Pushing Up Daisies by Penny Clover Petersen

Someone or something is haunting Holly Hill Mansion where Daisy Forrest volunteers as a docent. Is it the ghost of Sophia Long, the original owner, or someone more concrete?

What seemed to be a fairly harmless prank takes a sinister turn when Daisy stumbles upon the body of Wally Stone, the mansion’s manager, who had set a trap for the culprit and was murdered for his trouble. This was clearly no apparition’s doing.

Once again, sisters Daisy and Rose Forrest find themselves up to their eyeballs in all sorts of shenanigans – chasing ghosts, holding séances, searching for priceless Revere silver, and losing a Japanese tourist or two along the way – as they search for a ruthless killer.

Penny Clover Petersen took time out of her busy schedule to meet with The Big Thrill and discuss the latest installment of her Daisy & Rose Mystery Series, PUSHING UP DAISIES:

What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

My hope is always that my readers can find a respite from the daily grind or a gentle laugh when they need a break from reality. I also hope they find the relationship of strong women who actually like each other somewhat inspiring.

How does this book make a contribution to the genre?

I love cozy mysteries, but more often than not, they are rather lacking in humor. I think the use of wit enhances the genre by giving the reader a little more than just a good mystery. At the end of a long day, a good laugh can be just what the doctor ordered.

No spoilers, but what can you tell us about your book that we won’t find in the jacket copy or the PR material?

Well, the reader will find out a lot more about the Forrest family dynamics. The sudden reappearance of the Forrest sisters’ reprobate father, Dickie Forrest, certainly has them puzzled and their mother, Angela, acting at her eccentric best. Also, Daisy finds love, which is always fun.

What authors or books have influenced your career as a writer, and why?

P. G. Wodehouse and Irma Bombeck. They both could take any ordinary, everyday situation and by dint of exceptional writing and the ability to find humor where none might obviously exist in these situations, make the reader laugh out loud.

*****

Penny Clover Petersen began writing at age fifty-nine on a dare from her husband. After years of hearing her complaints that “I could write a better story than this,” he suggested that perhaps she should do just that. The result is her Daisy & Rose Mystery Series, modern cozies featuring cocktail loving sisters Daisy and Rose Forrest as small-town shop owners who just can’t seem to get through a day without tripping over a dead body. Her third mystery, PUSHING UP DAISIES, will be released in December 2017.

Penny lives with her husband, Tom, and two feral cats in Bowie, Maryland. In addition to writing, she enjoys time with her children and large extended family, likes to refurbish old furniture, and collects family stories and recipes for the ‘family cookbook’. She loves historic homes and is proud to be in her tenth year as a docent at Riversdale Mansion in Riverdale, MD. She is also the author of several children’s stories, including The Last Elf and An Angel for Jenny. Penny is currently working on her fourth Daisy & Rose mystery, as well as collaborating with her sister, Chris Clover, on an illustrated children’s story called Christopher’s Vacation Wish.

To learn more about Penny, please visit her website.