Jury Duty Is Murder by Kate Damon
When Kate Damon is not writing, she and her husband enjoy spending time with family and friends, raising Monarch butterflies, and playing a wicked game of bridge.
Writing as Margaret Brownley, she has published more than forty-six novels and is a New York Times bestselling author. Known for her memorable characters, impeccable research, and humor, she is a two-time Romance Writers of America Rita finalist and has won many writing awards including Readers Choice.ÂShe also wrote for a daytime soap.
Not counting the book she wrote in sixth grade and the puzzle of the missing socks, Jury Duty is Murder is her first full mystery.
A little bit about Author Kate Damon…
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a writer. I wrote my first book in sixth grade and felt so accomplished as the book was 19 whole pages long! In my teens, I entered the Seventeen Magazinewriting contest every year but never placed. If that wasn’t discouraging enough, I flunked a high school English class.  I could never figure out how to diagram a sentence (still can’t). If flunking wasn’t bad enough, my teacher told me not to even think about being a writer.
The initial discouragement didn’t dampen my desire to write. However, the demands of work, marriage, and raising children consumed much of my time. The only writing I could manage was for the church newsletter. After I transformed a church picnic into something resembling a John Grisham novel, my pastor at the time suggested that perhaps God intended for me to write fiction.
Feeling encouraged, I got to work and informed my family that I had enrolled in a writing class. My children were visibly relieved. It seemed that the overly-long excuses I wrote for their school absences had caused them embarrassment. (This probably explains why one son had perfect attendance.)
With my family’s blessing, I was determined not to let anything keep me from my dream this time, but it wasn’t easy. I collected enough rejections to paper the house and, still, I kept writing. The turning point came when an editor at Harlequin, after rejecting three manuscripts, provided a crucial piece of feedback by writing that I was getting closer. That served as a powerful motivator, and I immediately got to work on another proposal. Much to my delight, she bought it and, at long last, I was on my way.
Now when a new idea jumps out at me while I’m still working on a book,I jot the idea down in my Idea Notebook and keep working on the work in progress.
This is Author Kate Damon’s writing and publication journey in her own words…
Inspiration to start writing…
As a child, I was quite a reader, so I guess you could say that my inspiration came from Louisa May Alcott, Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew), and Edward Stratemeyer (The Hardy Boys).
As an author, my primary focus lies in crafting romance novels. I find the genre particularly appealing due to its capacity to delve into a wide array of themes, all explored through the dynamic of two individuals falling in love. Furthermore, I am drawn to the inherent optimism of the genre and love writing happy endings. Â Although, my latest book, Jury Duty is Murder, is not a romance, it is primarily a relationship book, with many of the same themes as my other works.
Kate’s works…
Jury Duty is Murder (written under my pen name Kate Damon)
Petticoat-Detective (Book 1 Undercover Ladies series)
Cowboy Charm School (Book 1 The Haywire Brides series)
Left at the Altar (Book 1 A Match Made in Texas series)
Jury Duty Is Murder Blurb
The verdict is in; a famed athlete is headed for prison. The jurors have done their job and are free to go back to their lives.
But after being sequestered for three months, life as most jurors knew it, no longer exists. Â
HAROLD ASHMAN’s house is almost destroyed when a reporter drives through it. Exotic dancer, CEECEE LAINE, discovers that her boyfriend is two-timing her, and she no longer has a job. Actor ALEX MANNING learns his career is down the tubes, and 72-year-old, HELEN RYDER, discovers her family is plotting to put her in an old folks home.
Then things take a turn for the worse. When jurors start dropping like flies, CeeCee, Helen, Harold, and Alex are convinced there’s a killer on the loose. Now the feuding foursome must find the killer before he finds them—or before they save him the trouble by killing each other.
One of Kate’s favourite scenes from Jury Duty Is Murder…
“The ringing telephone woke me up. Without opening my eyes, I felt around until I touched the nightstand and finally, my phone. “Hello.”
“Wake up, Harold.”
 I groaned. “Alex, what do you want?”
“I need you to wake up.”
 I forced myself to sit up. The clock on the radio said it was after ten. “This better be important.”
 “Something is terribly wrong,” Alex said. “It’s the thirtieth and nobody’s dead.”
 “Hallelujah.” I hung up and dived back into my pillow. The phone rang again, and I groaned. Only Alex would think that no dead bodies meant something was wrong. I rolled over and grabbed the phone. “Now what?”
 “No one’s dead.
Connect with Author Kate Damon (Margaret Brownley)
https://www.instagram.com/katedamonbooks
https://www.facebook.com/p/Kate-Damon-61565155275435/
Margaret Brownley links:
