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Lolli Powell
79 ratings | 27 reviews | avg rating:4.54

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Lolli Powell

Goodreads Author


Born
The United States
Genre
Mystery, Romance

Member Since
October 2014


I'm retired from the nine-to-five life and live with my husband and two cats on private land inside Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky. (The handsome dog with me in the picture went to the Great Dog Park in the Sky March 1, and we miss him a lot!)

I have loved fiction since before I could read (Mom said I made up stories based on the pictures in books). Now that I no longer have the excuse of not enough time, I'm fulfilling my lifelong dream of writing novels.

Over the years, I've paid the bills by being a dancer, a bartender, a police officer, a registered nurse and a technical writer. Now I'm drawing on that life experience and my two English degrees to create stories I enjoy writing and hope readers will enjoy reading.

My Top Shelf ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?
Lolli Powell To borrow from Nike, just do it. That's the main thing. The more you write, the better you'll get.

But there are other things, of course. Read, read, …moreTo borrow from Nike, just do it. That's the main thing. The more you write, the better you'll get.

But there are other things, of course. Read, read, and then read some more--especially in the genre you write in. And study the craft of writing, whether it be formal study as in college or informal through webinars and reading books/magazines about writing. Identify your weak spots and focus on improving those. For example, when I was much younger, I had trouble with dialogue. So, I wrote a story almost entirely in dialogue--guess it could have been considered a scene from a play, although I didn't format it that way. That really helped me.

Go easy on the adverbs, don't let dialogue tags get too fancy and interrupt the flow ("said" works quite well and only when it's needed so you know who is talking), and be VERY moderate in your use of semi-colons (if you can, don't use them at all). And when you're satisfied with your work, hire an editor. If you can't afford that, then ask a friend or relative who aced their English classes to read it for you.

Also, ask reader friends to read it and critique the story itself (not just your grammar and spelling). They may be able to find holes, inconsistencies, places where the action slows for too long, poorly drawn characters, etc. Just make it clear you want the truth and listen to it when they give it to you. You don't necessarily have to follow all their advice, but you should consider it carefully.

Then--WRITE! And write some more. You can do it.(less)
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What are you currently working on?
Lolli Powell I'm currently working on the first book in a new cozy mystery series. The series will be titled Spirit of the Law, and the first book will be titled T…moreI'm currently working on the first book in a new cozy mystery series. The series will be titled Spirit of the Law, and the first book will be titled The Ghost Wears a Badge. It is set in the small town on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River that Ricki Fontaine and the other inhabitants of Waterton in the Top Shelf Mysteries can see when they look across the river.(less)
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Combine Editions

Average rating: 4.55 · 2,127 ratings · 308 reviews · 16 distinct works • Similar authors
The Body on the Barstool (T...
4.51 avg rating — 650 ratings — 3 editions
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Whiskey Kills (Top Shelf #2)
4.54 avg rating — 309 ratings — 2 editions
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Name Your Poison (Top Shelf...
4.59 avg rating — 192 ratings — 2 editions
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Double Shot (Top Shelf #4)
4.76 avg rating — 178 ratings — 2 editions
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Bottoms Up (Top Shelf #5)
4.78 avg rating — 134 ratings — 2 editions
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On the Rocks (Top Shelf #6)
4.74 avg rating — 116 ratings — 2 editions
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The Ghost Wears A Badge (Sp...
4.56 avg rating — 117 ratings — published 2022 — 4 editions
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The Boy Next Door
4.23 avg rating — 101 ratings — published 2014 — 5 editions
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The Gift
4.42 avg rating — 88 ratings — 2 editions
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Dead Men Don't Retire (Spir...
4.59 avg rating — 75 ratings — published 2023 — 2 editions
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More books by Lolli Powell…

3 posts
Lolli Powell's Blog

JANUARY NEWS

Well, 2021 didn't start off the way we would have liked. The world is pretty depressing right now, so what better time to escape into a fictional world for a little R & R.

