From the Greensboro News & Record
Nov. 12, 2010
Whitney Cork
Page Turners
“SOS”: Somebody’s stalking the shaggers Do you like mysteries? Check.
Do you like stories about the Carolinas? Check.
Do you like female sleuths, especially ones who aren’t cranky Brits, eccentric socialites or tattooed ex-cons? Check.
Then you’re going to like Peri Mason. Yes, Peri Mason. I tripped over the name, too, but the author has a fun explanation for it, and it suits the character’s determined nature.
Barbara Arntsen’s book “SOS” introduces Peri, a reporter at a small newspaper in North Carolina. She and two friends are driving to North Myrtle Beach for the fall migration of the Society of Stranders, also known as fans of beach music and shag dancing.
Arntsen, who lives in North Carolina, has filled her book with interesting details about shagging and the people who love the dance. She drops the names of many beach music clubs, and you’ll likely find yourself remembering your own trips to Ocean Drive. I grew up near the beach, so I could practically hear The Tams' "Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy" while I was reading.
The action picks up quickly when two shaggers, one dead and the other near dead, turn up in an alley near Fat Harold’s Beach Club. Peri and her friends learn that this isn’t the first time a shagger has been attacked. Soon the rumors are flying, and people are looking over their shoulders.
With Peri’s nose for news, it’s only a matter of time before she discovers what’s really going on. Unfortunately, she might end up in jail or a hospital before she catches the killer.
I can easily see Peri Mason’s adventures turning into a mystery series. I don’t know where Peri might solve her next mystery, but she’s a smart, brave and likeable character, so I bet it will be worth reading, too.
Murder she wrote
Archdale Trinity News – February 18, 2010
Barbara Arntsen’s debut novel, “SOS,” is filled with humor, suspense and a memorable protagonist that’s got it all — looks, smarts and a penchant for attracting trouble, all wrapped in sweet, Southern charm.
That Southern charm is found in Arntsen herself, a real-life sleuth with the awards to prove it.
As a staff writer at the Henderson Daily Dispatch from 1997 to 2002, she won four North Carolina Press Association awards for investigative stories that ranged from the improper spending of taxpayers’ money to crimes committed by a real estate company.
According to Al Wheless of the Dispatch, “In her first journalism job, the woman with the piercing blue eyes and the amazingly thick blond hair became both famous and infamous in Henderson and Vance County — depending on whom you asked — for her investigative stories.”
Arntsen won two Press Association prizes while working at two other newspapers: the Goldsboro News-Argus from 2002 to 2005 and the High Point Enterprise from 2005 to 2006. As a reporter with the High Point Enterprise, she covered Randolph County. While residing in High Point, she was a member of Archdale United Methodist Church.
Arntsen is now a writer and public relations executive who resides near Goldsboro.
Arntsen’s knack for sleuthing sets the tone for the main character, Peri Mason, an attractive widow ready to escape the pressures of her investigative reporting job and head for the beach to take in some much needed R&R and R — rest, relaxation and romance.
Peri and her two friends head to North Myrtle Beach to take part in a time-honored tradition, a dance craze that Carolinians created back in the 1960s. Shagging on the Strand was the sensual dance of the South, and a group of people known as The Society of Stranders (SOS) pay homage to the practice twice a year. Although the ladies had never participated in the event, they intended to rectify that shortcoming upon arrival.
Fat Harold’s is their first stop. Known as one of the hottest dance clubs on the strand, Peri thinks it’s the perfect way to begin their weekend. Precarious is what it turns out to be, when she encounters a renegade cat, a rude redheaded woman and two half-naked men in a nearby alley, one very dead and the other very ill.
Later that night, another dead body (yet another redhead) is discovered. Who is responsible and what does the cat have to do with the bodies that keep piling up?
Despite her plans for rest, Peri puts on her investigative reporter hat when the finger of suspicion is pointed at her. Can she figure out whodunit, prove her own innocence and, most importantly, will she ever get to shag?
The mystery is set perfectly at Fat Harold’s, a place Arntsen first visited in 2001. “I was blown away. I’ve never seen so many people going in and out of clubs, and up and down alleys. All of this to dance the Shag.”
Then and there, she decided, “this would be a good place for a murder mystery.”
And so it came to be.
Arntsen began to craft her mystery novel in 2002. She submitted the book for publication last summer to Strategic Book Publishing Company in New York. It came off the press in October.
According to her publisher, Arntsen has created a strong, sexy and likeable female sleuth with razor-sharp wit. With a fast-paced plotline and a story that hooks the reader from page one, fans will eagerly anticipate the next Peri Mason adventure.
