I just started reading The Wedding Soup Murder by Rosie Genova. This book is the second in the Italian Kitchen Mystery series by Rosie Genova, following last year's Murder and Marinara.
Vic (Victoria Rienzi) is still on the Jersey Shore learning the family's restaurant business as research for her new book. Unfortunately, Vic's research feels more like punishment as her Nonna has her forming a thousand tiny meatballs, or polpetti, for the Italian Wedding Soup the restaurant is making for a special wedding. In addition, she has to go on site to help prepare the soup and special cookies for the reception with her ex boyfriend, Tim, the sous chef. Add some volatile chefs and staff at the fancy country club and I believe we have a recipe for murder!
Recipes included.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Presenting Kate Dyer-Seeley
I am pleased to present Kate Dyer-Seeley. Kate is the author of Scene of the Climb, the first in The Pacific Northwest Mystery series, which was published in June.
Kathy: The majority of cozy protagonists are women in their late 20s through their 30s. There's also a rising popularity of older female sleuths. Meg Reed, on the other hand, is quite young. One reason for this choice for this series is the lack of experience and need to find employment, yet an older woman could also face those same challenges. Why did you decide to make Meg so young?
KDS: I wrote Meg in her early twenties because I think it’s such a pivotal time in our personal development. She’s just graduated from college and is experiencing so many firsts. That’s what the twenties are all about—your first job, first apartment, first love. It’s a time when you’re learning who you are in the world, and I think that’s so rich in terms of writing a character. Meg’s a bit naïve, and I wrote her that way intentionally because she’s really trying to figure out who she is. She’s going to make a few mistakes in the process, but I think we all can all relate to that. I’m so excited to watch her grow and develop as the series continues, and I hope that readers will appreciate being part of her evolution.
Kathy: Meg makes quite a first impression on the man who will become her boss. Have you ever made a similar first impression?
KDS: Sadly, yes. I’m pretty outgoing and effusive which can be an asset, especially in social situations. I enjoy meeting new people and popping in and out of conversations. However, as Gam would say, “there’s always a balance.” Which for me means that I also have a tendency to just say the first thing that comes to mind without thinking. I was at a dinner party a few years ago and chatting with a nice gentleman about writing. He asked me about what I was working on and I gave him my quick pitch about the series, leading off with “Well you know newspapers are dinosaurs, they’re a dying breed…” Huge emphasis on how archaic newspapers were. Then a few minutes later the woman next to me asked him what he did, and he smiled at me, winked, and said. “I publish a newspaper.” Insert foot into mouth.
Kathy: Meg exaggerates her athletic abilities in order to land a job with Northwest Extreme magazine. Do you think that a good number of people embellish their resumes?
KDS: Absolutely. And for Meg I think exaggerating her athletic ability speaks to what we were talking about in terms of her learning to step into herself. Sometimes that means trying on different personas to see what sticks. Meg’s doing that, and is in over her head. But at the same time, by embellishing her skill set, she’s also forcing herself outside of her comfort zone. I love that! I think that we really grow when we do something challenging—physical or otherwise.
Kathy: I'm more apt to take a stroll around the neighborhood than a hike in the woods, especially a hike requiring specialized boots and a backpack! Are you an experienced hiker, a neophyte, or an armchair hiker?
KDS: I love hiking. It’s a favorite weekend activity for me and my family. We live just a quick drive from all the places highlighted in Scene of the Climb, and one of the best things about writing the book was going out to hike for the sake of “research.” However I’m not an adrenaline junkie like the rest of the crew at Northwest Extreme magazine. You won’t find me free climbing or attempting to summit Mt. Everest. I’m strangely fascinated by that culture though. I watched documentaries about climbers who live on the edge and interviewed a number of serious mountain climbers while working on the book. There’s something addictive about the rush that comes with doing something dangerous, and I really want to explore that more from Meg’s perspective as the series develops.
Kathy: Although I'm more of a wine and hard liquor drinker, I do enjoy a beer on occasion. Meg enjoys drinking craft beers with her friends. Are you a beer drinker? Do you have any favorite craft beers?
KDS: If you live anywhere near Portland, Oregon it’s almost a requirement. Portland has more brew pubs per capita than any other city in the world. It really is part of our culture, and good beer pairs perfectly with a good hike. I do like craft beers, although unlike Meg, I’m also a fan of Oregon’s famed Willamette Valley wines. In terms of picking a favorite? That’s tough! We have some favorite neighborhood pubs that we frequent, and then whenever we travel in the region we always like to discover new favorites. IPAs and Red Ales are my favorites. For beer fans, I’m hoping to connect readers with many of the Pacific Northwest’s brew houses throughout the series.
Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?
KDS: I’ve been a mystery fan since my early reading days when I devoured Nancy Drew and Trixie Bleden. My grandmother hooked me on my first official cozy series when I was in my late teens, and I’ve been a huge fan of the genre ever since.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
KDS: My first book was a memoir. Very different and very serious. It was the story of becoming a mother for the first time while losing my mom to young onset Alzheimer’s. Writing it was a challenge, but I’m so glad that I stuck with it because not only did it help me in my grieving process but it really opened me up to writing mysteries. I’ve said that was the book that I had to write. Now I’m writing what I want to write.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
KDS: The Pacific Northwest Mysteries feature Meg Reed, a young journalist who bills herself as an intrepid adventurer in order to land a job writing for Northwest Extreme magazine when in reality her idea of sport is climbing onto the couch without spilling her latte. Meg gets sent out on a variety of assignments in the ruggedly beautiful Northwest where she finds herself out of her league and in the middle of a murder investigation.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
KDS: That’s tough. I like them all! That sounds cliché doesn’t it? Okay if I have to pick, I really enjoy writing Gam, Meg’s eccentric grandmother. I like the relationship between the two of them. I think there’s something really special about the connection between grandparents and grandchildren. Gam is a grounding force for Meg. She’s very wise and serves as a spiritual advisor for Meg, but at the same time is fun-loving and young at heart. That connection between the generations is so important. They both have something to offer the other. Meg brings out Gam’s playful nature, and Gam has wisdom of years to pass down. Plus, I’d really love to hang out in Gam’s shop and nosh on one of her homemade cookies.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
KDS: I spent a semester in college in New Zealand and Australia on an eco-tourism program. Basically that meant that a bunch of twenty-year-olds spent a few months backpacking, hiking, whitewater rafting, and going on every other outdoor adventure imaginable. A number of my friends on the trip opted to do things like bungee jump off a bridge—I skipped that activity and watched from the comfort and safety of the ground below. A few months before I started writing Scene of the Climb I was hiking Angel’s Rest and saw a young woman hiking in a pair of hot pink boots. She was my initial inspiration. I kept thinking back to that trip I took to New Zealand and Australia in my early twenties, and the story came together from there.
