Behind the story of Railroaded 4 Murder by J.C. Eaton

J.C. Eaton is the pseudonym for the married writing teams of Ann I. Goldfarb and James E. Clapp. Ann has eight published YA time travel mysteries, and Jim is a former tasting room manager for a large upstate New York winery. Railroaded for Murder is the eight Sophie Kimball Mystery.

Railroaded for Murder is all in fun

“The Sophie Kimball Mysteries are set in a fictionalized community based on the one where we live. Each book centers on a different club, activity, or event. When friends of ours from the model railroad club asked us to pen a mystery centered around their club, we couldn’t resist! Our books are filled with laugh-out-loud humor and tons of hyperbole. We want our readers to feel comfortable with their own foibles and not take themselves so seriously. With so many formidable issues facing us in this century, we wanted to give readers pure entertainment and a chance to kick back, relax, and chuckle.”

Our sense of humor drives us and we can ‘look for murder in all the wrong places!’ When Jim spotted a number of river rocks at the edge of the golf course near our house, he immediately pulled the car over and shouted, ‘Look at the angle! This is a perfect spot to dump a body.’ Thankfully, the homeowner wasn’t around to hear him and Ditched 4 Murder was born. 

Bringing together different talents

“We are a husband-and-wife team who write in opposite ends of the house, or we’d clobber each other! At certain junctures, we share notes, converge and pull things together. It’s an unusual set up, but it works for us. Although Ann had a background in writing (articles for trade magazines and YA time travel mysteries), Jim, a retired tasting room manager for a large winery, never ventured beyond information booklets on the wine industry.”

While Ann’s background was writing, Jim’s was more focused on interacting with people. Because of his background, Jim brings a special talent to the team—eavesdropping. “We live in a senior community and people talk. Loudly! Since Jim tends to be the quiet one in our family, he listens to the multitude of conversations that go on around him—at the pool, at the dog park, at restaurants, you-name-it. Then he takes snippets of those conversations, exaggerates them and comes up with the off-beat dialogues readers find in our Sophie Kimball Mysteries. Railroaded 4 Murder is no exception.”

The couple also discovered that their separate talents did not help them when they attempted to make chocolate confections, which they tried when they wrote Sauvigone For Good in The Wine Trail Mysteries. “Talk about a mess! Embarrassingly, we did the ‘easy children’s recipes.’ Of course we told ourselves we really needed the right equipment, but the truth of the matter was that we’re writers, not chocolatiers, and we intend to keep it that way.”

Learn more about J.C. Eaton and Railroaded for Murder at www.jceatonauthor.com. Did you like this interview? If so, click here to read more Behind the Story interviews from your favorite authors.