Crime & Safety

Utica Author Releases Fourth Romantic Suspense Novel

A Utica author is fulfilling her dream of being an author with the release of her fourth romantic suspense-themed book.

Utica’s own romantic suspense author Karen Mauck has self-published her fourth book.

If you like to read about romance, suspense, mystery and some of the gems in Shelby and Washington townships and Utica, you’ll love reading Nursery Crimes.

The plot is set in a slightly fictionalized Metro Detroit area, but some of the names of locations have been changed. However, local readers will be able to spot them a mile away. For example, the Sheriff in the book investigating a string of crimes lives in Malcom, which is eerily similar to Macomb.

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The story is based on a tough cop investigating kindergartner kidnappings, and somewhere in the process, he develops feelings for the devoted kindergarten teacher. In the book, every time a child is kidnapped, a scary nursery rhyme filled with clues is left behind.

“There are some moments that are scary because it talks about kidnapping of children but I don’t go into much detail,” Mauck told Patch.  “I kind of like stories with a little bit of action–I like romances but action and mystery. So I thought of something kind of scary (not too scary) with a level of romance. I want something for the characters to do rather than sit around and kiss all day.”

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And if you think the four-time novelist sits around and writes all day, think again.

Mauck, 40, has a full-time job at a Troy-based ad agency and somehow manages to write in her spare time.

“It usually takes a year to year-and a-half to finish a book,” explained Mauck. “There will be times I won’t write for three or four months because I am not a full-time writer.”

Mauck, who said she has always wanted to be a writer, started off her career as a journalist and worked for several local newspapers on the west side of the state.

Her job at the paper is what led her to write her first book in 2000 called Scraps. The book was based on a slew of newspaper clippings.

From there, Mauck got a taste for writing and published her second book, Pomp and Circumstantial Evidence, in 2002 and her third, Last to Know, in 2006.  Nursery Crimes marks Mauck’s fourth published book, but she has a fifth manuscript finished, just sitting on her desktop.

Mauck uses iUniverse, a self-publishing company, to print the books, which are available in paperback at local bookstores.

Nursery Crimes was released in July and is being sold at Used on New Books and More in Mt. Clemens and on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble’s website.

Mauck is a Utica resident, and as a former Shelby Township resident, she is a member of the Shelby Writers Club, which meets every Wednesday evening at the Shelby Township library.

If you want an autographed copy of the Nursery Crimes, Mauck will also be selling copies of her book at the on Aug. 13 and 14.


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