Kristi Jones

Kristi Jones grew up in the military and has lived in Germany, England, Turkey, and many places throughout the U.S. She attended a German high school that left her with a lifelong love of languages. She holds a degree in history and is a member of Sisters in Crime and The Writer’s League of Texas. In her free time, Jones loves to paint, travel, explore historical sites and comb through old bookstores and museums for obscure nuggets of historical details to add to her stories. She lives in the Houston area with her husband and two rescue pups.

Jones's new novel is Murder in the Ranks.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I think Murder in the Ranks immediately tells the reader my book is a mystery and there is some military element to the story. Dottie Lincoln, my book’s sleuth, is a member of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in WWII. The word ‘ranks’ does some heavy lifting here to show that these pioneering women, serving in the first American women’s expeditionary force, were indeed soldiers. I hope the title brings up the question, who would want to kill one of these soldiers? And why?

What's in a name?

I wanted Dottie Lincoln’s name to be as American as apple pie. I wanted her to be relatable. At the same time, her name is a choice she’s made. Her full name is Dorothea Lincoln von Raven. Her father was in the army and married a French woman while stationed in Germany after the Great War. Dottie’s chosen name hides a somewhat checkered past and puts her in danger. It is also part of her attempt to redefine herself - as a woman, as an American and as a soldier.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

I don’t expect my teenage self would be too surprised by Murder in the Ranks. In many ways, this book reflects a lot of my own childhood experiences. I grew up as an Air Force brat, surrounded by military men and women. I was always fascinated with women in uniform. My Dad was a fighter pilot and at one point, he was stationed at a German Air Force base. The nearest American base was almost five hours away and we were the only Americans in town. I went to the local school and learned German. Dottie’s childhood experiences are similar to my own. She is the daughter of a military man, who was stationed in occupied Germany after the Great War.

I’ve also always had a fascination with history, especially military history. When we lived in England, my parents would take me to the local pub and I’d listen to all the stories of the old-timers who’d survived the Blitz and Dunkirk and many other battles. In Germany, my best friend’s Dad had served in both World War I and World War II. I majored in history and German in college. A few years ago, I discovered the 149th Post Headquarters Company, the first American women soldiers to serve in a combat theater, and I knew I had to write about them. I’ve also been a fan of mysteries since I was a kid. It started with Nancy Drew mysteries and Agatha Christie. Again, being stationed in England when I was in elementary school, I was fascinated with mysteries and touring castles and some of the great houses only fueled that obsession. So, yes, in many ways, Murder in the Ranks was inevitable!

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Beginnings are always harder! When I start writing, I’m writing to explore. To suss out the story buried in a bunch of facts and random ideas. It’s only when I come to the end of the book that I really know how the story should start. It’s only at the end of the story that I truly know who my main character is. Dottie Lincoln starts Murder in the Ranks as an insecure, somewhat weak person, who shields herself from rel connections with the soldiers in her company. By the end of the story, she is coming out of her shell. She learns to stand up and fight for what’s right. During the process of investigating the murder of her fellow soldier, Ruth Wentz, Dottie steps into a fuller version of herself. But to show that progression, I had to start Dottie off on a mission destined for failure.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

Every character in my book has a connection to my personality. Even the killer! I don’t know how to write characters completely alien from myself. I’m not sure that’s possible. One thing I enjoy about writing is having the opportunity to explore multiple facets of personality and choice. Our choices are what define us. Writing and reading stories allow us to explore multiple avenues of decision making and multiple versions of ourselves.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

My biggest inspiration is always the research. After I discovered the 149th Post Headquarters Company, I was granted permission to do research at the U.S. Army Women’s Museum. Nothing inspired me more to write Murder in the Ranks than reading the personal accounts of the women who served under General Eisenhower in Algiers, North Africa. One WAAC in particular did an oral interview, and she talked about how her husband told her after the war not to tell anyone she’d served in the military because it wasn’t ladylike. She also suffered PTSD from the bombardments in early 1943. Whenever the work got hard, I thought of this WAAC and pressed on. These women were true pioneers, and they paved the way for women to serve in combat today. Nothing inspires me more than these brave women soldiers.

Visit Kristi Jones's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Midge Raymond

Midge Raymond is the author of the novels Floreana and My Last Continent, the short-story collection Forgetting English, and, with coauthor John Yunker, the mystery novel Devils Island. Her writing has appeared in TriQuarterly, Bellevue Literary Review, the Los Angeles Times magazine, Chicago Tribune, Poets & Writers, and many other publications. She has taught at Boston University, Boston’s Grub Street Writers, Seattle’s Hugo House, and San Diego Writers, Ink. Raymond lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she is co-founder of the boutique publisher Ashland Creek Press.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I hope it pulls readers right in! This was a tough book to title because Floreana has two narrators—women who, a century apart, struggle with love, family, and buried secrets—and it’s set in two eras on one island that has changed remarkably in the past hundred years. It was challenging to find a title that would incorporate a real-life, unsolved murder mystery, penguin conservation, and two women who seem very different but whose struggles are very similar despite the years between them. In the end, my hope is that the title Floreana offers a sense of place and of intrigue to readers.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

She would probably be quite surprised by the setting. As a younger person, I was interested in cities, not remote places. Now I’d much prefer to travel to the middle of nowhere than to a city—I’m not sure my teenage self would appreciate that. On the other hand, I think Teen Midge might recognize the struggles of the women in the story—the challenges of trying to find yourself by living life a certain way, and then wondering what you might’ve done differently.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

The blank page is the hardest for me; I always love to have an idea of where my story is headed when I get started. But if I waited for an easy beginning or to know where things would end up, I’d never write a thing! So I just have to dive in, and this is why my early drafts are a mess. I would say I rewrite beginnings and endings an equal number of countless times.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Animals and scientists—especially endangered species and humans in conservation work. In the contemporary narrative of Floreana, Mallory is returning to the task of building nests to give Galápagos penguins safe places to raise their chicks, and her fictional work is based on real work being done by the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels at the University of Washington, in collaboration with the Galápagos National Park. The humans who devote their lives to saving and protecting animals—whether endangered species or stray cats or abused farm animals—are my heroes.

Learn more about the author and her work at Midge Raymond's website.

