The Murder at Red Oaks by Kay Pritchett

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Today I’m delighted to welcome visiting author Kay Pritchett to the blog! She’s here to share a behind-the-scenes look at her cozy mystery, The Murder at Red Oaks. Kay takes us inside her Mosey Frye Mysteries to introduce some of the characters who make the series shine—whether they’re the everyday regulars, the occasional drop-ins, or those memorable one-and-done appearances. I’ll let her tell you more in her own words.

When Minor Characters Refuse to Stay Minor

In Mosey Frye Mysteries, you will meet supporting characters who are always present, while there are others who rarely make an appearance. Also, some appear in one novel in the series, never to appear again—even if I really wish they would. In this article, I’d like to showcase a few I’ve chosen from each of these categories: the regulars, the occasional visitors, and the one-and-dones.

The regulars provide continuity and familiarity. Readers look forward to seeing them again, almost like checking in with old friends. Examples are Sergeant Springer, Dot Cowsley, Robert Ellison, Hugh Jessup, Nadia Abboud, and Saffron Smiley. Anyone who has read any of the mysteries will likely remember these, though Springer doesn’t make much of an impact till mystery four, The Summer House at Larkspur. Hugh Jessup makes his debut in mystery two, The Terrace, when he pushes Mosey’s husband Robert Ellison aside and accompanies Mosey on her first visit to the abandoned Hansbrough estate. He is such a captivating guy that he practically took over in The House with a Corner Door, where he, Mosey, and Addison Boatwright assisted Sherriff Dunavent Sykes in investigating the bizarre murder of a woman found in an arroyo out West. When it comes to Jessup, I’d have to ask, what’s not to love? A very attractive anthropologist, he’s an expert on Native American artifacts, and though from another part of the country, he fits right in with the Hembree crowd. Quite talented and fun-loving, he readily lends his expertise and physical strength to Mosey’s investigations, whether it’s digging up bones or naughtily engaging in evidence analysis in the Blanchard College chemistry lab. In short, he’s Mosey’s dream come true.

The women in the group—Nadia, Saffron, and Dot—are Mosey’s closest sidekicks, and their bond deepens as the stories progress. Dot, the oldest of the three, is a wellspring of knowledge about old Hembree and Hembreeites, the good and the bad. As the keeper of the archives at Frye, Frye, and Humphrey, she holds the keys to the town’s legal history, though Olivera mistakenly believes Carlotta Humphrey is the sphinx at the door to the past. Dot’s past is intertwined with Mosey’s family. She served as secretary to Mosey’s grandfather, father, and now her step-aunt Carlotta. Thus, Dot is the only one still around who Mosey can share old memories with or ask about events that occurred before she was born. A mere glance at Dot’s petite yet rotund figure, her perfectly powdered cheeks, her impeccable gray suit and high-heeled pumps transports Mosey back to her childhood, when Dot allowed her to roll around on the old brown leather sofa in the law office while waiting for her father.

The occasional visitors appear frequently enough to feel like integral parts of my fictional world, yet seldom enough that their appearances feel special. I’m thinking of individuals like John Earle Shepherd, Frank Ferguson, T. Patrick Brown, and so on. A. B. Bilyeu and Cecil DeGroat first entered the stories in The Summer House at Larkspur, when A. B. called Shepherd Realty in search of a summer house in Hembree. His arrival brought a significant portion of Hembree’s history to Mosey’s attention, history she was unaware of. Saffron, on the other hand, was well-versed in the dilapidated Bilyeu plantation on the outskirts of town where her family once sharecropped. A. B. turns out to be a rather snobbish gentleman from New Orleans, whose flat in the French Quarter exudes the family’s Bourbon history—a history that not only explains some peculiar incidents in the present but also reveals damning events from the distant past. However, since I allow characters to speak for themselves, A. B. managed to convince us that he was someone worth getting to know despite his off-putting traits. In fact, he became so intriguing that

he reappears two mysteries later in The House with a Secret Cellar, still accompanied by his nephew Cecil DeGroat. Cecil is the more contemporary and refined version of the Bilyeu line, which seems to have improved over the years. DeGroat, a lawyer, is not bad-looking—dark hair neatly styled into a ponytail, expensive suits, and four-figure shoes.

