The Pat Conroy Literary Center will host two special events with novelist and former Fripp Island resident Linda Lovely, author of the new Lowcountry mystery, With Neighbors Like These.

First, on Thursday, August 26, the Center will present an online writers workshop led by Lovely, Why Do Research If You’re Writing Fiction, limited to 15 participants. Learn more and register ($45/person) at https://patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com.

Then on Tuesday, August 31, at 6:00 p.m., the Center will host Lovely for an in-person discussion and book signing for With Neighbors Like These at the Pat Conroy Literary Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Books will be available for sale and signing. To reserve your seat for this free event, please call 843-379-7025 by August 29.

 

About the Novel:

With Neighbors Like These is the first book in a new HOA Mystery Series set in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Murder victims in separate Lowcountry homeowner associations appear to have had only two things in common—they antagonized neighbors and their dead bodies were posed to shock. Are HOA feuds provoking these murders? Kylee Kane, a retired Coast Guard investigator, agrees to help her friend’s HOA management company find the answer. After uncovering decades-old links between the murder victims, Kylee IDs the killer’s next target. Can she foil the third act in the killer’s death-as-theater game or will she be the next corpse on display?

About the Workshop:

Why Do Research If You’re Writing Fiction? One obvious answer: unintentional errors will pull readers out of your story. Yet research has added benefits, sparking ideas for characters and plot twists. In this online class, Linda Lovely, author of eight contemporary mysteries and one historical suspense novel, will discuss a variety of research topics and resources. While online sources and interest groups make researching easier than ever before, interviews with subject experts and people in the same professions as your characters offer nuanced insights. Lovely will also touch on how to guard against excessive info dumps. Just because you find stagecoach design details fascinating doesn’t mean your reader needs (or wants) to hear the details when the stagecoach is about to flip. Lovely’s class will cover both contemporary and historical research topics.

About the Author:

Linda Lovely has written nine mystery/suspense novels. A journalism major, she spent decades working in PR—an early intro to penning fiction. Whether she’s writing cozy mysteries, historical suspense or thrillers, her novels share one common element —smart, independent heroines. Her work has earned nominations for numerous prestigious awards, ranging from RWA’s Golden Heart for Romantic Suspense to Thriller Nashville’s Silver Falchion for Best Cozy Mystery.

Lovely belongs to Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and the South Carolina Writers Association. While Lovely and her husband currently live in Upstate South Carolina, the couple called the Lowcountry home for a dozen years. For more information: https://lindalovely.com

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center is located at 601 Bladen Street in Beaufort and open to the public for tours from noon to 4:00 p.m. on Thursdays through Sundays, or other times by appointment. Learn more at www.patconroyliterarycenter.org.