Interview with cozy author Catherine Lloyd

Mystery author Catherine Lloyd is here today to chat a little bit about her new novel, Death Comes to Bath.

Bio:

Catherine Lloyd was born just outside London, England into a large family of dreamers, artists and history lovers. She completed her education with a master's degree in history at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth and moved to the USA with her family in 1998 living first in California, and now in Hawaii.

Please tell us about your current release.

This book is a cozy mystery set in the English city of Bath during the Regency period where my amateur sleuths, Sir Robert and Lucy, Lady Kurland get drawn into a murder investigation involving the drowning of their next door neighbor in the Roman baths.

What inspired you to write this book?

I love the city of Bath. While I was visiting two years ago, I had the idea of someone drowning in the hot spring waters of the Roman baths and the book just grew from there. One of the nicest things about Bath is that you can retrace the steps of your nineteenth century sleuths, visit the places they visited, and walk the same streets as Jane Austen did. For a writer it is really helpful to literally be able to see the scene of the crime.

What exciting story are you working on next?

I’m working on the next installment of the Kurland St. Mary mysteries, which will find my hero and heroine back at home in their sleepy village where far too many people end up murdered...

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I made stuff up all the time when I was a kid. I was always in trouble with my parents for my inability to separate facts from fantasy. I decided to write seriously just after I had my fourth child and moved to the USA, because it seemed like a good time to explore a new career.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I do write full time because as well as cozy mysteries, I write romance novels under a different name, and I produce three or four of those books a year.

I’m lucky enough to live in Hawaii, so after I get my daughter to school I write for about six hours without interruptions until she comes home.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I hardly write anything down plot-wise even for my mystery’s I just wing it.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a ballerina, a nun, and nurse in that order, none of which worked out for me. I love being a mother and being an author just ticked all the right boxes for me.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

If you want to keep updated with all things Catherine Lloyd please check out my website and consider joining my newsletter or following me on Facebook.

Links:

Facebook | Website

Thanks for joining me today, Catherine.

Interview with mystery author Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell)

Cozy mystery author Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) joins me today to chat about the first novel in a new series, Murder on Cape Cod.

Bio:

Agatha- and Macavity-nominated Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and award-winning short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. Maxwell lives north of Boston with her beau and two elderly cats, and gardens and cooks when she isn’t wasting time on Facebook.

Welcome, Maddie! Please tell us about your current release.

Murder on Cape Cod is the first in the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries from Kensington Publishing. Here’s the blurb:

Summer is busy season for Mackenzie “Mac” Almeida’s bicycle shop, nestled in the quaint, seaside hamlet of Westham, Massachusetts. She’s expecting an influx of tourists at Mac’s Bikes; instead she discovers the body of Jake Lacey, and her brother soon becomes a suspect. Mac’s only experience with murder investigations is limited to the cozy mysteries she reads with her local book group, the Cozy Capers. So to clear her brother’s name, Mac has to summon help from her book group co-investigators. For a small town, Westham is teeming with possible killers, and this is one mystery where Mac is hoping for anything but a surprise ending.

The book releases tomorrow (December 18) in a paperback exclusive from Barnes & Noble. It will rerelease a year later in all formats on all platforms.

What inspired you to write this book?

I spend solo writing time in a retreat cottage in West Falmouth on Cape Cod a couple of times a year and love the Cape in all seasons. Setting a cozy series in a fictional town in that area appealed to me and my editor alike. And with the miles of bike trails, it made sense to have a bike shop proprietor as the protagonist. Her participation in a book group that only reads cozy mysteries was icing on the cake.

Excerpt from Murder on Cape Cod:

Now I found the turn from the bike trail to the pathway that cut up to Main Street. Near the end of the path a hedge of scrubby coastal Rosa Rugosa separated the walkway from my postage stamp of a yard. The fragrant scent from the just-blooming native shrub mixed with the salt air and reminded me of my childhood here on the Cape. I slowed as I rounded a bend. I was scanning through the mist for the opening that would let me through the wall of roses when I tripped.

The obstacle in my path, oddly both soft and solid, was a sizable one. I yelled, arms windmilling like in a vintage cartoon. The air gave me nothing to grab hold of and I landed on my hands and elbows. I glanced down and back to see my knees resting on . . . Jake.

“Gah!” I shrieked and scrambled forward off of him. I crouched in place, my heart beating like the timpani in the Cape Symphony. Jake lay on his front with his head half-turned toward me, lips pulled back in a grimace, eyes unblinking.

“Jake!” I called. “Jake, are you all right?”

He didn’t respond. I inched closer and couldn’t detect any signs of breathing. I touched his temple but I didn’t feel a pulse under his too-cool skin. His skinny legs were splayed at an odd angle, and his back was still, too still. No breaths moved it up and down. He was never going to enjoy another free spaghetti dinner—or anything else. Jake Lacey was dead.

What exciting story are you working on next?