Copies of the hardcover book, $24.95, are available online from Amazon or Barnes and Noble or through the publisher at www.strategicpublishinggroup.com.
Want to meet the author?
Barbara Arntsen, author of “SOS,” will offer her book for sale at a free wine tasting at The Wet Whistle from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26.
The winery will be Rag Apple Lassie.
Owner Carol Hamilton has had two book signings with her wine tasting events, including a local history book written by Fran Andrews.
Books and coffee just go together, said Hamilton.
“We have a book exchange,” she said, “and it brings in business for us, hopefully gets people interested in the books.”
Books and wine go together, too.
The wine tasting is free, but the business also sells wine by the glass, from $4.50 to $6.50, and by the bottle.
Rag Apple Lassie Winery is in the heart of the Yadkin Valley, about 20 miles from Winston-Salem. The Wet Whistle is at 101E Bonnie Place in Archdale.
www.sosmystery.com
www.thewetwhistleco.com
www.ragapplelassie.com
Barbara Arntsen’s debut novel, “SOS,” is filled with humor, suspense and a memorable protagonist that’s got it all — looks, smarts and a penchant for attracting trouble, all wrapped in sweet, Southern charm.
That Southern charm is found in Arntsen herself, a real-life sleuth with the awards to prove it.
As a staff writer at the Henderson Daily Dispatch from 1997 to 2002, she won four North Carolina Press Association awards for investigative stories that ranged from the improper spending of taxpayers’ money to crimes committed by a real estate company.
According to Al Wheless of the Dispatch, “In her first journalism job, the woman with the piercing blue eyes and the amazingly thick blond hair became both famous and infamous in Henderson and Vance County — depending on whom you asked — for her investigative stories.”
Arntsen won two Press Association prizes while working at two other newspapers: the Goldsboro News-Argus from 2002 to 2005 and the High Point Enterprise from 2005 to 2006. As a reporter with the High Point Enterprise, she covered Randolph County. While residing in High Point, she was a member of Archdale United Methodist Church.
Arntsen is now a writer and public relations executive who resides near Goldsboro.
Arntsen’s knack for sleuthing sets the tone for the main character, Peri Mason, an attractive widow ready to escape the pressures of her investigative reporting job and head for the beach to take in some much needed R&R and R — rest, relaxation and romance.
Peri and her two friends head to North Myrtle Beach to take part in a time-honored tradition, a dance craze that Carolinians created back in the 1960s. Shagging on the Strand was the sensual dance of the South, and a group of people known as The Society of Stranders (SOS) pay homage to the practice twice a year. Although the ladies had never participated in the event, they intended to rectify that shortcoming upon arrival.
Fat Harold’s is their first stop. Known as one of the hottest dance clubs on the strand, Peri thinks it’s the perfect way to begin their weekend. Precarious is what it turns out to be, when she encounters a renegade cat, a rude redheaded woman and two half-naked men in a nearby alley, one very dead and the other very ill.
Later that night, another dead body (yet another redhead) is discovered. Who is responsible and what does the cat have to do with the bodies that keep piling up?
Despite her plans for rest, Peri puts on her investigative reporter hat when the finger of suspicion is pointed at her. Can she figure out whodunit, prove her own innocence and, most importantly, will she ever get to shag?
The mystery is set perfectly at Fat Harold’s, a place Arntsen first visited in 2001. “I was blown away. I’ve never seen so many people going in and out of clubs, and up and down alleys. All of this to dance the Shag.”
Then and there, she decided, “this would be a good place for a murder mystery.”
And so it came to be.
Arntsen began to craft her mystery novel in 2002. She submitted the book for publication last summer to Strategic Book Publishing Company in New York. It came off the press in October.
According to her publisher, Arntsen has created a strong, sexy and likeable female sleuth with razor-sharp wit. With a fast-paced plotline and a story that hooks the reader from page one, fans will eagerly anticipate the next Peri Mason adventure.
Copies of the hardcover book, $24.95, are available online from Amazon or Barnes and Noble or through the publisher at www.strategicpublishinggroup.com.
Want to meet the author?
Barbara Arntsen, author of “SOS,” will offer her book for sale at a free wine tasting at The Wet Whistle from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26.
The winery will be Rag Apple Lassie.
Owner Carol Hamilton has had two book signings with her wine tasting events, including a local history book written by Fran Andrews.
Books and coffee just go together, said Hamilton.
“We have a book exchange,” she said, “and it brings in business for us, hopefully gets people interested in the books.”
Books and wine go together, too.
The wine tasting is free, but the business also sells wine by the glass, from $4.50 to $6.50, and by the bottle.
