I first “met” Judy Alter through Sisters in Crime, but we recently discovered another connection beyond sharing a first name: Canadian heritage. Judy’s father lived all over southwestern Ontario when he was growing up as a preacher’s kid, and Judy tells me that she has “many happy memories of Oakville, the family’s final stopping place.” It’s my pleasure to introduce you to her latest mystery:
Author’s Name: Judy Alter
Book title: Contract for Chaos
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release date: September 20, 2018
Publisher: Alter Ego Press
Synopsis: When four young men sign the rental contract on a Fairmount House, realtor Kelly O’Connell has no idea she has just signed a contract for chaos. But the racial tensions sweeping the country erupt in Fort Worth, and her tenants fan the flames. A young black policeman shoots an unarmed white teenage thief who charged him, the chief of police is shot by a sniper, and Kelly’s husband, Mike, is appointed interim chief of police. Life changes dramatically for Kelly and her family. Protests, threats, beatings, and graffiti mark daily life in Kelly’s beloved city. She must protect her infant, reassure her older daughters, and support Mike as he deals with the racism and dissension creeping through the police force and the city. How can she keep her family safe and stop the hate? Will the mayor’s city-wide Celebration of Neighbors calm a city on the edge?
About the author: An award-winning author, Judy Alter has written seven previous books in the Kelly O’Connell Mysteries series, four in the Blue Plate Café Series, and two Oak Gove Mysteries. In 2016, she returned to her Chicago roots to write the historical novel, The Gilded Cage, which uses one unusual woman’s life to examine social structure and labor relations in the late nineteenth century. She has written four other historical novels, about women of the American West. Follow Judy at her blog, Judy’s Stew.
Judy, thanks so much for featuring Contract for Chaos. I truly appreciate it.
Happy to have you here!