Cozy Up With Kathy: Poppies, Perils, and Poison

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Poppies, Perils, and Poison - An Interview & Giveaway

I'm pleased to welcome Erica Wynters to Cozy Up With Kathy today. Erica writes the Camelot Flowers Mystery series. Poppies, Perils, and Poison is the second book in the series and was released last week.

Kathy: Politics can be a nasty business, especially when it comes to the matter of Garden Club presidencies. Have you ever been involved in club politics, gardening or other?

EW: While I haven’t had personal experience with the political maneuverings of a club I’ve been a member of, I have been on planning teams at church for a variety of events. It’s been interesting over the years to see how different personalities can create different dynamics. Even the number of people impacts how difficult running those teams can be. You’d think the more people, the better, but too many opinions in the mix actually makes committees less efficient. Anytime I’m in a position to plan something, I like to keep my planning team small. I can imagine Margie, the woman running for garden club president in the Poppies, Perils, and Poison, would love a small team too. She’s definitely a woman with strong opinions, who wouldn’t want a team full of people arguing with her.

Kathy: Gwen Stevens works in the family business, Camelot Flowers. Have you ever worked as a florist? Do you enjoy giving and/or receiving flowers?

EW: I’ve never personally worked as a florist. I’ve had a variety of jobs in my life including lifeguard, swimming lesson instructor, receptionist, a temp job that had me working some jobs with very funny stories, and now, my career as a marriage and family therapist. As far as whether or not I enjoy giving and/or receiving flowers, you’re outing me a little bit here. This might sound funny as someone writing a series centered around a florist, but I don’t actually like receiving flowers. I’m very aware of how expensive flowers are and how quickly they die. I’m obsessed with live plants and have more than I know what to do with at my house if that counts for something, but getting a bouquet of flowers from my husband wouldn’t be the most romantic thing for me. Now, I love giving gifts to people that they love. My mother-in-law loves getting flowers, and I really enjoy buying them for her because they make her happy. Let’s just not tell Gwen or her parents that I don’t love getting flowers. It can be our little secret.

Kathy: Are you a gardener? Do you grow flowers yourself? What's your favorite flower?

EW: I live in Phoenix, Arizona and while we have a good growing season in the winter, gardening has never been something that appealed me to. However, I love to visit elaborate flower gardens. You know, ones that I didn’t have to plant or do the work to maintain. My husband and I visited The Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC on our honeymoon, and I was blown away. I also love visiting the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, and I have a dream to walk through beautiful gardens in the English countryside someday. My favorite flower has been the tulip for a really long time, but I’ll add two recent favorites—dahlias and chrysanthemums.

Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?

EW: I started reading cozy mysteries after college. I love murder mysteries but get easily creeped out and having nightmares isn’t my idea of a fun time. You won’t find me watching true-crime documentaries or even the evening news. Cozy mysteries let me enter the world of mysteries and investigations without any of the grit or gore of traditional mysteries. I love the fact that most cozies are set in charming small towns. I grew up in a small town and while I know they aren’t always as charming as what we read about in books, cozies capture the best of what small town life has to offer. I took a trip to Leavenworth, WA a couple of summers ago based solely on reading about that town in Ellie Alexander’s Sloan Krause mystery series. I’ve also read a series set in Bar Harbor, Maine and would love to visit there someday.

Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?

EW: Besides my cozy mysteries, I also write closed-door romantic suspense. I currently have a series of romantic suspense novellas on Kindle Unlimited set in Phoenix that follow Dr. Alexandra Briggs, an FBI profiler, who stumbles into danger more than her desk job should allow. I have two other romantic suspense series that I’ll be publishing over the next two year—Empire City Secrets set in New York City and Windy City Secrets set in Chicago. I love the books in these series and can’t wait for readers to meet those characters.

Kathy: Tell us about your series.

EW: The Camelot Flowers Mystery Series follows florist, Gwen Stevens, as she balances working at her family’s flower shop, figuring out her complicated love life, and, of course, solving murders in the dreamy town of Star Junction, Illinois.

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

EW: There are so many characters to fall in love with in this series. I feel like I should say that my favorite is Gwen, since she’s the main character, but if we remove her as an option (because of course I love Gwen) then I’d pick Penny, one of Gwen’s best friends. She’s so funny and always pulling Gwen into crazy situations throughout the investigation.

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

EW: A few years ago, I was thinking about writing a cozy mystery, and I had the idea to have a woman named Guinevere (Gwen for short) who got her name because her dad was obsessed with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Hence, naming the flower shop Camelot Flowers. In this first brainstorming session, I also considered naming the romantic interest Lance, so that Gwen’s friends could tease her about dating someone whose name could be short for Lancelot. That didn’t make it past the brainstorming stage, but I still think it’s a funny idea.

Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?