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
KDS: I read mysteries prolifically, and am always on the hunt for a new series. I figured there something a little unique about Meg and setting a cozy here in the Pacific Northwest. I really enjoy culinary cozies, and I thought it would be fun to use that format of including recipes, but with a different angle. Scene of the Climb includes adventure tips and a scenic loop that readers can actually bring along with them the next time they visit this part of the world and follow Meg’s loop.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
KDS: Maud Lovelace—her series Betsy-Tacy is my all-time favorite read from childhood.
Willa Cather—I think I read O Pioneers twenty times in high-school.
Agatha Christie—I’ve read every single book, and would love to pick her brain on how she kept cranking out mystery after mystery for all those years.
Jane Austen—Because, Mr. Darcy. Need I say more?
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
KDS: Bill Bryson’s At Home. I love his work. He finds a way to make the most mundane details or historical information burst into life. I usually laugh out loud when I’m reading his books. When I’m working on a manuscript I don’t read any fiction (which is a bummer) because I don’t want another character’s voice getting in my head. I read a lot of nonfiction when I’m drafting. I feel a little like I’m cheating when I read Bryson because his voice is so distinct, but he definitely isn’t writing mysteries or fiction so he’s always on my reading list.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
KDS: I’m a swimmer. I spent my summers in high school and college lifeguarding and teaching swimming lessons. I love the pool—even the smell of chlorine on my skin! We already touched on the outdoors, but I do spend a lot of time (especially in the summer and fall when it’s not raining twenty-four seven) walking, hiking, or in the water. I love to cook and bake. There’s almost always something homemade in my kitchen. Unless I’m nearing the end of the manuscript and then it’s take out burritos.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
KDS: Hummus, Cilantro, Chocolate chips, Apples
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
KDS: Meg’s next adventure (Slayed on the Slopes) comes out in April. She’s heading to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood to cover a new high-altitude guiding team. While she’s done some training to try to get more geared up for her job with Northwest Extreme, she’s hoping she can conduct her interviews next to a crackling fire inside the lodge. However when she arrives, she learns that she’s being sent a thousand vertical feet up the Silcox Hut, a remote mountain cabin. She finds herself stuck outside in a blizzard and from there things just get worse.
I’m working on book # 3 as we speak. Meg’s going to be in high water in her third adventure as she covers a windsurfing competition in Hood River, Oregon.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
KDS: Making up stories and characters in my head and having people read them. I mean when I step back and think about that it’s just amazing and really humbling.
***************************************************************************
For more information about Kate, check out these links:
Kathy: The majority of cozy protagonists are women in their late 20s through their 30s. There's also a rising popularity of older female sleuths. Meg Reed, on the other hand, is quite young. One reason for this choice for this series is the lack of experience and need to find employment, yet an older woman could also face those same challenges. Why did you decide to make Meg so young?
KDS: I wrote Meg in her early twenties because I think it’s such a pivotal time in our personal development. She’s just graduated from college and is experiencing so many firsts. That’s what the twenties are all about—your first job, first apartment, first love. It’s a time when you’re learning who you are in the world, and I think that’s so rich in terms of writing a character. Meg’s a bit naïve, and I wrote her that way intentionally because she’s really trying to figure out who she is. She’s going to make a few mistakes in the process, but I think we all can all relate to that. I’m so excited to watch her grow and develop as the series continues, and I hope that readers will appreciate being part of her evolution.
Kathy: Meg makes quite a first impression on the man who will become her boss. Have you ever made a similar first impression?
KDS: Sadly, yes. I’m pretty outgoing and effusive which can be an asset, especially in social situations. I enjoy meeting new people and popping in and out of conversations. However, as Gam would say, “there’s always a balance.” Which for me means that I also have a tendency to just say the first thing that comes to mind without thinking. I was at a dinner party a few years ago and chatting with a nice gentleman about writing. He asked me about what I was working on and I gave him my quick pitch about the series, leading off with “Well you know newspapers are dinosaurs, they’re a dying breed…” Huge emphasis on how archaic newspapers were. Then a few minutes later the woman next to me asked him what he did, and he smiled at me, winked, and said. “I publish a newspaper.” Insert foot into mouth.
Kathy: Meg exaggerates her athletic abilities in order to land a job with Northwest Extreme magazine. Do you think that a good number of people embellish their resumes?
KDS: Absolutely. And for Meg I think exaggerating her athletic ability speaks to what we were talking about in terms of her learning to step into herself. Sometimes that means trying on different personas to see what sticks. Meg’s doing that, and is in over her head. But at the same time, by embellishing her skill set, she’s also forcing herself outside of her comfort zone. I love that! I think that we really grow when we do something challenging—physical or otherwise.
Kathy: I'm more apt to take a stroll around the neighborhood than a hike in the woods, especially a hike requiring specialized boots and a backpack! Are you an experienced hiker, a neophyte, or an armchair hiker?
KDS: I love hiking. It’s a favorite weekend activity for me and my family. We live just a quick drive from all the places highlighted in Scene of the Climb, and one of the best things about writing the book was going out to hike for the sake of “research.” However I’m not an adrenaline junkie like the rest of the crew at Northwest Extreme magazine. You won’t find me free climbing or attempting to summit Mt. Everest. I’m strangely fascinated by that culture though. I watched documentaries about climbers who live on the edge and interviewed a number of serious mountain climbers while working on the book. There’s something addictive about the rush that comes with doing something dangerous, and I really want to explore that more from Meg’s perspective as the series develops.
Kathy: Although I'm more of a wine and hard liquor drinker, I do enjoy a beer on occasion. Meg enjoys drinking craft beers with her friends. Are you a beer drinker? Do you have any favorite craft beers?
KDS: If you live anywhere near Portland, Oregon it’s almost a requirement. Portland has more brew pubs per capita than any other city in the world. It really is part of our culture, and good beer pairs perfectly with a good hike. I do like craft beers, although unlike Meg, I’m also a fan of Oregon’s famed Willamette Valley wines. In terms of picking a favorite? That’s tough! We have some favorite neighborhood pubs that we frequent, and then whenever we travel in the region we always like to discover new favorites. IPAs and Red Ales are my favorites. For beer fans, I’m hoping to connect readers with many of the Pacific Northwest’s brew houses throughout the series.
Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?
