Author Spotlight: Jolie Tunnell Returns with a New Mystery Series!

What a treat to welcome back historical mystery writer Jolie Tunnell, who has a brand new series with Tule Publishing! Book 1, Shadows in Chinatown, just released on Monday and is available wherever ebooks are sold!

Award-winning author Jolie Tunnell brings the past to life in suspenseful historical mysteries, bringing the flavor of the turn-of-the-century Wild West to the isolated mountains of Idyllwild and the writhing underbelly of San Francisco.

Her books gallop to the last page.

A Southern California native, she loves on her sprawling family, forces her freeloading tomcat to cuddle, and can drink her weight in Yorkshire Gold tea. Sign up for her extraordinary newsletter and settle in for a visit at JolieTunnell.com.

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When the Living Room Becomes a Crime Scene

Old newspapers. Vintage magazines. Sepia-toned pen-and-ink maps. A ransom note. A suspiciously-detailed list of poisons and their possible effects on the average middle-aged Victorian gentleman in a coat and tails. If my husband paused at my desk once in a while to gape over my shoulder at the items on my computer screen, I couldn’t blame him. My browser history from that period would probably land me on several watchlists.

But it takes all the right ingredients to plan a murder. And I was cooking up a doozy.

Welcome to my world after months of research for my new historical mystery series, beginning with this week’s release, Shadows in Chinatown!

The creative chaos started innocently enough. I was looking for a new setting for a mystery series when 1882 San Francisco practically jumped off the page and grabbed me by the throat. Here was a city with diverse neighborhoods that created a maze of secrets and shifting allegiances, teetering between civilization and lawlessness, where fortunes changed overnight, and secrets festered in every fog-shrouded alley.

There are so many historical mysteries set in London and I was delighted to discover the perfect American equivalent.

What I didn’t anticipate was falling completely in love with my protagonist, Karine Kelly, a mail-order bride whose wedding night turns into the worst possible kind of surprise party. Poor woman travels all the way from Minnesota expecting a new life of comfort and respectability, only to wake up a widow with a mystery on her hands and a jade pendant that seems to be attracting all the wrong attention.

The fun of writing Karine’s story is in watching her transform from hopeful bride to determined investigator. She’s got that Midwestern stubborn streak – you know the type, the woman who’ll smile politely while planning your downfall if you cross her. When the police prove useless and her new in-laws turn hostile, she doesn’t retreat to a corner to weep. Instead, she starts asking uncomfortable questions and poking around places where proper ladies shouldn’t venture.

Enter Detective Max Fisher, a man who’s both infuriating and indispensable. He and Karine circle each other like wary cats throughout the investigation, each convinced they know better than the other how to solve Patrick Kelly’s murder. Their verbal sparring matches were some of my favorite scenes to write – nothing quite like two stubborn people trying to out-detective each other while a killer runs loose.

What surprised me most during the writing process was how contemporary the themes felt. Issues of immigration, cultural tension, and political corruption haven’t exactly disappeared from our modern landscape. Karine’s struggle to find truth in a system designed to protect the powerful resonates just as strongly today as it would have 140 years ago. Her determination to find justice for her murdered husband speaks to something timeless about human nature – our refusal to accept that some wrongs can’t be righted.

Early readers have been wonderfully enthusiastic about Karine’s adventures. One reviewer captured it perfectly when they said they “read this thriller in two days, hooked by its pacing and layered mystery.” Another mentioned they “thoroughly enjoyed this book start to finish” and are eager for more adventures with “the intrepid Mrs. Kelly.” I’m particularly thrilled that readers are connecting with the “authentic historical atmosphere” – as one put it, the book offers “a look at early San Francisco” while delivering a mystery you can “sink into.”

The best part about launching this series is knowing that Karine’s story is just beginning. There are more mysteries waiting in the shadows of old San Francisco, more secrets to uncover, and more opportunities for our intrepid widow to prove that underestimating a determined woman is always a mistake.

If you’re looking for a historical mystery that combines authentic period detail with modern pacing, complex characters with satisfying plot twists, and enough atmosphere to make you feel the fog on your face, then Shadows in Chinatown might be exactly what you need. Just be warned – once you start following Karine through the dangerous streets of 1882 San Francisco, you might find yourself completely hooked.

Available now at your favorite bookstore – dive into the mystery today and discover what secrets are hiding in the Shadows of Chinatown!

Giveaway! Visit Jolie’s website, JolieTunnell.com, sign up for the newsletter, and get a free book.

Shadows in Chinatown

Karine Kelly’s dream of a fresh start as a mail-order bride in booming 1882 San Francisco becomes a nightmare when her charming Irish husband is murdered on their wedding night. Waking to destitute widowhood and fiercely angry in-laws, she discovers a series of shocking secrets that her husband left behind.

Why did he tell no one about their wedding? Why was a Chinese assailant hunting him and now stalking her? Why do residents in the city shadows seem to know more about her husband than she does? And why does the irritating Detective Max Fisher keep turning up like a bad penny?

Faced with appalling apathy and growing suspicion from the police, Karine’s determined to follow the trail of lies to find justice in a lawless city.

Warily working around each other as the killer strikes again, Karine and Detective Fisher uncover a sinister web of corruption, bigotry, and betrayals that circles ever closer to the jade pendant she wears over her heart—all that’s left of her husband’s pledge—and a ticking bomb that threatens to destroy Chinatown.