Where There’s A Will: A Glass Dolphin Mystery by Judy Penz Sheluk

Emily Garland is getting married and looking for the perfect forever home. When the old, and some say haunted, Hadley house comes up for sale, she’s convinced this is “the one.” The house is also perfect for reality TV star Miles Pemberton and his new series, House Haunters. Emily will fight for her dream home, but Pemberton’s pockets are deeper than Emily’s, and he’ll stretch the rules to get what he wants.

Arabella Carpenter, Emily’s partner at the Glass Dolphin antiques shop, supports her all the way, but she and her ex-husband, Levon, have been hired to appraise the contents of the estate. Could the feuding beneficiaries decide there’s a conflict of interest? Could Pemberton?

Things get even more complicated when Arabella and Levon discover another will hidden inside the house, and with it, a decades-old secret. Can the property stay on the market? And if so, who will make the winning offer: Emily or Miles Pemberton?

Judy Penz Sheluk recently spent some time with The Big Thrill discussing her latest mystery, WHERE THERE’S A WILL:

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

That a cozy mystery doesn’t have to mean someone gets murdered.

Judy Penz Sheluk

What attracts you to this book’s genre?

I enjoy books without excessive sex, violence, or bad language.

Was there anything new you discovered, or that surprised you, as you wrote this book?

I did a lot of research on real estate and estate law and interviewed experts in both. My favorite discovery was that the dead “can’t reach out from the grave.”

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

Sue Grafton. Kinsey may not have aged much, but Grafton’s writing matured with every book. John Sandford. A master at pacing. Agatha Christie. People don’t think of Christie as funny, but she had a great wit. I loved it when she included Ariadne Oliver.

What’s the one question you wish someone would ask you about this book or your work in general? And please answer the question too!

Q. Your books include a lot of detail. Do you do a lot of research?
A. I do. One thing I learned as a journalist and magazine editor is that experts love to share what they know, and people love to talk about themselves. Interviewing is second nature to me now.

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An Amazon International bestselling author, Judy Penz Sheluk writes two mystery series: the Glass Dolphin Mysteries and the Marketville Mysteries. Her short crime fiction appears in several collections, including The Best Laid Plans: 21 Stories of Mystery & Suspense and Heartbreaks, and Half-truths: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense, which she also edited. Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she serves on the board of directors as chair.

To learn more about the author and her work, please visit her website.