Letter to Readers

Dear Reader:

I hope you enjoy this first book in the Candy Shop Mystery series. Candy Apple Dead takes place just a few months after Abby Shaw returns to her home town of Paradise, Colorado following a twenty-year absence. Abby left home for college, met and married her husband, began and nourished a career as a corporate attorney, and never really looked back. When her life fell apart, her Great-Aunt Grace gave Abby a place to stay and a job at her candy shop, Divinity, so Abby could decide how and where to start her life over.

Then Aunt Grace died and left Abby to run Divinity alone.

As a long-time fan of the cozy mystery, I'm always looking for ways to help readers (and myself) suspend disbelief long enough to accept the involvement of a regular person in the investigation of a murder. When I began writing Candy Apple Dead, I decided to look into my own past and draw on a real-life experience to begin the process.

Nearly twenty years ago, a friend was found dead inside his men's clothing store after an explosion and fire. Though the police were certain that he had been killed while trying to set fire to his store to collect the insurance, I was convinced that they were wrong. My friend had made plans to meet me that evening--plans I knew he would not willingly break. When he failed to show up, I got worried. Several hours later, I heard about the fire and his death on the late-night news.

Though I didn't get very far with my amateurish investigation into his tragic death, I have never forgotten how much I wanted to prove the police wrong. When I was trying to find a murder personal enough and important enough for the owner of a candy shop to become involved in, I decided to write a better ending to my friend's story.

Any time a writer starts thinking, imagination soon takes over, and this book is no exception. My imagination soon got the best of me, and the people I created in Paradise took on lives of their own. With the exception of Max, the Doberman Pinscher and inventory retrieval specialist, everyone in Paradise is a figment of my overly fertile imagination. The people and events in Candy Apple Dead bear no resemblance to any real people, either living or dead, and the ultimate solution isn't even close to reality. The circumstances of my friend's untimely death served only to provide the catalyst for me to start doing what (according to my mother) I do best--making things up.

I hope you'll have the chance to let the people at Divinity sweeten your day. If you do spend time in Paradise, I'd love to hear what you think. I can be reached through my website, www.sammicarter.com.

Best,

Sammi Carter

For more information on Sammi Carter.