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A Murder at the Mansion—Inside Book Three of the Novel Detectives · Reality Writes

0:05
Ellie Alexander: Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Reality Writes.
0:10
Ellie Alexander: I am author Ellie Alexander.
0:12
Ellie Alexander: This is the podcast where we talk about all things bookish, writer-ish, whatever else is on our mind, and we try to peel back the curtain and give you a look at what it takes to live the writer life.
0:24
Ellie Alexander: And as always, I am here with the one and only Tech Guy.
0:29
Tech Guy: Hello, hello.
0:30
Tech Guy: And today we are going to be talking about a new book.
0:36
Ellie Alexander: I know.
0:36
Ellie Alexander: I can't believe it.
0:38
Tech Guy: Again.
0:39
Ellie Alexander: I know.
0:40
Ellie Alexander: It's the story of my life right now.
0:43
Tech Guy: You've got quite the publishing schedule this year.
0:46
Tech Guy: That is true.
0:47
Ellie Alexander: I do.
0:47
Ellie Alexander: It's a great problem to have from a writing perspective.
0:51
Ellie Alexander: I don't even want to use the the word problem.
0:53
Ellie Alexander: It's just, it's I'm so grateful to be able to be writing at this level.
0:58
Ellie Alexander: And as I've talked about many times on this podcast, and if you've, you know, come to any kind of book event with me, writing is definitely my happy place.
1:07
Ellie Alexander: And because I've been writing for nearly two decades now, and I've built up a lot of muscle memory, I tend to write pretty fast, uh, which means more books for you, darlings, whether you want them or not.
1:21
Ellie Alexander: They're coming.
1:21
Ellie Alexander: They're coming at you.
1:22
Ellie Alexander: Fast and furious.
1:25
Tech Guy: Hopefully they want them.
1:26
Tech Guy: Um, and it based on the comments that we get, it sounds like they do.
1:31
Tech Guy: But before we get started, I do want to let everybody know, as always, this is a spoiler-free episode.
1:37
Tech Guy: So if you're if you're if you don't know about the series we're about to talk about, if you don't know about the book we're about to talk about, do not worry because we will not be giving away any secrets today.
1:49
Tech Guy: Um, but you will be learning a little bit about the series and the book, and uh we'll be talking about some pretty cool stuff.
1:57
Tech Guy: So, and as always, use that, send us a message link in the show notes.
2:03
Ellie Alexander: That's right.
2:03
Ellie Alexander: And the killer in this book is dun dun dun.
2:07
Ellie Alexander: No, I'm just kidding.
2:08
Ellie Alexander: No.
2:11
Tech Guy: Spoiler free, spoiler free.
2:13
Tech Guy: Yeah.
2:13
Tech Guy: Spoiler free.
2:14
Tech Guy: Yeah.
2:15
Tech Guy: So let's get into it.
2:18
Tech Guy: What book is releasing?
2:22
Ellie Alexander: The next book in the novel detectives, A Murder at the Mansion, is coming out on July 21st.
2:29
Ellie Alexander: I'm so excited to share this one with you, darlings.
2:32
Ellie Alexander: I've had such fun getting to develop this series and do a spin-off from the secret bookcase mysteries.
2:39
Ellie Alexander: And uh, this book yet again is inspired by real life places, as well as some real life pets.
2:48
Ellie Alexander: This is the first time that I have had a pet focus in the actual mystery.
2:55
Ellie Alexander: So, for those of you who love any sort of thing involving animals, this might be the mystery for you.
3:03
Tech Guy: I love animals.
3:04
Tech Guy: I was just raising my hand.
3:06
Ellie Alexander: I know, but are you concerned that something might happen to said animal?
3:11
Tech Guy: No, because I listened to the a few episodes ago, we talked about the cozy contracts.
3:19
Tech Guy: And that is something that you cannot break.
3:24
Tech Guy: You can you just can't do it.
3:25
Tech Guy: It can't be a cozy and have an animal die.
3:28
Tech Guy: I mean, could the animal be the murderer?
3:33
Ellie Alexander: Oh wow.
3:33
Ellie Alexander: Well, I mean, I just read a book where that was the case, so that's a whole other uh Pandora's box that we won't go into.
3:43
Ellie Alexander: Yes.
