Mechanicsburg Mystery Presents...: Recent Episodes
Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop
This is a monthly podcast that dives into conversations with mystery and thriller authors. Hosted by author, and publisher, Bill Peschel.
Episode #44: Conversation with Sarah Ickes (September 2, 2025) As we take a fantasy detour from traditional mysteries, Author Sarah Ickes introduces us to the Olde Realm in her Action/Adventure book, “Written Wings.” We get to meet Vectra Tillerman, a powerful guardian who leads two siblings on an adventure to find their kidnapped brother. In a place where Ancient Greeks enter your dreams, mythical creatures are all around, and others give chase for the end reward, will the kids discover the truth about their parents? Also discussed is the larger world that Sarah is building with her stories; which all started with her mystery series featuring Murial Robertson in America 1880s. And did you know that she is an artist as well?
Episode #43: A Conversation with Radha Vatsal(July 31, 2025) Radha’s talk about her novel “No. 10 Doyers Street” impressed many readers at I Scream for Mysteries, so we brought her on the show to talk about what New York’s Chinatown community was like in the early 1900s, the character of Chinese gangster Mock Duck, what newspaper reporting was like in that time, and the presence of Indian women in America.
Episode #42: Conversation with Tj O’Connor(June 26, 2025). A popular guest at Mechanicsburg Mystery events, Tj joins us to talk about “The Whisper Legacy,” the first book in his Pappa Legacy thriller series, and “Dying for the Past” from his Dead Detective Casefiles series. We also talk about how the paranormal Dead Detective series was republished, why he writes flawed heroes, and the care he takes in capturing accurately how his characters react in stressful situations.
Episode #41: A Conversation with Elizabeth C. Bunce (June 4, 2025). The author of the Myrtle Hardcastle middle-grade series talks about the malaprop that helped inspire the five-book series. We also talk about visiting a woolen mill near Kansas City for research, the fun footnotes that she inserts in the Myrtle story, her crafting hobby, and one fan’s wonderful gift to her.
Episode #40: A Conversation with Libby Klein (April 28, 2025). The author of the Poppy McAllister cozy mystery series is moving into women’s fiction (with mystery overtones) with her new novel “Vice and Virtue.” We talk about Layla Virtue, the recovering alcoholic ex-cop musician., her struggles to stay offthe bottle, and her desire to avoid being drawn into a murder investigation. We also talk about the novel’s comical elements, and the black Lab that plays a role in it.
Episode #39: A Conversation with S.J. Bennett (April 9, 2025) Sophia Bennett talks about her best-selling series featuringQueen Elizabeth II as an amateur sleuth. We talk in-depth about the fourth book in the series, “A Death in Diamonds,” and discuss whether it’s focus on women’s relationships with men and each other makes it a feminist novel. Sophia also talks about her father’s encounters with the queen, whether she would write about other royal families, and the unique role the monarchy plays.
Episode #38: A Conversation with Rosanne Limoncelli (Feb. 21, 2025) Rosanne has taught writing and filmmaking for more than three decades, and on March 11 she’ll make her mystery author debut. We talk with Rosanne about “The FourQueens of Crime,” her historical novel featuring Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, and Naigo Marsh. We talk about the inspiration for creating this detecting supergroup, why she set it during the run-up to WorldWar II, her work teaching filmmaking and the difference between writing for screen and the page.
Episode #37: A Conversation with Heather Weidner(February 7, 2025) Heather is a prolific mystery author with 12 books in four series. We talk with Heather about being the daughter of a police officer and how it influenced her writing, growing up in Virginia Beach, and the debut of her Pearly Girls series in March which she described as “Veronica Mars meets the Golden Girls.”
Episode #36: A Conversation with Kemper Donovan (January 9, 2025) Kemper is an Agatha Christie fan whose podcast "All About Agatha" is a must hear for her fans. He has turned the lessons learned from the Queen of Crime to write mysteries. The second book in his Ghostwriter series, “Loose Lips,” drops in January 2025, so we sat down with him to talk about his journey from agent to lawyer to writer, why he started writing at age 30, Agatha’s influence on his writing and how he adds his unique voice to his mysteries.
