About the Book

Book: Mabel and the Privy of Doom

Author: Susan Kimmel Wright

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Release Date: March 5, 2026

Mabel plans to bring the joys of volunteering to the masses…if she doesn’t fall victim to an ancient curse first.

Mabel has previously encountered dead bodies while volunteering—but she never imagined she’d run afoul of a legendary curse. Until now…

A university archeology team has come to excavate an old privy on the grounds of the Thompson estate, home of Medicine Spring’s first white settler. They hope to retrieve items of historic interest, but rumors of lost treasure and dark curses swirl around the project.

Mabel has joined the dig as a volunteer, despite her reluctance to touch anything collected from the ancient outhouse pit. It doesn’t take long however, before she realizes a few dirt-encrusted artifacts are the least of her worries.

She doesn’t believe in curses, but accidents and misfortune plague team members—including Mabel herself. She begins to wonder if there might be some truth in the old stories. When a body turns up on the site, it appears the curse has transformed from local legend to deadly reality. Will Mabel be its next victim?

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

About the Author

Susan Kimmel Wright began her life of mystery in childhood, with reading. That led her to writing kids’ mysteries and eventually to Medicine Spring with Mabel. A longtime member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, Susan’s also a prolific writer of personal experience stories, many for Chicken Soup for the Soul. She shares an 1875 farmhouse in southwestern PA with her husband, several dogs and cats, and an allegedly excessive stockpile of coffee and tea mugs.

 

 

 

More from Susan

I suspect it takes a somewhat warped sense of humor to write a book called Mabel and the Privy of Doom. In fact, I’m afraid this entire series may someday be Exhibit A when my kids decide I need a guardian—but meanwhile I’m having fun!

Mabel and the Privy of Doom was a joy to write, combining my love of mysteries, screwball humor, American history, lost treasure, and ancient curses. It all started when I first learned about historic outhouses or privies.

I discovered the Homewood privy (c. 1801) in Baltimore on a walkabout near Johns Hopkins University. Part of the Declaration of Independence signer John Carroll of Carrollton estate, this handsome brick building has been well maintained over the centuries and has its own historic plaque! (No, not “John Carroll Sat Here!”) Yet another high-profile privy excavation has been performed in patriot Paul Revere’s back yard in Massachusetts in recent years.

Archeologists often learn a great deal from excavating old outhouses, just from examining objects thrown away or accidentally dropped in the privy pit. Even privy pits on humble farmsteads or in modest back yards reveal a lot about family circumstances and daily life. Artifacts such as old bottles, coins, and broken pottery commonly surface.

Growing up, I was fortunate(?) enough have an outhouse on our rural, western Pennsylvania family property. My father, a carpenter and cabinetmaker, built our house himself after returning from World War II. Because the work took a long time, he also built an outhouse for use during the construction period, before plumbing was connected.

My father (perhaps I got my wacky sense of humor from him) added a “Sanitary Inspected Restroom” sign on the door. It now graces the wall of our powder room.

            The outhouse survived for most of my childhood. Because our water supply came from a spring that occasionally went dry during a summer drought, we were occasionally forced to resort to the old privy. Luckily, these occasions were rare and typically brief, but I’ll admit I prayed fervently for rain.

Interview with the Author

What does the first part of your writing process look like?
I do a lot of prewriting by hand, just writing down ideas as they come to me.
(Sometimes, sadly, my notes disappear because I was seized by an idea at an
inconvenient time, and I wrote it down on a napkin or scrap of paper, only to lose
it before I could corral it.) I also do research, both online and real-world–on
aspects of related topics–such as, in this instance, the historical value and
archeological excavation of abandoned privies.
If my ideas aren’t catching fire and exciting me, I often go back to mull over what
Chris Baty, the founder of National Novel Writing Month, would call my personal
“Magna Carta”–a list of things I love reading about in novels, such as long-buried
secrets coming to light in the present day and moving the main character to
investigate (as when a lake is drained, a time capsule opened, etc.). The late
great Ray Bradbury also advocated mining our own whimsical passions for
sparks of creativity (his included space travel and circuses). I find that when I
incorporate something from my list of special interests into my thinking, the
creative juices start flowing.

What part of your writing process would surprise readers?
I’m guessing it would be my going back to think about my own interests as a
reader when I’m building my story. For years, before I learned to do this, I often
found myself struggling with story ideas that looked great on the surface but just
wouldn’t come alive for me because they weren’t about topics that captured me
personally. If the writer isn’t interested, the reader never will be. I’m sure most
readers know instinctively whether they’ll either pick up a book or grimace based
on a blurb that mentions things like an Australian setting, threats from the mob, a
family vineyard, an Amish bakery, or a character in a creepy mansion that’s been
isolated by a storm.

Do you write with a pen and paper first, some by hand and some electronically, or
all electronically?
I always start with pen and paper, writing down random thoughts and ideas
before starting to build out plot concepts and character profiles the same way. I
wrote my first books by hand as a child and young adult, and it still feels most
natural to work that way. I move to my laptop for longer (and faster) explorations
of my various plot ideas, questions I haven’t yet been able to resolve, and my
characters’ backstories. After the vague shape of a plot begins forming, I move
on to a rough outline–back to paper here before doing something fuller and more
detailed on the computer. I also write parts of the book itself by hand if I’m trying
to get through a sticky place–or attempting to write while traveling or in a waiting
room.

How long does it typically take you to finish a book?
Left to my own devices, it will take from a couple of years till forever! The best
thing that ever happened to my productivity was signing a book contract that
required me to produce a book about once a year. To my surprise, I discovered I
could do that. (Turns out I was right when I used to tell my kids, “We can do hard
things,” when they whined about something being hard!)

What is the biggest thing you hope readers take away from this book?
My goal as a novelist at this point in my career is providing my readers with a respite
from whatever they might be struggling with. I want them to come home to my fictional
village of Medicine Spring, kick off their shoes, get caught up in the story, and find
themselves laughing a lot. Yes, I do hope my stories have underlying moral value, but
the readers I most often think about are struggling with family issues, financial
problems, grief, cancer treatments, and all the other things that wake us up at night.
Nothing brings me more satisfaction than the people who tell me they’ve read my series
during a dark time of trouble, when they couldn’t see what was coming their way around
the next corner. Some even bless me by saying they’ve read these books more than
once, and there is no award or financial success that would mean any more to me than
that.

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L, July 10

Texas Book-aholic, July 11

Simple Harvest Reads, July 12 (Author Interview)

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, July 13

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, July 14

The Avid Reader, July 15

Artistic Nobody, July 16 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, July 17

Guild Master, July 18 (Author Interview)

For Him and My Family, July 18

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, July 19

Holly’s Book Corner, July 20

Fiction Book Lover, July 21 (Author Interview)

The Bookish Ledger, July 22 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, July 22

Lily’s Corner, July 23

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Susan is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon Gift Card and a signed copy of the book of the winner’s choice from my series, Mysteries of Medicine Spring!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://gleam.io/vkE9E/mabel-and-the-privy-of-doom-celebration-tour-giveaway