An Interview with Jack Jamieson by Connie Archer

I don’t know why you’d wanna talk to me — I’m not very interesting . . . it’s my granddaughter Lucky you wanna talk to – she’s the star of the show . . . well, she’s the star of my life in any case.

I’m Jack Jamieson and I live in Snowflake, Vermont. I’m retired now, but I spent most of my life in the Navy. I was just a kid when I signed up and WWII was on then, so you can imagine what happened to me. I ended up in the Pacific. Even now, it’s hard to talk about. Sometimes . . . well, sometimes I have some pretty bad spells. When one of ‘em comes over me, I’m back in that boat pullin’ screaming men and bodies out of the ocean, trying to save ‘em from the sharks. Can’t help the spells though. I try but the sight of blood always sets me off.

I guess I picked the Navy for a career because Vermont’s the only state in New England without a seacoast. And the ocean called my name. I wanted to go out to sea and travel the world. I guess that’s why I did it. But I have no complaints. I was one of the lucky ones, I survived and now I’m real glad to be back in Vermont. If I never see the ocean again, it’s just fine with me. These days I help my granddaughter run the By the Spoonful Soup Shop. She could probably do just fine without me, but she keeps telling me she needs me there, so I keep showin’ up.

After all those years in the Navy, I tell time by the bells. It’s the only way I can think of the hours of the day goin’ by. Most people have a hard time gettin’ it, but not Lucky. I taught her pretty good when she was young and now she’s just about the only one who can understand what I’m talkin’ about when I say it’s three bells. She knows exactly what I mean.

Our town, Snowflake, is pretty quiet most of the time. But since Lucky returned . . . wait, I gotta go back a bit. You see, Lucky went off to school in Wisconsin and when my son and his wife, Lucky’s parents, were killed in that damn car accident . . . that’s another thing that’s pretty hard to talk about. Anyway, when that happened, Lucky decided to come home and take over the restaurant, keepin’ me a useful old man I guess.

Most days, I get there early. Sage, our chef, is the first one in and he’s always in the kitchen cookin’ up his soups. They’re great. You’ve gotta stop in and have a bowl. You’ll fall in love with the Spoonful if you do. I take care of the cash register and help out any other way I can – whatever’s needed.

As I was sayin,’ our town’s pretty quiet, but some strange things have happened recently. Last winter, that tourist was murdered and they found her behind the Spoonful. That was a pretty rough time. Sage got arrested, but Lucky . . . she’s so smart, she wasn’t gonna take that. She made it her business to find out who the real murderer was.

And now, it looks like it’s startin’ up all over again. It was when they found that skeleton they think is real old, maybe more than 200 years old. Can you believe that? And they’re pretty sure he’s a Revolutionary War soldier – of all things! Pretty interesting but I knew then it was a bad omen. I knew it was a signal that other things were comin’ down the pike. I just hope I can help Lucky sort it out in our second book, A Broth of Betrayal.

A Broth of Betrayal
Snowflake, Vermont is an old town with roots as deep as the earliest days of the American colonies. And, like any other place on earth, it has its secrets, secrets that have lain buried for years, even centuries, until they erupt . . . in murder. Two men fall victim to a murderer and a woman disappears. Lucky Jamieson, the owner of the By the Spoonful Soup Shop is convinced the missing woman is the key to the mystery, but can Lucky find her before the town discovers another victim?

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Thanks to Penguin, I have one (1) copy of A BROTH OF BETRAYAL to give away. Leave a comment to be included in the giveaway. The book will be shipped directly from the publisher. Contest ends April 5; US entries only per publisher’s request.

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Meet the author
Connie Archer is the national bestselling author of A Spoonful of Murder, the first in the Soup Lover’s mystery series set in Vermont from Berkley Prime Crime. A Broth of Betrayal was released on April 2, 2013. Connie was born and raised in New England and now lives on the other coast.

Visit her website and blog at www.conniearchermysteries.com. Connie can also be found on Facebook or Twitter.

Books are available at retail and online booksellers.