I'm pleased to welcome Melinda Mullet to Cozy Up With Kathy today. Melinda starts a new series with A GHOSTWRITER'S GUIDE TO MURDER which was just released last month.
Kathy: In A GHOSTWRITER'S GUIDE TO MURDER we meet Maeve Gardner, a ghostwriter for a long running mystery series. Why did you choose to make Maeve a ghostwriter instead of someone writing under her own name or even a pseudonym?
MM: Maeve would love to be writing under her own name but it’s not easy to get published these days even when you work for a publishing company. Maeve’s situation is a good reflection of the frustration writers can feel trying to become a professional. Writers often have to take jobs that aren’t their first choice. Maeve wants to create her own characters, but she is being paid to write PI Simon Hill because the original author is now suffering from dementia. Annoying as that is, the fact that she is being paid is in the end what makes her a professional writer and for now she’ll take what she can get.
Kathy: Maeve lives on a houseboat in London. Have you ever wanted to live on a houseboat?
MM: Absolutely! I am living vicariously through Maeve at every turn. I love the idea of touring Britain along the canal system. Anchoring at will and biking out to explore the countryside. What could be more fun. House boats have all the modern conveniences these days. Heating, kitchens, full bathrooms, washers and dryers. It’s truly the best of small house living.
Kathy: When Maeve is arrested following the discovery of her ex's dead body near her home some of her friends come to her aid. If you found yourself in such a predicament, do you think any of your friends would try to help you?
MM: I’d like to think so. Maeve’s friends are sure that she would never murder anyone. Convinced enough that they all bring their skills to bear to help prove her innocence. Ash the reclusive gamer/hacker, the pragmatic India who runs the local floating bookstore, and Paul a former Navy diver and now landlord of the local pub. Each of them brings something special to the investigative equation and they become quite the fearsome foursome.
Given my profession, I hope my friends would be equally convinced that I am not a killer in real life.
Kathy: What first drew you to mysteries?
MM: They always say write what you know. I know and love mysteries. I’ve been a fan since I was a teenager. Being a lawyer gave me a certain amount of exposure to people behaving badly and I’ve stashed some juicy bits and pieces away in my memory files for later use. I love the puzzle aspect of a good mystery more than the forensics and some of the darker deeds of humankind. That is why I generally write traditional mysteries rather than thrillers.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
MM: Not yet, but I am working on a police procedural, and a historical mystery. Also, I wouldn’t be opposed to doing children’s fiction at some point.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
MM: As we’ve noted above, the protagonist in my new book A GHOSTWRITER'S GUIDE TO MURDER is Maeve Gardner an aspiring but personally unpublished writer who is currently being paid by her publisher to ghostwrite one of their most popular series as the aging author is no longer capable. Maeve like a lot of us needs the money and goes along. All is well until the body of Maeve’s ex-boyfriend is found floating face down in the canal by her boat and the police are convinced that she has gone from penning murders to perpetrating them. This sets off a mad chain of events involving everything from murder, to blackmail, to extortion, to the Legend of Zelda, to stolen loos. Come along for the ride!
My first series was the Whisky Business Mysteries. My protagonist in this series is Abigail Logan a journalist and gifted photographer who inherits a boutique whisky distillery in rural Scotland. Abi is the first to admit that what she knows about whisky making would fit in a shot glass with room to spare, but she quickly discovers that she is now part of a high-stakes business – more art than science – that elicits deep passions and prejudices. When one of Abi’s employees is found murdered, Abi vows to find out why. But distilling truth from lies can be tricky especially when everyone around you seems to have something to hide.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
MM: My favorite character tends to change depending on what they are doing at any particular time. My current favorite is India from Ghostwriter’s Guide. India does so many things that I would love to do. She deals in rare and antique books. She runs a bookshop located on a Dutch Barge moored near to the Camden Lock Market. She’s a vibrant woman who’s not afraid to say what she’s thinking and she’s willing to go above and beyond for her friends.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
MM: As we mentioned earlier, I would love to live on a houseboat. It’s been a dream of mine since I was a child visiting Regent’s Canal for the Zoo and the markets. I think it would be a wonderful part of my retirement plan. Writing about Maeve gives me a chance to imagine what it would be like to live on the water, and it gives me a great excuse for renting a houseboat for “research” purposes. The whole neighborhood is amazing and full of fun bits of history from London’s hidden underground rivers, to the gin production along the Canal, to the birth of the punk movement in Camden Market. It’s the kind of setting that just keeps on giving and of course it’s right in the middle of the most fascinating city in the world London!
