Thursday, March 14, 2024

About the Book

Book: Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing

Author: Lisa R. Howeler

Genre: Clean Cozy Mystery

Release Date: July 11, 2023

A little bit of mystery, a dash of romance, and a whole lot of heart

After being laid off from her job as a librarian at a small college, Gladwynn Grant isn’t sure what her next step in life is. When a job as a small-town newspaper reporter opens up in the town her grandmother Lucinda Grant lives in, she decides to take it to get away from a lot of things – Bennett Steele for one.

Lucinda has been living alone since Gladwynn’s grandfather passed away six years ago and she isn’t a take-it-easy, rock-on-your-front-porch kind of grandma. She’s always on the go and lately, she’s been on the go with a man who Gladwynn doesn’t know.

Gladwynn thought Brookstone was a small, quiet town, but within a few days of being there, she has to rethink that notion. Someone has cut the bank loan officer’s brakes, threatening letters are being sent, and memories of a jewelry theft from the 1990s have everyone looking at the cold case again.

What, if anything, will Gladwynn uncover about her new hometown and her grandmother’s new male friend? And what will she do about her grandmother’s attempt to set her up with the handsome Pastor Luke Callahan?

Find out in this modern mystery with a vintage feel.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Lisa Robinson-Howeler is a writer and photographer from Northeastern Pennsylvania, where she lives with her husband and two children, her dog Zooma and her two cats Pixel and Scout. She is a former small-town newspaper reporter. She is also a wife, blogger, and a homeschooling mother. She blogs about fiction, faith, photography, and life.

More from Lisa

I can’t say that Gladwynn Grant’s character is based completely on my grandmother, but, in some ways, I did. I named her Gladwynn after my paternal grandmother who I grew up living over the creek and through the woods from.

Gladwynn was her middle name but I’m not really sure how she spelled it because she never really used it. She usually just wrote G. as the middle initial. When we did a search on Ancestry, we saw that some spellings on her documents were Gladwin and some were Gladwyn. I guess her family wasn’t sure either, but if I remember right (I don’t have the document right in front of me) on her birth certificate it was spelled Gladwin.

I liked the spelling of Gladwynn with a “y” and two “n’s” though so that is how I spelled Gladwynn’s name for the books.

My grandmother was tough and to the point. She wasn’t mean but she didn’t pull punches. She was not super maternal or affectionate. Again, though, she was not mean.

She lived through the Great Depression and raised children during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

Her youngest, my dad, was in the Air Force when Vietnam broke out. He was never sent overseas but he helped build bombs and work on airplanes during that time.

She knew about hardship, trials, and heartbreak. Her husband died of cancer when he was in his 60s and she spent the next 35 years without him. She began to lose her eyesight to macular degeneration in her 80s.

None of what life threw at her stopped her from living her best life.

She still traveled and kept her house and property up. At the age of 86 I caught her on a ladder cleaning out the gutters. Around the same age she marched down the dirt road in front of her house with a walking stick and told the township road workers to make sure the drainage pipe they were putting in didn’t run into her field and flood it.

If she was afraid of things, she didn’t show it very often.

My family lived with her while I was in college and I learned so much about how to preserve and live a happy and fulfilled life despite the tragedies or trials of my life.

When I started thinking about writing a cozy mystery series, I wanted the main character to be a lot like grandma, but also more affectionate and sentimental than my grandmother seemed at times.

I only remember my grandmother telling me she loved me once or twice in my life, but I know she did because she showed it in her actions toward me.

I wrote Gladwynn to be bold and tough, but also to be affectionate and open with her feelings – a lot like my grandmother, but also a little different.

I think my grandmother would love the idea that I am writing a series of books based on her name and partially on her personality.

MY REVIEW

The main character sure does have an unusual first name. I loved how we find out that it is a name one of her ancestors had. The story has an old time feeling about it with Gladwyn and her classic hair from times gone by, bright red lipstick and living with her grandma in an old house with lots of history. The town is quaint with a feel of “The Gilmore Girls” when Gladwyn attends the town council meeting. What a spectacle it was with raised voices and threats flying back and forth. The author sets the stage for a fun mystery.

Gladwyn’s relationship with her grandma is a bit odd to me. They are both sassy to each other and at times I think they mean what they say in their sarcastic voice. The bottom line is they have a very close relationship and worry about each other. I’m pretty sure grandma can hold her own in any situation.

Now for the story there sure is a lot going on. Threatening notes, car accidents that really aren’t an accident, jewelry heist never solved, land that people are fighting over and townspeople gossiping constantly caught this reader off guard. I was impressed with Gladwyn and her ability to find answers to questions that help solve crimes. There are a few twists in the story and overall I thought it was a nice story.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.