The Page 69 Test: My Last Continent.

Writers Read: Midge Raymond (June 2016).

The Page 69 Test: Floreana.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kate MacIntosh

Kate MacIntosh is always in search of the perfect bottle of wine, a great book, and a swoon worthy period costume drama. You’ll find her in Vancouver making friends with every dog she meets, teaching writing, and listening to true crime podcasts while lounging on the sofa in sweats and spouting random historical facts she finds interesting.

MacIntosh's new novel is The Champagne Letters.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Over twenty years ago, I was lucky enough to be traveling in France and I visited the Champagne region. In between tours of different wineries and copious amounts of free samples, I heard the story of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot, the founder of Veuve Clicquot. How do you not find a woman fascinating who runs a business, develops new innovations, works with smugglers to get her champagne out of the country during the Napoleonic war, and was a widow raising a daughter? I scribbled in my travel journal that I thought she would make a great character. That’s when I learned widows founded many of the great champagne houses. At the time, the only way a woman could own a business was if they were a widow. The present-day character is divorced, but she often thinks it would be easier if she were a widow, if her husband died instead of that he chose to leave her. That gave me the initial title for the story: The Champagne Widows.

When I had a publishing deal, the editor and I discussed the title. There was already a book with the title The Champagne Widows. Although there are many books with the same title, we decided to change it to avoid confusion. There were endless lists of options. Contenders included: Champagne Secrets, The Women of Champagne, The Widow’s Guide, The Champagne Gamble. In the end we went with The Champagne Letters, which, when we stumbled upon it, seemed the perfect fit.

The book goes back and forth between the 1800s where the Barbe-Nicole Clicquot is writing letters to her great-granddaughter to tell her about her life, and the present day when Natalie has fled her divorce and run away to Paris for vacation. Natalie finds a book of letters from the Widow and uses those to help her chart her new direction.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

Growing up, I spent so much time worrying about what other people thought. Were they mad? Did I have their approval? Did I seem to them as awkward and odd as I felt? I would love to have my teenage self read the book and perhaps begin to understand that there’s never a way to make everyone happy. Trying to please people (sometimes total strangers) and constantly checking to see other’s opinions, is a recipe for disaster. Hopefully, my teenager self would be inspired to consider what she wants for her own life.

I’m also quite certain that my nerdy teenage self would love all the historical details and odd facts. History has always fascinated me.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

The beginning of the book was always clear. I knew I wanted to start the Widow’s story with her husband dying, as that was when her life as an independent woman began. For Natalie in the present day, I knew I wanted to get her to France as soon as possible, that’s when her adventure starts. The ending, however… that was much murkier.

The story in the past is based on the real life of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot, so her story already had a clear timeline. My only challenge was deciding what to include and what to leave out. My story ends with her success in launching the champagne house, but she would live until her 80s and had many more adventures.

The present-day story kept surprising me. I thought I knew what would happen, but suddenly things took a turn I hadn’t expected. An early reader commented, “I didn’t see that twist coming,” and I thought neither did I. I did several revisions of the ending and when I came up with the final scene, it seemed as if it had been planned. Various details, the jeweller the ring etc, were already in the story, so perhaps a corner of my brain (or my heart) knew it before the rest of me.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

As I mentioned earlier, the real-life story of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot was a big inspiration. The biography The Widow Clicquot, by Tilar Mazzeo, is fascinating.

However, the present-day story line had a more personal connection. A few years ago, my marriage blew up. It was right before my 50th birthday and our 25th wedding anniversary. We’d already booked, and pre-paid, for a big anniversary trip to France. Unexpectedly, I’d lost the person I thought was my best friend, my home, and half the belongings we’d spent our lives collecting. I was sure as hell not going to lose that trip. So, I went without him. Unlike the character in my book who ends up in several adventures, including one with a dashing Frenchmen, I spent a lot of time walking around Paris and eating my body weight in cheese. But I left that trip with an idea for a novel and the reminder that I’m a capable and strong person. The character Natalie isn’t a direct reflection of me or my former marriage, but I certainly used that experience. One of the best parts of fiction is unlike real life, you can control it.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

What doesn’t influence my writing? Wine, great food, travel, history, just about any random show on the BBC, overheard conversations, news, my life, and stories of friends and family. When I’m asked where to find ideas for books, I think that is never the problem. Finding time to write all the ideas I have is the daunting task. I find the world a fascinating place and I'm constantly asking myself, what if….?

Visit Kate MacIntosh's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Champagne Letters.

My Book The Movie: The Champagne Letters.

--Marshal Zeringue

Yvonne Battle-Felton

photo credit: Marat Battle

Yvonne Battle-Felton was born in Pennsylvania and raised in New Jersey before moving to Maryland. She currently lives in Yorkshire, England with her family. Battle-Felton holds an MA in writing from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in creative writing from Lancaster University. She is an associate teaching professor and the academic director of creative writing at the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education. Her debut novel, Remembered, won a Northern Writers’ Award, and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize.

Battle-Felton's new novel is Curdle Creek.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I think the title captures the essence of the book really well. The title of the book is the name of the town and so much of the book is about the way the town operates, the cost of living there, the secrets it keeps. It’s not an entirely bad place or at least, there’s a rationale for how it came to be the way that it is so for a while, I flirted with the title: A Good Place for Bad Things. But the idea of the town came to me maybe seven years ago. I grew up in a rural town called Sweetwater. It was a town where nothing much seemed to happen. In many ways, Curdle Creek is the opposite of that. So, seven years ago I wrote a short story about characters about to experience their first Moving On ceremony. The town was Curdle Creek then and when I revisited it in my imagination the town and the title just fit.

What's in a name?

