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Book Details
Claws for Concern (Maddie Sparks Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Upstate – New York
Publisher : Epicenter Press
Publication date : October 14, 2025
Print length : 246 pages
Paperback
ISBN-10 : 1684922704
ISBN-13 : 978-1684922703
Digital
ISBN-13 : 978-1684922710
ASIN : B0FJP3JP7J
Maddie Sparks, senior amateur sleuth, sets aside her writing when her son, a defense attorney, is
accused of murdering one of his clients, a high school friend and the woman the authorities
believe murdered her estranged husband.
Although Maddie knows her son is innocent, she also suspects he is hiding something. Before
she can confront him, he disappears during the first snowstorm of the season. When he
reappears, he is shocked to discover his house has been torched. He confesses he and the
murdered woman had been seeing each other.
Did the client kill her husband to be with Maddie’s son? To make sense of the murders and the
arson, Maddie takes a close look at her son’s friends from high school. Do people change over
time, or do they carry their past grievances into the present? In getting to know her son’s friends,
she finds that teenage passion can sometimes lead to murder. It’s simply a matter of Maddie
determining which friend is hiding a killer’s face.
About Lesley A. Diehl
Cows, Lesley learned growing up on a farm, have a twisted sense of humor. They chased her
when she herded them in for milking, and one ate the lovely red mitten her grandmother knitted
for her. Determining that agriculture wasn’t a good career choice, instead, she uses her country
roots and her training as a psychologist to concoct stories designed to make people laugh in the
face of murder. Unusual protagonists appear in many of Lesley’s works, including Desdemona,
the crime-fighting potbellied pig, a hobo turned county sheriff and Lesley’s zany back-home-on-
the-farm relatives (The Killer Wore Cranberry, all six anthologies). She is the author of several
cozy mystery series (The Eve Appel Mysteries, Laura Murphy Mysteries, The Big Lake Murder
Mysteries and her newest from Camel Press, Maddie Sparks Mysteries, featuring a senior sleuth
and her rescue cat). Her cozy mysteries have won several Readers’ Favorite Awards and a short
story Sleuthfest Award. Find out more at www.lesleyadiehl.com.
Author Links
Website https://www.lesleyadiehl.com
Blog https://www.lesleyadiehl.com/blog
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lesley.diehl.1
GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/3414925.Lesley_A_Diehl
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/author/lesleydiehl
GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/3414925.Lesley_A_Diehl
Guest Post – Developing an Older Protagonist in a Cozy Mystery Series
By Lesley A. Diehl
My protagonist in the Maddie Sparks mysteries of which Claws for Concern is the third book is
a mature woman, a very mature woman, a woman over the age of seventy. Since I am a woman
over the age of seventy, it’s easy for me to understand this character, to get into her head, to make
her authentic. However, there are some issues which arise when creating an older heroine. Rather
than look at these issues as problems, I see them as opportunities for character development.
I find Maddie a relatable character, but how can I make her a character that everyone, regardless
of age, finds sympathetic and interesting? I focus on three aspects pf Maddie’s life to bring the
character alive and exciting:
The activities in Maddie’s life
Maddie isn’t one to sit in a rocking chair and let life pass her by. She works out at least
once each week at a fitness center. Her hobbies include hiking and volunteering at a
nearby museum. She is careful to style her hair in a fashionable manner, and she likes
clothes shopping on occasion. She’s a lively, likeable, active individual. And there’s love
in her life when she meets an ex-county sheriff, an attractive (read yummy) man ten years
her junior. Love with a younger man. How enticing! Their romance is spicy enough to get
anyone’s toes tingling.
Maddie’s keen mind
Well, of course, there are her sleuthing adventures—tracking down clues, interviewing persons
of interest and putting together the pieces of the puzzle to uncover the murderer. Cozy mystery
readers expect the protagonist to share with them how she solves the murder. Her age can’t be an
issue. Maddie must be as clever, intuitive and sharp as a younger protagonist. Of course, because
of her age, Maddie brings more years of living and interactions with different people to use in
solving the murder. That’s an advantage over some younger protagonists. And if youth is also a
benefit, Maddie can call on her granddaughter to help her.
Aging Maddie as a senior sleuth
Writing a series character presents an author with important choices with respect to the
development of the protagonist over the arc of the books. The reader expects changes in
protagonist as she confronts issues and challenges in her interactions with other characters and
the solving of the murder. Cozy mystery series usually age the protagonist. Murders don’t
happen at one time but usually span a number of years meaning the protagonist ages. If the
protagonist is younger, for example, the author may choose to age her by including
developments in her relationship with a significant other and also with friends and family,
important changes in love relationships such as marriage and children, and modifications in
career. How does an author do that with a protagonist already senior in age?
I wanted Maddie to grow older and wiser and encourage the reader to see her change throughout
the series, so I sped up the series. I made each book cover a season. In Claws for Concern, the
reader has only known Maddie since the summer. Although the time over the span of the series is
truncated, I want to make the reader look forward to seeing Maddie’s relationship with her
partner grow and her friendship with Jane, a woman she meets in the first book, blossom in
unusual directions. Will Maddie and Zack marry? Will Jane join them in searching for a killer?
Will Jane also find love? How difficult will it be for Maddie’s granddaughter to advance her
career as well as marry into a Native American family?Writing a series character presents an author with important choices with respect to the
development of the protagonist over the arc of the books. The reader expects changes in
protagonist as she confronts issues and challenges in her interactions with other characters and
the solving of the murder. Cozy mystery series usually age the protagonist. Murders don’t
happen at one time but usually span a number of years meaning the protagonist ages. If the
protagonist is younger, for example, the author may choose to age her by including
developments in her relationship with a significant other and also with friends and family,
important changes in love relationships such as marriage and children, and modifications in
career. How does an author do that with a protagonist already senior in age?
I wanted Maddie to grow older and wiser and encourage the reader to see her change throughout
the series, so I sped up the series. I made each book cover a season. In Claws for Concern, the
reader has only known Maddie since the summer. Although the time over the span of the series is
truncated, I want to make the reader look forward to seeing Maddie’s relationship with her
partner grow and her friendship with Jane, a woman she meets in the first book, blossom in
unusual directions. Will Maddie and Zack marry? Will Jane join them in searching for a killer?
Will Jane also find love? How difficult will it be for Maddie’s granddaughter to advance her
career as well as marry into a Native American family?
Purchase Links
Amazon Barnes and Noble Bookshop
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
November 3 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW
November 3 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 4 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
November 5 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
November 5 – Sarandipity’s – AUTHOR GUEST POST
November 6 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
November 6 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
November 7 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST
November 7 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
November 8 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – REVIEW
November 8 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
November 9 – Wine Cellar Library – AUTHOR GUEST POST
November 9 – Cassidy’s Bookshelves – REVIEW
November 10 – Angel’s Book Nook – SPOTLIGHT
November 11 – @bibliophile_foodie – REVIEW
November 11 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
November 12 – Sneaky the Library Cat’s Blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
November 12 – Infinite House of Books – SPOTLIGHT
Giveaway
A trade paperback of Claws for Concern (Maddie Sparks Mystery) by Lesley A. Diehl
