On August 7th, my life-long dream of becoming a published author comes true with my debut mystery ALLERGIC TO DEATH. I can hardly believe it, and I’m sore from pinching myself! I’ve wanted to be a writer since I read my first Nancy Drew around the age of seven. I even scouted our neighborhood for a good place to hide a body. One of the older homes down the street had two enormous stone pillars, for lack of a better word, on either side of the driveway. I imagine that in older times, a chain was hung between them barring access to the drive. The chain was no longer there, but the pillars appeared to be filled with dirt. What if the murderer dug a hole in that dirt and buried the body there… I was off and running, penning my first story on an old manual typewriter that belonged to my parents.

When it came time to write ALLERGIC TO DEATH, I decided on a fictitious town in Connecticut for my story. I wanted to create a place that had all the things I love—a gourmet shop, used and new bookstores, a gallery, a selection of charming restaurants, etc. Along with some fun and intriguing characters. My protagonist, Gigi Fitzgerald (her motto: I have an Irish temper and an Italian attitude), flees New York City after her husband leaves her for an older woman. She ends up in Woodstone, CT where her best friend runs the Book Nook, and starts Gigi’s Gourmet De-Lite, delivering delicious but lower calorie meals to a select group of clients. Everything is going swimmingly until her most prominent client, the local restaurant reviewer, drops dead from a peanut allergy, and Gigi becomes the prime suspect.

Detective Bill Mertz is assigned to the case. Gigi finds him infuriating and infuriatingly attractive in equal measure. Gigi begins to think that she just might be willing to give men another try—always assuming Mertz doesn’t arrest her before their first date. I wanted to add a little more conflict to Gigi’s love life (you can never be too hard on your characters!) so I created Carlo who owns Al Forno, the local Italian restaurant. Carlo is as extravagant with his olive oil as Gigi is parsimonious with hers. Is there any hope for them?

I’m afraid you’ll have to read ALLERGIC TO DEATH to find out!

www.pegcochran.com

Peg grew up in a New Jersey suburb about 25 miles outside of New York City. After college, she moved to the City where she managed an art gallery owned by the son of the artist Henri Matisse.

After her husband died, Peg remarried and her new husband took a job in Grand Rapids, Michigan where they now live (on exile from NJ as she likes to joke). Somehow Peg managed to segue from the art world to marketing and is now the manager of marketing communications for a company that provides services to seniors.

She has two cozy mystery series debuting from Berkley Prime Crime— the Sweet Nothings Vintage Lingerie series, written as Meg London, set in Paris, Tennessee and the Gourmet De-Lite series, under her own name, set in Connecticut.

Peg has two daughters, a step-daughter and step-son, a beautiful granddaughter, a cat named Frazzle and a Westhighland white terrier named Reggie. You can read more at www.pegcochran.com and www.meglondon.com.