I'm pleased to welcome Jeannette de Beauvoir to Cozy Up With Kathy today. Jeanette writes the Provincetown Mystery series. THE HONEYMOON HOMICIDES is the tenth book in the series and was released yesterday!
Kathy: In THE HONEYMOON HOMICIDES an unforeseen disaster ruins a carefully planned wedding reception. Have you ever been witness to a wedding reception calamity?
JDB: Fortunately, I have not!
Kathy: Sydney Riley and her new husband, Ali, have a honeymoon in the dunes of Cape Cod’s National Seashore. What would be your ultimate honeymoon location?
JDB: So many great places to go… I’m an avid traveler, and I can think of dozens. But honestly… my own honeymoon many years ago was perfect, even though the marriage itself didn’t last. We spent three days in Montréal (which remains one of my favorite cities anywhere), and then rented a cabin where we both read the stacks of books we’d brought with us. Not everybody’s cup of tea, but I loved it.
Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?
JDB: I have to go back in history to G.K. Chesterton. When crime novels were first finding their footing, they were all about clues and alibis and so on… but when Chesterton introduced Father Brown as detective, he made crime investigation human. Father Brown imagined how both the victim and the killer experienced life and what drove both to their fatal encounter. He understood people. Today, police procedurals are fascinating for sure… but I’m not terribly interested in serial killers. I’m interested in the small, domestic murders that have been brewing behind the scenes and finally manifest. The times when someone feels their only recourse, the only option open to them, is to take someone else’s life. They’re more human. They’re actually also more common. And they’re far more interesting.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
JDB: I do! My first and enduring love is for historical fiction, which makes sense when you consider that most of my academic work has been in history. The past is absolutely filled with amazing, fascinating stories. I began my first novel when I was fourteen years old (another version of it was finally published a few years ago!), and have always included a little history in everything I write, whether it’s via dual-timeline novels or just references to a place’s past.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
JDB: The Provincetown series takes advantage of the myriad festivals and “theme weeks” that happen throughout the year in this town that has been Wampanoag summer camp, whaling center, fishing village, arts colony, and gay resort. I wanted to avoid the “Murder She Wrote” problem of killing off too many people in a small town, and Provincetown offered the perfect compromise between year-round residents and others washing through for various reasons.
A previous series takes place in Montréal, which I love both as a city and a culture. I myself am bicultural and bilingual (I grew up in France), so the city has always appealed to me. And Montréal’s history is filled with events and situations that still echo in the present, so I’ve taken full advantage of those implications.
My new series—to début next year—has a Boston-based protagonist who will travel to various places for various reasons and will end up being part of the solution to murders when she arrives.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
JDB: In the current series, Sydney and I have a lot of similarities; people who know me absolutely see me in her. Yet it is Sydney’s friend Mirela who intrigues me the most. She came to the United States to work for the summer in Ptown—and believe me when I tell you, the Bulgarian kids who come here in the summer? They are tireless. They work three jobs and sleep eight to a room and are amazing. What Mirela discovered kept her here: Ptown is also the oldest art colony in North America, and she realized that the art she had painted for fun back in Plovdiv gained her attention here. She moved to the Cape, transformed her style, and became a much-sought-after and wealthy artist… without changing her values or her friendships. I love Mirela. She fascinates me.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
JDB: The town itself is my inspiration! There are so many aspects to it, as I mentioned earlier: layers on layers. It was long the home of the Wampanoag tribe, which was pretty much decimated by the arrival of English settlers. Eventually the town became one of the most important whaling capitals; when that industry faded, Portuguese people from the Azores who’d joined whaling crews settled here and made it an Old World sort of fishing village. Artists began coming here—there is, I understand, something unique about the light—and from 1916 on there was a flood of artists, writers, intellectuals, people like Eugene O’Neill and John Dos Passos and, later, Tennessee Williams, creating another layer of life that remains vibrant. Finally it’s also become a LGBTQ+ destination and a center for the study of marine life. And I’ve been able to draw from almost all of those layers to create stories that all contain some kernel of insight into the town’s past that few people—even residents—don’t know about, from the wrecks of pirate ships to the buildings that were stops on the Underground Railroad.
