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.

Author Interview

What is your favorite genre of books? Why?
I have loved mysteries since the day I first discovered them, back in the 1950s,
the Golden Age of children’s mystery books. I no longer remember which might
have been the very first mystery I read. Was it Mary C Jane’s The Ghost Rock
Mystery, a paperback I ordered from our monthly Arrow Book Club sheet at
school? Was it The Silver Spoon Mystery by Dorothy Sterling (which, technically
speaking, I didn’t read–my fourth grade teacher read us a chapter every day after
recess, and I was always wild to get back to the next installment)? I do know I
went on to a borrowed 1940s copy of the first Trixie Belden, Secret of the
Mansion, which had belonged to my friend’s older sister. After that, I never
looked back!
I loved mysteries because I grew up in a tiny, rural community where I knew
everyone (and was related to most of them). We rarely went anywhere, and my
days were all pretty much the same. Mysteries showed me kids my own age,
whose ordinary lives were interrupted one day by something strange and
amazing. Since then, I’ve never had enough. I love being able to keep turning
pages into the night, anxious to find out what happens next. And I love that in the
end, justice always triumphs..

Are you a one project at a time author or do you have multiple projects going at
once?
When I am under contract for a series, I have to concentrate on one book at a
time, because otherwise, I would never turn a manuscript in on time! But I’m
always writing myself little notes for other projects I’ve temporarily set aside or
I’m contemplating starting. Now that I’m nearing the end of my Mabel series, I’m
beginning to play with multiple projects again–I do enjoy the luxury of switching
back and forth!

How do you relax after a long day of writing?
I take my dogs for a walk, read my Bible, watch part of an old, black-and-white
mystery movie (it takes me several days to reach the end), and read in bed for a
bit (usually another mystery–busman’s holiday?)…

 

Where do you find your greatest inspiration?
I have a number of what I’ll call touchstones, for want of a better word–topics that
always attract me when I see them in a book or movie blurb. A few of these are
comedic treatments of scary things like ghosts, UFOs, mummies, etc. I have
absolutely zero interest in truly scary treatments of these topics, but I’ve always
enjoyed mildly scary stories that debunk the monsters at the end, preferably with
a sense of humor (think The Ghost and Mr. Chicken with the late Don Knotts, for
instance).
I also absolutely love the idea of forgotten, unsolved mysteries that resurface
from the past. I’ve used some version of this in four of the five books published
so far in my Mabel series, where the main character gets pulled into
investigating, and justice is done at long last.

 

Do you have extensive outlines when writing or do you write a book as you go?
I always rely on an outline, because I otherwise find myself going off the rails
somewhere along the way, or getting completely stalled. I’ve discovered–for the
way my mind works, anyway–that spending time at the outline stage actually
saves me a ton of time at the end. I always end up departing in some way from
my original outline eventually (as my characters decide to do something different
without my permission), but the general structure pretty much stands up, at least
for the greater bulk of the book.

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