The Corpse Wore Stilettos - An Interview & Giveaway

I'm happy to welcome M. J. O'Neill to Cozy Up With Kathy today. M. J. writes the The Sharp Dressed Corpse Mystery series. THE CORPSE WORE STILETTOS is the first book in the series and was released earlier this year.

Kathy: In THE CORPSE WORE STILETTOS Kat finds herself working in a morgue. If you found yourself looking for a job would you take one at the morgue?

MJO: What a great question! Unlike Kat, I’m easily squeamish and didn’t get good marks on my dissection project in biology class, so I doubt I could do it. I’ve worked as an alumni solicitor, crime beat reporter, Freon recovery agent and dog walker before I began my IT career. Now I play with chocolate for a living.


Kathy: Kat Waters is a socialite used to high life and designer clothing. Do you favor designer clothes?

MJO: I do have a couple designer power suits from my corporate days, but I’m not really a label person. I appreciate the marriage of form and function too much to care about the designer. That said, I recently watched The Devil Wears Prada with my daughter and after writing Kat, that scene where Amanda Priestly breaks down exactly how fashion moves from high end designers creativity to the bodies of the masses hit home more.

The protagonist in my YA novel, Parker, who is an art prodigy, is more my speed. She has a large closest because she feels colors. I definitely feel a “color of the day”, and a texture. My closet reflects that. Also, I have a problem with pajamas. I’m a PJ hoarder.


Kathy: Back in the day you may have found me wearing a pair of stilettos, sans diamonds. Would we find a pair in your wardrobe?

MJO: Multiple, equally sans diamonds. Also, wedges, sandals, pumps, more boots than is healthy, tennis shoes, running shoes, man shoes, work shoes...sigh. Thankfully, I’m a clearance shopper.


Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?

MJO: I read voraciously in all genres, but mystery has always held a special place for me. For other Meyers Briggs’ aficionados out there, I’m an INTP - so puzzles are my thing.

I’m also severely dyslexic. My publisher remarked my last submission had a “high number of low-level errors”. I actually consider it a victory that I’ve been able to get them down from disaster to low-level. But this made reading and writing as a kid super difficult. It wasn’t until I stumbled on the Trixie Belden mysteries that books and I became friends.


Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?

MJO: The short answer is I’m trying.

Longer: I actually started writing middle grade/ya. I have one trunked middle grade fantasy about a girl who learns that there are alternate realities her ancestors helped create to separate evil out from the magical and human realms and now the leaders of the magical reality are expecting her to help renew the spells, the only problem being she doesn’t have any magical powers. I was drawn to the contrast of a nonmagical as the heroine of a magical world and how she would solve their problems.

I also have a YA on submission to publishers, THE FORGIVEN, about a teen art prodigy who loses her ability to paint and her memory in a car crash and believes the only way to restore them is to answer God’s request to her to find and forgive three people.

Finally, I dabble with a literary work about a woman who chooses family and responsibility over love and the ripples that choice has on not only herself, but everyone around her.


Kathy: Tell us about your series.

MJO: Stilettos is the first book in The Sharp Dressed Corpse series that follows Kat Waters’ journey to accept the changes in her life as she goes from an art curator, socialite with a high-society family and fiancé to a penniless, presumed mob princess working in a morgue with a potentially criminal father.

Book two is almost finished, although still untitled and searching for the right thing for this corpse to be wearing (please leave nominations in the comments). This time the Italian mob has dropped a dead body in a chest freezer in her apartment. She’s expected to solve the murder in exchange for information the Russian mobster, Simon from Stilettos, wants and thinks Kat has.

My first book of my second cozy mystery series, DEACON OF THE DEAD, is complete and on submission. Civil war tourism is so last year, and the drop in tours is killing the Second Chance Inn. Reluctant innkeeper Harmony Holt is sure the filming of the TV series Walker, Zombie Ranger can breathe new life into a business that’s been in her family for generations. Until the church deacon turns up dead on the inn’s lawn on opening weekend. Now the town’s mayor is threatening to shut down the zombie tours, forcing Harmony to resurrect her relationship with the hottie sheriff to save her inn.


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

MJO: A favorite that I read, write or watch? This is not answerable for me because I have too many favorites. So, I’ll throw out a bunch. I have a soft spot for the contrarians, the underdogs and the geniuses.

In literature I love the Lizzie’s - Elizabeth Bennett and Lisbeth Salander. The detectives Miss Marple, Trixie, Nancy and Sherlock. Pro Huck, Hannibal and Hermione.

On TV I go for smart - House, Murphy Brown, Bones, Lorelei Gilmore, Sherlock, Mary Crowley

I love a good villain or antihero. Snape, Moriarty, Raymond Reddington from the Blacklist. I spent my recent vacation binge watching Justified. The writing on that show was ridiculous. Boyd Crowder can preach to me forever and I think Mags Bennett is one the best female antiheroes ever written.