The one-and-dones, memorable characters like Sheriff Dunavent Sykes and Professor Addison Boatwright, shine brightly in a single mystery but are unlikely to make a comeback. There’s something bittersweet about them—they left such an indelible impression that I wish they’d return. I’d give anything to encounter Professor Boatwright again. Unless you’ve read The House with a Corner Door, you don’t know him. I can’t explain why I love this character so much. Perhaps it’s because he’s incredibly intelligent and at the same time a real goofball. Mosey meets him at an anthropology conference. Just as I often accompany my husband to Mining History Association conferences, Mosey tags along with Robert. When on the first morning of the meeting, she descends the stairs at the Velvet Arms, an old Victorian hotel in the fictional town of Westford, she encounters this elderly gentleman at the reception desk. As she leans in to sniff a bouquet of dried flowers containing a few sprigs of wolfsbane, Boatwright warns her of the danger of such specimens. Turns out, this odd fellow is a renowned expert on poisonous flowers, and before the day is out, his expertise will come in handy.

Doubtless, my protagonists Mosey Frye and Gus Olivera are the driving forces behind my stories—their thoughts and actions propel the action forward. But these three types of minor characters create a sense of a real, lived-in community. The regulars make Hembree feel like home, the occasional visitors keep things fresh, and the one-and-dones leave you wishing you could spend more time in their company. This whole ensemble makes the series what it is, and I hope new readers will enjoy getting acquainted with the whole crowd.

The Murder at Red Oaks (Mosey Frye Mysteries) by Kay Pritchett

About The Murder at Red Oaks

The Murder at Red Oaks (Mosey Frye Mysteries) Cozy Mystery 7th in Series Setting – The fictional town of Hembree, Arkansas Publisher : Wild Rose Press Publication date : September 22, 2025 Print length : 368 pages ISBN-10 : 1509262849 ISBN-13 : 978-1509262847 Digital Print length : 329 pages ISBN-13 : 978-1509262854 ASIN : B0FH2XYQQ5

What a chilling sight when real estate agent Mosey Frye enters her client’s grand Victorian only to find her strangled and laid out in a coffin. Clued in on the bizarre murder, the new forensic profiler in town raises the intriguing theory of “posing,” suggesting the culprit, plagued by remorse, decided to honor the victim with a grand send-off.

Meanwhile, police chief Gus Olivera, sticking to the evidence, makes a breakthrough by identifying the coffin as one that is missing from the mausoleum. It originally belonged to the victim’s young ward, tragically drowned in the lake by the house years earlier. With real and amateur sleuths baffled, townspeople fear yet another attack from the deranged killer among them.

About Kay Pritchett

Kay Pritchett, a native of Greenville, Mississippi, lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she taught Spanish literature at the state’s flagship university. At retirement, she threw herself into fiction writing and has wrapped up seven books in the Mosey Frye Mystery series. As a mystery writer, she delights in blending the charming wit of amateur sleuth Mosey Frye with the suave sophistication of police chief Gus Olivera. She’s all about sprinkling her mystery novels with lively banter, highlighting the dynamic interactions between Mosey and her trusty sidekick Nadia, as well as the intriguing dialogues between Olivera and sharp-witted coroner Eads McGinnis. Her goal? To transport readers into the thrilling world of an Agatha Christie whodunit, but with a delightful twist—think verandas and paddle boats! Murder in High Cotton (2022), inspired by childhood memories of the Delta, anthologizes her first three short mystery novels. Since then, she has launched four full-length novels: The Summer House at Larkspur, The Incident at Sunny Banks, The House with a Secret Cellar, and The Murder at Red Oaks.

Author Links

• Website: https://www.moseyfryemysteries.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kay.pritchett.9
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moseyfrye/
• BlueSky: @kaypritchett.bsky.social
• Threads: moseyfrye
• Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/pritche8102
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kay-pritchett-65326661/
• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/128760439-kay
• Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Bookshop.org | Alibris

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

• September 29 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST
• September 29 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
• September 29 – Books1987 – SPOTLIGHT
• September 30 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
• September 30 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
• October 1 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
• October 1 – Salty Inspirations – CHARACTER GUEST POST
• October 1 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
• October 2 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
• October 2 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
• October 3 – Sarandipity’s – AUTHOR GUEST POST
• October 3 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
• October 4 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT
• October 4 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT
• October 4 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR GUEST POST
• October 5 – StoreyBook Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST
• October 5 – My Books and Crafts – SPOTLIGHT

 

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A big thank you to Kay Pritchett for visiting the blog today and giving us a peek into the colorful world of her Mosey Frye Mysteries. If The Murder at Red Oaks sounds like your kind of cozy, be sure to check out her links above. And while you’re here, don’t forget to look around the blog; you’ll find more guest authors, bookish fun, and plenty of cozy mystery goodness waiting for you, mine included!

As always, thanks for stopping by for some Salty Inspirations.