Auras of Deceit by Sandra Warren, John Stickney, E. Jax Willoughby, James Salkeld, Annette Larkin, and John Stickney

Today we have the pleasure of talking with author, Sandra Warren, long time friend of mine and how she wrote Auras of Deceit now available in German and Spanish as well as English, with four other members of the Lake Norman Writer’s Guild: John Stickney, E. Jax Willoughby, James Salkeld, and Annette Larkin,

Welcome, Sandra. Thanks for joining us today.! The readers are anxious to hear all about the journey you and the other four authors took to create the awesome cozy mystery, Auras of
Deceit. 

Sandra Warren: I am excited to be here. Winner of autographed copy of AURAS OF DECEIT is announced near the end of this article.

Let’s begin.

1. What led you, John Stickney, E. Jax Willoughby, James Salkeld, and V. Annette Larkin, who were all members of the Lake Norman Writer’s Guild to write a cozy mystery book,together? 

I believe E. Jax was the first to mention writing a cozy crime novel together. At first, we thought she was kidding, but the more we talked about it, the more we thought we should try it. We weren’t sure how to do it or if we could do it and remain friends, after all, not everyone was published, we all wrote in different genres and our experiences with writing for publication varied.

2. Did you design the story plot and characters before you decided who was going to write a certain chapter?  

We had no format to follow so our first assignment was for each of us to come up with a one-page synopsis of a possible murder scenario. All six scenarios (six writers were involved then) were presented and voted upon at the next meeting. Chosen was a neighborhood party where a Game of Murder, goes terribly wrong.

3. How did you decide which chapters each would write or did you all work on each chapter?

We didn’t assign chapters, yet. After choosing the murder scenario, we were each charged with coming up with party hosts and characters to attend the event. Character profiles had to include their history, relation to the party host/s, possible occupation, personality quirks, a reason someone might want to kill them, and anything else we could come up with.

Next, we were charged with getting the character or characters we each created, to the party. From this assignment, chapters emerged which we critiqued together. From those discussions information missing or needed became obvious and various writers offered to write a chapter that could fill in what was needed. We proceeded in this manner, chapter by chapter, editing as a group, until we felt the story was complete.

4. Why did you choose to have chapters written from the point of view of multiple characters rather than one character?

It wasn’t a conscious decision. Because of the way we developed each character, then each chapter, it just felt like the way to go. Point-of-view in the next book, however, will be different.

5. How is Trivolity similar to the adult living community you live in?

Trivolity is similar in the sense that the community we live in is populated with folks from all over the world who come from different economic backgrounds. It offers a wide range of opportunities, clubs and activities, both indoor and out, such as, swimming, pickle ball, tennis, billiards, bocce, weight room, restaurant, pottery/painting barn, spa services, an event center and over 70 clubs! In addition, neighborhoods within the community often have their own events. Neighbors hold dinners and parties in individual homes, activities you’d find in most any community.

I must admit, some of the quirky things that have happened in our active adult community may appear in Auras of Deceit in an exaggerated manner, although no character or actual incidents in the book are factual.

6. How is Trivolity different from the active adult living community you live in?

In addition to all the regular activities, clubs and events found in our community, Trivolity has a golf course, a public electric charging station, and its diverse residents seem to be up to more shenanigans with two murders and countless trysts happening behind closed doors! But then, I don’t know everything that happens in our community!

7. My favorite character is Maryann with her auras and how they helped her take care of her needs and protect herself. Her visual auras were similar to what we sometimes describe as “following our instincts.” Which character was/is your favorite?
   That’s a hard question. It was fun to write about Naomi because of her snarky, haughty personality. Maryann was interesting because we all had to learn about auras.

8. What was the most challenging part to accomplish when you were writing this?
   Strangely, the most challenging part, the one we had most disagreement about was whether to use Boston Cream Pie or Boston Cream Cake near the end! Seriously! The five of us wrote the entire book with nary a cross word until this issue came up. The solution? We included both as part of the fight scene at the end.

9. What do you and the other authors hope readers will gain from          reading Auras of Deceit?
     Right from the start our goals were to write something that                 would give cozy crime lovers an enjoyable, fun read, and a good         time trying to figure out who done it?

Link to Purchase: Auras of Deceit: A Trivolity Cozy Mystery

My Review of Auras of Deceit *****
There are many people who live in the active adult community of Trivolity who do not tell the truth. For two retired investigators, this fact hampers and complicates solving the “who did it” regarding the death of a resident at one of those pretend – act it out – murder mystery parties in the home of Gunther and Naomi von Hapsburg but there was no pretending. This death was for real.
I think you will enjoy trying to figure out who did it in this book skillfully written by Sandra Warren, E. Jax Willoughby, James W. Salkeld, John Salkeld, and Annette Larkin.

Thank you very much for being with us today, Sandra. It has been a joy having you with us and learning about your adventures writing Auras of Deceit.

     You are very welcome.

Never Give Up’
Joan Y. Edwards, Author
Copyright © 2009-2026 Joan Y. Edwards

Sandra and I would love to receive a comment or question.

Thank you to the following five people who left a comment on this blog post about Auras of Deceit before midnight May 1, 2026,

1. Bob Rich
2. Melanie Robertson-King
3. Carol Baldwin
4. Ronnie Smith
5. Jean Pennington
.
I asked Random.org to choose a number between 1 and 5. It chose #4, therefore Ronnie Smith, you won a free autographed copy of Auras of Deceit. How exciting! Congratulations, Ronnie. I hope each of you will continue to read and leave comments on my blog. You add joy to my life.

Here is information about Sandra and the other authors of Auras of Deceit.

Members of the Lake Norman Writers Guild are:
Annette Larkin – Corporate escapee, life coach, world traveler and aspiring poetess.

James Salkeld – A retired programmer who can finally pursue his passion for writing. His debut novel, The Empathy Circuit, came out mid-March and is available on Amazon.

John Stickney – A writer of poetry and short crime fiction whose works have appeared in print and online magazines: Tough, Needles, ThugLit, and Demolition among others.

Sandra Warren – An award-winning author with publications in multiple genres. www.sandrawarren.com

E. Jax Willoughby – Author of Comfort’s Rebellion, a historical fiction novel. www.jaxwilloughby.com

More about Sandra Warren:

Four of Sandra’s books
1. Obsesssed by a Promise – First Place in Historical Fiction – Speak Up Talk Radio Firebird Book Awards
2. She Started It All  – middle grade historical fiction of bomber story
spiBook Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cOkam-SV0o
3. Spivey’s Chrsitmas Web
Spivey’s Christmas Web Book Trailer
4. We Bought a WWII Bomber: The Untold Story of a Michigan High School, a B-17 Bomber & The Blue Ridge Parkway! We Bought A WWII BomberBook Trailer   

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