interview

Elizabeth McKenna is the author of multiple romance novels. The Great Jewel Robbery is her debut cozy mystery, and she hopes readers will like it as much as they have enjoyed her romances.

Light and breezy

“The book I wrote before this one, First Crush Last Love, was so full of angst, pulled from my teens and twenties, that I needed to write something light and breezy,” Elizabeth said.

“The one thing I try to do with all of my books is to make sure that the plot and the characters’ actions are logical or at least understandable. I don’t want convenient things to happen to move the plot along. For example, an early draft of this book had Emma leaving a gala and going to a rooftop terrace with a man she had just met—alone. I’m not sure what I was thinking, as I am constantly telling my college-aged daughters to never, ever go anywhere alone at a party, nightclub, etc. A beta reader said her inner mom was screaming at Emma, and she was right. So, I changed the scene to include other people on the terrace.”

A change in plans

In the early summer of 2018, Elizabeth was working on a dark mystery inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, when she read that Hallmark Publishing was accepting unagented submissions.

“As an independent author and a fan of the Hallmark Channel, I thought, how cool would that be? I checked out their writing guidelines for mysteries, did some brainstorming with my family, and started writing The Great Jewel Robbery. Because Hallmark’s deadline was only a few months away, I decided to set the story in a mansion on Geneva Lake, which I live near. I chose reporters as the occupation of the main characters because I have a Journalism degree and it was something that I was familiar with. I love to research, but I also believe you need to write what you know to some extent. Beyond that, I guess I channeled every mystery TV show that I’ve seen and book that I’ve read. You will find me watching Matlock, Columbo, Monk, Psych, and Law & Order whenever I have a spare moment (drives my husband crazy).”

An introvert in an extrovert’s world

“It’s hard to tell you anything about myself because I’m an introvert,” Elizabeth said. “I find writing and marketing a book extremely challenging. I put a lot of myself into my characters, and when a reader doesn’t connect with them—and writes a bad review—it hurts. It used to hurt a lot more, but I’ve toughened up over the years. Besides that, I, like many women, wear many hats throughout my day. I’m a wife, mother, cook, maid, freelance editor, and writer to name a few. I consider myself blessed for the life that I currently have, though sometimes I have to count those blessings to get through my day.”

Elizabeth also said that with the exception of her first novel, Cera’s Place, she wrote the manuscript, sent it to her editor, and then published it. “I asked for very little feedback from others because it just goes against my nature. It’s too personal. However, with The Great Jewel Robbery, I was trying to meet Hallmark Publishing’s deadline, and I am a slow writer. I calculated I would need to write at least one thousand words a day—something I’ve never done.

“That obstacle made me ask for help. As I finished each chapter, I sent it to my daughters and my husband to critique. My girls caught typos and grammar, and once I convinced them I wouldn’t be upset, they offered character and plot criticisms. My husband was extremely helpful with the big picture. He’s an engineer with a logical mind that I was grateful to take advantage of. Besides my editor, I also used beta readers, which I had never sought out before. Though I had to get over my reluctance to show others my initial drafts, the whole process worked out really well and made the story stronger.”

A looming deadline

Because she was on a short deadline for The Great Jewel Robbery, Elizabeth’s research had to be done quickly. In order to get the setting correct, she and her family spent time at Geneva Lake in their boat. “We love looking at the mansions and choosing the ones we’d like to buy when we win the lottery. The Braun mansion in the story is based on Stone Manor, a real-life mansion on Geneva Lake built around 1900. When describing the Braun mansion, I incorporated many of the historical and architectural details that I discovered while researching Stone Manor.”

Learn more about Elizabeth McKenna at elizabethmckenna.com.

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Devon Delaney is a self-proclaimed foodie. A wife, mother of three, and cooking contester she has been handsomely rewarded for her recipe innovation over the last twenty-plus years. She’s turned her talents to writing with the Cook-Off Mystery series. The latest in that series is Guilty as Charred. 

Guilty as Charred and community gardens

Devon said Guilty As Charred is based around community gardens—who benefits and who is against the use of land for this purpose. “I volunteer at a community garden located in a nearby underserved and impoverished neighborhood,” Devon said. “I know how beneficial the garden is. A beneficial project, yes, but I can see how having one in the middle of a neighborhood could cause some tensions if not everyone is a supporter. I am a lifelong gardener and educator and the class tours we host through the garden are an amazing eye-opening experience for kids who have no idea where their food originates. The skills and lessons I’ve learned from gardening, including patience, perseverance, flexibility, humility cannot be taught early enough. Although opponents might see the project as an alternative and unnecessary method of teaching and building community mindedness, I hope through my inclusion of the issue in my book some will recognize it as a good idea. Despite any murder that may occur there!”

