Lynn Slaughter
lynnslaughter.com
2023
After a long career as a professional dancer and dance educator, Lynn Slaughter earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She writes coming- of- age romantic mysteries and is the author of the recently released Deadly Setup, a Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards silver medalist. She is also the author of: Leisha’s Song, a 2022 Imadjinn Award winner, a Moonbeam bronze medalist, Agatha nominee, and Silver Falchion Award winner; While I Danced, an EPIC finalist; and It Should Have Been You, a Silver Falchion finalist. Her first mystery for adults, Missed Cue, comes out from Melange Books in the summer of 2023. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where she’s at work on her next novel and is an active member of Derby Rotten Scoundrels, the Ohio River Valley chapter of Sisters in Crime.
Deadly Setup
Seventeen-year-old Sam, the daughter of a New England heiress, has tried hard to fulfill her father's dying wish: "Take care of your mother for me." Not an easy job. When her impulsive, romance-writing mom announces her engagement to a man whose last heiress wife died under suspicious circumstances, Sam tries to dissuade her mother. But her mom is convinced she'll finally have the "Happily Ever After" she writes about.
And then Sam's life implodes. Her mom's fiance turns up dead, and a mountain of circumstantial evidence points to Sam as the killer. On trial for murder, she fights to prove her innocence with the help of her boyfriend's daad, an ex-homicide cop.
Just when things are looking especially bleak, Sam uncovers evidence she never expected to find. She faces a tough decision: At what point does the price of loyalty become too high?
Leisha's Song
Leisha knows something's wrong. Her beloved vocal coach at boarding school would never have resigned and disappeared like this in the midst of preparing her prize students for a major vocal competition. Leisha's determined to find her, make sure she's okay.
Cody, a sensitive cellist, insists on helping her. Sparks fly, clues multiply. and romance blossoms, despite the disapproval of their families.
Leisha's desire to be with Cody and pursue music rather than medicine puts her on a direct collision course with her African-American grandfather, the only parent she's ever had. But an even more immediate threat looms--because as Leisha draws closer to the truth about her teacher's disappearance, she puts her own life in grave danger.
It Should Have Been You
Living in her sister's shadow has never been more dangerous. Five months ago, Clara Seibert's twin sister, a piano prodigy, was murdered. Struggling under the weight of newfound and unwanted attention, the only thing that makes Clara feel normal is ghostwriting an advice column for her school's newspaper-- until she starts receiving threatening emails in her staff inbox: "IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU...BUT SOON."
Convinced that her email stalker blames her for her sister's death and is out for revenge, Clara undertakes her own investigation to clear her name and avoid a similar fate. Can she solve the murder before it's too late?