3:44
Tech Guy: I know I know you, so I know I know the animal's gonna turn out to be okay.
3:49
Ellie Alexander: I don't know.
3:50
Ellie Alexander: I don't know.
3:52
Tech Guy: But this is book three in this series, right?
3:56
Ellie Alexander: This is book three in this series, and then because I did six books in the novel detectives prior or in the secret bookcase mysteries, I can't even keep them straight in the secret bookcase mysteries first.
4:07
Ellie Alexander: These all connect.
4:08
Ellie Alexander: So in some ways, it's kind of book nine.
4:13
Tech Guy: Well, let's let's talk about that for a minute for the darlings out there who don't know, because this was new to me, and this is something that you uh have worked on with your publisher, Storm and Um.
4:25
Tech Guy: So the Secret Bookcase Mysteries was the original series, and that series has six books in it.
4:31
Tech Guy: Yes.
4:31
Tech Guy: The novel detectives, same characters, many of the same characters, um, is a spin-off from the secret bookcase mysteries.
4:41
Tech Guy: I think I got that correct, but let me know if I didn't.
4:45
Ellie Alexander: Well done.
4:45
Ellie Alexander: Ding ding ding.
4:46
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, that's right.
4:47
Ellie Alexander: And this is a first for me too in publishing, and this came from the editorial team, and they were like, hey, we would love to keep this series going.
4:54
Ellie Alexander: We originally developed the series together, and they had this idea that it would be fun to do a spin-off, a way to continue the series, maybe pull in new readers as well.
5:04
Ellie Alexander: And the way that I plotted Annie's growth and development over the course of the first six books was leading up to this idea that she has a degree and this history in criminology.
5:17
Ellie Alexander: And when I first started this series, I had Veronica Mars, kind of a modern grown-up version of Veronica Mars in my head.
5:25
Ellie Alexander: And now in the spinoff with the novel detectives, and this is a tiny bit of a spoiler if you haven't finished the secret bookcase series, but you you sort of already know where this is going.
5:37
Ellie Alexander: She and her best pal Fletcher are actually investigating cases now.
5:43
Ellie Alexander: They were, of course, already involved in murder investigations in the first six books, but in the spinoff, they are legitimately getting invited onto the crime scene by the detectives, which is really fun and unique for most of my other cozies because in let's say the Bake Shop Mysteries, no pastry chef, like we've discussed, is ever going to be invited onto a crime scene or to help the investigative team with the case.
6:08
Ellie Alexander: But there's some legitimacy to Annie because she does have this training in criminology and her detective license and all of that.
6:16
Ellie Alexander: So it's fun to get to explore that and also to give her some different cases to work on, which is what she's doing in this particular book, uh, Murder at the Mansion.
6:27
Tech Guy: Yeah.
6:27
Tech Guy: And it's the all of the action takes place in the same setting, uh, which is Redwood Grove, right?
6:34
Tech Guy: So it's the same, same setting as the other books in the series so far.
6:39
Ellie Alexander: Same setting as the other books, same cast of characters, same cozy village.
6:44
Ellie Alexander: Like all of those vibes are there.
6:46
Ellie Alexander: It's just kind of fleshing it out and making it that much stronger.
6:49
Ellie Alexander: And then thinking about how I can get creative with, you know, a cold case or someone who might not remember what happened to them the night before and is covered in blood, or for this particular book, a wealthy heiress who's gone missing.
7:06
Tech Guy: Oh, the wealthy heiresses always go missing.
7:09
Tech Guy: That's what happens.
7:13
Ellie Alexander: The wealthy heiress always goes missing.
7:15
Ellie Alexander: You have a treasure trove of potential suspects in all of the family who wants said wealthy heiress's um estate, all of the things.
7:24
Ellie Alexander: It's just chef's kiss.
7:27
Tech Guy: That's awesome.
7:28
Tech Guy: Quick aside about Redwood Grove, this is a fictional town.
7:33
Tech Guy: You uh, some of your other series, many of your other series, are set in real life places.
7:39
Tech Guy: This, however, is a fictional place.
7:42
Tech Guy: However, one time not too long ago, we were looking at a map because you had shown me a property that you were looking at.
7:50
Tech Guy: Because this is for the darlings out there who don't know, Ellie is always looking at properties and houses and saying, wouldn't it be great?
