Welcome Lauren Carr to this online Interview with Fran Lewis

Welcome Lauren Carr to this online interview. She is the author Old Loves Die Hard and It’s Murder My Son. Lauren Carr's Life Story

Lauren Carr fell in love with mysteries when her mother read Perry Mason to her at bedtime. From murderous bedtime tales, she grew up to write mysteries for television and the stage. She wrote her first book after giving up her writing career to be a stay-at-home mom.

The first installment in the Joshua Thornton mysteries, A Small Case of Murder was named a finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Award 2005. Her second full-length book, A Reunion to Die For was released nationally in hardback in June 2007 by Five Star First Edition Mysteries. Both A Small Case of Murder and A Reunion to Die For are now available in audio, Kindle, and print.

Her new series, The Mac Faraday Mysteries, set in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, where she and her family often vacation. The first book in this series, It’s Murder, My Son, will be released Summer 2010 in audio, Kindle, and print.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made speaking appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She is also an active member of Sisters in Crime. She lives with her husband and son on a mountaintop in West Virginia.

Old Loves Die Hard
A Mac Faraday Mystery

by Lauren Carr

Short summary of the book

Old Loves Die Hard…and in the worst places.

Retired homicide detective Mac Faraday, heir of the late mystery writer Robin Spencer, is settling nicely into his new life at Spencer Manor when his ex-wife Christine shows up—and she wants him back! Before Mac can send her packing, Christine and her estranged lover are murdered in Mac’s private penthouse suite at the Spencer Inn, the five-star resort built by his ancestors.

The investigation leads to the discovery of cases files for some of Mac’s murder cases in the room of the man responsible for destroying his marriage. Why would his ex-wife’s lover come to Spencer to dig into Mac’s old cases?

With the help of his new friends on Deep Creek Lake, Mac must use all of his detective skills to clear his name and the Spencer Inn’s reputation, before its five-stars—and more bodies—start dropping!

What happens when his ex wife shows up?

Of course, Christine wants Mac back. What doesn’t help is that she’s drunk, and Archie and David disappear from the scene to leave Mac to handle her alone. Gnarly, the unruly German shepherd that was another part of Mac’s inheritance doesn’t even stick around to help him.

How does he react?

The last thing Mac wants to do is let Christine hang around Spencer Manor. He had only started to settle into his new life, and there is hope of romance blossoming with Archie, his late mother’s research assistant who happened to come with his house. The last thing he needs is his drunk ex-wife hanging around. So, Mac pours Christine into his Dodge Viper and takes her up to the Spencer Inn to sober up in his private penthouse suite.

Who is Stephen Maguire?

Assistant U.S. Attorney, Stephen Maguire is the man that broke up Mac’s marriage to Christine after twenty years of marriage. While working as a homicide detective, Mac haad worked for Stephen Maguire, who prosecuted Mac’s cases. Have you ever met someone who used every ounce of power that came from his name and position and friends for all it was worth? That’s Stephen Maguire.

Why do they suspect Mac of Christine’s and Stephen Maguire’s murders?

Because not only did Stephen Maguire break up Mac’s marriage to Christine, but while doing so, he used all his power and lawyer friends to financially bankrupt Mac. The joke was on them when Mac inherited $270 million on the day his divorce was final.

Why does she come back?

Because Mac inherited $270 million on the day their divorce became final. Then, to add insult to injury, Stephen Maguire wiped out Christine financially, and then dumped her.

Mac puts her in his private penthouse suite and what happens next?

 Mac returns home to find that Archie Monday is gone. It is his first Saturday night alone at the Spencer Manor (not counting Gnarly), and Mac realizes how much he enjoys Archie’s company. The next morning, when Archie returns, they talk about how much he missed her. Unfortunately, any thought of romance is put on hold when Christine and Stephen Maguire are found murdered in Mac’s private penthouse suite.

Who is Natasha and what part does she play?

 Natasha Holmstead is a high-priced defense attorney, who has gotten more than one killer off. After Stephen Maguire is murdered, Mac discovers that Natasha is Stephen Maguire’s wife. He knew that they had been married, but she had been romantically involved with Judge Garrison Sutherland for so long, that Mac thought the couple had been divorced.

What about Stephen was suspect?
Mac was certain that Stephen Maguire had in some way been involved in the murder of a law clerk because Stephen was the last person the clerk called before his murder. It was soon after Mac accused Stephen of being involved that he seduced Christine into an affair and broke up Mac’s marriage.

Who is David and part does he play in helping Mac?

 David O’Callaghan is Spencer’s chief of police. He is also Mac Faraday’s half-brother on their father’s side. Christine and Stephen Maguire’s murders put David in an awkward position. While it is not common knowledge that David and Mac are brothers, it is also not hard to figure out, which is evident when one of the suspects discovers their relationship and threatens to accuse David of improperly covering up Mac’s involvement in the case.

What happens to Mac and why does David wind up in the hospital? Why are they after them?
During their investigation, they discover that Stephen Maguire had been investigating a number of Mac’s old murder cases. The widow of one of Mac’s murder suspects lives in Morgantown, WV. Soon after she refuses to talk to them, the widow is tossed out of the window of her high rise apartment to land on David’s cruiser, which puts David and Mac in the hospital.

This is when they discover that an assassin has been following behind Stephen Maguire to cover up the details of his investigation into Mac’s old cases. The next person on the assassin’s list is Mac!
 

What is the real reason Christine came back and how do his in-laws play a part?

Christine has come back to Mac because Stephen Maguire has wiped her out. She had left Mac because Stephen had promised her the good life of being married to a man of social position and financial security. She discovered too late that he was a phony.

Christine’s two sisters played a significant role in breaking up their marriage. During the course of their marriage, they made no secret that the hard working cop was not good enough for her, while flaunting their own social and financial successes.

So, when the opportunity presented itself to move up, they encouraged Christine to go for the brass ring, only to end up with nothing.

What is next for our Mac?

In Shades of Murder, my first detective, Joshua Thornton from the Joshua Thornton’s mysteries (A Small Case of Murder and A Reunion to Die For) joins Mac Faraday to solve the cold case murder of an artist in Deep Creek Lake.

In Pennsylvania, former JAG lawyer Joshua Thornton attends the execution of a serial rapist murderer he had defended thirteen years ago. The condemned man’s last wish of his defense lawyer is to find the real killer of one of the victims he had been accused of murdering—not to clear his name, but to give her the same justice his victims were receiving. Joshua teams up with the junior detective, who had always believed the Jane Doe was a copycat killing, to solve the case.

Meanwhile, in Deep Creek Lake, retired homicide detective turned millionaire playboy Mac Faraday comes into another inheritance. This is a lost painting left to his late mother by a stolen art collector. The lost painting is the last painting completed by Ilysa Ramsay, which was stolen at the time of her murder.

Both detectives work through the clues in their separate cases to come together when the cases turn up to be connected.

The expected release date for Shades of Murder is this Spring.