Darci Hannah launches new cozy mystery novel at Schuler Books

By her own admission, Darci Hannah never wanted to be a writer.

“I’ve always been a reader,” the Howell-based author said. “However, I remember thinking after reading a really good book, ‘Wow, it must take forever to write a book. Who would ever want to spend their time writing a novel?’ Little did I know that one day I’d challenge my own thoughts on the matter.”

An alumna of Indiana University Bloomington, Hannah has penned 12 novels. Her latest, “A Spirited Supper at Dundoon Castle,” will be released Tuesday. She’ll kick off her release tour the same night with an event at Schuler Books in the Meridian Mall.

“I’m so excited! Schuler Books does such a wonderful job with book signings, and they’re such an amazing bookstore,” she said. “I’ve done a few signings at the store in Okemos with other cozy mystery authors. This, I think, will be the first time I’m launching a book there.”

Hannah is giving readers who preorder “Dundoon Castle” an incentive: a recipe card for her favorite shortbread cookies and some samples. Additionally, every preorder will be entered into a drawing to win one of two Scottish-inspired giveaways.

“It’ll be a fun night!” she said. “I love meeting readers. I’m also bringing homemade cookies to sample, so everyone can have a little taste of the Highlands.”

“Dundoon Castle” is the second installment of her Food & Spirits mystery series. It follows protagonist Bridget “Bunny” MacBride, a chef who lands a role on a reality TV show called “Food & Spirits.” Bunny thought “spirits” meant cocktails. Instead, “spirits” means ghosts. Much to her surprise, Bunny discovers her abilities to connect to the “other side” — not to mention crack murder cases.

Bunny’s reality TV adventures take her and her ghost-hunting pals to Dundoon Castle in Scotland, where a ghostly piper roams the grounds. In addition to preparing a meal fit for a (17th-century) king, they’ll attend a bagpipe competition in the piper’s honor, as well as a ghost hunt.

During the festivities, someone plummets to their death, followed by the sound of a mournful, otherworldly bagpipe. Then another body turns up, compelling Bunny to solve the mystery, which has a paranormal twist.

Hannah, the youngest of three and only daughter, said the inspiration for “Dundoon Castle” came from her younger brother, who died in 2020.

“He was hilarious, and although he had a ‘real’ job, as we liked to say, he was also a ghost hunter,” she said. “I’d talk to him almost every day, and he’d always tell me these crazy stories of his ghost adventures. He was always trying to get me to watch those ghost shows on cable. And his wife was a high-end foodie.”

Hannah penned two historical fiction novels, “The Exile of Sara Stevenson” and “The Angel of Blythe Hall” — inspired by Patrick O’Brian, Dorothy Dunnett, Diana Gabaldon and Bernard Cornwell — before switching to cozy mysteries.

“When I lost my historical fiction contract and was trying to figure out what to do next, I called my brother and said, ‘Hey, do you know what channel doesn’t have a ghost-hunting show on it? The Food Network. Why don’t we pitch a food-baiting, ghost-hunting show called “Food & Spirits?”’” she said. “He loved the idea. His wife would handle the menu, he’d handle the ghost hunt, and I’d use my historical fiction super skills to find the perfect haunted location with an intriguing history. I wrote up a pitch and then threw it in my desk drawer. Like so many ideas, I wanted to sit on it for a while.”

Then her Very Cherry mystery series got picked up, which took her in another direction. Several years passed, and her publisher at Kensington asked her to pitch another series idea.

“Since my brother had passed away and I was really missing him, I thought he’d get a kick out of me turning the idea into a cozy mystery series,” she said. “I rewrote it as a novel pitch, and my editor loved it. I feel it was one of those things that was just meant to happen. It was a very special experience for me to write it.”

She originally had a male protagonist named Brett Boom. However, her publisher requested a female lead.

“That’s when I moved Bunny front and center. She’s loosely based on my sister-in-law, who’s a fabulous cook,” she said. “The whole bunny angle came about from my childhood and my love of rabbits. At the time, I was saving a lot of wild rabbit babies that were nesting in my backyard. I have two big dogs, and keeping those little things healthy until they could be on their own was a challenge! The white rabbit just sort of appeared in one of the scenes I was writing, and for me, it fit.”

The author said she’s “grown very fond of Bunny MacBride” and enjoys writing about her adventures with her “ghost-hunting lads.”

“In this book, we learn a little bit more about Bunny, her family and her burgeoning psychic gifts, which she is really annoyed by,” she said. “Getting to introduce my readers to Scotland through the eyes of Bunny MacBride was a real pleasure for me.”

Although the Food & Spirits series occurs in the same universe as her Beacon Bakeshop mystery series, the two are quite different.

“While I always put a little touch of history into my stories — I can’t help it — this series is like writing a modern historical mystery with a paranormal twist. It’s not as cozy as my Beacon Bakeshop books,” she said.

The Food & Spirits series is more challenging for her to write because the setting is “always changing.”

“The challenge is to find an authentic location with a fascinating ghost story attached to it. When I find the ghost story and the location, I then have to put a murder mystery in there, along with food and ghost-hunting bits. It can be a lot to juggle, but I really enjoy writing this series,” she said.