Take in the wild beauty of Santa Catalina Island with tour guide and eclectic gift shop owner Whitney Dagner. On the itinerary: dramatic Pacific coastlines, diverse marine life, and murder!

Since returning home from mainland California and finding her groove with the family tourism business, Whitney Dagner’s daily routine has become a wonderfully chaotic adventure. She and her nimble kitty, Whiskers, often find themselves at the center of the action on Catalina, from staged treasure hunts to gossipy birdwatchers. But before Whit can get too comfortable in the place where she grew up, a gift shop order leads to a stunning discovery—someone’s dead body . . .

One of Whit’s best boat tour client’s, Leo Franklin was young and newly engaged when he unceremoniously took his own life. Only it doesn’t seem like that’s what really happened—not after the suspicious activity displayed by his family’s old rivals at the scene of his death. As a bitter, generations-long feud between Leo’s kin and the local Ahern clan comes to a head, Whit and her police diver not-so-ex-boyfriend must lead a dangerous investigation into years of scandal and bad blood to figure out who’s innocent . . . and who’s covering a killer’s tracks.

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Guest Post

Here we are back in Catalina!

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for joining me on the blog today! I’m excited to be here and share a little bit about Whit and Whiskers Mysteries. Who doesn’t love sand, sun, snickering and little bit of murder mystery?

I’ve been writing for a lot of years, mostly under another name (Misty Simon if you’re interested) but this new series has given me the opportunity to go back to the days when I lived in California. Never did we live on the island, although sometimes I thought it would be awesome. However, we did get to vacation there a few times and it made an impression. Enough that when I got a chance to live there in my imagination, I jumped at it.

So Whit and Whiskers Mysteries were born, and I got to explore island life, getting around in a golf cart, shipping everything to the island, and being in a small community that gets infiltrated every day with tons of tourists. Setting up the murder mystery was easy enough since my mind likes to play with motives and clues and secrets. It was so much fun to virtually explore the island, and I am incredibly thankful for virtual maps and the tons of pictures available of the island. Then I was scheduled for a book signing conference for Kensington Books and decided to go ahead and take one for the team but booking passage to the island itself.

It was a blast! I dragged my aunt with me (she wasn’t exactly kicking and screaming, but more pulling me along behind her!) and we explored all the ins and outs as tourists, but also took the time to talk with the people who live and work there to see what it’s like to be a resident. The stories they told and the experiences they shared have flavored books one and two so much and I love it. There’s nothing like getting to immerse yourself even just for a day in how someone else lives in an environment that’s nothing like yours.

We strolled down the sidewalks, walked through the neighborhoods, ate at the local restaurant, rented a golf cart, and dug our toes into the sand. And all that then allowed me to come home and bring it to life on the page. As I sit down to write I try to bring the images back into my mind and the smells, the tastes and feel of being on this little slice of heaven. It’s not all perfect there of course but it came pretty darn close in my mind! So of course I had to add a little murder into the mix, sprinkle it liberally with secrets, then a dash of romance.

And then tie it all together with a wonderful amateur sleuth and a chonky cat. These characters are so much fun, including Whit’s grandmother and grandfather, her best friend Maribel, her sometimes boyfriend Felix, and her brother Nick. I have had such a great time making the relationships, giving them issues, maneuvering them around each other and on the page. These people feel real to me now and I have such a great time being able to visit with them on the page and then share it with readers. Setting is a character of its own and is a wonderful thing to create but I also love to create the characters and community with cozy mysteries.

My favorite kind of characters are the ones you wish were real so you could go grab some coffee together, preferably without a killer hanging over your shoulder! They’re tight-knit but full of secrets, family but with some history that not everyone talks about, full of passion and love and relationships that aren’t always perfect. But I love writing realistic characters even as I’m putting them in not-so-realistic scenarios. I don’t know what I would do if I actually stumbled upon a dead body but I’m pretty sure it would run along the lines of calling the local police and then letting them do their job, not sneaking around and asking questions that could get me into trouble.

Yet it’s wonderful to be able to send Whit into the fray, to see what you could possibly do, to write without true danger to your person. I love playing the game of clues hidden right in plain sight and catching a killer against all the odds. And Whit is one of the perfect people to have at the helm of these books. She’s fun, curious, out for justice, and often reluctant to get involved. But she does anyway because she can’t stand the thought of a killer walking free and someone else being blamed for something they didn’t do.

So I visit with Whit again and again and look forward to putting out more books in this series to continue along with Whit’s life, her love, and the way she seems to be able to pull it out always by the end! Dive in with me!

About the Author

After writing plays for her friends to act out as a kid, bad poetry in high school, and her high school Alma Mater song, GABBY ALLAN finally found her true passion—cozy mysteries. Being able to share her world with readers, one laugh at a time, and touch people’s hearts with her down-to-earth characters makes for the best job ever. This California girl now lives with her husband, daughter, and two insane dogs in Central Pennsylvania where she is hard at work on her next novel.

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