Author Spotlight: Meg Benjamin

Meg Benjamin is an award-winning author of romance and cozy mysteries. Meg’s cozy mystery series, Luscious Delights from Wild Rose Press, concerns a jam-making sleuth based in the mythical small town of Shavano, Colorado. Her Konigsburg series is set in the Texas Hill Country and her Salt Box and Brewing Love trilogies are set in the Colorado Rockies (all are available from Entangled Publishing and from Meg’s indie line). Along with romance and cozies, Meg is also the author of the paranormal Ramos Family trilogy from Berkley InterMix and the Folk trilogy from Meg’s indie line. Meg’s books have won numerous awards, including an EPIC Award, a Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Holt Medallion from Virginia Romance Writers, the Beanpot Award from the New England Romance Writers, the Carly Crown Jewel of Books from the Mid-America Romance Authors, and the Award of Excellence from Colorado Romance Writers.

A little bit about Author Meg Benjamin…

I once was a college teacher, which meant I had to write as part of my job (publish or perish is real, y’all), but deep down I always wanted to write fiction. When my hubs took a job that meant a move from Texas to Colorado, I took that as my cue: I retired from teaching and began writing romance novels. My first novel, Venus In Blue Jeans, was actually published on the day my hubs left for his new job in Colorado (I followed him four months later after I finished my last day at Enormous State University). That was sixteen tumultuous years and around twenty-eight novels ago, and I’m still at it.

This is Author Meg Benjamin’s writing and publication journey in her own words…

Inspiration to start writing…

I’ve always loved reading and telling stories, from the time I was a child reading fairy tales. I loved writing romance because I’m a sucker for happy endings, but I’ve also always leaned toward mysteries and thrillers. I’ve read them since I was a teenager, and I’ve written them on and off since I started writing fiction. Several of the romances in my Konigsburg, Texas, series had mystery plots (like Be My Baby), and I’ve done a couple of paranormal trilogies (the Ramos Family and the Folk), that had definite thriller underpinnings. I’ve now moved over to cozy mysteries with my Luscious Delights series for Wild Rose Press. My heroine has her own jam-making business, but now and then she stumbles across murders in her Colorado mountain town. I love having a series with repeating characters I can get to know and plot points like sudden blizzards that take advantage of some Colorado quirks. And it’s great to have a plot with a crux that doesn’t entirely rely on the heroine’s love life, although Roxy, my heroine, does have her beloved Nate Robicheaux. Cozy mysteries do let the heroines kick up their heels and have a successful romantic life, which is another reason I love them.

The Wine Jelly Murder Blurb

Roxy Constantine and Nate Robicheaux are into weddings, both for work and family. But when the obnoxious father of the bride is murdered at the engagement party, they find out more about his business than they bargained for.

Now someone wants to stop Roxy from investigating even as she pulls out all the stops on a super New Year’s Eve wedding celebration for her uncle.

She’ll need more than wine jelly favors and wedding cake to stop the killer.

One of Meg’s favourite scenes from The Wine Jelly Murder…

As I stepped onto the landing, I heard something that sounded like a sob. “Did you hear that?”

“What?”

“That sound. It was over…” As I started across the landing toward the stairs, I heard another sob, much louder this time, coming from the stairs leading down to the lower floor. “Is anybody there?” I called.

“Roxy?” It sounded like Thalia, but a very different Thalia from the normal, terrifyingly efficient woman we’d been working with. I stepped quickly to the landing and peered toward the lower floor.

And saw Thalia Rosenberg leaning over Emerson Pollack, who lay spread-eagled on the concrete floor.

From where I stood, he looked very dead.

I ran down the steps. The stairwell was very dark although the light from above streamed down on Pollack’s body where it lay. Nate was at my heels.

Thalia knelt beside Pollack, her face the color of the snow still falling outside. “We need to call an ambulance,” she said. “He’s…hurt.”

Judging by the way Pollack was splayed on the floor, I didn’t think an ambulance would do much good. I put my hand on her shoulder. “Come on, Thalia. Step away from him now.”

Nate had climbed up the stairs and was now speaking urgently into his phone. I heard the words “accident” and “serious injuries,” which might well be true, as far as the “serious injuries” went. I was less certain about the “accident” part.

Thalia looked like she might faint or have hysterics, neither of which I wanted to deal with right then.

She leaned toward me, her brown eyes huge in her pale face. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “My God. He’s dead, isn’t he?”

Meg’s works…

You can find buy links to all of my books at my website: https://www.megbenjamin.com/books/ and I’ll also provide you with links to my latest Luscious Delights mystery below. My romances include my long-running Konigsburg, Texas, series (eleven books and counting), along with my Salt Box, Colorado, trilogy and my Brewing Love trilogy. I have two paranormal trilogies, The Ramos Family and The Folk. My Luscious Delights cozy mystery series is up to five books now. The first book in the series, The Pepper Peach Murder, is available through Amazon (https://amzn.to/3XxtDK5), and the Wild Rose Press shop (https://wildrosepress.com/product/the-pepper-peach-murder/) provides a handy set of links to all the bookshops around the world where Pepper Peach is available. My latest, The Wine Jelly Murder, will be published on September 1st. It’s available for pre-order on Amazon (https://bit.ly/4n7iSfr) and the Wild Rose Press bookshop (https://wildrosepress.com/product/the-wine-jelly-murder/).