In the beginning there was a grilling contest

The initial idea for Guilty As Charred came to Devon after her experience at a grilling contest when she was a winner in the Live with Kelly and Ryan Grill-off. “I loved the idea of using a variety of the grilling contest as the backdrop of a mystery. To complicate matters in the plotline, I drew from the fact our neighborhood has been having an ongoing dispute involving two property owners. Witnessing first hand disputes can easily escalate, it motivated me to feature the issue in my storyline. Amazing how art imitates life. The best storylines are in your own backyard!”

To make sure she had the details right regarding the property dispute, Devon went to her Town Hall and spoke to the zoning department. She said, “I asked them various questions about disputes between neighbors, all the while hoping not raise any red flags because my next-door neighbors were embroiled in a contentious property dispute with their new neighbors. I live in a small town and I know both neighbors had called the authorities on each other many times. I didn’t want to become ensnared in their situation, I only wanted all the juicy details. What I found at Town Hall was a surprising eagerness to talk about these types of disputes, even though I confessed I was researching for a murder mystery!”

What’s next?

“I am forever interested in improving myself, in challenging myself, in seeking inspiration for the next chapter of my life. My favorite thing is observing the human condition. I am fascinated with what makes people tick. I may be on the quiet side, but don’t ever mistake quiet for disinterest. The things I’m good at I’ve made sure I’ve practiced hundreds, maybe thousands, of times. Tennis, recipe creation, cook-offs, needle-pointing and rug hooking are some of my hobbies.”

Devon agrees that no murder mystery author wants their computer Internet history seen by outside sources. She said, “We would all be under suspicion, or worse, for criminal behavior and mayhem. In the current book I’m writing, book 4 in my cooking competition series, I had to get a look at how a cat could be walked in a harness and on a leash for the very first time. My son had that contraption and he tried it on his new cat. The cat’s reaction to the humiliation of it all was priceless. I use the scenario in my book exactly as I saw it. So funny!”

Learn more about Devon Delaney at devonpdelaney.com.

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Peg Cochran is the author of the Sweet Nothings Lingerie series (written as Meg London), the Gourmet De-Lite series, the Lucille series, the Cranberry Cove series, and the Farmer’s Daughter series. She’s an avid reader who began reading when her parents gave her a set of children’s encyclopedias. She read them all—and has even been known to read the dictionary. She discovered a love of mysteries at the age of seven when she discovered the perfect hiding place for a body down the street from her house.

The beginning of Murder She Uncovered

“I wanted to tie a story to some historical event, and when I read about the hurricane the Yankee Clipper—also known as the Long Island Express—I became fascinated. It was horrific and unexpected—the hundreds of people killed had no warning that the storm was coming.”

Peg said after she learned about the Yankee Clipper, she began thinking…what if? “What if a body was found in the wreckage of the storm and it became apparent the person was not a victim of the hurricane but of murder? That victim took shape in the form of a young Irish immigrant working as a housemaid for a wealthy family. The story grew from there.”

The story becomes more complex 

“The book is set in 1939 and so many issues came up while I was writing it—some planned and some unexpected. One is mental illness and how people with a mental illness were viewed and treated. Lobotomies were being performed because interestingly enough, the cause of mental illness was believed to be organic. The main objective of a lobotomy seemed to be to render the patient passive and compliant.”

Peg said another issue that interested her and made its way into the book was the plight of single females—particularly immigrants from Ireland seeking a better life—who had no real marketable skills. “They mostly depended on housework and factory work,” Peg said. “Both required long hours and low pay. My grandmother immigrated from Italy and worked in the garment industry in New York City so that’s where I placed one of my characters. Despite the efforts of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, women still worked under hard conditions and for long hours.”

During her research, Peg discovered that abortion was an issue of the time. She said, “One of the characters is pregnant and unmarried and the only abortions available to women at the time were performed illegally and often by untrained providers.”

Imagination and research

“I respect my readers and try to give them the best story I can. I’m grateful to be doing what I love and I don’t take it for granted. I’m a ‘late bloomer.’ I always wanted to write fiction and dabbled in it here and there before I got serious about it. Still, my first book didn’t come out until a month before my 60th birthday! And that after hundreds of rejections. But I refused to give up!”

While very persistent in her writing, Peg doesn’t feel the need to experience everything she writes about. “I hate to disappoint you,” she said, “but I’m not one of those writers who locks herself in the trunk of the car to see what it’s like. I have a pretty good imagination at least when it comes to how I would feel in that situation. I suppose my funniest story is when I visited a cranberry bog and asked the owner what he would do if a body floated up in the bog. He was speechless!”

Learn more about Peg Cochran at pegcochran.com.