KDS: I’ve been a mystery fan since my early reading days when I devoured Nancy Drew and Trixie Bleden. My grandmother hooked me on my first official cozy series when I was in my late teens, and I’ve been a huge fan of the genre ever since.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
KDS: My first book was a memoir. Very different and very serious. It was the story of becoming a mother for the first time while losing my mom to young onset Alzheimer’s. Writing it was a challenge, but I’m so glad that I stuck with it because not only did it help me in my grieving process but it really opened me up to writing mysteries. I’ve said that was the book that I had to write. Now I’m writing what I want to write.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
KDS: The Pacific Northwest Mysteries feature Meg Reed, a young journalist who bills herself as an intrepid adventurer in order to land a job writing for Northwest Extreme magazine when in reality her idea of sport is climbing onto the couch without spilling her latte. Meg gets sent out on a variety of assignments in the ruggedly beautiful Northwest where she finds herself out of her league and in the middle of a murder investigation.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
KDS: That’s tough. I like them all! That sounds cliché doesn’t it? Okay if I have to pick, I really enjoy writing Gam, Meg’s eccentric grandmother. I like the relationship between the two of them. I think there’s something really special about the connection between grandparents and grandchildren. Gam is a grounding force for Meg. She’s very wise and serves as a spiritual advisor for Meg, but at the same time is fun-loving and young at heart. That connection between the generations is so important. They both have something to offer the other. Meg brings out Gam’s playful nature, and Gam has wisdom of years to pass down. Plus, I’d really love to hang out in Gam’s shop and nosh on one of her homemade cookies.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
KDS: I spent a semester in college in New Zealand and Australia on an eco-tourism program. Basically that meant that a bunch of twenty-year-olds spent a few months backpacking, hiking, whitewater rafting, and going on every other outdoor adventure imaginable. A number of my friends on the trip opted to do things like bungee jump off a bridge—I skipped that activity and watched from the comfort and safety of the ground below. A few months before I started writing Scene of the Climb I was hiking Angel’s Rest and saw a young woman hiking in a pair of hot pink boots. She was my initial inspiration. I kept thinking back to that trip I took to New Zealand and Australia in my early twenties, and the story came together from there.
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
KDS: I read mysteries prolifically, and am always on the hunt for a new series. I figured there something a little unique about Meg and setting a cozy here in the Pacific Northwest. I really enjoy culinary cozies, and I thought it would be fun to use that format of including recipes, but with a different angle. Scene of the Climb includes adventure tips and a scenic loop that readers can actually bring along with them the next time they visit this part of the world and follow Meg’s loop.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
KDS: Maud Lovelace—her series Betsy-Tacy is my all-time favorite read from childhood.
Willa Cather—I think I read O Pioneers twenty times in high-school.
Agatha Christie—I’ve read every single book, and would love to pick her brain on how she kept cranking out mystery after mystery for all those years.
Jane Austen—Because, Mr. Darcy. Need I say more?
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
KDS: Bill Bryson’s At Home. I love his work. He finds a way to make the most mundane details or historical information burst into life. I usually laugh out loud when I’m reading his books. When I’m working on a manuscript I don’t read any fiction (which is a bummer) because I don’t want another character’s voice getting in my head. I read a lot of nonfiction when I’m drafting. I feel a little like I’m cheating when I read Bryson because his voice is so distinct, but he definitely isn’t writing mysteries or fiction so he’s always on my reading list.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
KDS: I’m a swimmer. I spent my summers in high school and college lifeguarding and teaching swimming lessons. I love the pool—even the smell of chlorine on my skin! We already touched on the outdoors, but I do spend a lot of time (especially in the summer and fall when it’s not raining twenty-four seven) walking, hiking, or in the water. I love to cook and bake. There’s almost always something homemade in my kitchen. Unless I’m nearing the end of the manuscript and then it’s take out burritos.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
KDS: Hummus, Cilantro, Chocolate chips, Apples
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
KDS: Meg’s next adventure (Slayed on the Slopes) comes out in April. She’s heading to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood to cover a new high-altitude guiding team. While she’s done some training to try to get more geared up for her job with Northwest Extreme, she’s hoping she can conduct her interviews next to a crackling fire inside the lodge. However when she arrives, she learns that she’s being sent a thousand vertical feet up the Silcox Hut, a remote mountain cabin. She finds herself stuck outside in a blizzard and from there things just get worse.
I’m working on book # 3 as we speak. Meg’s going to be in high water in her third adventure as she covers a windsurfing competition in Hood River, Oregon.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
KDS: Making up stories and characters in my head and having people read them. I mean when I step back and think about that it’s just amazing and really humbling.
***************************************************************************
For more information about Kate, check out these links:
Web: htttps://www.katedyerseeley.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Meet Terrie Farley Moran - An Interview & Giveaway
Please welcome Terrie Farley Moran to the blog today. Terrie is the author of Well Read, Then Dead. This book, the first in the Read 'Em and Weep Mystery series, was just published August 5th.
Kathy: Read ’Em and Eat is the bookstore cafe owned by Sassy Cabot and Bridgy Mayfield. What makes food and books such a good combo?
TFM: Sassy and Bridgy have gone a long way to mingle books and food. Each table in the café is dedicated to an author, and the table top is decorated with snippets of that author’s work and maybe a picture or two—everything laminated. Menu items have bookish names, True Grits, for example. Readers will often have a drink or a snack as they read. Food and books make a good combo because they are two things that most of us cannot live without.
Kathy: Setting is very important to a story. Your series is set in Florida's Gulf coast. How did you choose this location?
TFM: The short version is that my daughter lives about half an hour inland from Fort Myers Beach where Well Read, Then Dead takes place. She suggested I take a look at the barrier islands and I recognized Fort Myers Beach as the perfect home for Sassy, Bridgy and the Read ’Em and Eat.
Kathy: Are the rumours of treasure true? Have you ever hunted for treasure, sunken or otherwise?
TFM: Oh, there is treasure all right. Lots of it. The floor of the waters surrounding Florida is littered with ships, most of them sunk centuries ago. Some by pirates, others by hurricanes. Many are Spanish galleons filled with New World gold, silver and other valuables. The galleons would pick up the Gulf Stream near Florida to ease their passage across the Atlantic. And many went down. I reference the romance of the treasure ships in Well Read, Then Dead. I have walked a metal detector on the beach after a storm, with no great success I’m afraid.
Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?
TFM: After Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton and Trixie Belden, I moved very quickly to reading Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh and the other Golden Age mystery authors, which eventually led me to the modern cozy novels. I write what I read.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
TFM: No. I write mysteries. In my short mystery fiction I have written everything from noir to paranormal. But when it comes to novels, I stick with cozies.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
TFM: A book club regular at the Read ’Em and Eat, sweet and quiet Miss Delia Batson is murdered. When her cousin Augusta Maddox begs Sassy Cabot to help find the killer, Sassy and her BFF Bridgy Mayfield struggle to solve the murder, locate Miss Delia’s missing cat and still keep the Read ’Em and Eat providing their patrons with breakfast, lunch and engaging book club meetings.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
TFM: I love them all for different reasons. If I had to pick one, it would be Miss Augusta Maddox, because I hope to live long enough to be as crotchety as she is. I am already practicing being as loud.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
TFM: I did. A wonderful woman named Christine Begley introduced me to the work of the late Peter Matthiessen, who had recently combined his Watson trilogy into a nearly nine hundred page novel called Shadow Country. Matthiessen introduces his readers to the untamed and isolated Florida Gulf Coast of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It made the coast far more interesting to me than it had been before I read the book. At first I intended to write a short story set in that time and place and then I decided that a modern story with references to the past would make a perfect cozy.
