The Northwest writing team of Carolyn J. Rose and Mike Nettleton (Our motto: Don’t fight, write!) has launched a cozy mystery series set on the Oregon Coast. The Big Grabowski, the first book in the series, is now available from Krill Press in Rogue River.

Drawing on recurring conflicts between advocates of growth and those who want things to stay as they are, Rose and Nettleton have created fast-talking developer Vince Grabowski. He bulldozed hillsides, fouled streams, and diverted investors’ funds to an off-shore account. Almost all the eccentric characters in the quirky town of Devil’s Harbor had reason to kill him and several made attempts. When his body floats into a sea lion sanctuary, it’s up to reporter Molly Donovan to figure out who tossed Vince into the drink before her father takes the fall for the developer’s fatal dive.

Carolyn J. Rose grew up in New York’s Catskill Mountains, graduated from the University of Arizona, logged two years in Arkansas with Volunteers in Service to America, and spent 25 years as a television news researcher, writer, producer, and assignment editor in Arkansas, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. She’s now a writing coach, teacher and founder of the Vancouver Writers’ Mixers. Her hobbies are reading, gardening, and not cooking.

Mike Nettleton grew up in Bandon and Grants Pass, Oregon. A stint at a college station in Ashland led to a multi-state radio odyssey with on-air gigs in Oregon, California, and New Mexico under the air name Mike Phillips. He’s been with KEX in Portland since 1994. His hobbies are golf, pool, Texas held-em poker, and book collecting.