8:00
Tech Guy: Isn't this one lovely?
8:01
Tech Guy: Wouldn't what do you think of this?
8:02
Tech Guy: And it this doesn't matter.
8:04
Tech Guy: We we could have just moved into a new house last week, and I would be getting suggestions on new stuff, but I digress.
8:13
Tech Guy: So you showed me a property, and I was it was up in the mountains out by the coast here in the Bay Area, and I was looking at a map to find out where this place was in relation to other things, and I was kind of scrolling around and I came across Redwood Grove.
8:33
Tech Guy: It's not a city, it's an unincorporated area up in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
8:39
Tech Guy: But I was like, there's no way it is a real place, and it's not too far from Fyloli, which is the real life inspiration for the secret bookcase mystery setting and the the bookstore that uh that Annie and Fletcher work at, right?
8:59
Ellie Alexander: I mean, basically I manifested it, is what it comes down to.
9:02
Ellie Alexander: I just decided that there should be a Redwood Grove.
9:05
Ellie Alexander: I put it on the page, and now it shows up in real life, which has happened so many times in my books.
9:10
Ellie Alexander: But yeah, it was such a trip to be like, wait, we could just drive there right now.
9:14
Ellie Alexander: This can't be real.
9:16
Ellie Alexander: Yeah.
9:17
Tech Guy: Yeah, it was so wild.
9:18
Tech Guy: But uh, but this book is set in Redwood Grove, um, just like the others.
9:24
Tech Guy: So uh that's awesome.
9:25
Tech Guy: Is there anything that you want the darlings to know about Redwood Grove since we know that it might be kind of a sort of a real place?
9:34
Ellie Alexander: Yes, there's so much I want the darlings to know about Redwood Grove, as you alluded to.
9:39
Ellie Alexander: My inspiration for this series is the stunning estate of Phyloli, which is an old Edwardian mansion, as well as these gorgeous grounds and gardens.
9:50
Ellie Alexander: We've visited countless times before I started writing.
9:53
Ellie Alexander: Then once I visited and knew that I had to set a book here, we've gone uh, I too many times to count to make sure that I'm getting the details right or to imagine where things might be.
10:04
Ellie Alexander: Failoli is not a functional bookstore, but in my mind, I have turned it into a bookstore.
10:11
Ellie Alexander: And then I've imagined that there are all these kind of like what you really have, especially in the English countryside, where you have all these little towns that connect with pathways.
10:22
Ellie Alexander: That's my vision for Redwood Grove, that from the secret bookcase, you could take these little pathways and end up in the village within, you know, a half a mile or something.
10:32
Ellie Alexander: And then that you are surrounded by these old growth forests and redwood trees, and all of that is true to life in the Bay Area here.
10:42
Ellie Alexander: And then the other thing I've done with Redwood Grove is I've mashed up a number of small towns.
10:47
Ellie Alexander: Since we've been living in California for the last few years, we've noticed like every community, even if it's 10 miles away, has its own cute, charming little downtown with cozy shops and coffee spots and restaurants.
11:00
Ellie Alexander: So I've taken a bunch of those and mashed them up and made them this village square of Redwood Grove.
11:06
Ellie Alexander: And the fun thing about getting this deep into the series now is that I get to keep expanding.
11:12
Ellie Alexander: So in this book, we're gonna meet the owner of uh-oh, darlings, I I almost just gave something away.
11:18
Ellie Alexander: So the tech guy's gonna have to cut that.
11:21
Tech Guy: Oh, it'll be cut.
11:22
Tech Guy: It's cut when they're listening to it.
11:23
Tech Guy: But but if there's a weird break in this podcast episode, now you know why, because Ellie just revealed something from the next book in the series, which she is currently writing, and stopped mid-sentence with a look of horror on her face.
11:40
Tech Guy: Because as we said at the beginning of this podcast, this is a spoiler free zone.
11:46
Ellie Alexander: So a spoiler-free zone.
11:48
Ellie Alexander: Okay, so what you are going to get to meet in this particular book, A Murder at the Mansion, is a new set of shops in town, a couple new spots that Annie and Liam, um, her love interest are going to visit.
