Winnie Archer is the pseudonym of National Bestselling author Melissa Bourbon. She is a middle school teacher by day and a writer by night. Death Gone A-Rye is the sixth book in her Bread Shop Mystery series. She is the author of the Lola Cruz mysteries, the Magical Dressmaking mysteries, and the Book Magic mysteries, which feature a bibliomancer. In addition to cozies, she has also written two mystery-suspense books titled Silent Echoes and Silent Obsession.
Some meat to go with the fluff
Some writers like to write pure fluff; some prefer to add some meat and potatoes to their stories. Melissa describes herself as a writer who is ‘incapable’ of writing purely fluffy books.
“Somehow, I always go a little deeper. In a recent book, for example, I dealt with a women’s shelter and a few of the women who needed that refuge. In another book in the series, Flour in the Attic, the mystery was ‘ripped from the headlines’. I was reading a newspaper article about a funeral home that was under investigation and that led to the entire premise for the book. It was based on a real scenario about real things happening in that industry. I can’t give any more detail or I’ll give it away, but suffice it to say, it’s a shocker.”
Melissa added that Death Gone a-Rye also puts a magnifying glass on corruption and school politics. “These are things I’m familiar with due to my time as a middle school English teacher and my husband’s work as a school administrator.”
And some real-life drama for Death Gone A-Rye
Death Gone A-Rye also pulls in some real life drama. Melissa said there was a situation she experienced from which she was able to draw inspiration. “I can’t go into detail about it because it was really personal, but I got a lot of satisfaction and worked through some anger and betrayal in the writing of this book. In fact, the victim is someone who I found to be a vile human being. Of course I’m not a vengeful person, but there is a little satisfaction in doing in a fictional character who was inspired by someone like that! In some ways writing the book was cathartic, but it was also difficult to revisit some of it.”
Female relationships at the core of the story
“I think it’s important to know that my books always celebrate female relationships: mothers and daughters, friends, sisters, grandmothers, neighbors. These relationships are such an important part of my life that I can’t seem to write a book that doesn’t also feature them. They give strength, balance, and support to my heroines, and also to the supporting characters.”
And one epic research story
Melissa said her latest research included a trip to the Outer Banks to gather information for the Book Magic installment she’s currently working on. She also went to Asheville to research a new book proposal. While to interesting places is a very nice perk of a writer’s career, one trip in particular easily tops the others. And it involves a nudist camp.
For Bare-Naked Lola, Melissa wanted to conjure up some antics for her protagonist Lola Cruz. “I imagined her and her cousin-in-law darting from bush to bush. I also wanted to explore the idea of how far Lola would be willing to go for her job. Naturally, I had to go check out a nudist resort in person. There was one about forty-five minutes from where I lived at the time, so off I went. It was October, so attendance was low. I was glad for that. I’ll leave you with the unanswered question of how far I was willing to go for my job, all in the name of research.”
By the way, Melissa describes funeral homes and school boardrooms as being somewhat dull after her ‘trip to camp.’
Learn more about Melissa Bourbon and her books at melissabourbon.com/. Did you like this interview? If so, click here to read more Behind the Story interviews from your favorite authors.
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