EW: I started writing on a whim almost seven years ago after having a dream that I couldn’t shake. I thought the dream would make a good story. I decided to sit down and write the first chapter later that next night. Three weeks later, I’d finished the rough draft of my first book. Needless to say, it wasn’t very good, but I’ve edited it over and over again throughout the years as I’ve learned more about writing. That book, called Saving Stella, will come out in 2025. I always knew that if I was going to write, I wanted other people to read my books. I was never going to be satisfied with just writing for myself. It’s too much work for that!

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

EW: Oh my goodness! That’s a hard question. First, I would invite Laura Ingalls Wilder. I’ve loved her books since I was a kid and still read them as an adult when life gets particularly stressful. They’re soothing to me, like a perfectly broken in, cozy sweater. Then I’d invite my favorite authors in the cozy mystery field so that I could pick their brains about the craft of writing and more importantly the craft of building an audience. That would include Jenn McKinlay and Ellery Adams. Finally, I’d invite Denise Grover Swank. She’s an indie author who writes mysteries with a heavy dose of romance. She’s mastered the indie author field, and I would love to learn from her.

Kathy: What are you currently reading?

EW: I’m currently reading Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Wealthy Widow by Kelly Rey and Gemma Halliday. It’s the third book in the series, and I’m loving this whole series. The mysteries are interesting and the characters are really funny.

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

EW: I love being out in nature, but I don’t like sleeping in nature, so no camping for me, but I love to hike. I especially love to hike to waterfalls. There’s something especially satisfying about finding water in the desert. I also love to travel, Maui being my favorite place. I read a ton. While I write cozy mysteries and clean romantic suspense, I also love to read fantasy. I tore through all the books published in the Magical Midlife Madness series last fall and can’t wait for the next one to come out this month!

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

EW: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Perfect Bars, pistachios, sumo citrus oranges (when they’re in season), and oat milk for my matcha lattes.

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

EW: I’m writing a proposal for the fourth book in the Camelot Flowers Mystery Series right now and will send it to my publisher soon. I have endless ideas for this series. I also have a book I started a year ago that I haven’t had time to work on, but am really excited about. It would be romantic suspense, but it has the same kind of feel as the cozy mysteries. Even my suspense books have plenty of humorous moments in them. Think rom-com meets suspense. The third project waiting in the wings, until I have more time, is a romantic suspense series set in a fictional ranching town in southern Arizona. Starting in 2025, I’ll be publishing two romantic suspense series. They are each shared-world series, which means each book in the series is about a different couples, but the previous couples show up in each other’s books.

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

EW: I love connecting with readers. As my readership has slowly grown, I’ve had people reach out through email, on Instagram, and on Facebook with things they’ve loved about the Camelot Flowers series. It’s my favorite thing to message with people about these characters. Probably one of my favorite memories, though, is when I was driving my daughter and her friends home from my daughter’s birthday party. One of the friends started enthusiastically telling me that Gwen needed to choose Finn, because Chris didn’t deserve her. Another friend in the backseat piped up that she agreed. They had a lively discussion about the book. I hadn’t even realized they’d read it. It was so fun to listen to teens be so invested in reading and so in love with a book that I had written.

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Poppies, Perils, and Poison (Camelot Flowers Mysteries) by Erica Wynters

About Poppies, Perils, and Poison

Poppies, Perils, and Poison (Camelot Flowers Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery 2nd in Series
Setting - Illinois
Publisher: ‎ Gemma Halliday Publishing (March 19, 2024)
Number of Pages - ~280 pages

From author Erica Wynters comes another Camelot Flowers Mystery blooming with secrets, suspicions, and danger at every turn...

Things are finally looking up with florist Gwen Stevens’ family business, Camelot Flowers, which means her biggest problem now is making her heart choose between her lifelong crush on the charming Chris Crawford and her budding romance with Finn Butler, the new police detective who makes her want to stop and smell the roses.

But Gwen’s thorny love life takes a backseat when Shannon Wentworth, a newcomer to the small town of Star Junction, drops dead in the local coffee shop the day after she announces her candidacy for garden club president. Unfortunately, Margie Philips, Gwen’s surrogate aunt, has been garden club president for years and had threatened to win again this year at any cost—which suddenly puts her in the role of prime suspect in Wentworth's untimely demise!

Determined to clear Margie’s name, Gwen digs deep and discovers a bouquet’s worth of secrets, including marital infidelity, a lawsuit threatening to ruin a local business, and even doubts about where Margie was right before the murder. With too many suspects all hiding something, will Gwen uncover the truth before the killer poisons her chances of a happily ever after?

About Erica Wynters

Erica Wynters may have lived most of her life in the frigid Midwest, but now she spends her time in the warmth and sunshine of Arizona. She loves hiking, hunting down waterfalls in the desert, reading (of course), and napping. Can napping be considered a hobby? When not weaving tales of mystery with plenty of quirky characters, laughs, and a dash of romance, Erica works as a Marriage and Family Therapist helping others find their Happily Ever Afters.