Crime Fans! I’m chuffed to bits to host Margot Kinberg for the third time as my guest author.

If you haven’t discovered her books, you haven’t lived!

Margot’s latest book, Streets of Gold, was published 16th. March 2022

Let’s find out about Margot:

Margot Kinberg is a mystery novelist and Associate Professor. She writes the Joel Williams series, the Patricia Stanley series, and other fiction.

She also blogs about crime fiction and serves on the judging panel for the Ngaio Marsh Awards for crime fiction.

I Want All the World to See We’ve Met*

Thanks very much for having me, Jane. I’d like to introduce the protagonist of my new novella, Streets of Gold.

Her name is Staci McKinney, and she’s fifteen years old. Staci’s from Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, which is a suburb of Philadelphia.

In a lot of ways, Staci’s a normal teenager. But everything changes when she decides to leave home to get away from her disgusting stepfather, Nick. Staci’s a strong young woman, but life on the streets is hard. She has to scrabble for food and for a place to stay dry and sleep.

Things get even worse when she witnesses two men dumping a body early one morning. The trouble is, they see her, too. Now Staci’s only choice is to go on the run. And the killer’s only choice is to go after her.

Like a lot of teens, Staci is caught between feeling independent and wanting an adult to take care of her. She has to be tough, but she’s also sometimes scared and vulnerable. In that sense, writing her character was a bit of a balancing act. On the one hand, there are some ways in which she’s quite mature- almost an adult. On the other, she doesn’t always think ahead, and she doesn’t always know what she’s doing. She covers that with sarcastic remarks and doesn’t let herself get really close to others, but that doesn’t mean she’s unfriendly. She can be funny, too. She’s smart and quick-thinking, and she’s going to need to be both if she’s going to stay safe.

Staci’s had to learn to do what she needs to do to survive. And sometimes, that means taking things from shops and restaurants, or dumpster-diving. She’s also not above lying if it’ll keep her safe or get her food. She doesn’t always like the things she has to do, but she has a strong survival instinct. And anything is better than going back to her stepfather.

In some ways, it wasn’t easy to write Staci’s character. I haven’t been a teenager in a long while, and teen characters can be challenging. Once she came to life, though, it got a lot easier. And that was a problem, too. I got to like her very much, so I wanted her to be safe. She’s bright, she can be funny, and underneath her exterior, she’s a caring person.  All sorts of things can happen when you live on the streets, though, and some of those things happen to Staci. A big part of me wanted to protect her, so it wasn’t easy to put her in those situations. But the reality is, life on the street is very hard, even on the best of days. It’s especially hard for young people. It wouldn’t be a realistic story if Staci had an easy time of it.

I hope you’ll enjoy meeting Staci in Streets of Gold.

I very much enjoyed getting to know her, myself!  Thanks, Jane, for hosting me!

Margot, it is always a pleasure to host you and I wish you much-continued success, especially with your latest novella.

Thanks for being with us and I hope fans of Crime Mysteries will delve into

Streets of Gold

which is now available on Amazon.

Let’s find out more about

Streets of Gold:

These Streets Are Not Made of Gold…

Fifteen-year-old Staci Mckinney thought that leaving home would solve her problems. At least it would get her away from her disgusting stepfather, Nick. But it’s not long before Nick becomes the least of her worries. It’s not easy to live on the streets. It’s a daily struggle to find food and a place to sleep, especially during a Philadelphia winter. Things get even harder when Staci witnesses two men dumping a body. When they see her, too, she has no choice but to go on the run.

Philadelphia City Councilman Daniel Langdon thought everything would be alright, even after the ‘road rage’ incident that led to a death. After all, nobody knew what happened. Except some kid saw him and his assistant dumping the body. Now he’s going to have to find the girl before she gets the chance to talk to anyone about what she witnessed.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from the Beatles’ I’ve Just Seen a Face.

Margot’s links:

Website: http://margot-kin-berg.com

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Margot-Kinberg/e/B001HPU6V0%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_shar

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MargotKinberg

FB: https://www.facebook.com/MargotKinbergAuthor/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Margot-Kinberg/e/B001HPU6V0

For UK Readers: