This is a story about a young woman, a small town wedding party planner, whose curiosity and gut instincts lead to some amateur sleuthing and some shenanigans. We're talking about the audio book Party Planning Can Be Murder, and our conversation, like the book, starts off talking about funerals. You're gonna hear why funerals have made their way into so many of this author's stories.

You'll also hear about her favorite part of the writing process. It's this aha moment she gets sometimes late in the story. And, you'll find out why a Viking is an integral part of her own life story. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Kerry Ann King, also known as Kerry Schafer. As much as I did.

Here's how to find out more about Kerry:

https://allthingskerry.com/

Here's the link to get the audiobook:

https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=25361&awinaffid=970873&ued=https%3A%2F%2Flibro.fm%2Faudiobooks%2F9781666692297

 This is a story full of secrets and surprises and suspense. In one of the first scenes, it's 2018, and you are stumbling through a snowstorm with an art appraiser who might just be freezing to death. You're not sure. Again and again, author Debra Spark caught me off guard and drew me in. She pulled together a storyline about a teenage boy sent to an abusive boarding school in the 1970s (based on a real school she researched). She ties that storyline back to the art appraiser's own messy relationship with her teenage son today, and to an art theft and mystery that the appraiser gets sucked into. The art mystery spirals around these three valuable portrait paintings of children from the 1930s.

It wasn't easy for me to talk to Debra about her work without spoilers for you, but we did it and I hope you'll be intrigued enough after listening to seek out the rest of the story. The novel is called Discipline, and this is my conversation with author Debra Spark on the Desideratum Podcast.

This is a story set in an inhospitable land, where the characters are struggling to find a home for the living and a place to bury their dead.

We're talking about the novel No Place to Bury the Dead with audiobook narrator Maria McCann.

Maria is a Los Angeles native, a graduate of the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television, who’s appeared in dozens of films and television shows, such as Lucifer, Shameless and Grey’s Anatomy. She also works as an acting coach. I’ve personally had the delight of being coached by her. But, maybe my favorite thing about her - as you’ll hear - is that Maria is an open book and very fun to listen to!

I hope you find Maria’s commitment to joy as contagious as I did, and that you want to hear more of her voice in your ears. I want to thank you Harper Audio for sharing the audio samples from No Place to Bury the Dead by Karina Sainz Borgo, translated by Elizabeth Bryer. If you want to listen to the rest of the story,here's an affiliate link to the audiobook marketplace Libro.fm. I partner with Libro.fm because they support local bookstores. When you buy your audiobooks from them you can pick a local to you indie bookstore to support with every purchase.

Thanks for listening!