#FollowMe for Murder by Sarah E. Burr

Sarah E. Burr lives near New York City. In addition to the Trending Topic mysteries, she is also the author of the Court of Mystery series and the Glenmyre Whim Mysteries. She has a rescue pup, Eevee, and spends her downtime video gaming. Sarah is also looking forward to Broadway returning with more certainty. She says she misses her flashy, fun musicals. 

Social media and #FollowMe for Murder

Sarah had rediscovered her love of cozy mysteries and was enjoying the small, welcoming towns when she asked herself why the main characters never used the Internet to Google a suspect or used their phone to check social media for clues. “Now, for the older cozies, I totally understood that the technology wasn’t around when they were written, but once I began reading books that had been published in the same year I was reading them, I got to thinking…what if there were an amateur sleuth who wasn’t afraid of technology, but, rather, embraced it? What if she used her social media accounts to gather deets on her suspects before going to question them? What if I wrote that cozy? It was then Coco knocked on the door of my brain and introduced herself. Who better than a blogger and influencer to track down a killer using social media?”

Being social-media savvy, Sarah felts #FollowMe for Murder could show how much of our lives are discoverable online. “Coco finds details about suspects she’s never met, all because she knows where to find this information online. It’s great to share yourself with the world, but it’s also sensible to be smart about what you’re sharing. So, one thing I really wanted readers to take away from #FollowMe for Murder was an awareness that it’s important to protect themselves online, especially those who are still exploring all social media has to offer. Coco frequently highlights that she can’t get intel from a profile because of the privacy settings – that’s a nod to the audience, showing them ‘hey, you might want to check your own settings…’ or you could end up a murder suspect!”

Striving to make characters relatable

“My characters in #FollowMe for Murder are definitely not wallflowers,” Sarah said. “They are spotlight-loving people with big (and I mean, big) personalities. They have to be in order to be successful in the media industries many of them are in. Coco’s main source of income comes from her online activity. Her bestie Jasper runs a magazine empire, and her boyfriend Hudson is a rising TV personality. But just because they are loud and showy doesn’t mean they aren’t good people at heart. Coco is willing to put everything on the line, including her own safety, to bring a killer to justice.”

Sarah added that one element she strives for most is creating relatable characters. “And that means characters who are flawed. One thing that was fun for me to write about Coco is, yes, she’s financially comfortable and very outwardly self-confident, but just because she comes across that way to her online followers, it doesn’t mean she’s perfect all the time. And she certainly doesn’t think she’d perfect. Coco is plagued by lots of self-doubt, and she’s constantly criticizing herself for thinking about her feelings, her business, or her online image when there might be more important things to consider in life. She’s young; she’s twenty-eight, and she knows she’s a work in progress. I find her willingness to admit ‘Oof, that was selfish’ to be one of her most endearing features. Because we all have these moments where we probably think about ourselves first or how something effects someone close to us, rather than the bigger issue at hand. It’s all part of being human.”

Getting to yes

“When I was first querying this manuscript for representation about five years ago, I got so many rejection notices telling me that this book would never work because ‘people aren’t really into social media’ or ‘social media is just a fad.’ I felt like I was living in a completely different world because everyone I knew was on social media, and everything was moving to social media. Luckily, my agent Dawn Dowdle recognized that social media wasn’t going away and took a chance on me. I’m beyond grateful she did because social media is now more a part of our lives than ever.”

Besides being a fan of social media, Sarah likes to explore new things. “Because of the pandemic, my more recent research had to occur closer to home. For my paranormal cozy You Can’t Candle the Truth, which came out last November, I took my love of candles to the next level. It was so fun learning about the candle making process (the MC is a candlemaker and shop owner) especially how it differs between the wax you select. There are so many wax options out there, some that I’d never heard of before I began working on the book. I spent a lot of time testing out different candles, so my apartment smelled amazing!”

Learn more about the author Sarah E. Burr at www.saraheburr.com. Did you like this interview? If so, click here to read more Behind the Story interviews from your favorite authors.