A Guest Post by Kelley Kaye

A Guest Post by Kelley Kaye

I am a mystery writer. Life is an eternal mystery, and I am always wondering things: What’s that actor’s name? Why does that happen? Who wants to grind bees? Perfect blog focus, and I call it Kelley’s Konundrum. The one about ground bees was the first one, and the blog can take the road with any question I think about during the week, or in this case for any guest blog post I might have.

 

My Konundrum for this post is The Mystery of the Two-Sided Story. I’m excited about this one, because I’ve been seeing it in every avenue of my life lately—from the lunacy of this year’s presidential election to whether I should sell my books out of a box and get my whole royalty, or consign them to a book store, thus getting them out as actually purchased-by-someone-and-getting-me-toward-those-dreams-of-the-bestseller-lists, but only making maybe 99 cents per book. It’s a mystery.

So Two-Sided Story #1 is about Seaworld. Side #1 is the PETA side, whereby all creatures deserve to be free and in their own environment. I agree with this in many ways—especially because when it comes to animals and people, I often feel like the animals are much more innocent. Not that they don’t kill and eat other animals or have sex indiscriminately, but they do what they do with…with a purity of behavior that people don’t have. 

I often say I like animals better than some people, and notice there’s no qualifier before animals. I like ALL animals, from the great white shark to the boa constrictor to the hugest mud-sucking hog to the MOSQUITO, for Pete’s Sake, than I like some people. I’m not going to name those people right now, but I’m sure some come immediately to mind. I can relate to PETA, and the recent decision from Seaworld to stop breeding their killer whales, to me in many ways seems like the right thing to do. 

 

But here is the second side, and it was emphasized about ten minutes ago when I saw a news program. Jack Hanna came to Seaworldtoday to give a talk, and then they interviewed him about the Seaworld decision. He didn’t like it, because he feels our exposure to animals is part of what makes us better, more appreciative, more human. Seeing animals up close is an amazing thing, and he fears for the generations that will miss out on that possibility once the killer whales are gone. 

 

I’ve lived in San Diego since 2011, and I think my two little boys have seen the Shamu show fifty times. I understand both sides of this two-sided story with a special poignancy, because we’ve discussed the issue so many times—these organizations, the aquariums, the zoos, the circuses, they do keep animals in captivity, many of them in much smaller environments than they’d ever experience in the wild. But all of these organizations also, especially in this day and age, do a lot to help conserve wild places and protect endangered species and just get the word out—as Jack Hanna told us. Whether they are doing these things for positive publicity for their businesses or not, they are doing a lot of good things for animals.

See? I don’t know where I stand on the two (or many) sides to this story. It’s a mystery.

 

 

I’d love to hear your views…:-) Until next time: Stay Mystified!

 

Kelley

 

 

 

 

Death by Diploma

By Kelley Kaye

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Emma Lovett leaves her philandering husband and crosses the country to begin her teaching career at a high school in Pinewood, Colorado.  There, she meets Leslie Parker, a fellow teacher given to quoting Shakespeare to fit all situations, and the two become fast friends.  

Arriving at work early one morning, Emma discovers the body of the school custodian, a man who reminds her of her late father. When the police struggle to find the killer, the ladies decide to help solve the murder. Their efforts lead them to a myriad of suspects: the schizophrenic librarian, the crude football coach, the mysterious social studies teacher, and even Emma’s new love interest. 

  

As Emma Lovett discovers the perils of teaching high school, she and Leslie learn more than they ever wanted to know about the reasons people kill. 

Author Bio

Kelley Kaye taught High School English and Drama for twenty years, but her love for storytelling dates back to creating captions for her high school yearbook. Maybe back to the tales she created around her Barbie and Ken — whatever the case, the love’s been around for a long time. 

Kelley is married to this amazing man who cooks for her, and they have two funny and wonderful sons. She lives in Southern California.

http://www.kelleykaybowles.com/

On Twitter: @kelkay1202

Check out the book trailer for Death by Diploma: https://youtu.be/CAMXkR3kA-8