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
JDB: There are only two genres of writing, really. Writing you do for yourself, to improve your life or work through some problem—we call that “writing a journal”—and writing you do because you have something to say in the world. I’ve never really gotten the hang of writing a journal. Everything I write is to touch others—to entertain them, to give them hope, to create escapism, to make them think. And the way you touch others is to get published.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
JDB: I always balk at the “what famous writer would you like to invite to dinner,” because the conversation would be so awkward, I’d just say how much I love their work and leave it at that. But the idea of having four there and just sitting back and listening to them intrigues me. So here we go: I’d invite Phil Rickman, who writes stunning mysteries with a slightly supernatural twist, and put him in conversation with Colette, because they both create unforgettable characters; then I’d add Georges Simenon, because he does such amazing evocations of time and place (at which Rickman isn’t too shabby, either), and finally Tana French, because her earlier books (Dublin Murder Squad) are written so beautifully and feel so tragic that one just has to underline passages; they could all four then talk about style.
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
JDB: I’m an incredibly eclectic reader… and generally have at least two books going at once, a novel for fun and nonfiction to learn… At the moment I’m reading Sarah Addison Allen’s Other Birds, which is rich and lyrical and totally absorbing; I’m also reading The Undertow: Scenes From a Slow Civil War by Jeff Sharlet. Oh, and there’s one more, my bedtime reading at the moment is the very delightful cozy Murder at the Dolphin Hotel by Helena Dixon.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
JDB: I find my life fascinating, but I’m never under the illusion that anybody else would; most of my excitement is interior. My primary activity is reading, though I also love watching some of the characters I’ve read about come to life on PBS and Britbox and MHz—the streaming services are my downfall in terms of time! I love love love going to museums, and when I travel, that’s a major focus, absorbing and learning and questioning and connecting. Closer to home, I have a garden with which I have an ongoing love/hate relationship.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
JDB: Garlic (I grew up in France!). Butter (the real thing, preferably Irish). Cheese (several kinds). Juice (I had to put something healthy in there, didn’t I?).
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
JDB: I’m stepping away from the Provincetown series (The Honeymoon Homicides is the 10th book in the series, that feels about right). I may come back to it—never say never!—but I’m excited to be starting a new series next year that will take my protagonist to many places, starting in the first novel with Nepal and Everest Base Camp. I’ll be returning to the dual-timeline format that I loved using in my Montréal mystery series (Asylum, Deadly Jewels, Trapped), and I’m excited about that, too; it’s a format that adds a lot of depth and texture to a story.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
JDB: Two levels of favorite things.
· Primary: I love touching other people with my ideas, with my slant on things. All my novels involve something that will challenge readers to think about it. That’s really important to me. The reality is, I want to change the world, one reader at a time.
· Secondary: Totally superficial? I love it when somebody says, “I lost so much sleep last night because I couldn’t close your book!”
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The Honeymoon Homicides: A Provincetown Mystery (Sydney Riley Series) by Jeannette de Beauvoir
About The Honeymoon Homicides
The Honeymoon Homicides: A Provincetown Mystery (Sydney Riley Series)
Cozy Mystery 10th in Series
Setting – Provincetown, Massachusetts, is a resort town on the tip of Cape Cod.
Publisher: Homeport Press (June 15, 2024)
Paperback: 290 pages
Despite an unforeseen disaster ruining her carefully planned wedding reception, hotelier Sydney Riley is undaunted as she and her brand-new husband Ali leave for their honeymoon in the dunes of Cape Cod’s National Seashore. But even in this deserted location, Sydney uncovers clues that might have a bearing on the wedding fiasco. Despite hoping for a new life, she’s drawn into yet another murder investigation—this time to protect Ali, who’s been called away on a secret and dangerous assignment. Can Sydney find the murderer(s) before Ali is harmed, or will a joyous week in the dunes be her only memory of their married life?
About Jeannette de Beauvoir
Jeannette de Beauvoir is an award-winning author of historical and mystery fiction and poetry, whose work has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies. Her Provincetown mystery series is now on its 10th book, and she’s a member of the Authors Guild, the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Historical Novels Society. She’s also a local theatre critic and hosts an arts-related program on WOMR, a Pacifica Radio affiliate. She lives and works in a seaside cottage on Cape Cod.
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This cozy series sounds captivating and this mystery is intriguing.
ReplyDeleteI liked the interview.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this well done excerpt!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing it.
I have not read any of your books-but after reading your interview- I want to read this book-thanks
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