I'm pleased to welcome Kathleen Kaska to Cozy Up With Kathy. Kathleen writes the Sydney Lockhart Mystery series. Murder at the Pontchartrain is the sixth book in the series and was released last week.
Kathy: The Sydney Lockhart Mystery series is set in the 1950s. Why choose this timeframe?
KK: I was born in the 1950s. I love the decade’s fashion, music, and movies. It was an exciting time for women. WWII had ended, and more women were claiming their independence and entering the workforce. I wanted my protagonist to be a young woman ahead of her time, struggling to make it in a man’s world.
Kathy: In Murder at the Pontchartrain, Sydney, and her boyfriend/partner have come to the Pontchartrain Hotel in New Orleans to get married. New Orleans has a truly unique ambiance with voodoo and hauntings being the norm. How have these things influenced your book?
KK: A book set in New Orleans calls for elements of voodoo, which I included in the story. My Sydney Lockhart series is a lighthearted and humorous cozy. In Murder at the Pontchartrain, which comes out on June 28, one of the victims visits the House of Voodoo in the French Quarter because she believes her hateful deceased husband is abusing her from his grave. As a result, Sydney’s investigation begins with a visit to the current voodoo queen, the historic St. Louis Cemetery, and eventually to the nearby swamps where she came close to being lost forever.
Kathy: Sydney relies on Rip Thigbee, a ghost detective. Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever had a ghostly encounter?
KK: Tough questions. There is so much we don’t know, and more we can’t understand. I like to think that the human mind has not yet evolved to understand the strange phenomena that occasionally occur. I’ve never had a ghostly encounter, but I have experienced odd happenings that I couldn’t explain. One time I just started reading A Son of a Circus by John Irving. The novel begins with a family of circus dwarfs. I was on page two when I heard a racket coming from a vacant lot next door. I went to investigate and found a family of dwarfs in an old station wagon, listening to rock music. My husband, still to this day, thinks I imbibed too much wine.
Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?
KK: I love reading cozies. They are void of explicit violence and sex, and most are humorous. I read other mystery genres, but reading and writing cozies help me relax and put me in a good mood. Who doesn't like to laugh? Some of my favorite cozy authors are Carl Hiaasen, Spenser Quinn, Elizabeth Peters, Ben Rehder, and Janet Evanovich. Several readers have told me that my Sydney Lockhart series reminds them of Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. Sydney has also been compared to the delightful Mrs. Maisel character from the Amazon Prime series.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
KK: I just completed a hardboiled detective story set in Manhattan in the 1940s. Since I love reading Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Mickey Spillane, I wanted to try writing a gritty detective story. I had great fun delving into New York City of long ago. My protagonist is a down-and-out ex-cop who lands a high-profile case. It’s his one big chance to pull himself out of the Hell’s Kitchen gutter he calls home. I lived in Manhattan in the 80s when Hell’s Kitchen was a rough, dangerous neighborhood. I think that’s when the seed for this mystery began to germinate.
I also wrote three mystery trivia books on Agatha Christie, Alfred Hitchcock, and Sherlock Holmes. The Sherlock Holmes Quiz Book is in its third printing.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
KK: Allow me to use a fellow author’s flattering review of the Sydney Lockhart series. “What is it like reading a Sydney Lockhart mystery? Picture, if you will, Carl Hiaasen writing a classic film noir featuring the zany, red-haired reporter Sydney Lockhart who somehow gets herself into more tight situations than Lucille Ball did in a whole season of I Love Lucy.”
My Kate Caraway Animal-Rights Series is a suspense mystery. Each book centers around an animal-right issue in which my protagonist, Kate Caraway, finds herself caught in the middle of doing what’s right and what's ethical, which are not always the same. She’s not a vigilante, but she's relentless when it comes to righting a wrong.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
KK: In my Sydney series? It’s hard not to love all the characters, even the bad guys. In Murder at the Driskill, the fourth in the series, Lydia LaBeau showed up, and I instantly fell in love with this girl. She was a big hit with many of my readers, too, so she’s going to stick around. Lydia is twelve years old and possesses the wisdom of a seventy-year-old. She runs her neer-do-well’s father’s live theater in downtown Austin. Having a prop and costume room at her disposal, Lydia often dresses in whatever reflects the case Sydney is trying to solve. In Murder at the Pontchartrain, her chosen costume was that of a voodoo queen.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
KK: Since I love reading humorous mysteries, I wanted to try writing one. Sydney showed up in my imagination and began to tell her story. I just had to listen and write it down. Thankfully, Sydney has not stopped talking.
