Monday, April 18, 2016

Hell to Pay


HELL TO PAY
(What Doesn't Kill You, #7)

An Emily Romantic Mystery
by 
Pamela Fagan Hutchins
Genre: Romantic Mystery

Publisher: SkipJack Publishing

Date of Publication: March 26, 2016

# of pages: 383
Scroll down for Giveaway!





1. What are some day jobs that you have held?  If any of them impacted your writing, share an example.

The primary roles I’ve held in my career are attorney, human resources executive, and workplace investigator. At one point I also was a card carrying private investigator (I love being able to say that). These have been hugely influential on my writing. I pull from my experience in all three every day.

2. What do your plans for future projects include?

I plan to continue the What Doesn’t Kill You romantic mystery series with three books per female protagonist in the world of characters I’ve created. I am next tackling another Michele novel (she first appeared in Going for Kona, which is #4 in the series), which is tentatively titled Going by the Book, then I’ll be writing some Ava novels. I also plan novels for a new character, named Maggie, and potentially for Laura, a New Mexico jockey who first pops up in Heaven to Betsy.

3. Do you have any strange writing habits you’d like to share with your readers?

I don’t know if this is strange or not because it’s normal to me, but I record my books for transcription while walking my four dogs and my goat. Yes, my goat, Peyton Manning.

4. How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning? Do you have any name choosing resources you recommend?

Names are very important to me. I choose names based on their meaning, their origin, or because the character reminds me of someone important to me. For instance, in Saving Grace, Leaving Annalise, and Finding Harmony, I named the house and the jumbie spirit Annalise because of its meaning: grace. I chose the name Nick for the love interest because it was of Hungarian origin, as he is, and because it was strong and masculine. In Heaven to Betsy, Earth to Emily, and Hell to Pay, Emily’s married last name is Bernal, in homage to the family name of one of my dearest friends. And in Going for Kona, Michele is named Michele with one L in honor of another dear friend and my cousin.

5. What question do you wish that someone would ask about your book, but nobody has?

Awesome opportunity. For Hell to Pay, I want to be asked this question: what is your favorite out of the novels you have written? And the answer is . . . Hell to Pay! It has been a favorite of my editors and advance readers as well. My husband still loves Going for Kona best. My bestseller is Saving Grace. My biggest awards have come for Finding Harmony and for Heaven to Betsy. But if I had to pick a favorite “child” from my novels, it would be Hell to Pay. I loved writing about the religious cult, and I wrote this book at a time when my self confidence was very low, so for it to come out many orders of magnitude better than I’d dreamed was very sweet.







Big-haired paralegal and former rodeo queen Emily has her life back on track. Her adoption of Betsy seems like a done deal, her parents have reunited, and she’s engaged to her sexy boss Jack. Then client Phil Escalante’s childhood buddy Dennis drops dead, face first into a penis cake at the adult novelty store Phil owns with his fiancée Nadine, one of Emily’s best friends. The cops charge Phil with murder right on the heels of his acquittal in a trial for burglarizing the Mighty is His Word church offices. Emily’s nemesis ADA Melinda Stafford claims a witness overheard Phil fighting with Dennis over a woman. Before he can mount a defense, Phil falls into a diabetic coma, leaving Nadine shaken and terrified. Meanwhile Betsy’s ultra-religious foster parents apply to adopt her, and Jack starts acting weird and evasive. Emily feels like a calf out of a chute, pulled between the ropes of the header and the heeler, as she fights to help Phil and Nadine without losing Betsy and Jack.



Pamela Fagan Hutchins writes overly long emails, best-selling, award-winning mysteries (WINNER USA Best Book Award, Fiction: Cross Genre, Finalist) and hilarious nonfiction. The Houston Press named her as one of Houston's Top 10 Authors (2014). She is a recovering attorney and investigator who resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Wyoming. Pamela has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes with her hunky husband and pack of rescue dogs, traveling in the Bookmobile, and her Keurig. Download her mystery Saving Grace, free everywhere, and visit her  website or drop her a note pamela at pamelahutchins dot com. And if you would like her to visit your book club, women’s group, writer’s group, or library, all you have to do is ask.




************************************************************
GIVEAWAY! THREE WINNERS EACH

WIN SIGNED COPIES OF 
ALL 3 EMILY ROMANTIC MYSTERIES!

April 11 - 20, 2016

Check out these other great blog stops on the tour!

4/11     Margie's Must Reads                Review
4/13     The Page Unbound                   Author Interview #1
4/14     All for the Love of the Word      Review
4/15     Because This is My Life Y'all       Guest Post #1
4/16     My Book Fix Blog                      Excerpt
4/17     It's a Jenn World                       Review
4/18     A Novel Reality                         Author Interview #2
4/19     Texas Book Lover                      Guest Post #2
4/20     Hall Ways Blog                          Review
 

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