Episode #35: A Conversation with Wendy Neugent (October 21, 2024) Wendy spent a decade seeing the world from the deck of cruise ships, and she used those experiences in her Olivia Morgan Cruise Ship mystery series. Neugent talks with host Bill Peschel about life on board a cruise ship, the perils of performing a magic act, the most beautiful places she saw, and how she transitioned into motherhood and mystery writer.
Episode #34: A Conversation with Katherine Ramsland (July 30, 2024) Where do you begin with the author of more than 70 books including thrillers, serial killer memoirs, biographies, and self-help? Ramsland talks with host Bill Peschel about “Dead Handed,” her upcoming third book featuring forensic psychologist Annie Hunter. She also describes writing “Confession of a Serial Killer” based on interviews with the BTK Killer, and “The Serial Killer’s Apprentice” about a teen’s coerced participation in several murders in Houston in the early 1970s.
Episode #33: A Conversation with Tom Mead (June 28, 2024) The author of the Joseph Spector series returns with publication of “Cabaret Macabre,” the third book in the series. We talk about the novel’s roots in the grisly and revenge-obsessed Jacobean theater, and (no spoilers!) it’s ironic and twisty endings. We also talk about Tom’s training as a writer, including a first-class honors at university, his freelance ghostwriting, and the opportunity to submit the first Spector novel to Otto Penzler.
Episode #32: A Conversation with Ruth J. Hartman (June 5, 2024) With so much experience taking care of her own cats, Author Ruth J. Hartman, was bound to begin writing cozy mysteries with the lovable felines. Hear how her writing career got started, and how a bonded pair of brother and sister cats, unintentionally helped her in gathering research for a future book. (Not to mention that she has multiple series featuring amateur sleuths and their cat side-kicks.)
Episode #31: A Conversation with Joyce Tremel (May 6, 2024) Do you like apple orchards, picturesque farmland, and a cozy mystery? Deadly to the Core is the first in a new series for Author Joyce Tremel, aka Joyce St. Anthony for her Homefront News Mysteries, and it features new fruit farm owner Kate Mulligan in the area of Gettysburg, PA. She plans to open a cider house, when the orchard's manager is found dead, leaving her in a tight bind. As the people in the area receive mysterious offers to buy up their lands, and the dead man's bank account is revealed to have unexplained deposits of cash, Kate must find out who the murderer is before her fresh start is clipped prematurely.
Episode #30: A Conversation with Laurie R. King (Mar. 29, 2024) The author of the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series talks with fellow author, and host, Bill Peschel, as they dive into the latest adventure of her two beloved characters in The Lantern's Dance. It seemed only fitting to have the author of The Beekeeper's Apprentice, which is celebrating it's 30th anniversary of being published this year, on our 30th episode of our show!
Episode #29: A Conversation with Tom Mead (Feb. 18, 2024) The author of the Joseph Spector series talks with Bill Peschel about the different inspirations he derived from the mystery writers who defined the Golden Age of Detection. In our first ever LIVE vodcast, we dive into a little sliver of the history of the mystery as Mr. Mead explains the allure to locked room mysteries and how his research held great influence in not just his characters, but also in their names and the situations they find themselves embroiled within. "Death in the Conjuror" is the first in his series, with the third installment, "Cabaret Macabre" coming out later this year.As you may have noticed, this episode is listed as being Part 1, since we are looking forward to bringing Mr. Mead back for another segment when his newest release hits shelves this Summer.
Episode #28: A Conversation with Victoria Dowd (Oct. 9, 2023) The award-winning author of the Smart Women series talks about the island fort that inspired her latest book (“A Book of Murder”), why her books are populated with nasty characters, the true relationship between series narrator Ursula Smart and her mother, and her journey from defending the accused at the Old Bailey to mystery novels.