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
TFM: I have a very supportive literary agent, Kim Lionetti of Bookends. She encourages my writing and was able to arrange for an editor to read a proposal for Well Read, Then Dead and ultimately Berkley Prime Crime made an offer. I did write the novel with the hope of having it published, but I didn’t decide to publish, Berkley did.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
TFM: Agatha Christie, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Anya Seton and Erma Bombeck
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
TFM: The September issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
TFM: My most fun ever is hanging out with any or all of my seven grandkids. We play games and watch movies and generally horse around. I also walk every day, go to a gym and take a water aerobics class. They are necessities more than hobbies because writing is such a sedentary occupation.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
TFM: Green tea, yogurt, lemons, and cookies and milk for the grandkids.
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
TFM: I do. I am fortunate enough to have a contract with Berkley Prime Crime for a three-book series. Well Read, Then Dead is book one. I have just sent the second book, Death Branches Out to my wonderful editor and I will begin the yet-to-be named third book shortly. Sassy and Bridgy will remain the protagonist and BFF in each book.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
TFM: Easy commute and I don’t have to wear high heels or make-up to work.
To learn more, check out the following links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/terrie.moran.9
Blog: www.womenofmystery.net
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/23186092-terrie-moran
Would you like to win a copy of Well Read, Then Dead? Simply leave a comment on this blog post no later than 11:59 pm EST Tuesday, August 12th 2014 telling us if you've ever hunted for treasure. Be sure to leave an e-mail address so that I can contact you should you win!
Kathy: Read ’Em and Eat is the bookstore cafe owned by Sassy Cabot and Bridgy Mayfield. What makes food and books such a good combo?
TFM: Sassy and Bridgy have gone a long way to mingle books and food. Each table in the café is dedicated to an author, and the table top is decorated with snippets of that author’s work and maybe a picture or two—everything laminated. Menu items have bookish names, True Grits, for example. Readers will often have a drink or a snack as they read. Food and books make a good combo because they are two things that most of us cannot live without.
Kathy: Setting is very important to a story. Your series is set in Florida's Gulf coast. How did you choose this location?
TFM: The short version is that my daughter lives about half an hour inland from Fort Myers Beach where Well Read, Then Dead takes place. She suggested I take a look at the barrier islands and I recognized Fort Myers Beach as the perfect home for Sassy, Bridgy and the Read ’Em and Eat.
Kathy: Are the rumours of treasure true? Have you ever hunted for treasure, sunken or otherwise?
TFM: Oh, there is treasure all right. Lots of it. The floor of the waters surrounding Florida is littered with ships, most of them sunk centuries ago. Some by pirates, others by hurricanes. Many are Spanish galleons filled with New World gold, silver and other valuables. The galleons would pick up the Gulf Stream near Florida to ease their passage across the Atlantic. And many went down. I reference the romance of the treasure ships in Well Read, Then Dead. I have walked a metal detector on the beach after a storm, with no great success I’m afraid.
Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?
TFM: After Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton and Trixie Belden, I moved very quickly to reading Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh and the other Golden Age mystery authors, which eventually led me to the modern cozy novels. I write what I read.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
TFM: No. I write mysteries. In my short mystery fiction I have written everything from noir to paranormal. But when it comes to novels, I stick with cozies.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
TFM: A book club regular at the Read ’Em and Eat, sweet and quiet Miss Delia Batson is murdered. When her cousin Augusta Maddox begs Sassy Cabot to help find the killer, Sassy and her BFF Bridgy Mayfield struggle to solve the murder, locate Miss Delia’s missing cat and still keep the Read ’Em and Eat providing their patrons with breakfast, lunch and engaging book club meetings.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
TFM: I love them all for different reasons. If I had to pick one, it would be Miss Augusta Maddox, because I hope to live long enough to be as crotchety as she is. I am already practicing being as loud.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
TFM: I did. A wonderful woman named Christine Begley introduced me to the work of the late Peter Matthiessen, who had recently combined his Watson trilogy into a nearly nine hundred page novel called Shadow Country. Matthiessen introduces his readers to the untamed and isolated Florida Gulf Coast of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It made the coast far more interesting to me than it had been before I read the book. At first I intended to write a short story set in that time and place and then I decided that a modern story with references to the past would make a perfect cozy.
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
TFM: I have a very supportive literary agent, Kim Lionetti of Bookends. She encourages my writing and was able to arrange for an editor to read a proposal for Well Read, Then Dead and ultimately Berkley Prime Crime made an offer. I did write the novel with the hope of having it published, but I didn’t decide to publish, Berkley did.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
TFM: Agatha Christie, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Anya Seton and Erma Bombeck
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
TFM: The September issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
TFM: My most fun ever is hanging out with any or all of my seven grandkids. We play games and watch movies and generally horse around. I also walk every day, go to a gym and take a water aerobics class. They are necessities more than hobbies because writing is such a sedentary occupation.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
TFM: Green tea, yogurt, lemons, and cookies and milk for the grandkids.
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
TFM: I do. I am fortunate enough to have a contract with Berkley Prime Crime for a three-book series. Well Read, Then Dead is book one. I have just sent the second book, Death Branches Out to my wonderful editor and I will begin the yet-to-be named third book shortly. Sassy and Bridgy will remain the protagonist and BFF in each book.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
TFM: Easy commute and I don’t have to wear high heels or make-up to work.
To learn more, check out the following links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/terrie.moran.9
Blog: www.womenofmystery.net
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/23186092-terrie-moran
Would you like to win a copy of Well Read, Then Dead? Simply leave a comment on this blog post no later than 11:59 pm EST Tuesday, August 12th 2014 telling us if you've ever hunted for treasure. Be sure to leave an e-mail address so that I can contact you should you win!
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Currently Reading...
I'm currently reading Sex, Lies, and Snickerdoodles. This book is the second in the Working Stiffs Mystery series by Wendy Delaney. Charmaine Digby, Deputy Coroner and human lie detector, is back in action...and getting some action from good friend and detective Steve Sixkiller. Town bad boy, Russell Falco, is also a playboy, but is that what got him killed? Char is as determined to prove that his death is indeed murder, thus requiring investigation from the coroner's office, as she is from avoiding her mother who has returned to town deeper, and any more meaningful feelings towards Steve. I love this funny series and can really relate to Char...and the annoyance of having fat pants that get too small. Sigh.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
A Visit to Montana with Leslie Budewitz
I'd like to welcome Leslie Budewitz to the blog today. Leslie writes the Food Lover's Village Mystery series. Crime Rib, the second in the series was released July 1st following last year's Death al Dente.
Kathy: I am very proud of WNY, you seem proud of where you live too. Can you tell me just some of the things that make Montana so special?
LB: First, the people. They’ve got an independent spirit, but are community-minded. Our town – I use the term loosely – is unincorporated, but looks like a town, with its original village and its highway businesses, its neighborhoods and outlying areas. It boasts a tremendous volunteer corps. We make a party and a festival out of nearly everything, from “Clean Your Fork” in the spring when we pick up trash and tidy the roads and parks to the self-explanatory “Decorating Day” in December and “Undecorating Day” in January. We’ve also got far more artists, musicians, and writers than you’d expect in a town of less than 5,000, which most long-timers attribute to a few key people who fostered that spirit in the 1970s. That creativity has become part of our community character, as well as an integral part of our economy, and I try to do my part to nurture it.