12:03
Ellie Alexander: And then there is a mansion that makes the secret bookcase look like servants' quarters.
12:11
Ellie Alexander: And she gets called out to this mansion because our heiress has gone missing, and they have been invited to help find this missing heiress.
12:23
Ellie Alexander: And at this point in time, Bernadette Garst is the name of the missing um woman.
12:29
Ellie Alexander: We don't know whether she is alive, whether she's been kidnapped, whether she is frustrated with her family and has decided to jet off to one of her many homes all across the globe.
12:43
Ellie Alexander: Um, and so Annie and Fletcher are like deep in the mansion and the grounds there.
12:48
Ellie Alexander: And what I've done with this is I've taken some parts of Phyloli and then just expanded them and made them that much bigger.
12:56
Tech Guy: That's awesome.
12:57
Tech Guy: Quick side note about Phyloli that you were not aware of when you first concepted the idea of the secret bookcase mysteries.
13:06
Tech Guy: Phylloli, the mansion on the property, actually has a secret bookcase.
13:12
Tech Guy: And actually two secret bookcases.
13:14
Tech Guy: One of them opens to reveal a bar, which is a very cool thing, uh, and the other opens to reveal some hidden shelves.
13:22
Tech Guy: But nonetheless, that was another thing that kind of got manifested uh with the uh advent of the series.
13:29
Ellie Alexander: It's so cool.
13:30
Ellie Alexander: So the other thing that I talked about at the beginning is the fact that there is a pet involved in this story.
13:36
Ellie Alexander: So this is the first series that I've written where there is already a pet detective in Professor Plum, who is Annie's tabby cat.
13:45
Ellie Alexander: And Professor Plum has been in every book in the series and has, you know, played a role, I'll just say, in a few of the cases.
13:53
Ellie Alexander: And Professor Plum is going to have an even bigger starring role as the series develops.
13:58
Ellie Alexander: We also have two crows that are um sort of the mascots now of the novel detectives.
14:07
Ellie Alexander: And this all was born out of my own experience with feeding crows at our local swimming pool.
14:12
Ellie Alexander: So I love weaving those sort of things in.
14:15
Ellie Alexander: But I was brainstorming with my writers' group when I was working on the plot for this book.
14:22
Ellie Alexander: And I said, like, you know, I this is gonna be someone who is just, you know, next level of wealthy, right?
14:28
Ellie Alexander: This old, old California money, and that the Garst family has owned acres and acres of land and has also had this sort of like old school commitment to preserving nature, preserving these historic places, and a funding of the arts.
14:48
Ellie Alexander: And one of the women in my writers group was like, oh yeah.
14:51
Ellie Alexander: I mean, like, I sh I see these people all the time in the work that I do in my non-writing job.
14:58
Ellie Alexander: And then we started talking about like what would be some of the most outrageous and outlandish things that might happen.
15:04
Ellie Alexander: And I was thinking, oh, Bernadette also owns prized poodles.
15:10
Ellie Alexander: Um, and so she has a poodle that gets charted by helicopter up to a pet spa once a week.
15:19
Ellie Alexander: Um, and this really happens.
15:20
Ellie Alexander: This was all based on my writers' group discussion.
15:23
Ellie Alexander: And then I did a deep dive into this world of the ultra-wealthy who will helicopter or they'll send their dog trainer with their prized pet to a spa that is nicer than any spa you or I could even imagine, you know, like full lunches and massages and grooming sessions for the trainers and the pets.
15:46
Ellie Alexander: I mean, it's just, it's so outrageous.
15:48
Ellie Alexander: And I love that.
15:49
Ellie Alexander: And I can't wait because I know I'm gonna hear from some of you darlings that are like, Ellie, come on.
15:55
Ellie Alexander: This is so over the top.
15:56
Ellie Alexander: It's real.
15:57
Ellie Alexander: I'm telling you, it's real.
16:01
Tech Guy: Oh, I am surprised that there wasn't any first person research necessary for these super expensive spas while you were writing this book.
16:11
Ellie Alexander: It would have been, I don't think they'd let me in.
16:13
Ellie Alexander: I think they'd be like, no, I'm sorry.
16:17
Tech Guy: You have to submit your tax returns in order to get access.
16:20
Tech Guy: Yeah.
16:21
Tech Guy: Yes.