Rag Apple Lassie Winery is in the heart of the Yadkin Valley, about 20 miles from Winston-Salem. The Wet Whistle is at 101E Bonnie Place in Archdale.
www.sosmystery.com
www.thewetwhistleco.com
www.ragapplelassie.com
SOS weekend a unique scene for a murder mystery
Printed in the Brunswick Beacon
January 20, 2010
By SARAH SHEW WILSON
Dancing, carousing and celebrating a love of beach music are the main things associated with the Society of Stranders (SOS) weekend in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.
The “Stranders” are fun-loving souls, dedicated to keeping beach music and the king of East Coast dances, the shag, alive and well. Their SOS weekends are all about fun and frivolity.
But what if something unthinkable happened during an SOS event? What if, shagging with your BFFs at Fat Harold’s some night, you stumbled upon a grisly murder scene? What if you were wrongly suspected of the crime?
That thought may not have crossed your mind, but it’s the intriguing premise of the first novel from North Carolina-based author Barbara Arntsen, a former investigative reporter now working in public relations and embarking on a career as a mystery novelist.
The idea for “SOS,” just published by Eloquent Books and available at most book stores, came to her about seven years ago when she was invited to her first SOS weekend in North Myrtle Beach, she said recently from her home in Goldsboro.
Born in Southport and raised in Wilmington, Arntsen said she was a little surprised to learn about SOS weekend as an adult.
“Growing up near the coast, believe it or not, I’d never heard of SOS,” she said. “Some friends invited me down. When I came, I couldn’t believe it—all those people swarming through the streets, going in and out of clubs. I thought, anything could happen here, and nobody would know.”
Still a full-time reporter at the time, Arntsen started writing the mystery piece by piece and eventually, had put together a first draft.
The manuscript stayed with her through various jobs and locations over the years, and then, a couple of years ago, “I said, ‘Maybe I should try doing something with this,’” she recalled.
“I did a lot of re-writes, and finally it was done, but I didn’t have a lot of luck with agents or publishers.”
As a lot of would-be authors have learned, most agents only work with published authors, while most publishing companies want a writer with an agent.
Not ready to give up, Arntsen pulled her manuscript out again last summer, worked on it a little more, and submitted to a small publishing house in Connecticut that works with writers who aren’t represented by agents.
The publishers liked what they read and agreed to publish “SOS.”
The main character in the book, Peri Mason (yes, Peri Mason), is an investigative reporter, just like Arntsen was in a former life, and an attractive widow ready for a weekend away from her stressful life.
Peri doesn’t realize what she’s in for. When she discovers the first murder at Fat Harold’s, she becomes a suspect and must work to clear her name.
Not a fan of guts-and-gore novels, Arntsen debut has a more lighthearted tone and deals more with personality than procedure.
“As a reporter, I would find myself at a town council meeting or something listening to someone talk and wondering what that person is really like,” Arntsen said.
For her, discovering what makes the characters tick is one of the best parts of writing fiction.
Right now, Arntsen is working on her second novel, another Peri Mason mystery, this one in another unlikely but familiar setting—the hog industry in eastern North Carolina.
Interested in learning more about “SOS?” Visit www.sosmystery.com.
January 20, 2010
By SARAH SHEW WILSON
Dancing, carousing and celebrating a love of beach music are the main things associated with the Society of Stranders (SOS) weekend in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.
The “Stranders” are fun-loving souls, dedicated to keeping beach music and the king of East Coast dances, the shag, alive and well. Their SOS weekends are all about fun and frivolity.
But what if something unthinkable happened during an SOS event? What if, shagging with your BFFs at Fat Harold’s some night, you stumbled upon a grisly murder scene? What if you were wrongly suspected of the crime?
That thought may not have crossed your mind, but it’s the intriguing premise of the first novel from North Carolina-based author Barbara Arntsen, a former investigative reporter now working in public relations and embarking on a career as a mystery novelist.
The idea for “SOS,” just published by Eloquent Books and available at most book stores, came to her about seven years ago when she was invited to her first SOS weekend in North Myrtle Beach, she said recently from her home in Goldsboro.
Born in Southport and raised in Wilmington, Arntsen said she was a little surprised to learn about SOS weekend as an adult.
“Growing up near the coast, believe it or not, I’d never heard of SOS,” she said. “Some friends invited me down. When I came, I couldn’t believe it—all those people swarming through the streets, going in and out of clubs. I thought, anything could happen here, and nobody would know.”
Still a full-time reporter at the time, Arntsen started writing the mystery piece by piece and eventually, had put together a first draft.
The manuscript stayed with her through various jobs and locations over the years, and then, a couple of years ago, “I said, ‘Maybe I should try doing something with this,’” she recalled.