My first series, the Whisky Business Mysteries, were inspired by my husband’s love of Scottish whisky. I spent many years visiting facilities all over the Highlands. At one point while touring probably my fiftieth distillery, I looked into the huge wooden vat that holds the barley water as it ferments and it occurred to me, as these things do to mystery lovers, that it would be a great place to find a body. The rest as they say was history. Until recently whisky making in Scotland was very much a male dominated profession in large part because of the prevailing wisdom that women don’t like whisky. Now there are so many women enjoying Scottish whisky and as a result more and more women are staking out their place in the industry. Abi is a tribute to all the women blazing trails in the distilling world.
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
MM: I’d always dreamed of being an author. After I finished my first book, I decided to have a go at getting it published. I would always tell my teenage daughters and their friends how important it was to chase your dreams––you never know if you don’t try. I find it sad to see all these bright, competent young women with so little self-esteem. I was determined to set a good example. I confess I thought it might end up being a life lesson in how to pick yourself up and keep going when things don’t go exactly as you hoped, but in the end, I was incredibly lucky that it was a success story.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
MM: Agatha Christie (because she is unrivaled in the mystery field––still), JRR Tolkien (because I find him fascinating and adore his books), Michael Bond (because he wrote Paddington AND a rather saucy mystery series for adults. I think he’d be a real hoot) and Oscar Wilde (because he is the ultimate literary wit and because he experienced so much in his short life.).
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
MM: Lucy Worsley’s autobiography of Agatha Christie, Ian Moore’s latest DEATH AND BOULES, and Catriona McPherson’s SCOTZILLA. Loving them all.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
MM: I love to travel and start to feel restless if I’m not planning something. I’ve been a scuba diver since I was eight years old. Love the peace and quiet of being underwater. Not to mention all the amazing fish. Love cooking and drinking wine. The more wine I drink the less I cook, but it’s the thought that counts right?!
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
MM: Wine. Peanut butter. Good whole grain bread. Tea.
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
MM: I’m working on two freestanding books, and also the follow-up to GHOSTWRITER'S GUIDE TO MURDER.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
MM: I love doing something that is creative. It keeps my overactive mind working in productive ways. At this point in my life I also really enjoy the flexibility. My daughters both live a plane ride away and my husband travels a lot. As long as I have my laptop I can work from anywhere I like. That’s a marvelous sense of freedom and I truly appreciate how lucky I am.
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A Ghostwriter's Guide to Murder: A Novel by Melinda Mullet
About A Ghostwriter's Guide to Murder
Traditional Mystery First in Series
Setting - A houseboat along Regent’s Canal in central London
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: July 29, 2025
Hardcover Print Length: 320 pages
Charming yet wickedly imaginative mystery ghostwriter Maeve Gardner finds herself at the center of a murder investigation with more twists and turns than any story she's ever written, perfect for fans of Anthony Horowitz and Richard Osman.
Maeve Gardner kills people for a living. A dodgy occupation perhaps, but as ghostwriter for the long-running Simon Hills mysteries, Maeve has planned the perfect murder time and again, and she enjoys it. She dreams of writing something under her own name someday rather than babysitting her adopted character Simon, but at least she’s writing. And as one of the burnt-out souls who’ve run away from dry land to live on London’s waterways, she has the joy of working from the home she loves: a colorful houseboat. Life on the canals is grand, but when her cheating ex-boyfriend turns up floating facedown in the water outside her boat, murdered, and the police arrest her, the plot takes a wayward turn.
Suddenly, Maeve is thrust into one of her own crime dramas, complete with missing money, violent thugs, extortion, and conspiracy. Only this time, there is no real-life Simon Hill to come to her aid. Instead, with the help of friends from the river—India, owner of a popular floating bookshop; Paul, the exceedingly attractive landlord of the local pub; and Ash, Maeve’s quiet, nerdy neighbor who is keeping some secrets of his own—Maeve may have a shot at saving herself.
As Maeve and her motley crew of would-be investigators find themselves wondering if they are in over their heads, a killer lurks and won’t hesitate to kill again…
About Melinda Mullet
Melinda Mullet is a dual US/UK national. Formerly a lawyer specializing in communications, media, and entertainment law she is now enjoying a second career as a mystery writer. Melinda is the author of the Whisky Business Mysteries, a six-part series of traditional mysteries set in and around a boutique single malt whisky distillery in Scotland. And coming in July 2025, the first of a new traditional series, A Ghostwriter’s Guide to Murder, set on a houseboat along the Regent’s Canal in London. Melinda is a travel junkie and a life-long advocate for children’s literacy causes both domestic and international. When she is not in the UK, she lives just outside of Washington, DC, with her whisky-collecting husband and two wild Covid canines named Bailey and Captain Jack.
Author Links:
Website: https://www.melindamullet.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mulletmysteries/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melindamullet/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melinda-mullet-b499564b/
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16251039.Melinda_Mullet
Purchase Links - Penguin Random House - Amazon - B&N - Bookshop.org - Books-A-Million -
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Thanks for the great review Kathy! Appreciate all you do for readers and writers!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by!
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