In the short story I wrote, Osira’s name was Riley. She was 16 then. Now, she’s 45 and the name Riley just didn’t seem to fit her, not with all of the life she’s seen and all of the Moving On’s she’s participated in. She’s had a lifetime of loss. I was rolling old names around in my mouth, feeling how they tripped off of the tongue. The name Osirus came first. I like the way it sounds and feels. That it’s also the name of the ancient Egyptian God of the Underworld is not quite intentional. Osira is named after her father. There’s likely a story in that.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

Teenage me would love Curdle Creek. But, she would want more mystery and less horror. Teenage me was quite squeamish. She was afraid of movies like The Hand and The Blob. Not that they looked realistic but maybe even more so because they didn’t. So while she wouldn’t read it in its entirety, she would absolutely love parts of the book. Still, she’d be a little surprised and maybe a little worried too that we wrote it.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I find it harder to write beginnings because I don’t start with them. I get to know the characters through scenes. So, I play with them in different settings with different characters, at different times of their lives to see who they are, what they want, and what they’re willing to do to get it. My way into the story, into caring about the characters, is not the same point that I introduce them to readers at. Often, the scenes I think will be the opening don’t even end up in the book. But endings, I love an ending. Even in life there’s something satisfying about an ending, something inevitable that’s sort of comforting. It’s not that I’ll know what the ending will be when I start the book. I don’t. That’s what keeps me curious and helps me return to the page. I write to see what will happen.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

Whenever I write a first-person narrator my inner villain takes over. Even if it’s for a bit. There are likely parts of me in quite a few of the characters, especially in the first drafts. The more I get to know them, the more they become their own entities and the less of me they need (or the less of me I need to write). Osira doesn’t start out with it but she ends up with some of my inner rebel. Other characters might have a bit of my sense of humor, slivers of my outlook, my competitive nature. I crack my knuckles constantly. It’s a way of relieving stress. I gave Osira that habit as a way of managing hers. But, in her community, she can’t even do that freely. But, Osira is also a rule follower. Even when she loses everyone she loves, she likes the reassurance of rules. In that respect, she and I are worlds apart.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I often write to music It might be something melancholy and moody like classical orchestra or something upbeat and full of tension like jazz. Music helps me to capture the rhythms of language and reminds me to let go, have fun, explore. These days I’m inspired by nature. The brightness of moon, the inquisitiveness of robins, the resourcefulness of squirrels, all of it. There are stories in my own backyard. Remembering that makes me remember that stories are everywhere and everyone has a unique way of bringing them to life.

Visit Yvonne Battle-Felton's website.

The Page 69 Test: Curdle Creek.

My Book, The Movie: Curdle Creek.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jennifer K. Morita

Jennifer K. Morita is a former reporter for the Sacramento Bee and is a writer for University Communications at Sacramento State. She is a fourth-generation Asian American who lived in Hawaii as a child. Morita is an active member of Mystery Writers of America and the current president of her local chapter of Sisters in Crime. She was a finalist for the 2022 Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award.

Ghosts of Waikīkī is Morita's first novel.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Two lessons I learned early on in my publication journey:

You can judge a book by its cover, and

A rose by any other name, does not smell as sweet.

In other words, the title and cover of your book matter a lot, particularly for debut authors such as myself, who have to hook new readers with two or three words that convey the book’s plot, theme, and vibe.

And I thought Tweets were bad.

Ghosts of Waikīkī is a tongue-and-cheek reference to Maya Wong, an out-of-work newspaper reporter who reluctantly returns home to Hawaiʻi to take a ghostwriting gig for a rich, controversial developer whose family paved over much of O‘ahu. Although she was born and raised on the islands (not Native Hawaiian), Maya has been away for a long time. When a man dies under suspicious circumstances her first day on the job, she searches for the truth about an enigmatic stranger in the middle of a murder investigation while trying to reconnect with her family and friends.

What's in a name?

I named Maya Wong, the protagonist in Ghosts of Waikīkī, when I was pregnant with my first daughter. I’d always loved the name Maya, but my husband, a middle school teacher at the time who had upwards of a hundred students a year, shot it down. “There’s a Maya in every single one of my classes,” he said.

I was tempted to dig in my heels, even go as far as filling out the birth certificate when his back was turned. Until I realized Maya was the main character for the mystery series I’d been thinking about writing.

Our daughter was a teenager by the time I actually started writing the manuscript, and Maya still didn’t have a surname. I was experimenting with a variety of Japanese and Chinese last names, not able to move forward with plotting until I knew who my character was, when my cousin Christina - a Wong - texted to wish me a happy birthday.

And that is how Maya Wong got her name.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

My teenage self would be shocked.

For one, the thought of being a real author seemed like a crazy pipe dream. I always wanted to be a writer. I would doodle silly stories in spiral notebooks (before my family had a computer) and never finish them. The blank pages were too daunting. The idea that I would write an entire novel, let alone get someone to publish it, seemed as attainable as becoming the Queen of England.

But more importantly, there weren’t a lot of mystery novels written by and about Asian American women when I was a teenager, certainly not when I was devouring Nancy Drews as a kid.

Today, the middle grade, YA, and adult fiction landscape is changing and becoming more reflective of the world we live in. But make no mistake, we still have a long way to go. Diversity in fiction, particularly genre fiction, is necessary to show the true breadth and richness of the people who make up this country’s culture. There’s nothing better than to walk into a shop and see a display of books with characters who look like you and your kids.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Beginnings. I lost track of how many times I wrote and rewrote the beginning of Ghosts of Waikīkī. Sometimes, I still have to think about which version I eventually settled on. For me the beginning is a lot like writing a lede for a newspaper article — I know a good one when it comes to me, but it may take a lot of massaging to make it work.

I was probably halfway through plotting the manuscript when I got the idea of how it should end, so I jumped ahead and jotted it down. The last line may be the only sentence in the entire book that never changed.

Visit Jennifer K. Morita's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jen Marie Wiggins

Jen Marie Wiggins's first book, the gifty nonfiction title Married AF: A Funny Guide for the Newlywed or Bride, was published in 2022. She has a background in advertising and public relations, and her writing has appeared in Southern Coastal Weddings, Savannah Magazine, Savannah Homes, and elsewhere.

Wiggins's new novel is The Good Bride.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

The Good Bride plays into the story on several levels. Ruth has been talked into this large wedding as a means of promoting her beloved coastal summer town which was decimated by a hurricane. She is also a people pleaser and concerned with doing the right thing in the impossible situations she’s placed in by her family.

What’s in a name?

I gave my main character the name of Ruth because it means loyal which is a trait that defines her on many levels. At the beginning of The Good Bride, she struggles with being able to stand up for herself to her family. When things go awry and all these creepy things happen, I wanted part of her journey to be finding and drawing on a new strength within herself.

