Arts
The stage is set...for murder. Today's guest has been on the show before, way back in 2017. John Gaspard writes the Eli Marks mysteries, but today he's here to talk about his new series the Como Lake Players mysteries. In the interview, John explains why he's writing under the pseudonym Bobbie Raymond, what called him to write these books, and why he chose community theatre for his setting. (Hint: he's got experience with theatre and film.) John himself has a podcast where he talks to magicians about their work and also reads a chapter from an Eli Marks book. You can find that here. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author John is author of the Eli Marks mystery series as well as four other stand-alone novels, The Greyhound of the Baskervilles, The Sword & Mr. Stone, A Christmas Carl, and The Ripperologists. He also writes the Como Lake Players mystery series, under the pen name Bobbie Raymond. In real life, John's not a magician, but he has directed six low-budget features that cost very little and made even less - that's no small trick. He's also written multiple books on the subject of low-budget filmmaking. Ironically, they've made more than the films. John lives in Minnesota and shares his home with his lovely wife, several dogs, a few cats and a handful of pet allergies. To learn more about Bobbie Raymond / John Gaspard and all his books visit AlbertsBridgeBooks.com Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Acting Can Be Murder Chapter One “How embarrassing would it be if we got lost down here? I mean, here I am in charge of the theater and then I go and get us lost while giving a tour. Nutty, right?” Leah turned to see how her witticism had landed, recognizing immediately that the wisecrack had fallen on the far side of flat. The young man stared back at her blankly, and on that unlined, expressionless face she read nothing but judgment. And not positive judgment. This was a decidedly negative assessment concerning her, her abilities as a tour guide and was probably inspiring a rising conviction that she was unqualified on all levels. In short, the tour was not going well. And they were only five minutes into it. Leah wished, not for the first time, that she had dragged Betsy along. The long-time administrative assistant had been a godsend on the last two theater tours Leah had spearheaded. And now she was questioning her decision to handle this one on her own. However, as the recently-hired Executive Director of the Como Lake Players, Leah felt the time had come to dispense with the handholding and conduct an actual tour on her own. The interview portion with this candidate had gone fine, although she sensed that he was underwhelmed with the prospect of directing at the theater and was just going through the motions. To be fair, she was a little underwhelmed with him as well. The appointment of a director for the last show of the season—a production of The Importance of Being Earnest—wasn’t exactly near the top of her ever-expanding To-Do list, but it had felt like something she could knock off quickly to give herself an easy—and early–win. This was the third interview she had conducted to fill the position. The first one had been with a cheerful, middle-aged woman named Nancy, who had a long list of children’s theater credits on her resume. Leah had barely needed to ask even one question, as the woman had started talking as soon as she walked in the do...