By Sharman Jean Burson
Sharman Jean Burson is the name under which Sharman Burson Ramsey writes cozy mysteries.
She publishes Historical Fiction under Sharman Burson Ramsey.
Cassandra King writes:
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"I was hooked from the first scene, one of
the most intriguing, and funniest, I've ever read. With this rollicking
debut novel, Sharman Ramsey shines as THE bright new star in Southern
fiction."
Cassandra King, author of The Sunday Wife
and Same Sweet Girls
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Janis Owens writes:
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Sharman Ramsey writes with the full-frontal charm of a women so in love with her culture that she makes you love it more. The Mint Julep Mysteries celebrate all that is wonderful in the South, past, present and future: food, friends, and family, with a spice of intrigue, a dash of history, and many pauses for laughter. |
Re: Mint Julep Mysteries
Perfect for TV Movies and Mysteries!
The Mint Juleps and Murder series, labeled by popular southern author, Michael Morris, the “’Ya Ya Sisterhood’ Meets ‘Murder She Wrote,” offers a brand new twist on a popular genre.
The Mint Juleps and Murder series is set at Waverly, an historic plantation house and family home located in fictional Cox County, Alabama. The series features two newly widowed sisters and a multicultural group of friends unique to the region. An inebriated Dabney Palmer Rankin finagles her way onto the Dishing It Network (DIN) using their grandparents' plantation home as a gimmick. She drags her vulnerable newly widowed sister and current owner of the plantation house, New Orleans cardiologist, Dr. Sophia Palmer Ransom, along with her. Problem is they cannot cook!
A dark and stormy night brings a knock at the door of Waverly late the evening of the funeral for Sophia’s husband. The two sisters stumble into the mystery of the deaths of the adoptive parents of long lost, newly found cousin Julio Estevez who has shown up at Waverly in great distress. Now flying solo without a husband to guide them the widowed sisters step out of their comfort zone determined to solve a mystery and protect “family.” They blunder into further confusion when Dabney finds herself being pursued by the widowed anesthesiologist for her colonoscopy with Mel Gibson eyes, Richard Gere buns and Johnny Cash voice who shows up in New Orleans.
The grandparents' plantation home garners amazing international celebrity with the award winning Partying on the Plantation. Some compare the two sisters to Lucy and Ethel and the show captures the affection of the public. Somehow Dabney acquires an archenemy out to kill her. Could the potential killer be connected to one of her admirers from the Five O' Clock Somewhere Mint Julep Hour held nightly at Waverly? A competitor on the Dishing It Network? An Episcopal priest?
Past lives and present loves complicate matters even further when the sisters get caught up in a mystery through a genetic memory that spans a millennia. Dabney encounters her first love and wonders is he friend or foe? She must survive kidnappings and rescue Julio, solve the mystery of a missing child and a dead woman found in the Victory Garden across from Ruby T's Roadhouse. Could they possibly all be related to their relations?
Author of historical fiction published by Mercer University Press, Swimming with Serpents and In Pursuit, family history/cookbooks, and cozy mysteries, the Mint Julep series; adjunct professor of History; genealogist; Master Gardener, webmaster (Southern-style.com); advisor on Southern Etiquette and Manners, Sharman Burson Ramsey, lives Panama City, Florida, with her retired attorney husband and standard poodle Gigi. Her sister, Dr. Sylvia Burson Rushing, now owns the plantation home of their grandparents that inspired Waverly. Their husbands still live though contemplation of their demise inspired the series.
When I finished the last of the trilogy, I realized that all three books actually built upon one another. So, I decided to include them all in one book. It is a thriller but fun at the same time. I hope you enjoy it!
Two formerly estranged, newly widowed sisters, Dabney Palmer Ransom and Dr. Sophia Palmer Rankin use Wayfarer, the family plantation, as their gimmick and finagle their way onto the Dishing It Network . They become stars--WHO CANNOT COOK! Palmer, Cox County, Alabama, a former ghost town, thirty miles from Selma, Alabama, becomes a bee hive of activity. Organic gardens are planted by the Master Gardeners of the county. The sisters award prizes for the victory gardens planted in gardens throughout the county. Guest cooks from all walks of life come as guests on the show. Sightseers come from all the world come to visit.
Ruby T of Ruby T’s Roadhouse sets her sights on being a guest on Partyin’ when her idol, Diamond, famous for his New Orleans Restaurant and Cajun cooking who is also a star on the Dishing It Network, comes to be on the show.
How could Ruby T know that it was Dabney’s life’s dream (other than being a star on the Dish It Up Network and write a romance novel with Flavio on the cover) to sing and dance with Sadie Summer, a former abused wife who once sang with her husband Eli Summer? Sadie’s appearance has been arranged by Ruby’s cousin the movie star S.Tee for a Charity Revue to benefit the “homeless, hopeless, helpless and hungry.” Dabney discovers a weakness for blackmail and Ruby T winds up on the Diamond segment
The participants of the Charity Revue bond through the preparations for the charity revue and two lonely women find a new lease on life with the unlikely friendships and adventure they stumble into. Mix in the son of a prostitute third cousin once removed and drug lord who was adopted out and now returns to the family fold with the supposed suicide of cousin Palmer Watson. Stir in the international attention now focused on an area where once nefarious activities could operate successfully under the radar and you have mystery and adventure. Then dish up Gavin Crenshaw, the anesthesiologist for Dabney’s colonoscopy and Harvey Banks, retired judge and president of the Cox County Master Gardeners, and you've got a spicy romance.
Other than Dabney’s natural talent to just “piss people off,” why would a homicidal maniac target this genealogist, star of the Dishing It Network, geriatric sex symbol, and soon to be published romance writer?
The rich history of this neglected area comes alive in this "what if" story. Mint Juleps and Murder is a reading romp with memorable characters and settings from New Orleans, Louisiana to Cox County, Alabama and genetic memory leads to a lost love and a past Mayan life.
Combining Ann George Southern Sisters mystery with Fannie Flagg’s downhome humor, friendship, family and love triumph in this unexpected second life of once estranged sisters.
Swimming with Serpents
In Pursuit
Shawnee recommended reading list
South Carolina and Fort Mims
People
Places
Maps of South Carolina Districts and Federal Road Route
Map of Southern Alabama during 1813-14
Family Trees of Major characters of Swimming with Serpents
Bibliography of Indian Culture and History
Writing the Southern Scene
Media Page
Writing Historical Fiction Swimming with Serpents
Reading Guide for Swimming with Serpents
Flyer for Mint Julep Mysteries and Wakefield Plantation: history and cookbook
Brochure for books by Sharman Burson Ramsey
Swimming with Serpents and In Pursuit are now available through Independent Book Stores everywhere, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, KOBO and Books A Million.
The Mint Julep Mysteries and Wakefield Plantation: history and cookbook are also available through Amazon, Ingram and NASCORP, Baker and Taylor, Barnes and Noble, and Independent Book Stores.