Episode #27: A Conversation with Mindy Quigley (Sept. 21, 2023) The author of the Delilah O’Leary series talks with Bill Peschel about her writer’s journey from working with cloning scientist Ian Wilmut to her cozy mystery series set in a fictional Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. We also discuss her diverse cast of characters, how learned to write evocative descriptions, and the perils of fame. Mindy is the author of “Six Feet Deep Dish,” “Ashes to Ashes Crust to Crust,” and (coming in December 2023) “Public Anchovy #1.”
Episode #26: A Conversation with Nicole Asselin (Aug. 22, 2023). Podcaster and author of the Ballpark Mysteries series sit down with us to talk about Red Sox Nation, her love for all Boston sports, growing up in Mechanicsburg, and cozy mysteries. She has two books in the series, “Murder at First Pitch” and “Concession Stand Crimes.”
Episode #25: A Conversation with Martin Edwards (June 30, 2023). Edwards is the multi-award winning expert on the history of mystery fiction who has also written 22 novels, teaches an online course in crime writing, and serves as president of Britain’s legendary Detection Club. He sits down with Bill to talk about “The Life of Crime,” his magisterial, readable, and entertaining history of the genre, how he moved from life as a solicitor to crime fiction, his Rachel Savernake series, and the revival of interest in Golden Age mystery novels, republished by the British Library and available at the MMB!
Episode #24: Join our host, Bill Peschel, and author Connie Di Marco as they dive into her Zodiac Mystery Series.
Episode #23: The author of the Inspector Michael Corravan series and three standalone novels, all set in Victorian Britain, talks with Bill about visiting the last Victorian music hall in London, her experiences working at Christie’s in New York, learning to write in the male voice, and her deep dive into her grandmother’s library as a child. The second book in her Corravan series, “Under a Veiled Moon,” was published last year.
Episode #22: Edwin Hill is the Edgar and Agatha award nominated author of the critically acclaimed Hester Thursby series. Edwin talks about his library researcher character and her friends and why she appears in a supporting role in his latest thriller "The Secrets We Share." We also talk about the Boston neighborhoods where the novels are set, and what he's learned from teaching writing classes.
Episode #21: A Conversation with Catriona McPherson. A major award winning author of more than 30 novels, McPherson talks about how the Edinburgh-born writer became an author of California-based humorous mysteries with the Last Ditch series. We also talk about her 15-book Dandy Gilver series set in Scotland of the 1920s and ’30s, and her standalone psychological thrillers. The fifth book in her Last Ditch series, “Scot in a Trap,” will be published in December.
Episode #20: Gigi talks about “Under Lock and Skeleton Key,” her first book in the Hidden Staircase series featuring magician Tempest Raj. Gigi describes traveling the world with her cultural anthropologist parents, her love for mysteries especially John Dickson Carr, her researches into magic, and how she became an “accidental almost vegan.” Her second book in the series, “The Raven Thief,” will be published in March.
Episode #19: Did you know that Sonoma Valley has a cheese trail? Do you love cheese? Do you like relatable characters that have fun solving a cozy mystery? Join us in this conversational style interview with Author Korina Moss as she discusses the inspiration behind the first book in her Cheese Shop Mystery series, Cheddar Off Dead.
Episode #18: The author of the “Suburban Detective” series featuring P.I. Bill Habermann and the “Cold War Thriller” series featuring Karl Baier talks about his 38-year career in the Central Intelligence Agency, why he started writing mysteries before switching to Cold War-era thrillers, and his experiences in Berlin the year the wall fell. He also talks about Baier and why he differs from other intelligence agents, the challenges he faces in “Berlin Walls,” and where Baier is going.
Episode #17: Maureen Jennings is an Award Winning Author living in Toronto, Canada. She is known for Murdoch Mysteries, Charlotte Frayne P.I., Tom Tyler Books, and Christine Morris Books.
