Beware the Interview & Giveaway

I'm pleased to welcome Cynthia Hickey to the blog today. Cynthia writes the Shady Acres Mystery series. Beware the Orchids is the first book in the series.

Kathy: After being ditched at the altar Shelby Hart quits her job and becomes gardener and event coordinator. Do you enjoy gardening?

CH: No, I don't garden. Everything I try to grow ends up dying.


Kathy: Do you like orchids? 

CH: I think orchids are gorgeous!


Kathy: Are you a party planner? Do you enjoy arranging events or do you prefer to let Shelby do the only organizing?

CH: I am definitely a planner, but a professional would do a much better job. I tend to overstress the situation.


Kathy: What makes an upscale retirement community the perfect setting for your mystery series? 

CH: There are plenty of fun characters to get involved.


Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries? 

CH: A dare actually. A friend of mine dared me to write one. I had no idea what a cozy was so I looked up the definition, wrote the book, won a contest, and acquired an agent. I haven't stopped since.


Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?

CH: I write Romantic Suspense and Historical Romance


Kathy: Tell us about your series.

CH: Shady Acres Mysteries: Jilted by love, Shelby is hired as a gardener at an upscale retirement community. The perfect job...except dead bodies show up whereever she goes.

The Nosy Neighbor series: An author is told to get out more to prevent her characters from becoming cardboard. She forms a neighborhood watch and ends up hiding in a doghouse her first night on patrol.

The River Valley series: Marsha, a widowed mother, returns to her home town to work in her mother's craft store and must find a killer to clear her daughter's name.

The Summer Meadows series: Summer wants only to grow a prize winning rose bush. She didn't intend to stumble across theft and murder.


Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why? 

CH: I love Shelby's grandmother, Ida. Who wouldn't want an over the top, loving, adventurous grandma?


Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series? 

CH: Not really. Ideas are sparked from everywhere.


Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work? 

CH: The traditional line I wrote for closed down. My agent handed me a new line he had started and I took off from there and formed my own publishing company, Winged Publications


Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite? 

CH: Margaret Mitchell, Diana Gabaldon, Robert Patterson, and J.K. Rowling


Kathy: What are you currently reading? 

CH: a romantic suspense by Mary Alford


Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us? 

CH: I have discovered I love oil painting and I'm not too bad at it.


Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry. 

CH: Almond milk, diet coke, eggs, and a vodka drink. Weird combination, right?


Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series? 

CH: I'm working on a new series where the main character is a paparazzi in Hollywood.


Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author? 

CH: Creating characters that make me laugh and cry.


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