I'm offering Death Notice, the first in my Kisses and Killers Thriller series FREE from January 16 through January 20. The second in the series, Undercover, is on pre-order at the special price of 99¢. The release date for Under Read more of this blog post »
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Published on January 13, 2021 16:36
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Series by Lolli Powell

The Body on the Barstool Whiskey Kills Name Your Poison Double Shot Bottoms Up On the Rocks
(6 books)
by
4.59 avg rating — 1,590 ratings

The Ghost Wears A Badge Dead Men Don't Retire
(2 books)
by
4.57 avg rating — 192 ratings

Lolli is Currently Reading

Whiteout
Lolli Powell is currently reading
by Laurel Heidtman (Goodreads Author)
bookshelves: currently-reading
read in October 2021
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Jan 20, 2023 08:37AM

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The Girl Who Was Taken by Charlie Donlea
The Girl Who Was Taken
by Charlie Donlea (Goodreads Author)
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Hard to put down!

I can usually figure out who the villain is in books like this—or at least narrow it down—but the villain in this one was a complete surprise. Love it when that happens! I also liked the way the author told the story in two timelines ...more
Oct 24, 2025 07:09AM  ·   · see review ·  preview book
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The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger
The New Couple in 5B
by Lisa Unger (Goodreads Author)
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Oct 15, 2025 06:22AM  ·   ·  preview book
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Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
Parable of the Sower
by Octavia E. Butler
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Sep 14, 2025 06:36AM  ·   ·  preview book
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Finders Keepers by Stephen King
Finders Keepers (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #2)
by Stephen King (Goodreads Author)
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Aug 10, 2025 07:02AM  ·   ·  preview book
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Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #1)
by Stephen King (Goodreads Author)
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Jul 29, 2025 09:26AM  ·   ·  preview book
Lolli Powell liked Elly Stevens's review of Dead Men Don't Retire (Spirit of the Law #2):
Dead Men Don't Retire by Lolli Powell
"I love Lolli Powell's books and the way she writes. (I've compared her to Lucy Score and I'll take Lolli's books any day.) In this book, Shelby uses her friendly ghosts to help discover secrets in her town to solve a woman's murder and clear a friend" Read more of this review »
Jul 19, 2025 10:31AM  · see review ·  preview book
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The Advocate by Lori Lacefield
The Advocate (Women of Redemption, #1)
by Lori Lacefield (Goodreads Author)
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A good story with lots of excitement…

but more than a little unbelievable. Not unbelievable when it comes to the crimes that were committed, but unbelievable in the way the police handled it, especially at the end. Also, there were so many characters ...more
May 16, 2025 06:52AM  ·   · see review ·  preview book
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The Forest of Lost Souls by Dean Koontz
The Forest of Lost Souls
by Dean Koontz (Goodreads Author)
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A book I didn’t want to end!

The author has done a great job—as usual! I live inside a national forest so I had the perfect setting in which to read this story and I took my time with it on purpose. It is a timely story—unfortunately—and while a battl ...more
Jan 16, 2025 07:04AM  ·   · see review ·  preview book
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Trouble in Tampa by Louise Titchener
Trouble in Tampa (Redcastle, #4)
by Louise Titchener (Goodreads Author)
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Dec 15, 2024 03:54AM  ·   ·  preview book
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The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz
The Big Dark Sky
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What an ending!

The story was great (although some of the descriptions were longer than necessary and made it hard to get into the story—stick with it, though, because it’s worth it), but the ending was absolutely perfect!
Nov 23, 2024 08:14AM  ·   · see review
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Quotes by Lolli Powell  (?)
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“siccing”
― Lolli Powell, Dead Men Don't Retire
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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics posts views last activity  
Genre Specific Re...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Romance Review Group 2 (Closed) 47 55 May 16, 2016 07:05PM  
Genre Specific Re...: Romance Review Group 7 (reviewing) 49 54 Jun 15, 2018 01:35AM  
Genre Specific Re...: Mystery Review Group 2 (closed) 44 23 Jul 02, 2018 01:49AM  
Genre Specific Re...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Novellas (17k > 40k words) (CLOSED) 126 62 Jul 13, 2018 03:06PM  
Review Group: This topic has been closed to new comments. Group 187. General - Mod. L.N. 168 88 Jul 22, 2018 03:24AM  
Genre Specific Re...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Novella Review Round - (REVIEWING) 111 71 Mar 26, 2019 04:47AM  
Genre Specific Re...: Romance Review Group 8 (reviewing) 49 56 Jun 16, 2019 09:44AM  

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Reviews are very important for Self-Published (SP), and Indie authors, just as they are for others. Unfortunately, though, many SP/Indie books don't g ...more
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Breaking into the world of writing through the self-publishing gateway can be daunting and overwhelming. This is a support group where indie and aspir ...more
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