“I did a lot of re-writes, and finally it was done, but I didn’t have a lot of luck with agents or publishers.”
As a lot of would-be authors have learned, most agents only work with published authors, while most publishing companies want a writer with an agent.
Not ready to give up, Arntsen pulled her manuscript out again last summer, worked on it a little more, and submitted to a small publishing house in Connecticut that works with writers who aren’t represented by agents.
The publishers liked what they read and agreed to publish “SOS.”
The main character in the book, Peri Mason (yes, Peri Mason), is an investigative reporter, just like Arntsen was in a former life, and an attractive widow ready for a weekend away from her stressful life.
Peri doesn’t realize what she’s in for. When she discovers the first murder at Fat Harold’s, she becomes a suspect and must work to clear her name.
Not a fan of guts-and-gore novels, Arntsen debut has a more lighthearted tone and deals more with personality than procedure.
“As a reporter, I would find myself at a town council meeting or something listening to someone talk and wondering what that person is really like,” Arntsen said.
For her, discovering what makes the characters tick is one of the best parts of writing fiction.
Right now, Arntsen is working on her second novel, another Peri Mason mystery, this one in another unlikely but familiar setting—the hog industry in eastern North Carolina.
Interested in learning more about “SOS?” Visit www.sosmystery.com.
Here Comes Peri Mason
By Ben Steelman
Wilmington native launches new mystery series with SOS
http://books.blogs.starnewsonline.com/tag/barbara-arntsen/
By Ben Steelman
Wilmington native launches new mystery series with SOS
http://books.blogs.starnewsonline.com/tag/barbara-arntsen/
Murder, she wrote while at Dispatch;
former reporter here publishes first mystery
Published in Henderson Daily Dispatch: December 2009
by AL WHELESS
Barbara Arntsen, a former Daily Dispatch reporter who always danced to a different drummer, has had her first murder mystery novel published.
It’s called “SOS.”
Instead of the well-known distress signal, the acronym stands for “Society Of Stranders.”
Their 10-day musical event occurs in the spring and again in the fall of each year in the shagging world of North Myrtle Beach, S.C., on The Grand Strand.
It was on her first visit in 2001, Arntsen recalled, that “I was blown away. I’ve never seen so many people going in and out of clubs, and up and down alleys. All of this to dance The Shag.”
Then and there, she decided: “This would be a good place for a murder mystery.”
And so it was.
Besides the title, incoming ocean waves and an intriguing silhouetted figure are featured on the front cover which began coming off the presses of Eloquent Books in October.
The company is a division of Strategic Publishing Group, which is in New York City.
The 52-year-old Southport native — who now lives in Goldsboro and is the communications director for Wayne County — started crafting the fictional tale in 2002.
Arntsen would sometimes read excepts from the first few pages written at home to her fellow employees while she sat in her stall in the Dispatch’s newsroom.
At one point, Arntsen wondered aloud whether to inject a hurricane into the plot.
“I do have a hurricane in the book,” she mentioned over the phone Wednesday during an interview.
Arntsen came to the Dispatch in 1997, and left in 2002. In between, she won four North Carolina Press Association awards.
In her first journalism job, the woman with the piercing blue eyes and the amazingly thick blond hair became both famous and infamous in Henderson and Vance County — depending on whom you asked — for her investigative stories.
The subjects included an office-holding rule violation, as well as improper spending of taxpayers’ money in local government.
A number of the articles were on crimes committed by a real estate company.
Several focused on the illegal shooting-deaths of countless pigeons for fun and profit in a rural area.
Her daughter, Mikaela Anderson, was a summer intern at The Daily Dispatch in 2001. Now 26, she lives in Florida and works for The National Conservancy.
Arntsen won two NCPA writing prizes while working at two other newspapers.
One was during her time at the Goldsboro News-Argus from 2002 to 2005.
The other was while she was employed at the High Point Enterprise from 2005 to 2006.
The book had yet to be completed when Arntsen took the manuscript out of a drawer about a year ago, and did a rewrite before submitting it last summer for publication.
The action at the SOS event takes place over a three-day getaway weekend shared by the star of the book, Periwinkle “Peri” Mason, and her two friends, Jan and Laura.
Mason, who has been a widow for two years, is an investigative reporter for a small-town newspaper in Eastern North Carolina.
The way Arntsen made her pitch to the publishing company, her plot really gets underway at Fat Harold’s dancing club, where Peri has an encounter with a renegade cat and then is knocked down by a rude redhead in a back alley.
“Soon, two half-naked men are discovered in that alley, and Peri just happens to be one of the first people on the scene. One man is dead, the other is very sick, and the cat is still slinking about.