How surprised would your teenage reader-self be by your novel?

Very! I don’t think my teenager self would believe I wrote one. I always loved reading and writing but the idea of being a writer terrified me. It was something I always wanted to do and came to later in life after I turned 40 and summoned the courage. (so I suppose maybe I am a bit more like Ruth than I realize lol)

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change

I start with the end in mind and tend to bounce around. With my new book, I am using more of an outline than I have in the past. Writing is progressive and it’s usually one scene, one character’s point of view that stokes the muse.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I think everyone struggles with wanting to please others. I definitely have a much stronger personality than Ruth. I tend to say what I think. I do have two sisters like Ruth (though they are nothing like her crazy sisters.) It was fun to draw on that playfulness that sisters share and how only family can and will say certain things to you.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Pat Conroy made me want to become a writer. There was something about the honesty in his writing that really spoke to me. Carol Joyce Oates and Wally Lamb also influenced me.

Visit Jen Marie Wiggins's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Good Bride.

--Marshal Zeringue

Katryn Bury

Katryn Bury is the author of the critically acclaimed Drew Leclair mysteries. A lifelong true crime nerd, she holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology/criminology. Bury works with middle grade readers as a library technician by day and writes mysterious coming-of-age stories for those same readers by night. She lives in California with her family, along with a vast collection of pop-culture knickknacks and Nancy Drew books.

Bury's new middlegrade novel is We Are Not Alone.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

This is such an interesting question, because what changed between my proposed title (Alone in the Universe) and the published title (We Are Not Alone) was as simple as the stakes. My original title told the reader a lot about how my main character, Sam Kepler Greyson, feels when the story starts. My editor thought—and now I agree—that we should tweak the title to indicate a spark of hope between how Sam feels at the beginning and the end. We’re introduced to Sam just after his best friend, Oscar, has died from cancer—but also after he goes into remission. Because he thinks that no other kid can possibly understand how he feels, he does feel very alone in the universe. But, upon finding Cat, he realizes that there may be others like him, who come to this feeling for their own reasons—and are also looking for a partner in exploring those unanswered questions in life.

What's in a name?

I spend a lot of time naming my characters, because I really want to convey their background, as well as the demographics of the location I’m writing about. Sam having two last names is important because he has two moms—and I wanted both to be represented to indicate the weight of that relationship. I also wanted a name that would reflect Sam’s identity as a culturally Jewish kid (Sam is a familial name on my married side). Kepler is a German name, where Sam’s biologically maternal family comes from, but is also a nod to the astronomer Johannes Kepler, who looked to astronomy and the stars for the answers—just like Sam. Cat’s last name is personal, because I wanted to reflect her unique heritage as someone of Chilean-Italian descent, a private connection for me as someone who saw a large section of Italians sharing my real last name become major historical figures in Chile.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

My teenage self would perhaps not be surprised to read this book—especially since I experienced a loss very much like Sam’s at only thirteen years old (my best friend). However, I think my teenage self would be surprised that I was able to summon the resilience and confidence to keep writing through rejections, as I had already experienced so many as a teen sending my work out to small presses.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I find beginnings impossible because, while the story tends to play out in my head as I write, I don’t truly get to know my own characters until I’ve written a first draft. Because of this, I almost always have to re-write my whole first chapter to reflect where my character is emotionally at the start of the book. By the time I get to the end, I have a handle on what type of ending I want my character to have. With my first books, I wanted a sense of comfort and completion, because I find the solution part of mysteries to be very comforting. But, with We Are Not Alone, I wanted to intentionally leave it up to the reader to decide what they think happens at the end. What the reader takes from the ending is truly reflective of what kind of person they are!

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I always tell the students I connect with at author visits that, if you’re a writer, you can tell your own story a thousand different ways. Because I’m someone who prefers first-person narrative, I also prefer to write from my own experience. I start with a seed—one or two things that have happened to me personally— and then I let the story grow its own way from that seed. In We Are Not Alone, the root of the story is very much based on my own feelings after my best friend died at fourteen, and then my own experience going through cancer treatment and entering remission.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I like to take inspiration wherever I find it! Often, my story ideas are born from some injustice—whether it’s something I see in a movie or show that sparks a memory—or the inequity and pain I see in the world. When my eyes and brain are tired and I need a reading break, I tend to envelop myself in stories of all kinds. For this book in particular, I think any fan of The X-Files will see a very strong inspiration there. Sam and Cat, in and of themselves, are like Mulder and Scully—one who is curious but needs evidence, and the other a true believer. Their shared favorite show is one called Otherworld—an invented story that has a very X-Files vibe to it.

Visit Katryn Bury's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Robin Morris

Robin Morris has had a lifelong obsession with books and cats. She works in finance and is a certified book editor, a literary agent assistant, and an author of fiction and nonfiction.

Morris's new novel is The Days Between

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

The title is dropped at the end of chapter five when the main character, Andrew, decides to find out what happened in the days between the last time he saw his one who got away, Kathryn, and their chance encounter in chapter one.

If Andrew handn't gotten curious about those days between, he would not have unraveled his "perfect" life.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

Considering I had the first few sparks of an idea for this book as a teen, I think teenage Robin would be very proud that it is a physical book with pages and readers! Never give up, guys!

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I find the beginning and the endings to be the easiest part of storytelling. It's weaving the parts together in a compelling way that is the most difficult.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I see parts of myself in all of them, both good and bad. I found Andrew the easiest to connect with and write, and Amy's drive and brilliance was the most difficult for me to channel. If I were in her position, I may not have had the patience and emotional control she has, which is tough for me to imagine.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I feel I absorb parts of storytelling through all sources: TV, movies, song lyrics and personal connections. Even interactions I see in public will inspire a scene or dialogue.

Visit Robin Morris's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Days Between.

--Marshal Zeringue

Lilli Sutton

Lilli Sutton writes contemporary adult fiction. She holds a BA in English from Shepherd University. From Maryland, she now lives in Colorado. She draws inspiration for her writing from the natural world and the intricacies of human relationships.

When she's not writing, she's usually cooking, hiking, or trying to keep up with her ever-growing TBR list.

Sutton's new novel is Running Out of Air.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

There’s something about evoking the air (or lack of air) and books about mountaineering—Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer and Breathless by Amy McCulloch, among others. The world’s tallest mountains call to mind a lack of oxygen, and I think that’s a large part of our fascination with them, and the people who chose to climb to heights where there literally isn’t enough oxygen to maintain physical functioning. They don’t call it the death zone for nothing.

Running Out of Air wasn’t the original title, though—it alluded to the John Muir quote “The mountains are calling and I must go.” My publisher pushed for a title change to highlight the thriller elements of the novel, and I’m happy with where we landed. It nestles the book among the other stories, fiction and nonfiction, of the high mountains. And of course, literally running out of air is an unpleasant and dangerous experience—which hints at what happens later in the novel.

What's in a name?

The fictional Himalayan mountain in my book, Yama Parvat, is named after Yama, a Hindu deity of death and justice. That alone tells the reader just about everything they need to know about the mountain itself, but whether the mountain delivers justice with a fair hand is left up to interpretation. I went with a fictional mountain, rather a new route up an existing mountain, because I wanted the reason for Evelyn and Sophie to physically reunite to be monumental, historical. Yama Parvat exists, in Running Out of Air, as “the last great question,” the fifteenth, and only unclimbed, 8000-meter mountain on earth. When the opportunity for an expedition arises, neither sister can say no.

I wanted the mountain to have a bit of a dreamlike quality, too. The weather on Yama Parvat plays a large role, as do its misleading physical features. Is the mountain sentient, doling out judgement of sinners like its namesake, Yama? Or is it merely nature, random acts of unfeeling ecological systems?

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

I’ll go with medium-surprised. I always loved contemporary fiction, even as a teenager. I read some fantasy, but I preferred stories set in the real world. I do think she’d be surprised about the subject of mountaineering, mainly because I didn’t develop an interest in that until I was solidly in adulthood, though I’ve always loved being outside in nature. She would also probably wonder why it doesn’t have more romance. I still enjoy the occasional romcom, but I don’t think I could write one!

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

It’s definitely harder for me to write beginnings. I find it so difficult to know the exact moment at which to enter a character’s world. The original first chapter of Running Out of Air was slower and more introspective. While everything in that chapter was relevant and went a long way to establish relationship dynamics and frame the story, it lacked the excitement and tension of the expedition chapters, and didn’t feature the sisters on page together.

While querying agents, I ended up completely scrapping that first chapter and writing a new one—a short scene that flashes forward to the climax of the story, featuring Sophie and Evelyn together on Yama Parvat. I won’t give away too many details, but it’s full of tension, drama, and a literal cliffhanger.

Regarding the novel’s ending, it has remained largely unchanged since I first wrote it—some details have been added or removed, and of course there’s been work to develop the characters’ reactions, but otherwise, it’s the same final chapter after which I first typed “THE END.” That being said, I didn’t know how the last few chapters of the story would go until I wrote them. I joined the expedition and let my characters lead the way.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I don’t like to write characters that are too connected to me. They need to feel like separate, fully-formed people whose world I’m briefly entering. Fiction, to me, is about escapism and traveling through words, so I’ve never been tempted to write myself into my characters. That being said, I can only step so far away from my own experience of the world, so there are little traits and mannerisms that might be some of “me” in my characters. For example, I relate to Evelyn’s doubts about her path in life.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I love watching documentaries for inspiration. I’d be remiss to not mention the incredible, moving documentary The Alpinist, about Marc-André Leclerc.

I really enjoy the Smithsonian magazine; it’s taught me a lot about subjects I was completely unfamiliar with before, and frequently sends me down research rabbit holes. I have a similar relationship with The New York Times, i.e., I open the app to play a Crossword and end up reading a fascinating article.

When I’m feeling stuck creatively, I cook, listen to music or podcasts, and engage in other creative hobbies. Nothing beats spending time outside, though—a good walk or hike with nothing playing in my ears, just quiet time to let my mind wander and take in all the beauty and intricacy that abounds in nature. I’ve solved many insurmountable plot problems with a long walk.

Visit Lilli Sutton's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Suja Sukumar

Suja Sukumar loves hanging out in coffee shops and Indian restaurants, drawing inspiration from naan and malai kofta, masala chai and lassi. She is a senior staff physician at a health system in suburban Detroit, where she lives with her husband; two wonderful, beautiful kids; and an elderly cat.

When Mimi Went Missing is her debut novel.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

My title will give readers some idea of what the story is about since the plot revolves around the events leading up to and after Mimi's disappearance. Though, while it tells you that Mimi does disappear, you won't know (until you read the first chapter) that it actually centers around the fractured relationship between once close cousins Mimi and Tanvi. As you read further, you'll realize the depth of that fracture as Mimi vanishes and Tanvi becomes a suspect in the murder investigation.

What's in a name?

One of my characters goes by the nickname Mimi but her real name is Lakshmi. I wanted to show that she's Indian and Hindu but also have a name that's familiar to the audience here in the US.

No specific reason for choosing Tanvi for my main character except that I like that name a lot.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

My teenage self wouldn't be too surprised by the genre of my novel. I loved reading mysteries as a teen, and my favorite author was Agatha Christie. I was particularly drawn by the psychological intrigues in her novels and how the darkest secrets were hidden in the most tranquil appearing places. I wanted to set my novel in a small town for that very reason.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I found the ending a lot easier to write. I had an idea of what the ending would be like with the first draft itself, and this ending didn't change much during edits.

But the beginning was tricky. I wanted to show the main character interacting with her cousin so readers would catch onto their rocky relationship. I also wanted to introduce Tanvi's bully and the inciting event which initiated the entire cascade of events leading to Mimi's disappearance. And I also wanted to show Tanvi's state of mind--the backstory of her parents' murder-suicide and how this shaped who she was.

Needless to say, I had to do a ton of edits on my first pages to get the formula just right. Hooking the reader without boring them is critical in the first pages.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Representation was one element that inspired me. I wrote When Mimi Went Missing because I hadn't seen many YA suspense novels featuring main characters from the South Asian diaspora.

I also wanted to reflect intersectionality within the South Asian diaspora--socioeconomic disparity, mental health, and bullying faced by teen girls in school.

My next couple of works reflect environmentalism and the fight against patriarchy.

Visit Suja Sukumar's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Anna Rasche

Anna Rasche is a historian and gemologist who has previously worked in the jewelry collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She is a member of the teaching faculty at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and has a master’s degree in the history of design.

The Stone Witch of Florence is Rasche’s debut novel, and is based on original research she conducted on the uses of gemstones in medieval medicine at the Cooper Hewitt Museum and on site in Italy.

She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, daughter, and two cats.

From my Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

The Stone Witch of Florence does a lot of work to take readers into the story! The (Blank) of (Blank) is a really classic title formula, and it was something my agents and I landed on before pitching the book to publishers. We wanted to make sure the most tempting bits of the story were apparent right away: the gem magic, the history of witchcraft, and the evocative Florentine setting. My working title was actually The Plague Saint, which is a historical reference to a specific set of saints that were prayed to in plague times. I still like it, but I'm glad we moved on from this because it didn't communicate more magical and fun parts of the book.

What's in a name?

I thought a lot about my characters' names. I named the protagonist Ginvera after reading the essay "Some Women Named Ginevra" by Everett Fahy. It's about a series of marriage portraits painted in the 15th century, and how challenging it is to learn anything about the portraits' subjects. So I imagined a full life for my own Ginevra. For the nuns of Sant' Elisabetta, I was given a list of names by the historian Dr. Gillian Jack of women who actually resided at the convent during the 14th century. Taddea and Agnesa are two of those women. Though we know nothing about the lives of the real Taddea or Agnesa, it's a nice way to remember women who are almost invisible in the historical record. Lucia's surname Tornaparte is an old Florentine name, but beyond that I liked how it played on the English phrase "torn apart" because this character is pulled between two identities. Lastly, for the bishop, Fra Michele, and Fra Simone, these are the names of the real historical figures that occupied these roles during the black death. That's why their names are so long and hard to pronounce!

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

I don't think she would be surprised at all; I think she'd be really into The Stone Witch. I have loved gothic-leaning tales of far-off places for as long as I've been a reader, and classic fantasies like The Hobbit or The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardobe were a staple (at least, on VHS...I think I was a grown up before I read either of those books in print). I also used to read a lot about ancient mythology from Egypt, Greece etc. so my interests have very much remained consistent as I've gotten older in this regard.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Endings for sure. Coming up with the exciting set up, or "hook," if you will, for me is fun and rather quick. Figuring out where that hook goes, that's a whole other story...or, I guess it's the same story. But it takes me a while to get there.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

Definitely. For Ginevra and Lucia, especially, I gave them hopes, fears, and anxieties that will be familiar to a lot of women---and men, for that matter---in the 21st century. How many of us know what it's like to have a romantic partner leave without warning or kindness, or to not have your talents taken seriously because of something inherent to your personhood? But: I also think for the most part I'm an optimist, and this is something that my characters definitely share. Even if I'm wallowing in self pity, some part of my brain is still looking for the solution and to move on to what's next.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Everything. Big things like art and architecture and the times we live in. Small things like a funny turn of phrase, or a bit of conversation overheard on the subway.

Visit Anna Rasche's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Marshall Fine

Minneapolis native Marshall Fine’s career as an award-winning journalist, critic, and filmmaker has spanned fifty years. He has written biographies of filmmakers John Cassavetes and Sam Peckinpah, directed documentaries about film critic Rex Reed and comedian Robert Klein, conducted the Playboy interview with Howard Stern, and chaired the New York Film Critics Circle four times. The author currently lives in Ossining, New York.

Fine's first published novel is The Autumn of Ruth Winters. My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Hopefully, quite a bit, at least in terms of inciting curiosity. Once I had settled on the character name of Ruth Winters and a story about a moment of transition in her life, the combination of her name and the word “autumn”—both the name of a season—seemed to hit a certain sweet spot. It felt a lot more on-target than my first seasonal impulse, which was “The Fall of Ruth Winters.” Oops, too many unintended meanings possible with that one.

What's in a name?

Again, quite a bit, more than I even initially thought. Ruth struck me as an old-fashioned name with a no-nonsense feel. It wasn’t until later, when another character tells her to be “ruthless,” that I stopped to think about the meaning of the name itself and realized I was on to something. I wanted a last name that implied someone later in life and “Winters” helped impart several things including a feeling of chilliness and a season that symbolizes the end of the life cycle.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

Flabbergasted. During my career as a movie critic, my default mode was the wisecrack. But I made a pointed effort to avoid sarcasm or irony in writing this novel. When I started the book, it was with the goal of writing a novel about a woman that didn’t sound like it was written by a man, something I don’t think I could have imagined doing as a teen.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

It’s less a question of difficulty in writing, than one about editing and choosing. With this novel, I wrote the current ending and thought I was finished—then woke up the next morning and wrote another chapter that spelled out an ending for everything that happened in each plot thread. Then, the next morning, rereading what I’d written, I realized I got it right the first time and excised that chapter.

As for beginnings, with this novel, I found that, as I wrote and discovered what I was writing about, it changed what I wanted or needed the beginning to be. But that’s easy enough—to go back to rework the beginning to match the rest of the book. My motto: All writing is rewriting.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

There is an autobiographical element to the character of Martin in this novel, but generally, these characters are a world apart from me. Mainly, with this novel and my next one, while I have based the characters on people I know, I haven’t drawn from the details of their lives as much as their personalities. If I see myself in the characters, it’s only insofar as I use my imagination (and a lifetime of memory of different emotions) to explore their feelings and what those feelings propel the characters to do.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I would say that a career as a movie critic—and a lifetime of excessive movie-going—instilled a certain cinematic quality to my approach to storytelling. Often when stuck for what comes next, I think, Well, if you were watching this as a movie, what would happen? And, at a certain point when trying to figure out the structure of the plot, I thought, If this were a miniseries on TV, what would happen at the end of the first episode to make people tune in to the second one?

Follow Marshall Fine on Facebook.

My Book, The Movie: The Autumn of Ruth Winters.

