Tena StetlerAuthor of Paranormal Romance/Suspense & Cozy Mysteries With Magic Spark!

Apr 28th Toes on the Dash by Karen C. Whalen

Give a warm welcome to Karen C. Whalen, author of Toes on the Dash, first book in the Tow Truck Murder Mystery Series, released on April 25, 2022. Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Karen and Toes on the Dash. Karen, how did you come up with this idea for this unique series? 

Hauling cars for a living provides my amateur sleuth, Delaney Morran, with many opportunities to find the bodies of murder victims. And of course, Delaney is not able to keep out of the way of the handsome homicide investigator, so she solves the crime before he does.

How did I come up with the idea for this series? I met a few tow truck drivers.

In my previous life, I worked as a paralegal at a law firm that represented tow truck companies. These car haulers are an under-appreciated, crazy breed, with interesting stories to tell. One crusty character operated his office from his truck which he parked in the middle of a junkyard. His lobby was a carpet remnant, sopping wet and smelly, that led up to the truck door. The visitor’s chair was the passenger seat, dirty and worn. His filing cabinet was his sun visor. His professional demeanor was lacking. I’m sure all tow truck drivers are not alike, but this man was a character bigger than life, someone I will never forget.

That all of the tow truck drivers the law firm represented were men made me think…women in the industry would need to be tough to compete in this man’s world. But what if a woman did own the business? What if the woman was young and inexperienced? What if she wore high heels to set herself apart? Oooh, sounds fun, amiright? And that’s where the idea came from.

Then I met a few female tow truck drivers.

One woman tower told me she was bit by the towing industry bug and fell in love with the career. She hauled cars after a catastrophic flood while in her second trimester with her fourth child. Talk about a larger than life character! And she’s given me some exciting story ideas, too.

And so the first book was born. In Toes on the Dash, super-feminine and confirmed shoe-a-holic Delaney Morran receives an unexpected inheritance—the keys to a tow truck—from a dad she’s never known. Despite the fact she hasn’t changed a tire in all of her twenty-eight years, she decides to give the dangerous business a chance. When she finds her jerk of an ex-boyfriend’s body in the truck of the first car she hauls, she becomes the prime suspect. Delaney must toughen up her image as the tow truck operator in high-heels and find the killer in her otherwise safe mountain town.

Sounds like a winner, Karen!

Tell us a little about Toes on the Dash.

Super-feminine and confirmed shoe-a-holic Delaney Morran receives an unexpected inheritance—the keys to a tow truck from a dad she’s never known. Even though she hasn’t changed a tire, or even driven any kind of a truck, she’s determined to make the rough and dangerous business a success. When she hauls a vehicle with the body of her jerk-of-an ex hidden in the trunk, the small-town cops in Spruce Ridge, Colorado do not believe this a coincidence. They have her in their headlights as the prime suspect. When the news hits, her business stalls. As a woman trying to make a living in a man’s world, she drives her rig in four-inch heels to set herself apart. But she must toughen up her image and solve the crime or she’ll end up parked in jail.

A sneak peek between the pages of Toes on the Dash:

Stopping with my hand on the door, I sneaked a peek left and right, worried someone I knew would recognize me, then I took a deep breath and stole inside. Need I explain? This is a small town. 

My eyes took a moment to adjust to the dark. One girl wearing a thong—thank goodness she wasn’t anyone I knew—was on stage. Mr. Hot Head sat at the bar with a tall beer, foam on top, glass full. Looked like he had just been served a fresh, cold one, and this early in the day, too. I backed out the door, ran for the tow truck, and zipped back to the alley as fast as I could. 

I angled the truck in front of Hot Head’s Jeep and muscled the dolly wheels over to the rear end, crouching low to the ground, getting a whiff of the rank dumpster. Hot Head couldn’t see me from inside the building, but he had a sixth sense about me, and I was determined to keep under his radar. I jacked up the first dolly wheel and was on my way around the back bumper to jack up the second one, when bam! 

I stumbled right into Hot Head. He had a tire iron in his meaty fist. 

Here is the tagline:

She went from wearing stilettos to hauling stiffs

Buy Links: Amazon,  Barnes and Noble and ibooks 

About the Author;

Karen C. Whalen is the author of two mystery series for The Wild Rose Press: the Dinner Club Mysteries featuring Jane Marsh, an empty nester who hosts a gourmet dinner club, and the Tow Truck Mysteries starring Delaney Moran, a super feminine shoe-a-holic who drives a tow truck. Both are cozy mysteries about strong friendships and family ties set in Colorado. The first book in the Dinner Club series tied for First Place in the Suspense Novel category of the 2017 IDA Contest sponsored by Oklahoma Romance Writers of America. Whalen worked for many years as a paralegal at a law firm in Denver, Colorado and was a columnist and regular contributor to The National Paralegal Reporter magazine. Whalen loves to host dinner clubs, entertain friends, ride bicycles, hike in the mountains, and read cozy murder mysteries. 

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/karen-c-whalen

It’s been great having you with us today.  Good luck with Toes on the Dash. 

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