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SCOOP: A Cauley MacKinnon Novel

#1 in Austin!

by Kit Frazier, Midnight Ink Books

ISBN: 0738709158 cover price $13.95

Got a book group of five or more? Contact Kit at KitFrazier@yahoo.com to arrange a free phone chat about the book and anything else that pops up!

Synopsis:

Obituary writer Cauley Mackinnon's been a busy girl. She's stumbled into an old friend's apparent suicide, gets run into the lake by an earless bald guy and nearly loses her heart to a man who may not be Mr. Right, but he does have all the right stuff in all the right places...

 

Author’s Note:

The idea for SCOOP came from a failed romance novel I’d been working on three years ago. The book was winning contests, but my heart wasn’t in it. However, the book was good enough to win several key contests, one of which won me a sit down with an agent at William Morris Agency.

The agent said she loved my writing style but she said she could do without the guy and the baby in the story. She asked if I could get rid of the baby and the guy, which were integral to the plot. I sat there in an uncomfortable conference room chair in a cold hotel room and stared at her, wondering if she really read the thing at all. “Well, no,” I told her, “but I could write another book.”

I went home that night and wrote the first sixty pages of the novel that would become SCOOP. As I was writing, it was like magic. I knew I was on the right track because the protagonist, Cauley MacKinnon, a spunky, down-on-her-luck obituary writer, came to me whole and ready to tell me her story. It was just one of those rare gifts from the muses. Unfortunately, the muses have tortured me ever since.

I hope you enjoy reading SCOOP as much as I enjoyed writing it. Drop me a line with your comments about the questions—I’d love to see what you think!

Reader's Guide

Cauley MacKinnon is staring down the barrel of twenty-eighth birthday, certain the only things standing between her and certain doom are instinct, pure dumb luck and a kick-ass hairdresser.

Starting over after a truly bad marriage and armed with a freshly minted journalism degree, Cauley is disappointed to find that the only job she can get in her hometown of Austin is as an obituary writer—something that only happens to interns who’ve been very good, or reporters who’ve been very bad. Somehow, Cauley’s managed to do both. And of course, being the Obituary Babe wreaks havoc on her already disastrous social life.

While on the hunt for a story that will get her off the Death Page, Cauley’s life takes a turn for the worse when hapless childhood friend, Scott Barnes, threatens suicide and barricades himself in a dilapidated old shed where he phones Cauley for help. Cauley manages to talk her friend out of the shotgun and the shed. But Cauley is soon devastated when she discovers Barnes dead at his computer with an empty bottle of bourbon and a computer-generated suicide note. Soon, Cauley is up to her eyelashes in dead bodies and everyone wants to know what Barnes said in the shed—the last time anyone saw him alive.

Soon Cauley is on the run from an earless homicidal maniac and in search of the mysterious, hot FBI agent who she is certain has all the answers, all the while dodging her martini-drinking mother and her well-intentioned gang of girlfriends.

Discussion Questions:

1. The book opens with the words: “I ducked under the crime scene tape the way I always do, like I know exactly what I’m doing, but this time I was a little more careful on account of the black-clad SWAT guys drawing down around the perimeter. Sometimes I think the only things standing between me and certain doom are instinct, pure dumb luck and a kick ass hairdresser.” What does this line tell you about Cauley? What kind of book does this opening line lead you to believe it will be?

2. Cauley has given her life an extreme makeover on a lot of different levels. Have you ever drastically started over in life? Are you happy with the results, or, like Cauley, is your “do over” a work in progress?

3. Cauley “accidentally” slept with her boss on her first “do over” and wound up an obituary writer. Do you think she’s learned from her mistakes? Do you think she’s a better or wiser person for it?

4. Cauley relies heavily on her friends and family, regardless of how eccentric they can be. Do you rely on friends and family? Have you found ways to work around their quirkiness?

5. Do you know someone like Miranda? Do you think Miranda has any redeeming qualities?

6. Cauley surrounds herself and finds comfort in antiques and noir movies. Why do you think she’s so steeped in the past?

7. Cauley lives in a world surrounded by other people’s pasts and other people’s things. Why is this so important to her? Is this something she comes to terms with or something she still needs to work on?

8. Cauley seems to exhibit very bad judgment in men but is trying to break this pattern. Is this something you can relate to?  Do you think Cauley is succeeding?

9. What do you think are the significances of the Magic 8 Ball and her father’s old compass? What is similar about these two objects? What is different?

10. What do you think the dog, Marlowe, symbolizes?

11.  Who are you rooting for, FBI Agent Tom Logan or the mysterious, magnetic John Fiennes?

Finally, I hope you enjoyed reading Scoop in your book group. As an aside, I started my first reading group when I was seven, though I didn’t know that’s what it was.

The subject of our first discussion was Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard. My mother and I read it together. I loved the book so much I shared it with my little sister, cousin and neighbor, and we’ve all been voracious readers ever since. Our book groups take place via e-mail, text and phone now, but we’re still as adamant about sharing books we love as we were when we were little girls. 

As a matter of fact, I read all of Scoop to my sister over the phone as I wrote it. Talk about relying on family and friends!