And of course, the incredible natural beauty and all the opportunities it offers for recreation. Taking a walk around here is like meditation.
Kathy: I love the idea of being a locavore and am lucky to live in an area with plenty of good fresh local food and beverages. I was, therefore, excited to hear about your Food Lovers' Village Mystery series. What made you decide to turn a general store into a boutique market of local food treats?
LB: Well, Erin did that – not me! Small towns face tremendous pressures in the modern world and to keep up, they’ve got to reinvent themselves occasionally or find a niche – just as businesses do. In my role as a lawyer, I once mediated a dispute between an employer and a manager who complained that the company was constantly changing things, bringing in new products and marketing campaigns, changing the store layout, bringing in new ideas just when he got comfortable with the old ones. The employer’s response was that businesses always have to change, to stay fresh and interesting to the customer. The manager just couldn’t get it – which is why we had a problem.
Erin Murphy, my main character, very much follows the manager’s philosophy. It’s obvious to her that the Merc is struggling because it’s lost its identity and must forge a new one. She realizes that folks won’t come downtown – aka the Village – for groceries unless she gives them good reason. It’s so much easier to slide in and out of the big grocery store on the highway. The tourists want an interesting experience, blending a touch of the familiar with the local and exotic. Summer folks – those who come here every year, sometimes following decades-old family traditions – have their own mix of needs. And the locals – well, they tie it all together. Finding the mix that suits everyone and keeps the money flowing is a real challenge!
And Erin’s mother Fresca can’t understand why things need to change – even though she invited, even begged, Erin to come home to change things!
Just as I was finishing Death al Dente, I needed a birthday present and thought “I’ll pop into the Merc and see what they have.” Then I remembered it only exists in my head and on the page. Either I’ve created a magical, welcoming spot---or I’ve gone off the deep end. You decide!
My neighbors have given me a little flak for creating a business where they’d like to shop---if it really existed. Business opportunity available!
Kathy: In Death al Dente there are rumors of a stolen recipe. Do you guard your recipes, or do you willingly share them all?
LB: I think the recipe sections in the back of the books answer that question! I’ve never quite understood the recipe-hoarder mentality, or the cooks who share but intentionally leave out a secret ingredient. After all, isn’t sharing the love as much a part of cooking as taste and nutrition?
Kathy: In Crime Rib Erin Murphy looks forward to enjoying the 35th Annual Jewel Bay Summer Art and Food Festival. I love festivals and go to a few myself. Do you go to many festivals? Do you have a favorite? Is the festival in Jewel Bay based on a real festival somewhere?
LB: Our short season means we need to celebrate when we can, especially if we want to entertain those tourists. So every town and city in Montana has its festivals: Dog & Grog, Buzzard Days (“celebrating nature’s cleaners” – I’m not making that up), Homesteader Days, Pioneer Days, Strawberry Fest, Sweet Pea Festival, your choice of Huckleberry Days, Pow Wows, Mountain Men Rendezvous, and more. Jewel Bay’s festival combines them all, but it owes its biggest debt to the local festivals.
Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries? Do you write in any other genres?
LB: As a lawyer and aspiring mystery writer, I’d been helping writers who had questions about legal issues in their fiction for years – how would a fictional detective get a search warrant, when are Miranda warnings required, could a particular character inherit from another, and so on. I wrote columns in writers’ newsletters and started my blog, www.LawandFiction.com/blog , and then wrote my first book, Books, Crooks & Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law & Courtroom Procedure (Quill Driver Books, 2011), winner of the 2011 Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction. I love helping other writers. But while writing Books, Crooks, I realized I wasn’t through writing mystery, that I still wanted to tell my own stories. I love all variety of mystery, but decided to focus on the cozy because it combines everything I love about fiction.
Cozies combine plot, character, and setting with fun and community. The amateur sleuth uses her knowledge of the community to investigate, realizing that her skills and connections give her access to information that law enforcement lacks. She helps them and they close the case because of her – they restore external order, through the justice system, but she restores social order. And ultimately, the cozy mystery – whether it’s set in a small town or a particular segment of a big city – is about community. And food!
Kathy: Tell us about your series. Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
LB: The Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries are set in Jewel Bay, Montana, a lakeside resort community on the road to Glacier National Park. They feature Erin Murphy, manager of The Merc, a specialty local foods market located in her family’s century-old building, the town’s first grocery. Death al Dente was published a year ago and won the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First Novel. The second, Crime Rib, was published July 1, 2014. Delighted to say both are national bestsellers. The third Village book, still untitled, will be published in July 2015, and I hope there will be more.
Assault & Pepper, first in the Seattle Spice Shop Mysteries, will be published in March 2015. Pepper Reece runs the Spice Shop in Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market, specializing in herbs, spices, and a pinch of murder.
Each series is published under a three-book contract with Berkley Prime Crime, the leading publisher of cozy mysteries. I’d love to keep telling both Erin’s and Pepper’s stories, but whether the series continue after the third book depends on the publisher – and reader interest.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
LB: Erin and Pepper each embody aspects of my own experience – I’m a Montana girl who moved to Seattle for college and a legal career, then returned home in my early 30s. Each of the other characters, major and minor, has their own genesis. In the Village series, I particularly enjoy exploring the relationship between Erin and her mother Fresca, and between Erin and her estranged friend from childhood, Detective Kim Caldwell. Candy Divine and Ned Redaway are pure fun, and even grim Sally Grimes has her moments! And then there are the two men vying for Erin’s romantic attention---Rick Bergstrom and Adam Zimmerman. I hope they all come to life on the page for the reader as they do for me!
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
LB: Hmm. I’ll call my friend Marianne Forrest to cater so I can sip wine and enjoy the conversation. Best not to try to cook and serve while awestruck. Now, because I haven’t met any of these writers, I can’t tell how well they’d get along---a factor in any guest list. I can pretty much guarantee this list will change in five minutes, when I remember someone I forgot---which is part of the fun of questions like this!
So today, the list would go like this: Toni Morrison, American novelist and Nobel prize winner for literature. I’ve read her 2008 novel A Mercy several times and am due for another trek back in time with her. Mary Oliver, American poet of the heart and of landscape. I suspect she’s quite shy, so if she wants to bring her dog---whom she often writes about---I’d stock up on liver treats. Ted Kooser, former American poet laureate. I wrote him a fan letter once and he wrote back. And Wallace Stegner, the late novelist and essayist whose Angle of Repose and Big Rock Candy Mountain are to me the essential novels of the West.
Now you may notice the lack of mystery writers. That’s because I get to see my favorite living writers at Malice Domestic, the annual convention celebrating the traditional mystery, where we also celebrate our favorite writers of the past. But if you give me a bonus pick, I’d invite Agatha Christie. And my agent, Paige Wheeler, and my editor, Faith Black, who would kill me if they didn’t get to join us.