“An abundance of suspicious, redheaded women with ties to the half-naked men only adds to the confusion of the police investigation.
“That confusion is further complicated when Peri finds the body of one of those redheaded women behind the Pavilion Beach Club later that night.”
In an effort not to give away too much, we’ll just add a few more words from her account:
“The stakes become personal as Peri gets closer to figuring out who is killing the old shaggers. She is drawn into a life-threatening situation, and her only chance for survival rests with her friends.”
Copies of the hardcover book, which carry the publisher’s price of $24.95, are available on line from Amazon or Barnes & Noble for $18 to $19 each.
They can also be ordered through book stores.
Any organization interested in having Arntsen appear for a book-signing can contact her at: sosmystery@gmail.com.
Arntsen said Wednesday that she has already started on another murder mystery “in the series” featuring Peri Mason.
by AL WHELESS
Barbara Arntsen, a former Daily Dispatch reporter who always danced to a different drummer, has had her first murder mystery novel published.
It’s called “SOS.”
Instead of the well-known distress signal, the acronym stands for “Society Of Stranders.”
Their 10-day musical event occurs in the spring and again in the fall of each year in the shagging world of North Myrtle Beach, S.C., on The Grand Strand.
It was on her first visit in 2001, Arntsen recalled, that “I was blown away. I’ve never seen so many people going in and out of clubs, and up and down alleys. All of this to dance The Shag.”
Then and there, she decided: “This would be a good place for a murder mystery.”
And so it was.
Besides the title, incoming ocean waves and an intriguing silhouetted figure are featured on the front cover which began coming off the presses of Eloquent Books in October.
The company is a division of Strategic Publishing Group, which is in New York City.
The 52-year-old Southport native — who now lives in Goldsboro and is the communications director for Wayne County — started crafting the fictional tale in 2002.
Arntsen would sometimes read excepts from the first few pages written at home to her fellow employees while she sat in her stall in the Dispatch’s newsroom.
At one point, Arntsen wondered aloud whether to inject a hurricane into the plot.
“I do have a hurricane in the book,” she mentioned over the phone Wednesday during an interview.
Arntsen came to the Dispatch in 1997, and left in 2002. In between, she won four North Carolina Press Association awards.
In her first journalism job, the woman with the piercing blue eyes and the amazingly thick blond hair became both famous and infamous in Henderson and Vance County — depending on whom you asked — for her investigative stories.
The subjects included an office-holding rule violation, as well as improper spending of taxpayers’ money in local government.
A number of the articles were on crimes committed by a real estate company.
Several focused on the illegal shooting-deaths of countless pigeons for fun and profit in a rural area.
Her daughter, Mikaela Anderson, was a summer intern at The Daily Dispatch in 2001. Now 26, she lives in Florida and works for The National Conservancy.
Arntsen won two NCPA writing prizes while working at two other newspapers.
One was during her time at the Goldsboro News-Argus from 2002 to 2005.
The other was while she was employed at the High Point Enterprise from 2005 to 2006.
The book had yet to be completed when Arntsen took the manuscript out of a drawer about a year ago, and did a rewrite before submitting it last summer for publication.
The action at the SOS event takes place over a three-day getaway weekend shared by the star of the book, Periwinkle “Peri” Mason, and her two friends, Jan and Laura.
Mason, who has been a widow for two years, is an investigative reporter for a small-town newspaper in Eastern North Carolina.
The way Arntsen made her pitch to the publishing company, her plot really gets underway at Fat Harold’s dancing club, where Peri has an encounter with a renegade cat and then is knocked down by a rude redhead in a back alley.
“Soon, two half-naked men are discovered in that alley, and Peri just happens to be one of the first people on the scene. One man is dead, the other is very sick, and the cat is still slinking about.
“An abundance of suspicious, redheaded women with ties to the half-naked men only adds to the confusion of the police investigation.
“That confusion is further complicated when Peri finds the body of one of those redheaded women behind the Pavilion Beach Club later that night.”
In an effort not to give away too much, we’ll just add a few more words from her account:
“The stakes become personal as Peri gets closer to figuring out who is killing the old shaggers. She is drawn into a life-threatening situation, and her only chance for survival rests with her friends.”
Copies of the hardcover book, which carry the publisher’s price of $24.95, are available on line from Amazon or Barnes & Noble for $18 to $19 each.
They can also be ordered through book stores.
Any organization interested in having Arntsen appear for a book-signing can contact her at: sosmystery@gmail.com.
Arntsen said Wednesday that she has already started on another murder mystery “in the series” featuring Peri Mason.