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
KK: I love writing. It’s an excellent way to connect with people; to do that, I needed to publish my work.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
KK: I used to work in marketing at a publishing company. Brainstorming ideas with my colleagues was a blast, and those sessions enhanced my creativity. So, at this special dinner party, I would invite Agatha Christie, Martha Grimes, Raymond Chandler, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
KK: I’m rereading Martha Grimes’ Richard Jury series to get in the right frame of mind because I’m working on a British crime mystery. Grimes is a fabulous writer and a true inspiration. She’s a master of metaphors. Looking through her books on my bookshelf, you will find that many of the sentences are highlighted because they deserve to be reread.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
KK: I love the outdoors and spend a lot of time birding. I also enjoy running, and I do two or three marathons a year. I have the most fun attending baseball games with my husband and hanging out with my three fabulous sisters.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
KK: You will always find a bottle of gin in my freezer, and olives, leafy lettuce, blueberries, bananas, lemons, and almond milk in the fridge. I always stock sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, oatmeal, and olive oil in the pantry. As you might guess, my husband and I dine out a lot.
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
KK: I have three hotels on my list for the next three Sydney Lockhart mysteries. And I have a list of hotels suggested to me by my readers. I just hope I get to all of them.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
Creating something out of my imagination. Writing is an art that doesn’t require going to the store for supplies. I also get to meet other authors and readers.
***************************************************************************
Murder at the Pontchartrain by Kathleen Kaska
About Murder at the Pontchartrain
Cozy Mystery (Humorous) 6th in Series
Setting - New Orleans, Louisiana
Anamcara Press LLC (June 15, 2023)
Paperback: 280 pages
“My name is Sydney Lockhart. I solve murders, most of which I’m the primary suspect.My boyfriend/partner, Ralph Dixon, and I came to the Pontchartrain Hotel in New Orleans to get married. Instead, Dixon’s in jail for a double murder. I’m in a swamp, spying on the KKK. Helping me untangle this mess is my bubble-headed cousin Ruth who’s undercover as a chef at the Pontchartrain. My twelve-year-old charge, Lydia LaBeau, dressed as a voodoo queen, is looking for clues at Pat O’Brien’s in the French Quarter. Rip Thigbee, a ghost detective, is my only hope.
I’m not making any of this up. This is my life and this is what I deal with, like it or not. So, mix yourself a Hurricane and join me in the Big Easy for another historic hotel murder case.”
About Kathleen Kaska
Kathleen Kaska is the author of the awarding-winning mystery series: the Sydney Lockhart Mystery Series set in the 1950s and the Kate Caraway Animal-Rights Mystery Series. Her first two Lockhart mysteries, Murder at the Arlington and Murder at the Luther, were selected as bonus books for the Pulpwood Queen Book Group, the country’s largest book group. She also writes mystery trivia. The Sherlock Holmes Quiz Book was published by Rowman & Littlefield. Her Holmes short story, “The Adventure at Old Basingstoke,” appears in Sherlock Holmes of Baking Street, a Belanger Books anthology. She is the founder of The Dogs in the Nighttime, the Sherlock Holmes Society of Anacortes, Washington, a scion of The Baker Street Irregulars. Watch for Murder at the Pontchartrain: the 6th Sydney Lockhart Mystery in June 2023.
Author Links:
Website http://www.kathleenkaska.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/KKaskaAuthor
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/kathleenkaska
Instgram https://www.instagram.com/kathleenkaska/
BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/search/authors?search=Kathleen%20Kaska
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/author/www.kathleenkaska.com
Purchase Links - Anamcara Press - Amazon
Thanks so much for your interview and for promoting my book!.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by!
Delete