Playing Possum by Dane McCaslin

Dane McCaslin began a lifelong love of mysteries at a very young age. She bypassed Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden and went straight for Agatha Christie, thanks to her mother’s library books. Dane is retired from a twenty-plus-year career in teaching high school and college English, and she uses her newfound freedom to read for pleasure, write mysteries, and smell the roses. Playing Possum is the third 2 Sisters Pet Valet Mystery.

The beginnings of Playing Possum

Dane believes we can’t judge someone by first impressions. “While it might be the accepted way to measure someone’s motive and worth, it doesn’t work in the long run. Gwen and Nora, the main characters in my series, find this out for themselves with some hair-raising results. The story actually began with a discussion I had with a friend about the execution of a will. I’m sure the details were completely muddled, but the upshot was this: an ex-husband of a sister’s cousin’s friend (or something to that effect) had named his ex-wife as his will’s executor. The fur flew at the will’s reading, I was told. I used that as the springboard for this particular mystery.”

Staying true to herself

“I write as I am. By that I mean I tend to have a dry wit, see the funnier side of things, and appreciate all things Agatha Christie. I’m also a retired English high school teacher, as my character Gwen is, so I completely understand her desire to read for pleasure, not lesson planning, and to sleep in. I was the Writer in Residence at our local library when writing this book. I wrote six hours daily in a glassed-in cubicle where library patrons could come and gawk at me as I wrote. Talk about awkward…”

Tasty research is the best kind

When asked about her favorite research for a book, Dane said, “Hands down, it was sampling Voodoo Doughnuts to find a favorite. It’s still a toss up between the Maple Bacon Bar and the Dirt Doughnut, a concoction covered with vanilla icing and tons of crushed Oreo cookies. Now that’s what I call getting serious about research.”

Learn more about Dane McCaslin at www.danemccaslinbooks.com. Did you like this interview? If so, click here to read more Behind the Story interviews from your favorite authors.