16:22
Tech Guy: Yeah.
16:22
Ellie Alexander: I read a cozy mystery and can I come to your spa and just shadow, you know, you for the day.
16:28
Ellie Alexander: Yeah.
16:29
Ellie Alexander: Um, yeah, but I can't wait for that thread.
16:32
Ellie Alexander: And then I just really enjoy this idea of these being investigations and and true cases.
16:41
Ellie Alexander: Not that in my other series, like there's there's always a body, there's always a murder, and there probably will be in this one.
16:47
Ellie Alexander: You'll have to wait and see.
16:48
Ellie Alexander: Um, but there's such a focus on getting called out to this missing person's case, which would happen again in the real world with any sort of private detective firm.
16:57
Ellie Alexander: You might hire somebody like that to come find your missing relative, etc.
17:02
Tech Guy: That's so great.
17:03
Tech Guy: Yeah.
17:03
Tech Guy: Um, that how many books will this series have?
17:10
Ellie Alexander: Well, I am currently working on book seven of the novel detectives.
17:18
Tech Guy: Oh, I didn't even know you were that far into it.
17:21
Ellie Alexander: Yeah.
17:22
Tech Guy: That's funny.
17:23
Tech Guy: Um that's a good thing.
17:25
Ellie Alexander: You're gonna cut that part that I almost tried to spoil.
17:27
Ellie Alexander: Way too far ahead.
17:30
Tech Guy: Well, and that's the problem you've talked about several times on Reality Writes is that the with the way that the publishing schedules work, you are always working one, maybe two books ahead of the one that is currently releasing.
17:45
Tech Guy: And so that presents challenges when you want to talk about the book that's currently releasing because your your mind is one or two books into the future, sometimes more.
17:55
Tech Guy: Um so it makes it makes it difficult to you know have conversations like this, I think.
18:01
Ellie Alexander: Darlings, these are the real world struggles of the writer life that we are sharing here on this podcast.
18:07
Ellie Alexander: But it's true, I'm always books ahead.
18:10
Ellie Alexander: And I wrote this book, I don't know, a year, a year and a half ago.
18:14
Ellie Alexander: And so once I send off a book, it goes through obviously the editorial process and everything like that.
18:21
Ellie Alexander: But then I haven't touched it for months and months at a time.
18:24
Ellie Alexander: I get super excited when it's finally then coming out because it's been in the process of being developed and edited and all those things.
18:33
Ellie Alexander: And each stage has its own exciting moments.
18:37
Ellie Alexander: You know, when you first see the cover or when you get page proofs, or when you physically get early copies, it goes up on NetGalley.
18:45
Ellie Alexander: But I really need to start doing like a quick like reread before book launches because uh yeah, like you said, I'm so far into the series and a lot of things have developed as they do in series writing, that um I need like a quick refresher to be like, oh yeah, that's right.
19:03
Ellie Alexander: You don't know this yet, darlings.
19:05
Ellie Alexander: I gotta zip the lips.
19:07
Tech Guy: Right.
19:07
Tech Guy: We talked about that in a previous episode of Reality Rights 2, where you in in mysteries, there is the mystery that takes place.
19:16
Tech Guy: So the case for for the book that that you happen to be reading, but there are often overarching mysteries and things develop that developments that take place over the course of several books uh within a series itself.
19:32
Tech Guy: So knowing which books that stuff takes place in is an ongoing challenge for the author and their tech guys.
19:41
Ellie Alexander: And their tech guys.
19:42
Ellie Alexander: And thank goodness for editorial staff at the publishing houses who send long, long lists of everything that has happened book by book, chapter by chapter.
19:52
Ellie Alexander: I always do that quick synopsis before I start writing.
19:55
Ellie Alexander: Yeah.
19:55
Ellie Alexander: Uh what I love about this particular series is it still has all of those cozy vibes, but I've done a deep dive into what it's like to own and work at an independent bookstore.
20:09
Ellie Alexander: And I've also done a lot of research, some of which doesn't even make it into the books, about what it's like to run a private detective agency.
20:18
Ellie Alexander: And I've learned so much over the last few years.
20:21
Ellie Alexander: And I'm so fascinated now by how much private detectives can actually do as far, and this is all based on California state law since the books are set here.