What are you currently reading?
I’ve been immersing myself into “kitchen lit” – chefs’ memoirs and journalists’ explorations of food. A few recent favs: Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant by clinical psychologist and food writer Scott Haas, Cooked, by Michael Pollan, and Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton, chef and owner of Prune in New York City. I’m also pouring through spice catalogs and histories for my Spice Shop series.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
LB: At the moment, writing and my law practice take most of my time, but I also love to paint. My media are watercolor, dye on silk, and pastel. The birch grove on my website (www.LeslieBudewitz.com) is one of my paintings. Mr. Right and I love to hike and sail as well, and of course, we love to cook, to create new recipes, and to share them with our friends and family.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
LB: Kalamata olives, good cheese, crackers, and chilled white wine, preferably pinot grigio or a good NW Chardonnay.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
LB: Not wearing shoes to work. And getting to play for a living. Writing is my passion and my privilege, and I’m so grateful to the readers who make it possible!
Kathy: I am very proud of WNY, you seem proud of where you live too. Can you tell me just some of the things that make Montana so special?
LB: First, the people. They’ve got an independent spirit, but are community-minded. Our town – I use the term loosely – is unincorporated, but looks like a town, with its original village and its highway businesses, its neighborhoods and outlying areas. It boasts a tremendous volunteer corps. We make a party and a festival out of nearly everything, from “Clean Your Fork” in the spring when we pick up trash and tidy the roads and parks to the self-explanatory “Decorating Day” in December and “Undecorating Day” in January. We’ve also got far more artists, musicians, and writers than you’d expect in a town of less than 5,000, which most long-timers attribute to a few key people who fostered that spirit in the 1970s. That creativity has become part of our community character, as well as an integral part of our economy, and I try to do my part to nurture it.
And of course, the incredible natural beauty and all the opportunities it offers for recreation. Taking a walk around here is like meditation.
Kathy: I love the idea of being a locavore and am lucky to live in an area with plenty of good fresh local food and beverages. I was, therefore, excited to hear about your Food Lovers' Village Mystery series. What made you decide to turn a general store into a boutique market of local food treats?
LB: Well, Erin did that – not me! Small towns face tremendous pressures in the modern world and to keep up, they’ve got to reinvent themselves occasionally or find a niche – just as businesses do. In my role as a lawyer, I once mediated a dispute between an employer and a manager who complained that the company was constantly changing things, bringing in new products and marketing campaigns, changing the store layout, bringing in new ideas just when he got comfortable with the old ones. The employer’s response was that businesses always have to change, to stay fresh and interesting to the customer. The manager just couldn’t get it – which is why we had a problem.
Erin Murphy, my main character, very much follows the manager’s philosophy. It’s obvious to her that the Merc is struggling because it’s lost its identity and must forge a new one. She realizes that folks won’t come downtown – aka the Village – for groceries unless she gives them good reason. It’s so much easier to slide in and out of the big grocery store on the highway. The tourists want an interesting experience, blending a touch of the familiar with the local and exotic. Summer folks – those who come here every year, sometimes following decades-old family traditions – have their own mix of needs. And the locals – well, they tie it all together. Finding the mix that suits everyone and keeps the money flowing is a real challenge!
And Erin’s mother Fresca can’t understand why things need to change – even though she invited, even begged, Erin to come home to change things!
Just as I was finishing Death al Dente, I needed a birthday present and thought “I’ll pop into the Merc and see what they have.” Then I remembered it only exists in my head and on the page. Either I’ve created a magical, welcoming spot---or I’ve gone off the deep end. You decide!
My neighbors have given me a little flak for creating a business where they’d like to shop---if it really existed. Business opportunity available!
Kathy: In Death al Dente there are rumors of a stolen recipe. Do you guard your recipes, or do you willingly share them all?
LB: I think the recipe sections in the back of the books answer that question! I’ve never quite understood the recipe-hoarder mentality, or the cooks who share but intentionally leave out a secret ingredient. After all, isn’t sharing the love as much a part of cooking as taste and nutrition?
Kathy: In Crime Rib Erin Murphy looks forward to enjoying the 35th Annual Jewel Bay Summer Art and Food Festival. I love festivals and go to a few myself. Do you go to many festivals? Do you have a favorite? Is the festival in Jewel Bay based on a real festival somewhere?
LB: Our short season means we need to celebrate when we can, especially if we want to entertain those tourists. So every town and city in Montana has its festivals: Dog & Grog, Buzzard Days (“celebrating nature’s cleaners” – I’m not making that up), Homesteader Days, Pioneer Days, Strawberry Fest, Sweet Pea Festival, your choice of Huckleberry Days, Pow Wows, Mountain Men Rendezvous, and more. Jewel Bay’s festival combines them all, but it owes its biggest debt to the local festivals.
Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries? Do you write in any other genres?
LB: As a lawyer and aspiring mystery writer, I’d been helping writers who had questions about legal issues in their fiction for years – how would a fictional detective get a search warrant, when are Miranda warnings required, could a particular character inherit from another, and so on. I wrote columns in writers’ newsletters and started my blog, www.LawandFiction.com/blog , and then wrote my first book, Books, Crooks & Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law & Courtroom Procedure (Quill Driver Books, 2011), winner of the 2011 Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction. I love helping other writers. But while writing Books, Crooks, I realized I wasn’t through writing mystery, that I still wanted to tell my own stories. I love all variety of mystery, but decided to focus on the cozy because it combines everything I love about fiction.
Cozies combine plot, character, and setting with fun and community. The amateur sleuth uses her knowledge of the community to investigate, realizing that her skills and connections give her access to information that law enforcement lacks. She helps them and they close the case because of her – they restore external order, through the justice system, but she restores social order. And ultimately, the cozy mystery – whether it’s set in a small town or a particular segment of a big city – is about community. And food!
Kathy: Tell us about your series. Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
LB: The Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries are set in Jewel Bay, Montana, a lakeside resort community on the road to Glacier National Park. They feature Erin Murphy, manager of The Merc, a specialty local foods market located in her family’s century-old building, the town’s first grocery. Death al Dente was published a year ago and won the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First Novel. The second, Crime Rib, was published July 1, 2014. Delighted to say both are national bestsellers. The third Village book, still untitled, will be published in July 2015, and I hope there will be more.
Assault & Pepper, first in the Seattle Spice Shop Mysteries, will be published in March 2015. Pepper Reece runs the Spice Shop in Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market, specializing in herbs, spices, and a pinch of murder.
Each series is published under a three-book contract with Berkley Prime Crime, the leading publisher of cozy mysteries. I’d love to keep telling both Erin’s and Pepper’s stories, but whether the series continue after the third book depends on the publisher – and reader interest.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
LB: Erin and Pepper each embody aspects of my own experience – I’m a Montana girl who moved to Seattle for college and a legal career, then returned home in my early 30s. Each of the other characters, major and minor, has their own genesis. In the Village series, I particularly enjoy exploring the relationship between Erin and her mother Fresca, and between Erin and her estranged friend from childhood, Detective Kim Caldwell. Candy Divine and Ned Redaway are pure fun, and even grim Sally Grimes has her moments! And then there are the two men vying for Erin’s romantic attention---Rick Bergstrom and Adam Zimmerman. I hope they all come to life on the page for the reader as they do for me!
