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A friend’s murder. An unconnected cast of suspects, including the victim’s missing adult daughter. As if that wasn’t enough, Brynn Bancroft’s winery has been broken into. Can she deal with her co-owner ex and help the police find her friend’s murder so she can finally overcome her own troubled past and enjoy family life with her teenage ward?
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About Brynn Bancroft
Brynn Bancroft evolved from the Jillian Hillcrest mysteries where she served as Jillian’s manager while Chief Financial Officer of Harmonia Therapeutics in Silicon Valley. A shapely blonde with a MENSA IQ, she had an affair with the CEO of the company.
Unfortunately for Brynn, the CEO’s wife figured out that the two were involved and asked Brynn to leave the company, which she agreed to do.
In the meantime, her husband, Liam—not unfamiliar with extramarital affairs himself but also understanding that Brynn grew up in an abusive household- grew tired of waiting for Brynn to commit to their relationship and asked for a divorce. At the same time, he solicited her assistance in developing his new winery in Sonoma County, Calif.
Much like Jillian--who does appear in the Brynn Bancroft mysteries--Brynn, too, attracts mystery and murders as she grows to enjoy life at her ex-husband’s Hilltop Sunset Winery.
“Good morning, Floyd. Good morning, Brown.”
Joyce T. Strand ~~A Day in the Life of a Mystery Author
Two pairs of threatening cat eyes stare at me as I try to get just a few more minutes of sleep. Too late. If I don’t feed them, they will simply start their morning routine of walking over me until I relent. And the small 8-lb brown one isn’t so bad but the 15-lb Tabby can cause some damage.
Besides, today was a writing day – I’d committed to writing 5,000 words. So I begrudgingly rose, fed them, and started the coffee.
I settled into my writing chair, pulling my lap top close by. Oh, look, 170 e-mails. There might be something important.
My oatmeal is ready.
No more e-mails? I’d better check Facebook. I posted the cover of my newest book the previous day. Did anyone LIKE it?
And I should review the traffic to my blog.
Oh ,I better check to see if I sold any books since last night. And there’s some more e-mail.
OK, now let’s see. Where was I in my book? Oh, yes, good for me. I left a plotted scene unfinished to help me get into the writing.
Terrific-it took me 1,000 words to finish that scene.
Uh oh. One of my characters is not happy with how I wrote her out of that scene. But I’m going to ignore her for now.
However, that gives me a great idea for another scene. I know what the end of the book will be, but I need a few red herrings along the way that will promote the mystery and give the reader some thought-provoking misleading clues. They love them. If it’s too easy to solve, they lose interest.
Is it time for lunch?
Oh. Look. I just got some e-mail. I better check it.
Yep, it’s a good thing I checked. I need to send a Mobi version of a previous book to a reviewer.—always a welcome interruption!
My cell phone chirped. The owner of my local book store was calling. We discussed logistics for an upcoming book signing event at the store.
I eagerly returned to my writing.
It was almost time for lunch and I had only written 1,000 of the 5,000 words . No lunch until I’d written another 1,500. I’ll continue with the idea from the previous scene that my character suggested.
Time for a late lunch. But I’ve actually written a total of 2,500 words. Whew! Quick lunch, no more Facebook. But I’d better check my e-mails. You never know!
Amazon is out of books and needs me to send more. I acknowledge the request. Oh, and the printer of my latest book wants to know how many advance copies of the printed books they should ship. And I still owe an interview to a blogger who is featuring me.
But first I MUST write an additional 2,500 words.
Is the day of this writer almost complete? Hardly, but you get the idea!
Also Available
Hilltop Sunset: A Brynn Bancroft Mystery
A mystery set in wine country pitting financial exec Brynn Bancroft against a determined stalker, a troubled love interest, and career clashes.
Brynn Bancroft learns that a former employee who beat her nearly to death has returned to stalk her and her friend, Jillian Hillcrest, also a former victim.
Recently divorced, Brynn turns to a new love interest only to encounter additional unwelcome issues. Meanwhile, short-timer Brynn, who has resigned from her Silicon Valley company, becomes bored fulfilling her remaining responsibilities there. She begins to prefer supporting the launch of her ex-husband’s new hilltop winery while waiting to move to her next position. Between her stalker and her new love interest, Brynn faces a series of life-changing events.
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About the Author
Joyce T. Strand is the author of who-done-it mysteries set in the San Francisco Silicon Valley and Napa-Sonoma wine regions of California.
Her most recent novel, Landscape for Murder, follows Hilltop Sunset which was the first of a new series featuring protagonist Brynn Bancroft, a financial guru in transition to winemaker from corporate executive. Brynn Bancroft is a minor character in Strand's novels On Message, Open Meetings, and Fair Disclosure--three mysteries solved by Jillian Hillcrest, a publicist whose boss was Chief Financial Officer Brynn Bancroft.
Much like her protagonist Jillian Hillcrest, Joyce Strand headed corporate communications at several biotech and high-tech companies in California's Silicon Valley for more than 25 years. Unlike Jillian, however, she did not encounter murder in her career. She focused on writing by-lined articles, press releases, white papers, and brochures to publicize her companies and their products.
Strand has been a mystery fan since she read her first Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy stories as a teenager. She admits that in between reading Agatha Christie, Ian Fleming, Erle Stanley Gardner, and John McDonald in her youth, she also checked out Tolstoy, Steinbeck, Faulkner, and Dostoyevsky, but her love of the “puzzle” always drew her back to the latest fictional detective. Today she favors John Grisham, Louise Penney, Linwood Barclay, Michael Connelly, and Stieg Larsson. She has always enjoyed the challenge of following clues to solve the puzzle of a mystery before it is revealed.
Joyce lives with her two cats and collection of cow statuary in Southern California, and seeks out and attends as many Broadway musicals and other stage plays as possible.
She received her Ph.D. from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C. and her B.A. from Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.
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