Crying in the Chapel book tour is through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours and includes a giveaway and author interview. Share, comment, subscribe.
Book Details
Crying in the Chapel: A Swinging Sixties Mystery
Historical Cozy Mystery
5th in Series
Setting – Texas
Publisher : Level Best Books
Publication date : March 10, 2026
Print length : 184 pages
Paperback
ISBN-13 : 979-8898201678
ASIN : B0GS478JPF
Digital
ASIN : B0GRJQY14G
It’s August 1965, and Dot Morgan is finally getting married to the dashing reporter Ben Dalton. Her wedding day, August 14th, promises to be perfect—if only it didn’t follow Friday the 13th. What could go wrong? Planning a wedding with the members of the Camden Chapel, Dot thinks she’s overwhelmed, but then it gets worse when a body is found on the church lawn. Dot decides to focus on her wedding to Ben, but when police reveal the victim didn’t jump from the belfry—he was pushed—she can no longer look away. Her suspects aren’t hardened criminals; they’re the same church members who bring casseroles and ask about her family. With her wedding day fast approaching, Dot must unmask a killer hiding in plain sight, or the secrets of Camden Chapel will remain buried in the summer heat.
About Teresa Trent
Teresa Trent has been writing and publishing mysteries since 2011 starting with the Pecan Bayou Mystery Series and followed by the Piney Woods Mystery Series. She presently writes the Swinging Sixties Mystery Series and the Henry Park Paranormal Series. When Teresa isn’t writing novels and short stories, she spends her time creating narrated excerpts on her podcast, Books to the Ceiling, where she gets to use all that community theater experience from her teens and twenties along with a little audio editing she learned from her daughter. Teresa is a former English teacher, but also spent many years teaching music to preschoolers, working with children of all abilities. Teresa makes her home in Texas with her husband and son.
Author Links
Website: https://teresatrent.com
Blog/Podcast: Books to the Ceiling https://teresatrent.blog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/teresatrentmysterywriter
X: https://twitter.com/ttrent_cozymys
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5219581.Teresa_Trent
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teresatrent_cozymys/
BookBub – Teresa Trent Books – BookBub
Threads – https://www.threads.com/@teresatrent_cozymys
Purchase Links
Amazon Barnes and Noble Kobo Bookshop.org Bookbub
Author Interview
What is your favorite part of this book and why?
I loved writing all the parts of Dot’s wedding story. I really liked creating the character of Dusty, Ben’s best man, and his always at-the-ready story of how he made the grounds crew at the Astrodome wear spacesuits on opening day. I also liked how his story ended up, but I don’t want to spoil anything.
If you could spend time with a character from your book whom would it be? And what would you do during that day?
Ellie, Dot’s cousin who owns Bluebonnet’s Dress Shop, is one of my favorite characters and in this book, she is very pregnant. I love to sew, so I’d spend the day sewing with her and talking about the baby, or “Al, Jr.”,
What books/authors have most inspired you?
I love authors that give me a sense of place and a love of the people who live in that space. I found this with Fannie Flagg, Katherine Stockton, and Jan Karon. I also love authors who can put together a good mystery puzzle, so Agatha Christie as well.
Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
They are never based on one individual, but I do love to observe people and the way they handle life. I might store up a phrase or an action to use with a character, but the character mostly comes from my imagination.
When writing the church backdrop for Crying in the Chapel, I’ll admit I’ve worked in churches and in the wedding industry, so I had a lot of experiences already in my head, When I was planning my wedding, I had a little white notebook like Dot has, but no wedding planner. I worked in a flower shop and sewed hems up in a tuxedo shop to pay my college tuition, so I knew all about brides, grooms and calamity. I loved working in that world, and it was easy to put it in my story.
What made you want to become a writer?
Is watching too much Murder She Wrote a good answer? I had a desire to write and did off and on while I was raising my children. When I reached the age of 49, I decided I was going to invest my time to write an entire novel. I set a timeline and started reading books about writing. I was a teacher for many years so books on the craft of writing became my own personal lesson plans. The first book I wrote was not my best work, but what I discovered was that I loved the process of writing and creating worlds and characters. It gave me purpose and joy, so I wrote another…and another…
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
July 15 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
July 15 – Sarandipity’s – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
July 16 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW
July 17 – View from the Birdhouse – REVIEW
July 17 – Sarcastically Yours, Jen – REVIEW
July 18 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
July 19 – Romance Novel Giveaways – AUTHOR GUEST POST
July 20 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – SPOTLIGHT
July 20 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
July 21 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
July 21 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
July 22 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT
July 22 – Book Hookup – REVIEW
July 23 – Salty Inspirations – AUTHOR GUEST POST
July 23 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
July 24 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – CHARACTER GUEST POST
Giveaway
Prize – $20 Amazon Gift Card and an eBook copy of Crying in the Chapel: A Swinging Sixties Mystery by Teresa Trent
