Shannon here: Susan Barnett Braun shares the inspiration for her Cozy Mystery, The Phantom of the Organ. Comment or answer the question in this post to enter the drawing for a digital copy of the book. Deadline: Feb 15th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Susan:
Although I’d written three nonfiction books, during the summer of 2023, fiction began calling to me. I read a lot, and often as I’d read a fiction book, I’d begin pondering the process that might have happened behind the story itself. How had the author come up with the ideas in the book? From there, I began thinking about things I was familiar with; particularly music since I’m a church organist, life in a small town with all the possibilities there. I grew up in a small town, and the church where I play is in a small town, and Christianity, my faith has been the guiding force in my life for over 50 years now.
There, “The Phantom of the Organ” was born. We begin with protagonist Melody, the church organist, who finds herself locked in the church unexpectedly one night. Thankfully, that’s never happened to me! After that, she’s thrown into the middle of a mystery that has flummoxed the church for years.
I wrote “Phantom” one chapter at a time, posting it on Amazon’s now-defunct Vella program, which featured stories posted episode by episode. I enjoyed this way of writing, and while I planned out the basics of my story in advance, I found that as I wrote about the various characters, they began to come alive and do things that I hadn’t originally anticipated.
For instance: two of the main characters fall in love throughout the book’s progress. I hadn’t seen that coming, but it makes total sense in retrospect. I even found myself getting goosebumps as I wrote, feeling excited for the two characters—each having faced loss romantically—to discover something special with each other. I enjoyed the way their interactions seemed to flow without a lot of thought or planning on my part. And isn’t that how love often happens?
I hope you’ll enjoy “The Phantom of the Organ,” and seeing how the congregation comes together to solve four different challenges during the year’s four season. Oh, and you can see if the romance takes you by surprise too.
Question for Readers: Has romance ever taken you by surprise? How did things work out with that?
About Susan: Susan Barnett Braun grew up in the small town of Seymour, Indiana. She earned a BS in retail management from Indiana University and an MA in elementary Education from the University of Alabama. She taught elementary school for eight years in northwest Indiana. During that time, she wrote grant proposals which won a Lilly Endowment Teacher Creativity Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Study Scholarship, both on topics relating to European royalty.
Susan’s writing has appeared in many online and print publications, including Parents, Children’s Ministry, Mommy Tracked, Family Christian Blog, Visit Fort Wayne Blog, and The Teacher’s Mailbox. She blogs at Girls in White Dresses.
Susan is married with three wonderful young adult daughters. She enjoys reading, playing piano and organ, and spending her time with her family and pets (currently three rabbits and a chinchilla). Learn more & connect:
Susan’s Facebook Girls in White Dresses blog
Susan’s Twitter Susan’s Instagram
About the book – The Phantom of the Organ:
What’s that noise in the organ loft? Life as church organist in Pleasant Grove is calm–until Melody hears a series of odd noises and finds herself locked in the church one evening. Is there a phantom lurking at St. Matthews? Can the congregation locate a mysterious monetary gift in time to save the church? And might Melody even find a little romance?
You’ll enjoy spending a year in Pleasant Grove as the St. Matthews congregants take on one challenge after another in this series of cozy mystery novellas.
Can’t wait for the drawing? Worried you won’t win? Interested in Susan’s nonfiction titles?
Get your copy/copies now!
The Phantom of the Organ Susan’s Books
Come back Feb 7th for Shannon’s Book Bargains Roundup!
I am Susan’s aunt and would love to read this book. I’m hoping I’ll be the one chosen to receive it. I’ve enjoyed reading her nonfiction but have never read any of her fiction.
Best wishes! Thanks for your kind words.
yes, I went on a blind date set up by a friend and met my husband! dated 16 months before we got married and divorced 9 years later
It’s always fun to hear of a blind date that had a happy ending–for a while, anyway!