"Who knew that a who-dun-it would not only keep you guessing―but have you laughing! Deborah Sharp is the new Edna Buchanan."―Hoda Kotb, co-anchor of NBC's Today show
Meet Mama: a true Southern woman with impeccable manners, sherbet-colored pantsuits, and four prior husbands, able to serve sweet tea and sidestep alligator attacks with equal aplomb. Mama's antics―especially her penchant for finding trouble ― drive her daughters Mace, Maddie, and Marty to distraction.
One night, while settling in to look for ex-beaus on COPS, Mace gets a frantic call from her mother. This time, the trouble is real: Mama found a body in the trunk of her turquoise convertible and the police think she's the killer. It doesn't help that the handsome detective assigned to the case seems determined to prove Mama's guilt or that the cowboy who broke Mace's heart shows up at the local Booze & 'n' Breeze in the midst of the investigation. Before their mama lands in prison―just like an embarrassing lyric from a country-western song―Mace and her sisters must find the real culprit.
TV APPEARANCES
- NBC's Today Show from November 4, 2008
- Mayor's Book Talk" from January 14, 2009
- NBC6 "South Florida Today" from July 17, 2009
- NBC's Today Show from August 4, 2009
Praise:
"Mama Does Time is a humorous, touching reflection on familial love and politics."―Mystery Scene Magazine
"With a strong, funny heroine, colorful characters, and a look at a part of Florida the tourists rarely see, Deborah Sharp has an engaging new series. Make sure Mama Does Time does time on your bookshelf."―Elaine Viets, author of Clubbed to Death: a Dead-End Job Mystery
"Not since the late Anne George has there been such laugh-out-loud Southern fried fun. Deborah Sharp's Mama Does Time is a hilarious page turner with crisp and intelligent writing."―Sue Ann Jaffarian, author of the Odelia Grey Mystery series
"Deborah Sharp's witty way with words makes Mama Does Time as much fun as a down-home visit with your quirky Florida cousins."―Nancy Martin, author of the Blackbird Sisters Mysteries
"Colorful characters and a segment of Florida seldom seen by tourists evoke a Southern Sisters feeling in this very well written Southern fried epic...A winner."―BookBitch.com
"The author's surname―Sharp―is an apt adjective to describe her writing. Her characters crackle off the page."―Cozy Library
"Deborah Sharp has an eye for character...She's funny, perceptive, and entertaining. What more can a cozy reader ask for?"―Reviewing the Evidence
"Newcomer Deborah Sharp will knock your socks off with this clever cozy mystery."―Fresh Fiction
Like the main character in her “Mace Bauer Mysteries,’’ her family roots were set in Florida long before Disney or Miami Vice. As a native and former reporter for USA Today, she knows the spots not found on maps: Molasses Junction. Muse, and now, Himmarshee, her own tiny slice of “Authentic Florida.’’
To create Himmarshee, Deborah borrowed from the present-day ranching town of Okeechobee, and from the south Florida of her family’s past.
Not far from Ft. Lauderdale, her dad used to walk to town, leading the family cow. A generation later, Deborah rode her horse over the same citrus- and ranch-dotted terrain. Now, it’s all interstates and strip malls.
The difference between Mace’s hometown and hers: Deborah will never let Himmarshee be spoiled by sprawl.
The News-Press in Fort Myers gave Deborah her first job, in 1982. Her favorite assignment: getting cast as a zombie when Day of the Dead filmed on Sanibel Island. Her fellow extras raved about her lurching.
A News-Press bonus: she met TV reporter Kerry Sanders in Immokalee, both of them shivering at dawn to see whether a winter freeze would ruin the green pepper crop. They’ve been married since 1989. No kids; no pets, but had goldfish once. Turned out badly―not a good omen for higher life forms.
When they moved back to Deborah’s hometown in 1991, the occasional stories she’d been writing for USA Today became a flood. Miami’s loony nature gives it a lock on headlines.
And then, 9/11, and everything changed. One of her last assignments before she left the paper was profiling soldiers killed in war. Grieving parents; spouses; kids. She couldn’t absorb all that sadness anymore.
So, at age fifty, fiction-writing beckoned. She’d get to determine the endings. Punish the bad and reward the good. And, she’d throw in some romance, too.
She likes writing about Mama because the character makes her laugh. And doesn’t everyone need a smile now and then?
TV APPEARANCES
◊ NBC's Today Show from November 4, 2008
◊ "Mayor's Book Talk" from January 14, 2009
◊ NBC6 "South Florida Today." from July 17, 2009
◊ NBC's Today Show from August 4, 2009
◊ WJXT-TV from November 17, 2009
◊ NBC's Today Show from August 24, 2010
◊ NBC's Today Show from December 28, 2011
