Solve The Murder at Moonstone Lake by Local Author Ellen Holder
by James Coulter
Life in a sleepy retirement village gets turned upside down when its manager is discovered lying dead in a pool of her own blood. Retired schoolteacher Celia Dawson is determined to find the killer, though she might as easily find romance either from the detective or her retired Marine neighbor.
Murder at Moonstone Lake is the debut mystery novel of local author Ellen Holder. She was inspired to write the story after one of her fellow writers in a local critique group pitched the idea of a murder mystery at a retirement village. It took her six years, but Ellen turned that story into her first published novel.
Ellen has been interested in storytelling ever since her father would tell her bedtimes stories as a child. Her favorite were the stories he would make up on the fly rather than the ones he told by memory. Those impromptu stories inspired her to create her own.
“I realized then, even at that early age, how much fun it would be to use that same imagination and make up stories,” she said.
Like many, Ellen learned how to read and write in elementary school. However, she hated reading the repetitious Dick and Jane books. In fact, she hated them so much that she was inspired to write her own. Many of the stories she wrote as a child she keeps in an old school notebook.
“I was bored by the Dick and Jane stories,” she said. “Right then, I wanted to be the writer more than I wanted to be the reader.”
Ellen has lived in Florida for the past 20 years. Following retirement, she would follow her passion of being a writer. She read books and magazines on writing and even attended several local writer’s groups, including one at the Winter Haven Public Library. It was there she was pitched the idea to write a murder mystery in a retirement village. What started as a joke from a fellow writer has now become her self-published novel, Murder at Moonstone Lake.
Ellen Holder recently appeared on the Chattin on the Ridge podcast to discuss her book. Listen to her interview, as well as a dramatic reading of a selection from her novel, on the latest podcast episode on Acast: https://shows.acast.com/chattin-on-the-ridge/episodes/ep-65-murder-on-moonstone-lake-wellen-holder
Murder at Moonstone Lake is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Moonstone-Lake-Ellen-Holder/dp/1961703092
