by Tracy Condie

This week we have a review of the Zen Goat Mystery by Janna Rollins, along with a fun interview with Janna. Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win an ebook copy of the book and a link to purchase it.

Goats Just Wanna Have Fun: A Zen Goat Mystery by Janna Rollins
Review by Tracy Condie

This second book of the Zen Goat Mystery series is a thoroughly delightful and fun cozy. It involves goat yoga, a hog racing misfire, fair rides, and midway fun, plus murder. Callie Haybeck moved from the city of Seattle to Bobwhite Hollow to connect with family she found through a DNA website search like Ancestry.com. (Back story is included to keep you in the loop.) Callie discovers that her dad’s father abandoned him and his mother, so her dad wants nothing to do with his paternal family. Callie wants to get to know the Haybeck side of the family, so her father givers her his blessing as long as she keeps him out of it. That is why Callie decides to dip her yoga instructor toes into goat yoga. She is contracted to give a daily goat-yoga lesson at the county fair.

The characters are fun and interesting, and colorful phrases pepper the pages. Callie is not able to stop herself from saying awkward, and sometimes even brusque things, to Levi the vet, and then berates herself. Her new-found cousin and bff Tristan Beck (he dropped the Hay) is a bit too posh for the farmland, but has a great heart and becomes Watson to Callie’s Sherlock.

Callie has no intention of getting involved in the murder, until Sweet Pete, a suspect, asks her to clear his name. As with most mysteries, there are plenty of suspects besides Pete, who just happened upon a key piece of evidence. Brandon Ebersole, the victim, owed money to people, including his former business partner. Ebersole’s checks were bouncing as high as Bugsy the goat could jump. (Bugsy is Callie’s escape-artist goat.) Michelle, Brandon’s wife, is seen with a guy quite soon after the murder. Finally, she wants to find out why the fair manager and the victim were arguing, and why the victim was stuffing cash in his pocket as he left the manager’s office?

Rollins makes you feel as if you are at the fair, and even had me craving a corn dog. The well-crafted plot has just the right amount of humor, mystery, scandal, and misdirection. I have never seen goat yoga, but I do have friends who swear by it. The characters are as entertaining and interesting as the idea of goat yoga, and the plot-hanger family history has me wishing the next book were already available.

Tracy Condie is a paralegal by day and cozy armchair sleuth by night. When she is not working or reading, she enjoys preparing the recipes found in culinary cozies or researching recipes of meal items described therein and sharing reviews of both books and food on Instagram and on KRL. She lives in Corona, California with her husband and dog Zoolie, and looks forward to visiting with their grown sons when their time permits.

Interview with Janna Rollins:

KRL: How long have you been writing?

Janna: I’ve dabbled with writing poetry and short snippets for years, but seriously started writing my first book in 2019.

KRL: When did your first novel come out, what was it called, and would you tell us a little about it?

Janna: My first novel came out in January of 2024. It’s called Hammers and Homicide and is the first book in the Hometown Hardware mystery series. It’s about a widowed woman who owns a hardware store in a small Eastern Oregon town. She’s delighted her adult daughter has moved back to town, thinks the ghost of her late husband is still hanging around the house, and is finally learning to live again after his sudden death. Finding a man dead in her store wasn’t part of her plans! I write this series as Paula Charles.

KRL: Have you always written mysteries/suspense and if not, what else have you written?

Janna: I’m fairly new to publishing, so yes, mostly mystery. I have two cozy mystery series out, have had one poem and one short light horror story published.

KRL: What brought you to choose the setting and characters in your latest book/series?

Janna: My latest book, Goats Just Wanna Have Fun, is the second in my Zen Goat series written as Janna Rollins. This series is set on a farm in New Hampshire. My husband is from New England. The first time I went, I fell in love with it. My thinking was that if I set a book there, it would give me a reason to have to go back for research! The goats in my own barnyard inspired the goat yoga theme, and then Callie Haybeck, the protagonist, was born from there.

KRL: Do you write to entertain or is there something more you want the readers to experience from your work?

Janna: Mostly for entertainment purposes. I’m an avid reader myself, and for me, cozies have always been what I turn to when I’m needing light, fun break, so I want to make sure mine have lots of laugh-out-loud moments with quirky characters.

KRL: Do you have a schedule for your writing or just work whenever you can?

Janna: My workdays are usually Monday through Friday. I try to be at my desk by 9, go through my emails and answer anything that needs a response. Mondays I try to get all my social media posts done and scheduled, then write if time still allows. Tuesday through Friday, my goal is to get at least 1,200 words down.

