Meet the author – Kelly Artieri

Those of you who follow this blog will know that I am one of eleven authors who have each contributed three short stories to a murder mystery anthology due to be released in early July. In advance of the publication of this book, I am running a series of posts to introduce you to some of the other contributing authors.

This week I am introducing you to author Kelly Artieri. Welcome Kelly to Roberta Writes.

About Kelly Artieri and her contribution to Death Among Us

Kelly Artieri is a professional illustrator with degrees in Medical & Scientific Illustration. She is also an award winning author of her personal memoir A Spot in My Heart. Living on the south shore of Lake Ontario in the Buffalo, NY area, she is a passionate storyteller about real life.

Awarded the Grand Prize of the 2017 TCK Publishing Readers’ Choice, her book not only won top honors overall, but was also voted the winner in the memoir genre. Kelly began journaling after the loss of a beloved pet, she and her family had adopted due to his special needs. Her journals became Vinnie’s story, an award winning memoir. It is not a dog book; it is a powerful memoir with a dog in it.

When I was invited to participate in the Anthology, I was a bit nervous. I had never written Murder Mystery before. I did some research on what should be included, read a few other authors’ works and gave it a go! I fell in love almost immediately.

Though not Murder Mystery per se, I am more of a Mystery Thriller reader. My favorite Author is Stephen King followed closely by James Patterson.

My Theme for Death Among Us:  Three Murder Mystery stories written with a Memoir writer’s hand  . . .  The Lake.

As an avid boater on Lake Ontario, I chose to write about life on the lake. The beauty and siren-like draw of the water . . . mask the dangers that lurk within.

You can find Kelly here:

Website: https://www.kellyartieri.com

Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/2DqrSqE

Spot in my Heart:  https://amzn.to/2rwS8Zk

Twitter: @spotinmyheart

FaceBook: Kelly Artieri

A Spot in My Heart: Loving a special needs dog

What Amazon says

Grand Prize People’s Choice Award Winner

Often reviewed to have fond similarities of  stories like Marley & Me . . .  this is a heartwarming memoir of life with a bi-laterally deaf Dalmatian. Kelly and her family chose to accept the challenge of raising a deaf dog even though they had no experience before. They learned as they went.  Kelly’s story has become an award winning memoir. It is not a dog book; it is a powerful tale of a family with a dog in it.  Vinnie was full of life and ready to experience everything there was for him to learn and know.

Acceptance and learning to communicate without hearing can be a challenge, but it engendered many stories both funny and sad; his reactions to training and limitations are sometimes hilarious.

 Vinnie allowed us to live in his world. This is a book about his time with my family, and his spot in my heart.

A review of A Spot in My Heart

A five star review on Amazon by a verified purchaser:

“I almost don’t know where to begin with this brief but beautiful memoir.

Kelly Artieri, like me, loves Dalmatians. Like me, she’s had more than one. And, like me, one of those dogs had special needs: Vinnie was bilaterally deaf.

Artieri and her family fall in love with Vinnie long before his puppy BAER test reveals his hearing impairment; the breeder tells the family that they are going to have the pup euthanized, but Artieri says they will adopt him anyway.

The challenges of training a deaf dog are brought to light in this book as we see Vinnie’s high spirits and need for extra attention running rampant through the house and hearts of his new family. Training with hand signals, while still talking to the dog, is something that came in handy when my own dogs lost their hearing due to age, but it was more of a convenience for me. For Artieri, it was a necessity.

Vinnie also developed OCD (it can happen to any dog, but is common in dogs with hearing impairments) and pica (eating things that aren’t food), both of which caused their own set of difficulties.

This is a beautiful, loving book about a handsome dog (there are lots of color plates to enjoy) and a family who clearly adored him. Artieri makes a point that she is not an animal expert, “just a dog mom,” but wanted to share her insights and resources with other people who have special needs pets. Nicely done indeed.”

Purchase A Spot in My Heart

You can pre-order Death Among Us here: