Interviews

Author Interview: Leslie Budewitz

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Leslie Budewitz

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village series, set in Montana, and the Spice Shop Mysteries, set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market.  Both are “foodie” cozies. As Alicia Beckman, she has written two suspense novels, and she has an historical short story collection coming out later this year.  Her most recent book, To Err is Cumin, the eighth book in her Spice Shop series, was published in July.  She is a triple Agatha Award winner and a Macavity nominee.  Welcome, Leslie! read more

Author interview: Patrice McDonough

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I really loved Patrice McDonough’s debut mystery, Murder by Lamplight, set in 1860’s London, and featuring a female doctor as the main character.  Much like Anne Perry, she’s not afraid to tackle social issues, and also like Perry she supplies the reader with some wonderful characters (hard to believe this was a debut!).  I am very much looking forward to more in the series, and Patrice was nice enough to answer some questions.

Q: I loved the main characters – as I think there are two, but let’s start with Julia.  Talk about making her a doctor at that time.  How many female doctors were there in London in 1866? read more

Ann Cleeves: The Raging Storm

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Two Rivers #3

Ann Cleeves goes from strength to strength.  The third novel in her Matthew Venn series finds Matthew investigating a crime in a village he’d visited as a child. The book opens with the raging storm of the title, and no one is better than Ann Cleeves at setting the stage using nature as a backdrop.  The coastal town where the story takes place gets a “callout” – the volunteer coast guard heads out to see what’s up with an abandoned boat in the middle of a storm.  They find the boat, and inside, the body of a man. read more

Interview: Brian Klingborg

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Brian Klingborg’s new series features Inspector Lu Fei, and is set in northern China.  Lu is a great new character and Klingborg’s book is a fast paced, intelligent police procedural with an interesting setting.  It’s a terrific start to a new series.  You can read my review of Thief of Souls here.

Brian Klingborg

Q: First of all, I kept flipping to your author info as I couldn’t believe you weren’t Chinese.  How do you come by your extensive knowledge of China?

A: I majored in East Asian Studies as an undergraduate, spent a year abroad in Taiwan, then attended grad school where I studied cultural anthropology with a China focus. After school I returned to Taiwan where I lived and worked for several more years.  Since then, I have continued my sporadic exploration of Chinese culture, history and language.  And in the process of writing Thief of Souls, I did lots and lots of additional research. read more

Author Interview: L.A. Chandlar

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L.A. Chandlar is the national best-selling author of the Art Deco Mystery Series: The Silver Gun (2017), The Gold Pawn (2018), and The Pearl Dagger (2019). She also wrote the nonfiction book, Brass: Fight to Keep Creativity Alive (2015). She grew up in Michigan.  Fans of the Phyrne Fisher books or Rhys Bowen’s Lady Georgie books would enjoy these reads.

Carin Michaels, a freelance journalist and playwright, interviewed L.A Chandlar during her book tour stop in Ann Arbor.

Michaels: I met you on May 18, 2019 at an interactive workshop that you held for writers called Keep Creativity Alive at a Michigan Sisters in Crime conference. This local chapter of writers is great because it promotes professional development of women crime writers. read more

A Conversation with James R. Benn

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James R. Benn

James R. Benn, the creator of the Billy Boyle series, agreed to answer a few questions about his wonderful WWII set novels.  His newest book, When Hell Struck Twelve, will be published in September.

Robin: How did you come up with the initial idea to have Billy be Eisenhower’s nephew?

Jim: I wanted to create a mechanism that would allow Billy Boyle to follow the course of the war in Europe (and beyond) and to be close to major events. Having him work out of Eisenhower’s headquarters gives him carte blanche to go anywhere I need him to go. The notion of his being Ike’s nephew provides the opportunity to humanize Eisenhower through their occasional interactions; it was also the mechanism to explain Billy’s ascendancy to the lofty realms of high command, since Uncle Ike wanted a trusted family member to run his investigations into low crimes in high places. The relationship also explains how a lowly lieutenant, later captain, can act with relative impunity within the chain of command. read more

Author Interview: S.J. Rozan

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S.J. Rozan

SJ Rozan is the author of the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith books. Unusual in fiction, the series switches narrators from book to book, giving Rozan’s long running private eye series not only a unique hook but a fresh take on each story she tells. Set mainly in New York, the new and long awaited installment in this series is set in Mississippi. Despite the radical change in setting, it’s still very much a Lydia and Bill story, and readers should expect a very welcome return to Lydia and Bill’s world. Paper Son is out July 2 and can be pre-ordered on the website. read more

A Chat with Mariah Fredericks

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Mariah Fredericks wrote one of my favorite books of 2018, A Death of No Importance, featuring Jane Prescott, maid to the wealthy Benchley family in 1910 New York.  The next book in the series, Death of a New American, will be published in April of 2019. and it’s every bit as terrific, vital, and hard to put down.  Mariah was nice enough to answer a few questions about her books.

Q: I like that you include the Titanic but it’s just almost background. Did you feel that as you were writing a novel set in 1912, it had to be a part of the canvas? How did you approach it? read more

Author Interview: Owen Laukkanen and Nick Petrie

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Owen Laukkanen and Nick Petrie are two of the most talented and original thriller writers at work at the moment. Owen’s latest book, Gale Force, is a bravura tour de force set on board a salvage ship; Nick burst on the scene with The Drifter and hasn’t made a wrong move since.

Q: I’ve been reading and selling mysteries for so long now I’ve started to feel like a biologist, making categories. I had just read a bunch of cozies before I read your books and started thinking about how thrillers and cozies have some similarities. Certain tropes are expected. Can you talk about how you utilize tropes to structure your books? read more

Author Interview: Nancy Herriman

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Nancy HerrimanNancy Herriman has written several novels, and has now turned her pen to Elizabethan England and a new character, herbalist Bess Ellyott.

Q: Can you talk about your career a little bit? Looking through your publishing output, I see you had two earlier books that seem to fit the romance category and then you switched it up to writing mysteries. Can you talk about that trajectory?

A: I can, and it was a lengthy trajectory! For ten-plus years I tried my hand at various genres—sexy historical romance, historical young adult fiction, contemporary women’s fiction and romance—to no avail. At last, though, my agent found a publisher interested in a “sweet” historical romance I’d written that was set in 1830’s London. The Irish Healer was my first sale. Unfortunately, the publisher closed its fiction line a short few years later, leaving me searching for a new direction to go. Knowing my love for mysteries, my agent suggested I work on one. I did, and she succeeded in selling my first mystery series, “A Mystery of Old San Francisco,” to Penguin Random House. And, as they say, the rest is history. read more