KRL: What is your ideal time to write?

Janna: I’m a middle of the day writer, getting my word count in usually between 10am to 2. My brain tends to shut down by about three in the afternoon!

KRL: Do you outline? If not, do you have some other interesting way that you keep track of what’s going on, or what needs to happen in your book when you are writing it?

Janna: I’m not much of an outliner. Before I start the actual writing, I know some key factors – the murder weapon, who the victim is, the suspects, and quite a bit about each of their backgrounds. Usually, I know the killer and then the “danger” scene at the end of the book but getting there is anybody’s guess! For the book I’m writing right now, the killer hasn’t come forward to tell me who he or she is yet. Wish me luck!

KRL: Did you find it difficult to get published in the beginning?

Janna: Fairly difficult, yes. It took me about two years to find and sign with an agent. I had a good portion of flat-out rejections, some requests to read the manuscript, two R&Rs, (revise & resubmit), that ultimately ended in rejections. I stopped querying, wrote the first in my Zen Goat series, started querying that one, and completely rewrote the first book. I finally signed up with an agent, the now late Dawn Dowdle, who signed me for both books. After signing, my books were out on submission to publishers for another eight months before I was offered a contract. It was another year before the first book came out.

KRL: Do you have a great rejection/critique or acceptance story you’d like to share?

Janna: When my agent called with my first publishing offer, I honestly thought she was calling to tell me it was time to shelve the books. She laughed so hard at my shock over the offer. Not two days later, she called again with the offer on my second series. It was quite a week!

KRL: Most interesting book signing story-in a bookstore or other venue?

Janna: While the book signings I’ve done so far have been a delight meeting and chatting with readers, I don’t think anything unusual has happened. I’ll keep an eye out!

KRL: What are your future writing goals?

Janna: To keep building the readership for both of my series so that I can keep writing them for as long as they’re well received. And to figure out the logistics for another series that’s been kicking around in my head.

KRL: Who are your writing heroes?

Janna: There are so many amazing writers that I admire, both past and present. If I focus on the cozy genre, I’d have to say Ellie Alexander for her sheer writing chops. She puts out so many books every year and the stories are great every single time. I’m baffled by her productivity! Libby Klein for the incredible humor she permeates her stories with. Carlene O’Connor for making me want to visit her Irish village over and over again. I could go on forever, so I’ll stop there!

KRL: What kind of research do you do?

Janna: All kinds! I think half my writing time each day is taken up going down research rabbit holes. When I write the yoga scenes, I research to make sure I’m describing the yoga poses correctly. I have a writing bestie whose husband is a police officer, so sometimes I have her ask him police procedural questions for me. I research all kinds of random things to make sure I have little details as close to accurate as I can get them.

KRL: What do you like to read?

Janna: I am what I like to call a book dragon. I read a lot of mystery, thriller, historical fiction, magical realism, memoir, nonfiction…whatever looks interesting and captures my attention. The only thing I don’t enjoy is erotica, and slasher type horror.

KRL: What are your favorite TV shows or movies?

Janna: We watch a ton of BBC and PBS. Right now, we’re watching Miss Scarlet and the Duke, All Creatures Great and Small, Finding Your Roots, and The Brokenwood Mysteries. I also love Will Trent and can’t stop watching The Traitors.

KRL: Have you any advice for aspiring or beginning writers?

Janna: Believe in yourself. Keep going, even when it seems impossible. Hire an outside editor. Find a critique group that works for you. Outside eyes on your work is invaluable.

KRL: What is something people would be surprised to know about you?

Janna: That I have developed a severe allergy to goats, so have never actually participated in goat yoga myself!

KRL: Oh no! Do you have any pets?

Janna: We have one goat, one bunny, and twenty chickens. Because of my allergies, we sadly no longer have any indoor pets.

KRL: Is there anything you would like to add?

Janna: Thank you so much for having me here! I’m so excited and honored to have an interview on KRL!

KRL: Thank you for chatting with us! Where can our readers find you online?

Janna: Website: paulacharles.com
Facebook: Rainy Day Mysteries
Instagram: rainy_day_mysteries
BookBub: Paula Charles

You can click here to purchase this book from Amazon.

To enter to win an ebook copy of Goats Just Wanna Have Fun, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “goats” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen March 8, 2025. U.S. residents only, and you must be 18 or older to enter. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.

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