Author Interview with 2022 Reviewer’s Choice Award Nominee Sherry Perkins

Like everyone else, Dr. Beth Ann Butterbaugh, DVM, loves a good mystery; however, she hardly expected to stumble into the middle of one. Except that is exactly what happened on a crisp autumn day when she receives an urgent call to attend to an injured horse found wandering by the roadside. With the help of the newly appointed sheriff -- a former big city detective -- they discover a connection between the injured horse and two seemingly unrelated murders in the small seaside and farming community where they live. Surprising discoveries will be made during the course of the investigation and lives will be changed in quite unexpected ways. But can Beth Ann and the sheriff prevent another murder once the motivation becomes apparent?

Pulling off from the scene, Ben nodded toward the cruiser’s center console. “I think there are some tissues in there if you want one.”

Beth Ann pulled a tissue from the box, dabbing at her nose with it. “Good grief!” she exclaimed suddenly and then blew her nose. Loudly.

Ben laughed.

She laughed too. “Hush,” she managed to say, honking her nose another time. “I’m OK. It’s just the unexpectedness of it. The finality. All that it carries with it. It’s senseless. Unnecessary. And more than anything, I don’t understand it. Who would want to kill her? She was a teacher, for crying out loud!”

“Doc, death is like that. Even when it’s not murder, it’s a shock. No matter how prepared you are for any death, it’s still a shock.”

Beth Ann nodded. “Is it like that for you? A shock?”

“Kinda. But I try to compartmentalize it. Make it clinical, impersonal. If I focus too much on who the victim was, it makes it hard to do the job. But honestly, sometimes you have to do exactly that. Focus on the victim, on who they were. Because sometimes, that’s the only way you can figure out what was going on. Usually, more often than not, even though it sounds crass, it’s just a job. For it to be otherwise, you’d never make it through the day. You’d be burnt out too soon. Be no good to anyone, least of all yourself. You focus on the job; on solving the crime. If there is grieving to be done, you do it after the case is solved. After it goes to trial. If there is grief, you process it with other officers, not with the victim’s family. The family don’t always want to see your grief. They want you to be there for them. So they can get on with grieving. Do you understand?”

“I think so. It’s sort of what I do when an animal has to be euthanized. I have to soldier up for the animal’s owner. Be professional but available.”

“And sometimes you cry?”

She nodded. “Sometimes.”

“Doc…Beth Ann, it is OK to cry. I probably don’t need to tell you that.”

“I know,” Beth Ann said. She rested her head against the passenger side window. Then, she began to cry.

Indie author Sherry Perkins has a natural curiosity and love for life-long learning. When not on the beach collecting shells or sea glass, she can be found in her garden avoiding the snakes or following the Dave Matthews Band to snake-free venues on the East Coast. During a once in a lifetime visit to Northern Ireland, she was inspired to write the beginning lines to what would become the Will-o’-the-Wisp Stories. The Wisp Stories are serialized tales of well-known folklore, reimagined in a contemporary form with small town sensibility and scientific inquiry tossed in. Books in the Wisp Stories have previously been short-listed for “best in genre” at the Paranormal Romance Guild Reviewers Choice Awards. In addition to the Wisp Stories, she has written blended genre sci-fi thriller and romance, and cozy murder mysteries. Her books invite the reader to imagine what they might do in tough situations and to challenge beliefs—because as she learned in Northern Ireland, nothing is what it seems, and you really should leave a saucer of milk along with a slice of cake at the back garden gate every night if you want to keep in the good graces of the wee folk (and maybe banish the garden snakes).