--Marshal Zeringue

Gemma Liviero

Gemma Liviero is the author of the historical novels Broken Angels and Pastel Orphans, which was a finalist in the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. In addition to novel writing, her professional career includes copywriting, corporate writing, writing feature articles and editorials, and editing. She holds an advanced diploma of arts (writing) and has continued her studies in arts and other humanities. Liviero lives with her family in Queensland, Australia.

Her new novel is An Age of Winters.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

An Age of Winters and the cover set the stage for a chilling if not chilly read against the backdrop of a mini Ice Age. For The Road Beyond Ruin, set mainly in the post-war chaos in Europe, it took me weeks to land on a title that I was happy with. This too, I felt, was perfect for the story.

What's in a name?

In the book, In a Field of Blue, the names were taken from writers I admire. In my new release, I chose character names from historical records. I often look for common names during the period I’m writing in.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

Not really that much. As a teenager I enjoyed dark, early period dramas and supernatural stories like The Picture of Dorian Gray, and I wrote short stories with similar themes, combining love or unrequited love and tragedy. As an adult, most of my published novels are about endurance and relationships against the devastating backdrop of war. However, in An Age of Winters I return to some earlier themes to expose the witch hunts and other dark practices of those times, based on actual events in history. My younger self would undoubtedly approve.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Beginnings I find easy, however, there have been several books started that I ultimately chose to abandon a third of the way through. Most writers are the hardest markers of their own work. From the start, I often have a finale in mind, but those climactic moments and twists leading up to the end might change in an attempt to keep readers guessing.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

For some books, I draw from my own experiences and feelings, particularly with relationships and dialogue, to help build the personalities. Some of the characters I would love to be like, some have a very small element of me, and others are people I would not want to come across in real life. For An Age of Winters, the traits of my characters were drawn from my imagination, primary observations in those times, and the type of occupations they hold in the story.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

People throughout history, especially during times of upheaval, who have put themselves willingly in the path of danger to protect others inspire me constantly. Members of my family volunteered and served in WWI and WWII, and they were a major influence on my life and writings also.

Visit Gemma Liviero's website.

The Page 69 Test: An Age of Winters.

--Marshal Zeringue

Noelle Salazar

Noelle Salazar was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, where she's been a Navy recruit, a medical assistant, an NFL cheerleader, and always a storyteller. As a novelist, she has done extensive research into the Women Airforce Service Pilots, interviewing vets and visiting the training facility—now a museum dedicated to the WASP—in Sweetwater, Texas. When she’s not writing, she can be found dodging raindrops and daydreaming of her next book. Salazar lives in Bothell, Washington with her family.

Her debut, The Flight Girls, was a USA Today and international bestseller. It was followed by the critically acclaimed Angels of the Resistance and The Roaring Days of Zora Lily. The Lies We Leave Behind is her fourth novel.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Titles are a difficult thing for me. After the title for my first book was changed, I became unsure of my ability to correctly title my books. Most of the time now, I just give them a placeholder and then I go through a title creating back-and-forth with my editor, our team, and my agent. For this title in particular, we had our work cut out for us. But I kept getting drawn back to a style of title I'd seen on some other books previously and so we started throwing words around. My team came up with The Lies We Leave Behind and I have to say, I love it. It's intriguing. What lies? Whose lies? How many lies? Why were the lies necessary? So many questions beg for answers just because of the title. Hopefully my readers will find the answers satisfying.

What's in a name?

I tend to choose names with careful consideration to the character. Who is this person and does their name convey who they are? I chose Kate's name because to me, the name sounds strong. No-nonsense. Able. Quick. Sensible. All the things she is - until maybe she isn't. But Kate has another name (and perhaps more...) and they too were chosen for specific reasons. I don't want to give too much away though so we'll just stick with Kate.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

Not very. Teenage me loved books with historical elements. I was a huge reader of romance novels (thanks to my Nana giving me the ones she'd finished) and I fell in love with stories that took place in the past. I loved learning other cultures, other names for things, and ways of living that I wasn't familiar with. Teenage me would be so happy we'd made something out of one of our passions.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Beginnings for sure. I never start writing a book until I know how it ends. And I always write out that ending, which rarely changes. And if it does, it's a small change. My job then is to get my character(s) to this point. How did they get there? I always have a general idea, of course, but then I have to go back to that daunting blank first page and... How exactly do I start this tale? Because often the character is in an opposite place from where they are in the end, I start there. I work backwards. If this is who they are at the end, where do we find them in the beginning? I start to picture them. I imagine their life. I figure out where they're starting from to make the choices they make and end up where they do. My beginnings change a lot over the course of writing a book. And I've come to understand it doesn't really matter how it starts at first, because I can always alter it later. I just need to start.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I think a lot of the time my main characters have something of me in them - or something in them I wish I had or was. Audrey from The Flight Girls was very much a "I want to be like her" character. I admired her determination and unwillingness to submit to what was expected of women during that time. So often I have lacked those same qualities and wished I were stronger. Lien from Angels of the Resistance carried trauma. Writing her brought out my own trauma. It's my most personal work... so far. I do tend to pull pieces of me for my main characters. Maybe I'm working out something. Figuring out an unexplored piece of myself. Maybe I'm curious what someone else might do in a situation, so I used characters to test the waters. Writing has always been and I imagine always will be cathartic for me. So I imagine you will always find bits and pieces of my heart and soul in my characters.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I consume a lot of television and movies. Imagery inspires me. I take walks and listen to music a lot as well. If I'm working on a particularly hard scene, I put on my headphones and go outside. I choreograph these scenes to music - so that every time I play that song, the scene plays out, and I can change it at will, adding or subtracting to it until it's a perfect dance. I play songs over and over again. It's my favorite way to write. Inside my head. Before it ends up on paper.

Visit Noelle Salazar's website.

Writers Read: Noelle Salazar (August 2019).

My Book, The Movie: The Flight Girls.

The Page 69 Test: The Flight Girls.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sariah Wilson

Sariah Wilson is the USA Today bestselling author of The Chemistry of Love, The Paid Bridesmaid, The Seat Filler, Roommaid, Just a Boyfriend, the Royals of Monterra series, and the #Lovestruck novels. She happens to be madly, passionately in love with her soul mate and is a fervent believer in happily ever afters—which is why she writes romance. She currently lives with her family and various pets in Utah, and harbors a lifelong devotion to ice cream.