Episode #16: The longtime editor, anthologist, and owner of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York talks about his beginnings in the book business, why he thinks the British write better espionage novels (with one exception), his latest offerings from the Mysterious Press, American Mystery Classics, and his new imprint (Scarlet) offering psychological suspense and domestic thrillers, and working with authors such as Elmore Leonard and Ed McBain.
Episode #15: The bestselling thriller author of the Jonathan Graves series (“Stealth Attack” 2021) and the Victoria Emerson series (“Crimson Phoenix” 2021) talks about what he has in common with Graves, why the Emerson series should not be called post-apocalypse, and why he doesn’t drop F-bombs in his novels.
Episode #14: The multi-talented author of “Careless Love” and co-author (with podcast guest Cordelia Francis Biddle) of the Nero Blanc mystery series tells us about how a family story inspired his novel about a man investigating his mother’s past in 1979 Hawaii and how his acting influenced his writing.
You can purchase his books at our website: www.mysterybooksonline.com
Episode #13: The Philadelphia author of the Nero Blanc and Martha Beale mystery series dives into the infamous bank war between President Andrew Jackson and her ancestor Nicholas Biddle, the head of the Second National Bank of the United States. We talk about Nicholas’ life which included his editing of the Lewis and Clark expedition journals, his travels in Europe as a possible intelligence agent for President Jefferson, and his attempt to reform the bank. We also discuss her inspiration to write the Martha Beale series, set in Philadelphia during the 1840s, and what it feels like to live in that historic city.
Cordelia teaches creative writing at Drexel University’s Pennoni Honors College. She won the Honors College Teaching Excellence Prize in 2012. Prior to Drexel, she taught creative writing classes at the University of the Arts, and at Temple University Center City, as well as one-day seminars with Mystery Writers of America.
You can purchase her books at our website: www.mysterybooksonline.com
Episode #12: In this episode, Misty Simon shares with us about her "insane dogs" and how she obtained her new pen name, Gabby Allan. Her new book, Much Ado About Nauticaling, comes out in a few days!! Unlike the traditional cozies that so many of us associate with her, this new series is fashioned as a RomCozy. (like a RomCom)
Teaser:After far too many years in the Los Angeles corporate world, Whitney Dagner has come home to Santa Catalina Island off the California coast to help her brother Nick run Nautically Yours, the family tourism business. Between gift shop shifts selling all manner of T-shirts and tchotchkes and keeping her feline Whiskers in fine fettle, she pilots the Sea Bounder, a glass bottom boat showing tourists the underwater sights of aquatic plants, marine life--and a murder victim?
You can purchase her books at our website: www.mysterybooksonline.com
Episode #11: In this episode, Charles Fergus dives into the background of his main character, Gideon, who is Sheriff of a fictional county located in Central Pennsylvania in the 1830s. Within his mystery novels, there a deeper connectivity to nature that reveals much into the author's own life experiences.
Many of Mr. Fergus's other books are nature and wildlife oriented. They are researched and documented under the Non-Fiction category, something that stems back to when he first graduated from Penn State with a degree in writing and a focus on science. Some of his works from his other books are discussed in this episode, with Make A Home For Wildlife being one in particular.
You can purchase his books at our website: www.mysterybooksonline.com
Episode #10: In this episode, Ellen Crosby discusses her latest novel in her Wine Country Mystery series, with main character Lucie Montgomery. Our host goes into questions that bring about the way Mrs. Crosby conducts her research and develops her story lines. With her latest mystery involving Jackie Kennedy and some letters that she had written, a discussion ensues on the topic of privacy and how so much our lives are left out in the open on social media.
Fans of art will not be disappointed on her attention to a french portrait artist, Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun, who painted Marie Antoinette and had to flee France during the French Revolution. Watch this video to find out how Ellen Crosby came about discovering her and how it ended up being the perfect way to bridge two different stories together, creating The French Paradox.