Next up is my seventh Country Store Mystery. Chef Robbie Jordan is going to leave southern Indiana to attend her tenth high school reunion in Santa Barbara, California. While there, a friend of her late mother’s hints that Mom’s death might not have been from natural causes, after all.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

My first paid publication was a short story when I was nine. I entered “Viking Girl” in a contest run by the local newspaper – the Pasadena Star News - and was paid two dollars. I have been writing in non-fiction of various kinds my entire adult life, but I got back to fiction – and specifically crime fiction – about twenty five years ago. I started writing mystery novels in earnest in 2009.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

Writing has been my full-time job for over six years. I am at my desk and working by seven every morning but Sunday. I usually write (or revise) until about eleven, then I go for my power walk, eat lunch, and do other authorly things in the afternoons. I am under contract to write three books a year, so I’d better treat it seriously.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I often talk out loud to myself on my daily walk. I plot the next day’s writing, then dictate a text to myself so I don’t forget. I think I’m known around my town as that crazy author lady who talks to herself. I don’t care. I like my plotting walks!

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I don’t remember! I recall wanting to be a teenager, but other than that? Not a clue.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Thanks so much for interviewing me, Lisa! I hope readers will visit my group blog, the Wicked Authors, and find me on my web site and on social media.

Links:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Wicked Authors blog | Murder on Cape Cod

Thanks for being here today! Happy book launch tomorrow!

Interview with novelist Kate Dyer-Seeley

Novelist Kate Dyer-Seeley is here today to chat about her new mystery, Violet Tendencies.

Bio:

Kate Dyer-Seeley is the author of In Cave Danger, Scene of the Climb and Slayed on the Slopes in the Pacific Northwest Mystery series, as well as the memoir Underneath the Ash and Natural Thorn Killer, the first book in her Rose City Mystery series. Kate’s writing has appeared in a number of regional and national publications, including Climbing Magazine, The Oregonian, The Columbian, Portland Family Magazine, Seattle Backpackers Magazine, and The Vancouver Voice. She is an active member of the Willamette Writers Association, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and the Pacific Northwest Writers Association.

Welcome, Kate. Please tell us about your current release.

I’m so excited to share the 2^nd book in the Rose City Mysteries with readers! In Violet Tendencies, floral artist Britta Johnston and her Aunt Elin have been chosen to design the signature float for Portland, Oregon’s annual Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade. They’re busy gluing seeds to their two-story float and stringing together beautiful strands of violets when a violent protest breaks out and threatens the entire parade.

What inspired you to write this book?

Growing up in Portland meant that Rose Festival was always a highlight of the year. The Grand Floral Parade was one of my favorite traditions. I loved watching the colorful floats and even had an opportunity to march in the parade during high school. I pulled from those memories for inspiration for the book. While the murder is fictional, everything that I’ve weaved in about the Rose Festival is real. I spent time volunteering as a float decorator when I was working on the book to get a better understanding of how the magnificent floats come together. One fun fact: everything on the floats has to be organic. That means that volunteers spend hours and hours painstakingly gluing tapioca pearls and polenta and draping branches of evergreen boughs and roses onto every float.

Excerpt from Violet Tendencies:

An uneasy sensation swelled through my body as I walked with trepidation toward our float. Something about the huge, cavernous space felt foreboding.

“Hello!” I called again.

The only answer was the sound of my own voice bouncing off the walls.

Shouldn’t the other decorators and volunteers be here by now? We were supposed to report by

seven thirty for the morning meeting. Had I missed a message? Was the parade canceled? I thought about turning around but I willed myself forward.

Bad choice.

When I made it to our float I looked up in horror. Our float had been destroyed. The arbor and

grapevines that we had meticulously secured had been torn apart and were scattered in broken pieces throughout the floor.

I stepped forward and let out a scream.

Sham’s body was sprawled out among the ruins.

A noose of purple violets twisted around his lifeless neck . . .

What exciting story are you working on next?

I’m currently working on a ton of research for my next project. Research is one of my favorite things about the writing process. I used to say that I wished I could be a perennial college student. Writing fulfills that dream. I love getting to immerse myself in new worlds and learn new skills.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I didn’t consider myself a writer until my first book was published, despite the fact that I had been writing for newspapers and magazines for many years before that and getting paid for my writing. I can’t exactly pinpoint what the shift was, but there was something about the fact that I had a full-fledged book published that made me suddenly realize, “Oh, I am a writer.”

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I do write full time. I write multiple mystery series so I’m basically always on a deadline. I find that I do much better when I have structure and a daily word count to hit. I like the routine of writing every day. I think it lends to even more creativity because you’re constantly exercising your writing muscle.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I completely change out my office every time I start a new book. I have a playlist for my protagonists to help me get “in their head” so to speak. For example, when I was working on Violet Tendencies I had pictures of violets and pictures from the Grand Floral Parade posted on my office walls. I edited the manuscript with a purple pen and lit a violet scented candle when I was writing.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I always wanted to write, and I actually wrote my first mystery when I was in second grade. However, in college I took a more practical approach and minored in creative writing, while earning a degree in speech therapy. At the time I had no idea what I wanted to write. It took me a lot of terrible first drafts and years of writing workshops and conferences before I took the plunge.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Thanks so much for having me on today, and to all of the readers who help champion books and share them out in the world.

Links:

Website | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound

Thanks for joining me today, Kate.