell you a little bit about my new release, Murder in a Scottish Garden, which comes out May 25^th from Kensington. Paislee Shaw is a single mum in Nairn, and her most important job in the world is to raise Brody into a fine young man….she believes in community, as taught by her beloved Gran, dead now these past five years. She hosts a weekly Knit and Sip night at her yarn and sweater shop, Cashmere Crush. She really can’t take one more thing, and yet, life keeps piling more on. The unexpected arrival of her grandfather is actually a blessing as he helps her manage the shop so she can do things like fieldtrips to Leery Estate with Brody. All the bairns are excited to see the new maze in the garden. Her morning is shattered when a shot is fired and a body, one looking suspiciously like her landlord, crashes through the brush…dead. What is her sweet seaside town coming to? Paislee doesn’t trust that the new DI in Nairn, Mack Zeffer, knows what he’s doing so she does her best to help him find the killer before someone else is hurt. 

If you’d like to read book one before the release, comment below and I will choose a winner or two for an e-copy of Murder in a Scottish Shire.

Thanks again for having me here today, and happy reading,

Traci Hall