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
LB: Hmm. I’ll call my friend Marianne Forrest to cater so I can sip wine and enjoy the conversation. Best not to try to cook and serve while awestruck. Now, because I haven’t met any of these writers, I can’t tell how well they’d get along---a factor in any guest list. I can pretty much guarantee this list will change in five minutes, when I remember someone I forgot---which is part of the fun of questions like this!
So today, the list would go like this: Toni Morrison, American novelist and Nobel prize winner for literature. I’ve read her 2008 novel A Mercy several times and am due for another trek back in time with her. Mary Oliver, American poet of the heart and of landscape. I suspect she’s quite shy, so if she wants to bring her dog---whom she often writes about---I’d stock up on liver treats. Ted Kooser, former American poet laureate. I wrote him a fan letter once and he wrote back. And Wallace Stegner, the late novelist and essayist whose Angle of Repose and Big Rock Candy Mountain are to me the essential novels of the West.
Now you may notice the lack of mystery writers. That’s because I get to see my favorite living writers at Malice Domestic, the annual convention celebrating the traditional mystery, where we also celebrate our favorite writers of the past. But if you give me a bonus pick, I’d invite Agatha Christie. And my agent, Paige Wheeler, and my editor, Faith Black, who would kill me if they didn’t get to join us.
What are you currently reading?
I’ve been immersing myself into “kitchen lit” – chefs’ memoirs and journalists’ explorations of food. A few recent favs: Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant by clinical psychologist and food writer Scott Haas, Cooked, by Michael Pollan, and Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton, chef and owner of Prune in New York City. I’m also pouring through spice catalogs and histories for my Spice Shop series.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
LB: At the moment, writing and my law practice take most of my time, but I also love to paint. My media are watercolor, dye on silk, and pastel. The birch grove on my website (www.LeslieBudewitz.com) is one of my paintings. Mr. Right and I love to hike and sail as well, and of course, we love to cook, to create new recipes, and to share them with our friends and family.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
LB: Kalamata olives, good cheese, crackers, and chilled white wine, preferably pinot grigio or a good NW Chardonnay.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
LB: Not wearing shoes to work. And getting to play for a living. Writing is my passion and my privilege, and I’m so grateful to the readers who make it possible!
***************************************************************************
For more tales of life in the wilds of northwest Montana,
and bonus recipes, visit her website and subscribe to her newsletter. Website:
www.LeslieBudewitz.com Find her on
Facebook: LeslieBudewitzAuthor
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Mission to Interview Lynn Cahoon
I'd like to welcome Lynn Cahoon to the blog today. Lynn writes the Tourist Trap Mystery series. Mission to Murder, the second in the series was just released July 31st.
Kathy: What drew you to the California coast for the setting of your series?
LC: A long ago spring break. Seriously. My oldest sister lives in Santa Maria and I spent a week there, driving to different tourist spots and thinking about my failing marriage. By the time I left, I had rolls of film to develop and a clear head about my decision.
Kathy: In Mission to Murder Jill Gardner discovers a wall on her property just may be part of a centuries old mission. I've always been interested in old buildings and historic preservation. In fact, I'm a member of the Landmark Society of WNY. Are you interested in preserving historical buildings?
LC: I adore old buildings. I’m kind of obsessed with old barns. Houses have their own stories to tell and like with Miss Emily’s house, you never know what the previous owners have left behind. Moving to the Mid-west from Idaho has given me the opportunity to see history. Even in my own back yard.
Kathy: Jill is the host for South Cove’s Business Basics meetings. Have you had dealings with a local chamber of commerce?
LC: I haven’t worked directly with a chamber of commerce, but I’ve been involved in community development programs. I was part of the group who changed welfare during the Clinton administration on a local level back home. Working with an employer group for that project gave me lots of fodder for Jill’s meetings.
Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?
LC: I found the genre when I was going through treatment for breast cancer. Easy reads without a lot of blood and gore to get me through the long appointments at the cancer center. A nurse saw me reading one of Susan McBride’s Drop Out Debutante series and brought me her entire collection since Susan’s a local St Louis author. I mentioned on my blog this kindness and how much I loved the series. Susan reached out and sent me a signed copy of her latest release. She’s a pink sister too.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
LC: I write contemporary romance (modern westerns) and I have a series I’ll be finishing writing this year in the paranormal romance sub-genre. My books may look totally different, but they all focus on small town relationships and troubles.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
LC: The Tourist Trap Mystery series is set in the central California coastal town of South Cove. Jill Gardner, the heroine, has left her life as a family law attorney and set up shop as the owner of a bookstore/coffee shop combined. But it’s hard to be the new girl. Jill and the rest of the South Cove gang are focused on keeping their shops open and profitable, even if they have to supplement their income with other part time jobs.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
LC: It would have to be Jill’s Aunt Jackie. She’s a character and there’s so much mystery about her. She says whatever pops into her head and gets away with it because of her advancing years. Which she works to her advantage. The woman never misses a beat or a good sale.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
LC: Finding the real inspiration for Miss Emily’s house during my spring break trip was the catalyst that jump started the series. That one picture haunted me until I started GUIDEBOOK.
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
LC: I always wanted to be an author. Some day. When I found out I had cancer, I realized that someday may not come. So I started working on the craft seriously. I never looked back.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
LC: My BFF, Laura Bradford, (cozy mystery writer), Stephen King (my idol), Robyn Carr (small town contemporary romance queen) and if he’d behave himself, Ernest Hemingway. His A Moveable Feast is probably one of my favorite books of all time.
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
LC: I just finished Beverly Hills Demon Slayer –Angie Fox. On my night stand is Robyn Carr’s The Newcomer along with Maggie Sefton’s Unraveled and Kate Carlise’s One Book in the Grave. I have a couple of ARC’s for friends to read and blurb and/or review. I just picked up three new audio books from the library yesterday. I’ll start a new story on my way into work tomorrow.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
LC: I love reality competition cooking shows. And fashion shows. And weight loss shows. Totally addicted. I used to play darts and was pretty good for a girl. For our six wedding anniversary, my husband (The Cowboy) and I bought ATV’s. Love riding the trails.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
LC: Coffee, chocolate, risotto rice, and yogurt.
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
LC: Plans, do I have plan?. (Insert evil laugh track). I have three additional contracted books for The Tourist Trap series to write that will be releasing in 2015. My agent is shopping an Idaho set culinary cozy. I have one more Council series (the paranormal) book to write. I’m pitching a contemporary romance this month to Harlequin. Finding ideas isn’t the problem, finding extra time to write. That can be tricky.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
LC: When a reader tells me that my stories touched them in some way. By making the reader laugh, or cry, or see themselves in my character. I kind of dig that.
