Title: Mad as Helen (Road River Mystery)
Author: Susan McBride
Genre: Mystery, Crime, Thriller
Publish Date: July 29, 2014
Publisher: Witness Impulse an imprint of HarperCollins
Synopsis
In the second River Road Mystery from USA Today bestselling author Susan McBride, Helen Evans must find a killer before her granddaughter is arrested for murder!
When tiny River Bend, Illinois, is hit by a string of burglaries even Sheriff Frank Biddle can't solve, the clients of LaVyrle's Cut 'n' Curl can hardly talk of anything but. There are no signs of forced entry and no fingerprints, and valuables are missing from secret hiding places, as if the thief knew what he wanted and just where to look.
Helen Evans wonders what the world has come to if even their once-quiet town isn't safe anymore. Then Grace Simpson, a big-city psychotherapist who had opened up shop in River Bend, is found dead on her bedroom floor, and Helen's granddaughter is caught with the murder weapon in hand.
Sure of the girl's innocence, Helen embarks on a little investigation of her own and turns up plenty of folks who aren't grieving a bit now that Grace is dead …
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Why in Helen Did You Write These Books?
by Susan McBride
There’s a story behind my new mystery series and a very good
reason why all the titles include the name “Helen,” and it started twenty years
ago. That’s when I first got the idea to write a string of cozies featuring a
75-year-old, quick-witted, crossword puzzle-loving sleuth named Helen Evans.
Helen was, in fact, my grandmother. At the time I started
writing To Helen Back, the first of
the River Road Mysteries, my grandma
had been diagnosed with a form of leukemia that would soon take her life. She
fought it for all it was worth, enduring various forms of treatment including
frequent blood transfusions; but she knew she was just buying time. And she was
determined to live out what time she had left doing the things she loved best.
Like the Helen in my books, my grandma was devoted to her
bridge clubs and her cat, Amber. She adored her family (well, most of them!),
crossword puzzles, crafting quilts, and reading mysteries. Okay, and watching
them as well. She was addicted to crime shows on TV. I can’t tell you how many
times I visited with her and sat on the sofa, watching endless reruns of Matlock, Barnaby Jones, Columbo, The Rockford Files, or Murder, She Wrote. She was good at
figuring out whodunit, too. It was a rare occasion when my grandma didn’t
“catch” the killer first.
Top that off with my grandfather once remarking how complete
strangers shared their life stories with my grandmother in the grocery store,
the doctor’s office, or even a brief elevator ride and I couldn’t help thinking
that she would be the perfect Miss Marple.
So twenty years back, I sat down and penned three amateur
sleuth tales featuring a grandmother named Helen who lived in a small town in Illinois and whose
penchant for puzzles and ear for innuendo helped her solve crimes well before
the sheriff.
Unfortunately, those three books weren’t ever published.
Thank goodness, I held onto them. As luck would have it, when I made a surprise
trip to the USA Today bestsellers
list with an earlier mystery in February (Blue
Blood, the first of my Debutante
Dropout Mysteries which debuted in 2004), my editor asked, “What else have
you got?”
As luck would have it, I had the three Helen books gathering
dust in my basement (literally). Two of them weren’t even stored digitally. They
had to be scanned so my editor could read them. I eagerly revised each to
update the storylines and to make the words feel more like the writer I am now.
On May 27, my long-delayed dream came true when To Helen Back, the first of these mysteries, was released by
Witness Impulse. This fictional tribute to my grandma Helen would finally reach
mystery readers everywhere. It was such a wonderful feeling! Then to see To Helen Back on the Nook Top 50
Bestsellers list for a month and the #1 cozy mystery on Kobo was icing on the
cake.
I am equally thrilled that the second in the series, Mad as Helen, is now out in
digital-first format (paperback to follow in about six weeks!). Yes, these
mysteries are entertainment and, I hope, a fun ride for readers. But they’re
also a tribute to my grandmother whose spirit definitely lives on in Helen
Evans.
She would have so enjoyed reading about her namesake. And I
know for damned sure she would have tried like Helen (sorry, I couldn’t
resist!) to figure out the answer to the mystery before her alter-ego did.
**
Susan McBride is the USA TODAY best-selling author of
the Debutante Dropout Mysteries. Her new River Road
Mystery series debuted with To Helen
Back in May. Mad as Helen is the
second to feature Helen Evans with Not a
Chance in Helen to follow in late September. Her first young adult mystery,
Very Bad Things, will be published
in hardcover this October. She’s also the author of The Truth about Love & Lightning, Little Black Dress, and The
Cougar Club, all Target Recommended Reads. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri,
with her husband and daughter. Visit her web site at http://SusanMcBride.com for more about
Susan and her books.
About The Author:
Susan McBride is the USA TODAY bestselling author of Blue Blood, the first of the Debutante Dropout Mysteries.
T he award-winning series also includes T he Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, T he Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club, Night of
the Living Deb, and Too Pretty to Die. She’s also the author of T he Truth about Love & Lightning, Little Black Dress, and
The Cougar Club, all Target Recommended Reads. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with her husband and daughter.
Visit Susan’s web site at www.SusanMcBride.com for more info.
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