Sally Carpenter

Author Bio:

Sally Carpenter is native Hoosier living in Moorpark, Calif.

She has a master’s degree in theater from Indiana State University. While in school, her plays “Star Collector” and “Common Ground” were finalists in the American College Theater Festival One-Act Playwrighting Competition. “Common Ground” also earned a college creative writing award. “Star Collector” was produced in New York City and served as the inspiration for her first mystery series.

Carpenter also has a Master of Divinity and a black belt in tae kwon do.

She’s worked as an actress, college writing instructor, jail chaplain and tour guide/page for Paramount Pictures. She writes cozy mysteries for Cozy Cat Press.

The Sandy Fairfax Teen Idol series has: The Baffled Beatlemaniac Caper, 2nd rev. ed. (2012 Eureka! Award finalist for best first mystery novel), The Sinister Sitcom Caper, The Cunning Cruise Ship Caper and The Quirky Quiz Show Caper. The Notorious Noel Caper is scheduled for a 2021 release. The books were recently revised into clean reads; used print copies will not have the changes.

The Psychedelic Spy series is comprised of Flower Power Fatality and Hippie Haven Homicide.

She has short stories in three anthologies: “Dark Nights at the Deluxe Drive-in” in Last Exit to Murder and “Faster Than a Speeding Bullet” in Plan B: Omnibus as well as a Sandy Fairfax adventure, “The Puzzling Puppet Show Caper,” in Cozy Cat Shorts.

She penned chapter three of the CCP group mystery Chasing the Codex.

To atone for killing characters on paper, she also writes the Roots of Faith column for the Acorn Newspapers (theacornonline.com).

The Highland Havoc Caper

Former pop star Sandy Fairfax engages in a dangerous hobby—amateur sleuthing. At the Seaside Highland Games in California, he and his teenage son, Chip, discover more than their heritage. In a castle transported from Scotland, they find a body bludgeoned with a curling stone. But when they go for…

The Notorious Noel Caper

Nothing brings a couple together like murder. Former pop star Sandy Fairfax and his girlfriend, Cinnamon, find themselves sleuthing when bodies start dropping like snowflakes at the soon-to-open Santa’s Magic theme park where Sandy is the emcee for the televised Miss North Pole beauty contest--er,…

Hippie Haven Homicide

Book 2 of the Psychedelic Spy mystery series. Get ready to flip your wig over another groovy 1967 retro-cozy with actress and amateur spy Noelle McNabb. Spy agency SIAMSE turns Noelle's pet, Ceebee into an "acoustic kitty" to listen in on an enemy agent known only as Old Scratch. Meanwhile,…

Flower Power Fatality

Book 1 in the Psychedelic Spy mystery series A retro-cozy spy caper set in 1967, a year of music, miniskirts--and murder! Across Noelle McNabb works at the Country Christmas Family Fun Park in Yuletide, Indiana, but she longs for the bight lights of Hollywood. But she encounters real-life drama when…

The Baffled Beatlemaniac Caper (2nd rev. ed.)

Book 1 in the Sandy Fairfax Teen Idol mystery series. Beatlemaniac is back and better than ever in this revised second edition (a clean read). Former teen idol Sandy Fairfax finds that making a comeback can be murder! It's been 14 years since the pop star broke little girls' hearts on the 1970s TV show…

The Quirky Quiz Show Caper

Book 4 in the Sandy Fairfax Teen Idol mystery series Former pop star Sandy Fairfax is a guest panelist on a rigged TV game show--and the first category is murder! When Sandy's kid brother, Warren, is framed for killing a college student, he sets out to track down the thug. After all, Sandy played a…

The Cunning Cruise Ship Caper

Book 3 of the Sandy Fairfax Teen Idol mystery series To boost his career comeback, former pop star Sandy Fairfax and his musical sister, who is blind, take a week-long concert gig aboard the SS Zodiac, headed for Nassau. But there's troubled waters ahead when a body turns up in Sandy's backstage dressing…

The Sinister Sitcom Caper

Book 2 of the Sandy Fairfax Teen Idol mystery series Former '70s teen idol and TV star Sandy Fairfax (also a recovering alcoholic) lands a guest role on "Off-Kilter," a corny family sitcom and the lowest-rated TV show of the 1993 fall season. Rehearsals barely begin when one of the actors…