How much historical research is involved with your books? It depends on each book. Sometimes the particular subject matter or slice of historical time in which the book is set requires a great deal of research, and sometimes it’s not quite so intensive. And of course, that is on top of the vast amount of background research about all the particulars of the time period and my characters’ backgrounds that I conducted before ever beginning to write the series. Plus, I’m often reading general and social histories during my free time, simply trying to always be increasing my knowledge and search out interesting plot ideas.   In A PERILOUS PERSPECTIVE there is a forgery and a murder. Do you normally have different criminal elements along with murder? Sometimes. Though, not always. I was inspired to explore the art forgery aspect for this book because Lady Darby is a gifted portrait artist, and I hadn’t utilized that trait fully with any of my recent plots. It was an absolutely fascinating subject to research, and then try to figure out how much my heroine could have feasibly known and been able to detect in 1832 versus all the tools we now have…

I’ve always been fascinated by mysteries and thrillers set in small towns. I’m sure that has a lot to do with the fact that I grew up in a small university town in rural Quebec. My town seemed quite enough – but that was only because my parents did a good job of keeping its rumors and scandals under wraps. Like every other small town, it harbored its share of secrets, and by the time I was a teenager, I’d come to understand that you never really know what goes on behind closed doors.   In DEAD WIND, the third mystery in my Shana Merchant series, Senior Investigator Shana Merchant pulls back the veil on the Thousand Islands of upstate New York and Ontario, and discovers that her new community is concealing secrets and grudges that some people think are worth killing for. If you love a small-town mystery, here are four crime fiction series to watch, all of which have a similar vibe to DEAD WIND. Shetland   Based on the excellent crime fiction series by British mystery writer Ann Cleeves, Shetland isn’t just set in a small town, but on small islands. The series follows Detective Inspector Jimmy…

1–What is the title of your latest release? FATAL FAMILY SECRETS – April 19th, 2022 A rom-com ghost mystery with a Scooby gang you’ll want to join! 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? When a boy’s guardian angels turn deadly, he needs help only the gang from Spook Central can provide. But his pretty older sister throws a twist into the budding romance between Johnny Redhawk, who’s developed a new and game-changing power, and the gang’s resident witch Maya, who thinks they should cool things off. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Years ago, for a book signing, I drove a couple of hours east to a small town near Saratoga Springs New York called Burnt Hills and fell in love. There was a new & used bookstore, The Ballston Book House in Ballston Spa, just a stone’s throw from there, in a converted and happily haunted Victorian house. That’s the setting. 4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life? For sure, because I am my heroines in real life. Every one of them has a multitude of my own traits in varying combinations and levels. Some have my potty…