This book event is through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.
The Murder at Red Oaks book tour includes a giveaway and a guest post from the author. Enter below, share on social, subscribe to Sarandipity’s.
Book Details
The Murder at Red Oaks (Mosey Frye Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Setting – The fictional town of Hembree, Arkansas
Publisher : Wild Rose Press
Publication date : September 22, 2025
Print length : 368 pages
ISBN-10 : 1509262849
ISBN-13 : 978-1509262847
Digital Print length : 329 pages
ISBN-13 : 978-1509262854
ASIN : B0FH2XYQQ5
What a chilling sight when real estate agent Mosey Frye enters her client’s grand Victorian only
to find her strangled and laid out in a coffin. Clued in on the bizarre murder, the new forensic
profiler in town raises the intriguing theory of “posing,” suggesting the culprit, plagued by
remorse, decided to honor the victim with a grand send-off.
Meanwhile, police chief Gus Olivera, sticking to the evidence, makes a breakthrough by
identifying the coffin as one that is missing from the mausoleum. It originally belonged to the
victim’s young ward, tragically drowned in the lake by the house years earlier. With real and
amateur sleuths baffled, townspeople fear yet another attack from the deranged killer among
them.
About Kay Pritchett
Kay Pritchett, a native of Greenville, Mississippi, lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she
taught Spanish literature at the state’s flagship university. At retirement, she threw herself into
fiction writing and has wrapped up seven books in the Mosey Frye Mystery series. As a mystery
writer, she delights in blending the charming wit of amateur sleuth Mosey Frye with the suave
sophistication of police chief Gus Olivera. She’s all about sprinkling her mystery novels with
lively banter, highlighting the dynamic interactions between Mosey and her trusty sidekick
Nadia, as well as the intriguing dialogues between Olivera and sharp-witted coroner Eads
McGinnis. Her goal? To transport readers into the thrilling world of an Agatha Christie
whodunit, but with a delightful twist—think verandas and paddle boats! Murder in High Cotton
(2022), inspired by childhood memories of the Delta, anthologizes her first three short mystery
novels. Since then, she has launched four full-length novels: The Summer House at Larkspur,
The Incident at Sunny Banks, The House with a Secret Cellar, and The Murder at Red Oaks.
Author Links
Website: https://www.moseyfryemysteries.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kay.pritchett.9
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/moseyfrye/
BlueSky @kaypritchett.bsky.social
Threads moseyfrye
Pinterest www.pinterest.com/pritche8102
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kay-pritchett-65326661/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/128760439-kay
Purchase Links –
Amazon B&N Bookshop.org Alibris
Guest Post – Writing Mysteries without a Clue
I bid farewell to academia in 2016 after three decades of teaching and research. Initially, I made a
bold decision to break away from analysis, believing it stifled creativity. Yet, as I now approach
the tenth year since that departure, I’ve slowly realized that the true magic happens when
analysis and creativity join forces. To use one without the other is comparable to playing the
piano with half the keys. At least for me it is. Now that I’ve started analyzing my writing, I’m
able to develop and enhance the creative flow. That, curious readers, is how I have come full
circle, but the journey itself reveals insights worth sharing.
Particularly intriguing was the realization that a mechanism of sorts buried in the deepest
recesses of our psyches either does or does not allow us to plan ahead. I am speaking of the
writer’s ability to perceive the story before actually putting pen to paper or, in my case, fingers to
the keyboard. Writers express this phenomenon in terms of planning (or plotting) versus intuiting
(or “flying by the seat of your pants”). What is meant by planning is fairly obvious. It involves
mapping out plot points, character arcs, and story structure in advance. The intuitive approach,
however, has remained inadequately defined. Of course, it would be, because intuition is an
ineffable subject. Who can really say what it is? Even those who create intuitively find it difficult
if not impossible to explain. An analogy might be playing a musical instrument by ear. I can’t do
this for the life of me, but my sister can—and how I will never know.
I must admit that my approach to fiction was quite similar to my approach to academic writing,
where I was always tempted to dive in before writing an outline. When I began writing research
papers in high school, I staged a quiet rebellion against my teacher’s rigid methodology: read,
take notes, outline. Then, and only then, write.
I found this sequence stifling. Instead, I would plunge into writing as soon as I’d gathered
enough material to begin, letting the essay unfold organically. Only after completing the paper
would I concoct the required outline. When it comes to baking a cake, my approach is no
different. I’d rather experiment with ingredients and discover what emerges. If it turns out well,
I’ll make a note of the recipe.
In writing in general, this rebellious ritual became my standard method and proved particularly
feasible once computers entered my life. My dissertation marked the close of a chapter—the last
essay I managed to tease out onto paper by hand. The computer transformed everything,
becoming the perfect abettor for intuitive writers. It eliminated our greatest vulnerability: the
terror of writing ourselves into an inescapable corner. With digital editing, we could follow our
instincts fearlessly, knowing we could easily navigate our way out of any verbal labyrinth.
Intuitive mystery writers sometimes do find themselves in a mare’s nest of their own creation.
Perhaps this happens to planners, too—I wouldn’t know. But now, as a more experienced
mystery writer, I dare to ask just how risky is this “fly by the seat of your pants” approach? To be
honest, not very. Only once—on my eighth mystery—did the method truly ambush me. My
relentless quest to craft perplexing clues led me to a murder that seemed unsolvable. As I
completed chapter twenty-four, I had to go back to the beginning and remove pieces of evidence
that were out of sync with the timeline of the crime. Too many contradictory clues had created an
unsolvable puzzle. I had crafted a mystery that would defy anyone’s little gray cells. But
seriously, one time out of eight? The odds are not that bad.
For sure, you can always go back to the beginning of a story and fix it. I fear, however, that for
the intuitive writer, there is no real turning back in the game of writing. It is as if fate itself has
set a course that cannot be altered. In general, I am not a fatalist, but on this one point, I am.
Many authors of craft books insist that novels must be plotted. Others claim that, even if you
don’t plan the entire plot, planning is a tool you ought to have in your toolbox. On occasion, I
have attempted to put the more moderate of the two pronouncements into practice, but honestly,
it hasn’t served me well. I discovered that as soon as I knew the mystery’s outcome, I became
quite bored and began imagining different possibilities. I don’t know if other writers create their
twists and turns this way. Maybe the planners plan them. But for me, the reversals often arise
from a spontaneous shift of thought, leading to a more captivating conclusion.
It’s a truism in literature that all forms—poetry, drama, fiction—should be enlightening and
entertaining. I would argue that the process of creating a literary work should also be
enlightening and entertaining for the writer. If knowing the ending from the start spoils the fun
for me, then perhaps I must remain clueless until near the end, when at last I determine who did
the crime.
I have a hunch that the key lies in psychology. Maybe the enigma isn’t hidden in our texts but
rather in the psychological forces that propel us to write blindly into darkness.
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
September 29 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST
September 29 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
September 29 – Books1987 – SPOTLIGHT
September 30 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
September 30 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
October 1 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
October 1 – Salty Inspirations – CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 1 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
October 2 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
October 2 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
October 3 – Sarandipity’s – AUTHOR GUEST POST
October 3 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
October 4 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT
October 4 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT
October 4 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR GUEST POST
October 5 – StoreyBook Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 5 – My Books and Crafts – SPOTLIGHT
Giveaway
An autographed copy of The Murder at Red Oaks (Mosey Frye Mysteries) by Kay Pritchett (spanning all the blogs) and U.S. Only