Wilson's new novel is A Tribute of Fire.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

The title ended up surprising me. I had chosen it because my female main character’s battle master tells her that in the past, an enemy nation demanded a tribute of earth and water (as it signified total surrender) and he tells her to give them a tribute of fire and steel instead. (The book was originally called A Tribute of Fire and Steel but the “and steel” was cut because it was deemed to be too similar to another book my publisher had put out.) After I had submitted the book to my editor I realized that the FMC is the tribute of fire herself since she bribes her way into a death trial in order to save her nation. It works on a couple of different levels, totally unintentionally!

What's in a name?

The names of all the characters in this book were very, very deliberate. There are clues in those names if people look closely, but I assume that most readers won’t. I don’t want to reveal why the names were chosen because they would all be spoilers!

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

She’d be pretty shocked. I was something of a literary snob in high school as I was in Honors/AP English and read mostly classical literature. I never imagined that I would be a writer—it certainly wasn’t what I aspired to do when I was younger (although I had always loved reading). I think she’d also be surprised that I was able to publish a book that is so heavy on the fantasy parts as growing up the only fantasy books I ever read were written by men.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Usually the beginning as I write romance and I know how it’s going to end up. This series has been a bit different though—while I knew exactly how it would start and I know exactly how it will end, now that I’ve written the first two books so easily (the first book is about 515 pages and I wrote it in thirty-nine days; the second book is about 720 pages and I wrote it in thirty-one days), I’m feeling pretty anxious that I’m the one who has to write the third book and bring all the threads together and write a book that is satisfying and exciting and will keep the reader engaged. I almost wish someone else could do it!

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

Sometimes. I very rarely write characters that are like me (there’s only one that I can think of that thinks like I think and has a lot of the same interests that I do), but I would say that most of my protagonists have at least one or two traits of mine. And they’re almost always tall because I’m tall and I understand that perspective very well.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I am very heavily influenced by the world around me. I’m a huge fan of movies and television and they have a big impact on what I write. This book in particular was heavily influenced by the Star Wars sequels and the characters of Kylo Ren and Rey. I also find music highly inspirational and I have playlists for my books and a particular romantic song for the main characters.

Visit Sariah Wilson's website.

The Page 69 Test: A Tribute of Fire.

My Book, The Movie: A Tribute of Fire.

--Marshal Zeringue

Elizabeth Hobbs

Elizabeth Hobbs is a New Englander born and bred who spent her childhood roaming the woods, making up stories about characters who live far more exciting lives than she. It wasn’t always so—long before she ever set pen to paper, Hobbs graduated from Hollins College with a BA in classics and art history and then earned her MA in nautical archaeology from Texas A&M University. While she loved the life of an underwater archaeologist, she has found her true calling writing historical mysteries full of wit, wickedness, and adventure. Hobbs writes wherever she is and loves to travel from her home in Texas, where she lives with her husband, the Indispensable Mr. Hobbs, and her darling dogs, Ghillie and Brogue, in an empty nest of an old house filled to the brim with bicycles and books.

Hobbs's new novel is Misery Hates Company.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

A great deal! Misery Hates Company is set on a small—and very real—island just off the north shore of Massachusetts, Great Misery Island. My heroine finds herself unwillingly drawn into family intrigue and murder on the island, so it is a lovely little shorthand for the plot of the novel!

What’s in a name?

I love naming characters. There is something lovely and powerful and delightful about finding just the right name to enhance a story and aid in the reader’s understanding of the character. Since Misery Hates Company is set in New England, I plucked my names off of the graves registration for my own small hometown and read US Census rolls from the 1890’s to find just the right, period-appropriate names that also had a bit of a gothic ‘vibe’ to enhance the atmosphere of the novel like Sophronia and Seviah. But my protagonist, Marigold Manners, is actually named for a distant Hobbs family member, who, when I met her in her very old age, was still as feisty and charming as she must have been in her youth at the turn of the 20th century. And I liked the Language of Flowers association for marigolds (marigolds also represent good luck, warmth, creativity, prosperity, and passion, although they may also symbolize grief, despair and jealousy and be associated with death, remembrance and resurrection) which also played nicely into the murder plot.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

I think she would be absolutely delighted to find exactly what she’s been looking for in a protagonist—a forward-thinking, feminist, New Woman of the Progressive Age in her Gibson Girl shirtwaists and high-piled hair. I would go so far as to say that I created Marigold Manners specifically for my teenaged self! The only thing that would surprise my teenaged, impatient, dreamy, un-focused brain would be that we do indeed have the patience and determination to make our dream of writing a reality. Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Beginnings are both a bane and a delight—I really enjoy the first flush of putting an idea on the page. I love when the heat of an idea or a character comes to me. And I love finding the right words that are going to give me the key to that character—and I absolutely need just the right words to illuminate my character before I can move forward into the plot. So beginnings are a challenge—but a fun challenge. Usually, by the time I get to the end of a book, the words move onto the page far more easily. And in my current series, the Marigold Manners Mysteries, I have a little literary conceit that the first words and the last words echo each other, so once I have the beginning set, I know I have the ending, too.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

For the most part, they are a world apart. I don’t live at the turn of the 20th century, and many of the cultural freedoms and norms I live with are but a distant dream for Marigold Manners. That said, I do think that authors necessarily put a part of themselves—their experiences, opinions and world-view—into their writings one way or another, even if the characters themselves are different.

I suppose that instead of writing a sort of “everywoman,” I like writing a “best version of themselves” character—my characters get to say the witty and timely things that I could never come up with in real life, until the day after. I can give my characters what the French call the “mot d’escalier” or the “staircase word” that would in real life only come to them later, on the staircase on their way out of a situation, instead of in the thick of the moment.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I think doing puzzles of all kinds—Spelling Bee, Wordle, Crosswords and jigsaws—is the biggest non-literary influence that helps me to tease out the plots of my mysteries. I studied to be an archaeologist—I have my M.A. in Nautical Archaeology—and I think the skills and traits that I honed as a working, underwater archaeologist—a sort of sharp, probing curiosity about the world and a delight in figuring something out—continue to influence my writing more than anything else.

Visit Elizabeth Hobbs's website.

--Marshal Zeringue