Lydia Ponczak |
My friend and fellow Southland Scribes writer, Lydia Ponczak, launched her first novel, Who's After Samantha, last week by hosting a party at Kinootz's Pizza in Midlothian, IL. She gathered a big crowd and made each of us feel special. She was nice enough to publicly credit me with giving her editing suggestions for her second Samantha novel.
Lydia is a sweetheart of lady who loves being Polish, dangling earrings, and the color red. Her protagonist, Samantha, is just as funny, flamboyant and feisty as the author.
I love Samantha! The character is gutsy, flirtatious, and "on the wrong side of fifty." She finds a real murder victim at a mysery writing seminar and her troubles begin. Samantha must deal with the murderer/ stalker, her clueless suburban husband, and a hunky Chicago cop in her own bumbling, but slyly effective way. Her "Samantha-isms" had me laughing outloud.
The many suburban Chicago references in the novel made me feel at home. A number of restaurants and small town hot-spots mentioned owe Lydia a free meal.
Lydia has the gift of gab which serves her well on her local cable TV show, News In View. She is a real treasure. Read Who's After Samantha, available on Amazon, and give yourself a treat.