I'm happy to welcome Dawn Eastman back to Cozy Up With Kathy. Dawn is starting a new series with UNNATURAL CAUSES, her first Dr. Katie LeClair Mystery, which will be released December 12.
Kathy: UNNATURAL CAUSES is quite a departure from your Family Fortune Mystery series. Why the change?
DE: UNNATURAL CAUSES introduces a character I have been living with for many years. Unnatural Causes is more of a traditional mystery than a cozy, but I find that my brain is always straying to the quirky. Since Katie is a doctor, I’ve tried to tone down the quirk factor, but unusual characters often just appear in a scene and before I know it they are taking over. There is a new character in the second Katie book that just showed up while I was trying to write another scene. She was so pushy and rude that I had to let her have some scenes in the book.
Kathy: Katie LeClair is a doctor, as you once were. While you were practicing medicine did you ever think you'd be writing mysteries involving a fictional doctor?
DE: While I was practicing medicine, I hoped I’d be writing mysteries. However, I didn’t think it would ever happen. I’ve always wanted to write, and when I had the opportunity I gave it a go. It’s been fun to revisit the world of medicine with Katie. I do think that a general practitioner is in a unique position to involve herself in solving murders. Patients are used to sharing their secrets with doctors and if the secrets lead to murder…
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for the Dr. Katie LeClair Mystery series? Or UNNATURAL CAUSES in particular?
DE: Katie is based on many of the doctors I met during my training in family medicine. And probably a lot of the patient/doctor interactions are based on the way I practiced medicine. The plot of UNNATURAL CAUSES came to me when I was in residency. I was surprised at how easy it was to call a prescription in to a pharmacy. (I think it is much more difficult now). I thought of a murderer who would use a prescription medicine as a murder weapon. My original story used insulin, but as the book evolved, the exact drug changed.
Kathy: When it comes to writing I understand there are 2 general camps-plotters, who diligently plot their stories, and pansters, who fly by the seat of their pants. Are you a plotter, a panster, or do you fall somewhere in between?
DE: I’m mostly a plotter. Sometimes, if I have enough of a plot for the first few scenes, and I’m really anxious to start writing, I will begin before it’s fully planned out. I find that even with an outline, the characters often have other ideas. I think most of my characters are pantsters, so I’ve learned to be flexible.
Kathy: Authors are required to do a lot of their own marketing, especially for a new release. What's your favorite part of marketing your work? What do you dislike about marketing?
DE: Actually, I really enjoy blog tours and interviews. I’m not very good at Facebook or other social media outlets. My day-to-day life is pretty routine, so I never know what to post. I’m also the worst salesperson ever. I’ll happily talk up another person’s book or product, but when it comes to selling my own work, I just can’t get comfortable with it.
Kathy: Are you able to share any future plans for Katie?
DE: I just finished the second Katie LeClair book. She will become involved in solving an old murder when she gets a new patient who has just been released from prison.
Kathy: Will we eventually get to enjoy more Family Fortune Mysteries? I sure hope so!
DE: I hope so, too. The fifth Family Fortune book has been rattling around in my head for a while now. I plan to start work on it in the New Year. Clyde and company have a lot of loose ends to tie up and Clyde has a new business to run, so they’ve been agitating for some attention.
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Mystery/ Amateur Sleuth
New Series
Crooked Lane Books (December 12, 2017)
Hardcover: 288 pages
About the Author:Katie LeClair has finally settled down as the new doctor in Baxter, MI. After years of moving, schooling, and training, she wants nothing more than to find a place she can call home, and a small town outside of Ann Arbor seemed perfect.Katie quickly gets to work in building a life for herself in Baxter, and beyond reviving her love life, she also finds a pair of business partners in a team of father and son family practitioners. But that idyllic dream is immediately shattered when one of her patients is found dead. That wouldn't be the worst thing, except the death is ruled a suicide, and as evidence has it, the suicide was a result of the medication Katie had prescribed. But she doesn't remember writing it.When a closer investigation reveals it was murder, Katie is catapulted into an off-the-books investigation that leads her down a dark path of past secrets. But someone is willing to kill to keep part of the town's history in the shadows, and Katie must race to find out who before it's too late in nationally bestselling author Dawn Eastman's riveting series debut Unnatural Causes.
National bestselling author Dawn Eastman was a family medicine physician in Michigan. Now she lives in Iowa with her husband, son, and daughter. When not writing, she keeps busy catering to the whims of a bossy bichon-shih tzu mix who wants to rule the world. This is her first Dr. Katie LeClair mystery. She is also the author of THE FAMILY FORTUNE MYSTERIES
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.Author Links:
Webpage – Facebook – Goodreads Twitter – @DawnAEastman
Purchase Links: Amazon B&N
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I'd like to meet Katie & any unusual characters that might show up.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the Family Fortune mysteries and "Unnatural Causes" sounds like another great read from Dawn Eastman.
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