Want to learn more? Check out these links:
Goodreads -http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5857424.Lynn_Cahoon
Twitter - https://twitter.com/LynnCahoon
Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/LynnCahoonAuthor
Website - http://lynncahoon.wordpress.com/
Amazon author page - http://www.amazon.com/Lynn-Cahoon/e/B0082PWOAO/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
Kathy: What drew you to the California coast for the setting of your series?
LC: A long ago spring break. Seriously. My oldest sister lives in Santa Maria and I spent a week there, driving to different tourist spots and thinking about my failing marriage. By the time I left, I had rolls of film to develop and a clear head about my decision.
Kathy: In Mission to Murder Jill Gardner discovers a wall on her property just may be part of a centuries old mission. I've always been interested in old buildings and historic preservation. In fact, I'm a member of the Landmark Society of WNY. Are you interested in preserving historical buildings?
LC: I adore old buildings. I’m kind of obsessed with old barns. Houses have their own stories to tell and like with Miss Emily’s house, you never know what the previous owners have left behind. Moving to the Mid-west from Idaho has given me the opportunity to see history. Even in my own back yard.
Kathy: Jill is the host for South Cove’s Business Basics meetings. Have you had dealings with a local chamber of commerce?
LC: I haven’t worked directly with a chamber of commerce, but I’ve been involved in community development programs. I was part of the group who changed welfare during the Clinton administration on a local level back home. Working with an employer group for that project gave me lots of fodder for Jill’s meetings.
Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?
LC: I found the genre when I was going through treatment for breast cancer. Easy reads without a lot of blood and gore to get me through the long appointments at the cancer center. A nurse saw me reading one of Susan McBride’s Drop Out Debutante series and brought me her entire collection since Susan’s a local St Louis author. I mentioned on my blog this kindness and how much I loved the series. Susan reached out and sent me a signed copy of her latest release. She’s a pink sister too.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
LC: I write contemporary romance (modern westerns) and I have a series I’ll be finishing writing this year in the paranormal romance sub-genre. My books may look totally different, but they all focus on small town relationships and troubles.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
LC: The Tourist Trap Mystery series is set in the central California coastal town of South Cove. Jill Gardner, the heroine, has left her life as a family law attorney and set up shop as the owner of a bookstore/coffee shop combined. But it’s hard to be the new girl. Jill and the rest of the South Cove gang are focused on keeping their shops open and profitable, even if they have to supplement their income with other part time jobs.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
LC: It would have to be Jill’s Aunt Jackie. She’s a character and there’s so much mystery about her. She says whatever pops into her head and gets away with it because of her advancing years. Which she works to her advantage. The woman never misses a beat or a good sale.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
LC: Finding the real inspiration for Miss Emily’s house during my spring break trip was the catalyst that jump started the series. That one picture haunted me until I started GUIDEBOOK.
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
LC: I always wanted to be an author. Some day. When I found out I had cancer, I realized that someday may not come. So I started working on the craft seriously. I never looked back.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
LC: My BFF, Laura Bradford, (cozy mystery writer), Stephen King (my idol), Robyn Carr (small town contemporary romance queen) and if he’d behave himself, Ernest Hemingway. His A Moveable Feast is probably one of my favorite books of all time.
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
LC: I just finished Beverly Hills Demon Slayer –Angie Fox. On my night stand is Robyn Carr’s The Newcomer along with Maggie Sefton’s Unraveled and Kate Carlise’s One Book in the Grave. I have a couple of ARC’s for friends to read and blurb and/or review. I just picked up three new audio books from the library yesterday. I’ll start a new story on my way into work tomorrow.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
LC: I love reality competition cooking shows. And fashion shows. And weight loss shows. Totally addicted. I used to play darts and was pretty good for a girl. For our six wedding anniversary, my husband (The Cowboy) and I bought ATV’s. Love riding the trails.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
LC: Coffee, chocolate, risotto rice, and yogurt.
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
LC: Plans, do I have plan?. (Insert evil laugh track). I have three additional contracted books for The Tourist Trap series to write that will be releasing in 2015. My agent is shopping an Idaho set culinary cozy. I have one more Council series (the paranormal) book to write. I’m pitching a contemporary romance this month to Harlequin. Finding ideas isn’t the problem, finding extra time to write. That can be tricky.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
LC: When a reader tells me that my stories touched them in some way. By making the reader laugh, or cry, or see themselves in my character. I kind of dig that.
Want to learn more? Check out these links:
Goodreads -http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5857424.Lynn_Cahoon
Twitter - https://twitter.com/LynnCahoon
Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/LynnCahoonAuthor
Website - http://lynncahoon.wordpress.com/
Amazon author page - http://www.amazon.com/Lynn-Cahoon/e/B0082PWOAO/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
Friday, August 1, 2014
Review - Bloom and Doom
Review
Bloom and Doom by Beverly Allen
The First Bridal Bouquet Shop Mystery
Bloom and Doom is the first book in the Bridal Bouquet Shop Mystery series by Beverly Allen. Set in Virginia, we meet Audrey Bloom who co-owns The Rose in Bloom, a floral shop, with her cousin Liv. While Liv handles more of the business aspect of the shop, Audrey is known for her beautiful bridal bouquets, which she makes using the language of flowers. Audrey does a consultation with a one time friend, whose mother seems more interested in the wedding than the bride, and the blooms chosen are not auspicious. Then the bride to be cancels the wedding and the future groom winds up dead!
With Bloom and Doom Beverly Allen introduces us to an engaging new protagonist and a shop full of friends, from the former teacher mother figure to the football team that doesn't mind delivering flowers. There are several red herrings interspersed throughout. Just when I thought I figured out where she was going I discovered I had been led down a blind alley.
I really enjoyed my trip to Virginia to meet this new cast of cozy characters. Beverly Allen weaves the language of flowers throughout her debut mystery and I want to soak up more of her knowledge.
Bloom and Doom by Beverly Allen
The First Bridal Bouquet Shop Mystery
Bloom and Doom is the first book in the Bridal Bouquet Shop Mystery series by Beverly Allen. Set in Virginia, we meet Audrey Bloom who co-owns The Rose in Bloom, a floral shop, with her cousin Liv. While Liv handles more of the business aspect of the shop, Audrey is known for her beautiful bridal bouquets, which she makes using the language of flowers. Audrey does a consultation with a one time friend, whose mother seems more interested in the wedding than the bride, and the blooms chosen are not auspicious. Then the bride to be cancels the wedding and the future groom winds up dead!
With Bloom and Doom Beverly Allen introduces us to an engaging new protagonist and a shop full of friends, from the former teacher mother figure to the football team that doesn't mind delivering flowers. There are several red herrings interspersed throughout. Just when I thought I figured out where she was going I discovered I had been led down a blind alley.
I really enjoyed my trip to Virginia to meet this new cast of cozy characters. Beverly Allen weaves the language of flowers throughout her debut mystery and I want to soak up more of her knowledge.
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