20:32
Ellie Alexander: So I know that it the rules change state by state.
20:35
Ellie Alexander: Um, but I'm quite impressed.
20:37
Ellie Alexander: You know, it's more than just maybe like trying to snap photos of a cheating spouse or something like that.
20:42
Ellie Alexander: There, there is a lot that private detectives can do to assist the police and investigative teams in real cases.
20:52
Ellie Alexander: Um, so I have copious stacks of notes for future books, too, which is uh a good thing and a bad thing, I guess.
21:01
Tech Guy: Copious stacks of notes on how to get away with murder.
21:04
Tech Guy: Uh, that's like not something you advertise, probably.
21:09
Ellie Alexander: No, maybe not.
21:10
Ellie Alexander: No.
21:11
Ellie Alexander: Um, and then the other thing about the bookstore piece is we've talked at length about how cozy's really are these escapism reads.
21:18
Ellie Alexander: They're kind of fantasy.
21:20
Ellie Alexander: But I have always imagined what it must be like to work at or own a bookstore, right?
21:28
Ellie Alexander: It's total wish fulfillment to get to write this series.
21:31
Ellie Alexander: You and I have had a thousand conversations about like, you know what, there are a lot of authors who own bookstores.
21:37
Ellie Alexander: Maybe we should do that too.
21:38
Ellie Alexander: Neither of us have any time to actually make that happen.
21:42
Ellie Alexander: But the reality of doing a deep dive and having a lot of conversations with friends and colleagues who I've known over the years who do own bookstores, it's not as romantic as it might seem, darlings.
21:56
Ellie Alexander: It's fantastic.
21:57
Ellie Alexander: I mean, all of them love books, they're purveyors of books.
21:59
Ellie Alexander: Books, they're supporters of books, it's all those things.
22:02
Ellie Alexander: But you are not spending your days sitting in the bookstore reading and, you know, recommending books and walking people.
22:10
Ellie Alexander: I mean, like you're doing some of that, but it's a lot of work.
22:14
Ellie Alexander: And there's so much more that goes in behind the scenes in terms in terms of vendor relations and ordering and restocking.
22:22
Ellie Alexander: Um, it's been so fun too.
22:24
Ellie Alexander: I have shadowed some booksellers and just watch them be like, yep, okay, well, 25% of my day is just putting books back on a shelf that got misplaced.
22:34
Ellie Alexander: And they're not even mad about it, but you know.
22:36
Tech Guy: Yeah.
22:36
Tech Guy: So, darlings out there, if you take a book off the shelf, put it back where it was, help an indie bookstore owner out.
22:43
Tech Guy: Um that's right.
22:44
Ellie Alexander: Yeah.
22:45
Tech Guy: It's it's almost like you talk about being an author being a lot of work and how these professions that all seem super dreamy and fun and easy actually take some effort too, because they are fun, but a lot of work goes into making them fun.
23:03
Tech Guy: Um, I will say that owning a bookstore is probably still on our respective lists uh for doing at some point, sometime.
23:14
Tech Guy: Who knows?
23:15
Tech Guy: Maybe it'll happen.
23:16
Tech Guy: I'd love to hear from the darlings out there if they would stop in and discuss like murder plots and stuff with me because I know I'd be behind the register uh while you're writing books.
23:26
Ellie Alexander: This feels like my sign to start sending you new properties where we can vibe.
23:30
Ellie Alexander: Oh no.
23:31
Tech Guy: Oh no, I didn't even think about that.
23:33
Tech Guy: Yeah, of course.
23:34
Tech Guy: Okay, so now I'm gonna start getting uh a bunch of commercial properties.
23:38
Tech Guy: Uh I I I'm foreseeing a lot of live work spaces coming my way in the next couple of days.
23:44
Tech Guy: That's great.
23:46
Ellie Alexander: Okay, this is a total aside, but not really.
23:48
Ellie Alexander: And I have thought about how I might incorporate this into the series for a future book.
23:53
Ellie Alexander: There is a bookstore.
23:55
Ellie Alexander: I can't remember now if it's in Ireland or Scotland, but I've sent it to you.
23:59
Ellie Alexander: And you get to go stay.
24:01
Ellie Alexander: It is a live workspace, so it's a cozy, sweet little, I think it's Ireland, but it could be Scotland.