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

MJO: Stilettos is a case of characters taking on a life of their own with a healthy mix of the reality of publishing. The morgue was always a fixture because I love putting characters in unexpected scenarios and seeing what will happen, like an heiress doing autopsies. There aren’t many cozies that focus on father daughter relationships, so I wanted to play with that. The series was originally about Kat writing to her dad in prison and was called MORGUE MISSIVES.

Then I was asked to revise and resubmit for a publisher. The title was changed to GRAND THEFT, BODY and the series was going to focus on different crimes with the second book titled ASSAULT AND BARTER. That editor turned it down but suggested a different editor who thought that if I was going to have a cozy in a morgue, the focus should be the morgue. So dad bit the dust as a major character, and the focus turned to all the characters in the morgue with a title change to MURDER IN THE ROUGE MORGUE. That editor left the publisher before we contracted and her replacement passed with comments to embrace Kat’s inner Elle Woods. And so the corpse now wears stilettos and happily found a home at Red Adept Publishing.

Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?

MJO: If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it did it make a noise? If a writer writes and no one sees it, did they tell a story? I’m not so much a writer as a story teller. Sometimes I write. Usually, I tell stories.


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

MJO: Oh, fun question. Maya Angelou, Nora Ephron, Agatha Christy and Mark Twain.

I’m a huge Anita Shreve fan girl and would love to hear what Sue Grafton’s Z is for Zero was all about, but I think they would be too deep to converse with over a chicken.


Kathy: What are you currently reading?

MJO: My Kindle is very full of author review requests right now. I just finished KILLER CRUISE by Dawn Brookes. Of course, I am just coming off of a vacation so I was able to indulge in my trashy romance guilty pleasure. My husband is always complaining about my buying them on his account, which apparently leads to Alexa making some funny suggestions. I read poetry every day and my daughter and I are tackling Lemony Snicket this summer.


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

MJO: As a plant in my former life, I live for the outdoors. We have an RV and I can often be found in my kayak shooting the Hooche.


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

MJO: I have a 10 year old. She lives on fruit snacks and chicken nuggets. I’m currently hoarding a large amount of last available Kroger brand pumpkin spiced creamer in all of GA. Our fridge is never without some form of cheese.


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

MJO: I think I covered his above. Be on the look out for DEACON OF THE DEAD and the yet to be named second book in the Sharp Dressed Corpse series.


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

MJO: The writing community is amazing and I feel fortunate are to be a part of it. Of course, without my writing I don’t know what I would do with all these characters in my head. It’s nice to give them a place to play.

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The Corpse Wore Stilettos by MJ O'Neill

About the Book

 

The Corpse Wore Stilettos 

Cozy Mystery 1st in Series 

Red Adept Publishing, LLC (April 30, 2019) 

 Print Length: 246 pages 

SHE WORE A DONNA KARAN MARKED FOR REPOSSESSION

Since Kat Waters’s father took a trip to the slammer on what she’s sure are trumped-up racketeering charges, life’s been tough. All their assets are frozen, and she’s down to the last few pairs of Jimmy Choos she can swap for rent. To keep her family out of the homeless shelter, the former socialite took a job at the local morgue—a job she’s about to lose when the body of a murder victim goes missing on her watch.

HE WORE A CAPTIVATING SMILE

While Kat’s processing the latest victim in the prostitute serial killings, ex-Special Forces soldier Burns McPhee strolls in with an air of confidence, expecting access to the Jane Doe. While Burns tries to flirt his way into examining the latest victim, whom he thinks is connected to the death of his best friend, someone else steals the body right out from under them.

THE CORPSE WORE STILETTOS

Dodging questions from the cops and kidnapping attempts from a body-snatching psycho, Kat and Burns forge a deal. He’ll clear her name and keep her safe if she gets him information on her peculiar coworkers, one of whom he’s certain is involved with the body heist. But digging up secrets can lead to a lower life expectancy. The unlikely team will need all their talents not to end up as the morgue’s next clients while they hunt for a murderer, the missing corpse, and a pair of diamond-studded stilettos.

About the Author

As the owner of a boutique chocolate factory in Atlanta, MJ O’Neill loves to write lighthearted, romantic mysteries with a sweet twist. She has a degree in business communications from North Carolina State University. When she’s not spinning a sweet yarn or creating delicious confections, she spends time with her husband, their kids, a hyperactive cocker spaniel named Devo (after the band), a princess tabby cat named Twilight (before the book stole her name) and a collection of stray fish. The whole gang can be found tooling around the back roads of the South in their RV where MJ uses the downtime to hatch her next sweet plot.

Author Links:
Website - http://www.mjoneillauthor.com/  
Twitter - https://twitter.com/melindajONeill  
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mjoneillauthor/  
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mj.oneill.52  

Purchase Link: - Amazon

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