Because I wasn’t familiar with Saralyn Richard’s books, many of you might not be familiar with her or her work either. Today, I’d like to introduce her, and welcome her as our guest author.

Award-winning and best-selling author, Saralyn Richard was born with a pen in her hand and ink in her veins. A former educator, she loves connecting with readers. Her humor- and romance-tinged mysteries and children’s book pull back the curtain on people in settings as diverse as elite country manor houses and disadvantaged urban high schools.

Saralyn’s most recent release is A MURDER OF PRINCIPAL. Look for her mystery/thriller, BAD BLOOD SISTERS in March 2022.

Visit Saralyn at http://saralynrichard.com, on her Amazon page here, or on Facebook here.

Welcome, Saralyn, and thank you.

The silver lining of the pandemic is wonderful people like Lesa Holstine, whose life’s work as an award-winning librarian and book reviewer, has distinguished her in the reading and writing community. Lesa has chosen to feature suspense writers whose books were released during the pandemic. Since I had two such mystery novels, I qualify, and it means a lot to be invited by Lesa to guest blog.

            My two pandemic-released books are: A PALETTE FOR LOVE AND MURDER and A MURDER OF PRINCIPAL. Palette is the second book In the Detective Parrott Mystery Series, set in the lush, elite community of Brandywine Valley, Pennsylvania. Principal is a standalone mystery, set in the disadvantaged urban high school of the Midwest.

            Readers ask me about the huge disparity between these two settings, which of the worlds is the one that I live in, and how I was able to write them both. But before I can answer those questions, let me point out a few other things about these books.

The protagonist in A PALETTE FOR LOVE AND MURDER is Detective Oliver Parrott. The book is actually Parrott’s second case (following the series debut, MURDER IN THE ONE PERCENT). Parrott is a rookie detective, a young, ambitious African-American, former football star at Syracuse, newly married to a Navy SEAL who did two tours of duty in Afghanistan. Parrott has chosen criminal justice as a career, because he wants to right wrongs, to make a difference. When he accepts the position of detective in the wealthy Brandywine Valley, he finds himself working with people who are totally different from him in almost every way. Ironically, being an outsider gives him an advantageous perspective, and it gives readers a rooting interest in solving the case.

In the next book, A MURDER OF PRINCIPAL, Sally Pearce starts the school year at the mostly African-American Lincoln High School as the newly appointed Assistant Principal. Sally is white and female, both unusual for a leadership role in this milieu, but the new Principal Stoker is on a mission to bring student-centered change to the school, and he has faith in Sally. Stoker’s beliefs and actions meet with resistance and hostility, and when he is murdered two weeks into the school year, Sally must take up the mantle. Sally never dreamed being an administrator would entail chasing a killer, but her passion for making a difference in the lives of her students drives her to become the effective leader Stoker has predicted her to be.

            While the two mysteries are vastly different in setting, quite a few similarities abound. In both, the main characters are outsiders. Both face challenges related to their “otherness,” and both are motivated professionally and personally to meet those challenges with their best effort and compassion for others. Both books deal with contemporary social issues:  race relations, wealth disparities, living meaningful lives, and justice.

            These are important themes in my own life, as well. While I have friends and relatives who live in Brandywine Valley, I have been privileged to be a part of urban school communities for several decades. As a teacher, administrator, and school improvement consultant in many high schools like Lincoln High, I’ve been enriched by experiences like those of Detective Parrott and Sally Pearce.

Although the two books are set in microcosms of society, and they deal with social issues, both are, at their hearts, fun mystery novels with quirky characters and lots of twists and turns. Because they were released during the pandemic, they’ve been denied many of the whirlwind in-person launch celebrations that they deserve. On the other hand, they make for great entertainment and distraction. At the end of the day, pandemic or not, it’s a joy to share my characters and settings with mystery readers who enjoy the intellectual and emotional puzzles that they bring.

Saralyn Richard’s website is http://saralynrichard.com/

A Palette for Love and Murder by Saralyn Richard. Black Opal Books, 2020. ISBN 9781644372043 (paperback), 389p.

A Murder of Principal by Saralyn Richard. Encircle Publications, LLC, 2021. ISBN 9781645991540 (hardcover), 266p.