24:06
Ellie Alexander: Cozy, sweet little bookstore.
24:08
Ellie Alexander: And you stay for a week and you run the bookstore as part of your stay.
24:12
Ellie Alexander: That, I mean, that's the dream.
24:14
Ellie Alexander: We have to do that first and test it.
24:16
Ellie Alexander: Um, and the owners are super casual about it.
24:19
Ellie Alexander: It's like, well, if you want to go out for a hike, you just put the clothes, sign up for a couple hours, but you come, you stay, you pay to stay, and you run the bookstore.
24:27
Ellie Alexander: Like it's also a brilliant strategy on their part, but I'm sold, darlings.
24:31
Ellie Alexander: Are you with me?
24:31
Ellie Alexander: We need a book tour there.
24:34
Tech Guy: That that is amazing.
24:36
Tech Guy: Uh maybe uh Annie and Fletcher will have to incorporate that into uh the shop at some point.
24:44
Ellie Alexander: That's what I'm thinking.
24:45
Ellie Alexander: Yeah.
24:45
Tech Guy: Yeah.
24:46
Ellie Alexander: And then there would be a body, somebody wouldn't do their duty.
24:51
Tech Guy: Somebody didn't put somebody didn't put the books back in the right place, and they ended up paying the ultimate price for it.
24:59
Tech Guy: I told you, darling, you gotta put those books back.
25:05
Ellie Alexander: It's a public service announcement, really.
25:09
Tech Guy: All right, so book three comes out July 21st.
25:13
Tech Guy: Uh available for pre-order now.
25:15
Tech Guy: Ebook and paperback and audio.
25:18
Tech Guy: Yeah.
25:19
Tech Guy: Yes.
25:19
Tech Guy: All three.
25:20
Tech Guy: The trifecta.
25:21
Ellie Alexander: All formats.
25:22
Ellie Alexander: I know.
25:22
Ellie Alexander: I can't wait.
25:23
Ellie Alexander: I can't wait for you to get your hands on it, darlings.
25:26
Ellie Alexander: Please share if you've read it.
25:28
Ellie Alexander: Uh, I always love hearing your thoughts.
25:30
Ellie Alexander: And yeah, uh, I think we need to start planning a another bookish trip soon, just in the name of research.
25:39
Tech Guy: Uh I do love the bookish research.
25:41
Tech Guy: It is the best part of the job.
25:43
Ellie Alexander: It's true.
25:44
Tech Guy: All right.
25:45
Tech Guy: And you said you're working on book seven right now, so there's a lot more to come in the novel detective series.
25:52
Tech Guy: Will the novel detective series have a spin-off?
25:55
Tech Guy: That's what I want to know.
25:57
Ellie Alexander: Whoa, a spin-off of the spin-off?
25:59
Tech Guy: Professor Plum is gonna get his own spin-off.
26:03
Ellie Alexander: Yes.
26:04
Tech Guy: It'll be a fully pet detective series.
26:08
Ellie Alexander: Okay, all right.
26:10
Tech Guy: There's probably a market for that.
26:11
Tech Guy: There's probably a market for that.
26:14
Ellie Alexander: Yeah.
26:14
Ellie Alexander: You heard it here first, darlings.
26:18
Tech Guy: All right.
26:19
Tech Guy: Anything else you want to share with the darlings about a murder at the mansion?
26:24
Ellie Alexander: A murder at the mansion.
26:26
Ellie Alexander: You just have to say it like that.
26:28
Ellie Alexander: A murder at the mansion.
26:30
Ellie Alexander: I want to say, as always, darlings, thank you for your support, for coming along with me on so many books.
26:37
Ellie Alexander: It's just a delight to have such a connected community.
26:40
Ellie Alexander: And I could not do this without you.
26:43
Ellie Alexander: So thank you for all that you do, for sharing, for telling friends, for posting reviews, for your ideas, all of it.
26:53
Ellie Alexander: It's just incredible to be part of this community.
26:57
Tech Guy: Absolutely.
26:57
Tech Guy: I couldn't agree more.
26:59
Tech Guy: All right.
27:00
Tech Guy: Well, with that, I am going to say until next time.
27:05
Ellie Alexander: Until next time.