You can purchase her books at our website: www.mysterybooksonline.com
Episode #9: In this episode, Sophie Hannah joins us from across the pond to discuss about her writings in the Simon and Charles series along with her continuation novels in Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot series. Her books have been distributed in 51 countries and have ranked among the top sellers. She teaches presently at Cambridge University in England, while still writing, and dives into the "Dream Authors" program that helps upcoming writers prepare for what having a career in writing will be like and how to turn around internal negativity into positivity that helps strengthen your creative outlet. Our host Bill Peschel also gets into some questions regarding the psychological aspect to her thrillers and how the main underlying theme of obsession resounds throughout all of her works.
You can purchase her books at our website: www.mysterybooksonline.com
Episode #8: In this episode, Sherry Knowlton talks about her latest novel in her Alexa Williams Novels, Dead on the Delta, which came out February of this year. The main character is a lawyer that moved back home from the big city to live a quiet life in south central Pennsylvania. Instead of being able to achieve her woodsy serene life, Alexa finds herself mixed up in different murders and trouble, striving for justice. Dead on the Delta dives into the Serengeti of Africa and takes her down a dangerous path of poachers and murder. Our host, Bill Peschel, goes into various questions regarding her inspirations, what Sherry Knowlton's career in healthcare was like and about her main character's adventures that help help strengthen her along the way.
You can purchase her books at our website: www.mysterybooksonline.com
Episode #7: In this episode, Greer Macallister talks about her latest novel, Arctic Fury, which was just dropped fresh from the publisher in December 2020. Our host, Bill Peschel, goes into the depths of the characters and the development it took to construct such a complex narrative about a fictional expedition into the arctic by a thirteen woman team.
You can purchase her books at our website: www.mysterybooksonline.com
Episode #6: In this episode, Longtime bestselling author Vicki Delany talks about her home on a Canadian littoral on Lake Ontario, her multiple book series including “Dying in a Winter Wonderland” in her Year-Round Christmas Mystery series, and her upcoming series set in the Catskills, and Canadian crime writers you should check out.
You can purchase her books at our website: www.mysterybooksonline.com
Episode #4: In this episode, Robert Forte talks about his novels The Woman in the Yellow Dress, in the Patrick Miles Atwater series, and his latest novel, The U.S. Party. Throughout Robert Forte's career in writing, he has written screenplays in Hollywood and novels in Johnstown, PA. From working with major film companies, such as Universal, to working with smaller play productions on the East Coast, Mr. Forte has had some interesting experiences to share with us.
You can purchase his books at our website: www.mysterybooksonline.com
Episode #3: Kari talks about her Annie Oakley mystery series, the most recent of which is “Folly at the Fair.” We discuss her longtime interest in history, how her father introduced her to Annie, how she used historical characters in her story, Kari’s love for horses and natural horsemanship, and her second mystery series about Ziegfeld Follies costume designer and amateur sleuth Grace Michelle.
You can purchase her books at our website: www.mysterybooksonline.com
Episode #2: Longtime journalist R.G. Belsky has written 14 novels based on his experiences at major New York City tabloids, Star magazine, and NBCNews.com. We talk about Clare Carlson, the TV news producer investigating the death of her old mentor in “The Last Scoop;” what it takes to be a hard-nosed journalist; and his role in the infamous “Headless Body in Topless Bar” story.
You can purchase his books at our website: www.mysterybooksonline.com
Episode #1: Edgar award-winning author Eliot Pattison talks his Bone Rattler series, set in the years leading up to the American Revolution. We discuss Native American spirituality, the importance of the discovery of ancient bones in wilderness Kentucky, how to depict historical figures in fiction, and the development of American identity and the concept of freedom in his books. We also touch on his Inspector Shan Tao Yun series, set in contemporary Tibet.
You can purchase his books at our website: www.mysterybooksonline.com