It’s Promote an Author Tuesday. Meet Fatal Brushstroke author Sybil Johnson! For a full review of this mystery, stop back on Thursday!
Fatal Brushstroke
A dead body in her garden and a homicide detective on her doorstep…
Computer programmer and tole-painting enthusiast Aurora (Rory) Anderson doesn’t envision finding either when she steps outside to investigate the frenzied yipping coming from her own backyard. After all, she lives in Vista Beach, a quiet California beach community where violent crime is rare and murder even rarer.
Suspicion falls on Rory when the body buried in her flowerbed turns out to be someone she knows—her tole painting teacher, Hester Bouquet. Just two weekends before, Rory attended one of Hester’s weekend painting seminars, an unpleasant experience she vowed never to repeat. As evidence piles up against Rory, she embarks on a quest to identify the killer and clear her name. Can Rory unearth the truth before she encounters her own brush with death?
About Sybil Johnson
Sybil Johnson grew up in the Pacific Northwest. Frequent trips to the library introduced her to the Land of Oz, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Bilbo Baggins and a whole lot more. She fell in love with mysteries reading Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew. In junior high, she discovered Agatha Christie.
After high school graduation, Sybil moved south to attend the University of Southern California, majoring in Computer Science. After twenty years of designing and writing code and managing programmers and software development projects, she turned to a life of crime writing.
Her short fiction has appeared in Mysterical-E, Spinetingler Magazine, King’s River Life Magazine, Crimson Dagger, and Silver Moon Magazine.
A past president of Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles, Sybil also co-chaired the 2011 California Crime Writers Conference. In her spare time, she enjoys tole painting, studying ancient languages (Ancient Egyptian and Coptic are her current areas of interest), and spending time with friends and family.
Questions with the Author
Is there a book you wish you had written? (Someone used “Harry Potter” as an example)
Dissolution by C. J. Sansom. A great historical mystery.
Aunt Dimity’s Death by Nancy Atherton. Love that book. I’ve read it several times.
What is your favorite story about your childhood that the family tells over and over?
I don’t remember this one, but I’ve heard it a number of times.
We were visiting relatives. I was young, maybe 3 or 4. My aunt made donuts. My parents, sister and I went to visit other relatives. When we got back to my aunt’s house, she’d put the donuts in a glass jar. Apparently, I was very disappointed and said, “She canned the donuts!” That’s the only story I can remember that’s been told several times.
What’s on your bucket list?
Visit Australia and New Zealand; Learn Swedish; Read all the books in my personal library I haven’t read. (The last one may be a lost cause as I keep on adding to it!)
Where would Rory go on vacation?
She’d go on a Caribbean cruise with her best friend Liz. They’d explore the ports together during the day, then Liz could dance the night away while Rory sits on the deck and looks at the stars.
What is the one thing you can’t live without? That one must have item?
lime diet Coke; must have one every day
Connect with Sybil Johnson
Website: www.authorsybiljohnson.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sybiljohnsonauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sybiljohnson19 
Blog: http://www.typem4murder.blogspot.com/
Fatal Brushstroke is available on Amazon and through IndieBound.
Author Teresa Watson 