Denise Swanson is living the dream. As a New York Times best-selling mystery author, she makes her home in sunny Florida where she conjures up plot ideas for her popular novels. I discovered her Devereaux Dime Store Mysteries several years ago and was happy to have the chance to finally interview her.
What prompted you to write about a heroine who gives up her big city career in investments to flee to a small town and open a five and dine? Is it the fish out of water theme or something more?
I’ve always been festinated with the idea of fresh starts and recreating yourself. I also wonder just how many people are like me in that I couldn’t wait to leave my small hometown, but after a few years, I really missed the human connection you feel in a small town versus life in the suburbs or city.
Was it hard to keep a love triangle going? In book six, LIONS and TIGERS and MURDER, OH MY, both Noah and Jake are battling for Dev’s affections. The tension is on every page and there was a “will she or won’t she” suspense that kept me guessing.
I started out reading and writing romance so relationships are sort of my specialty. My problem is that I usually know which guy is going to win so I have to make sure that I don’t slip and let the reader know as well. I love a good love triangle, but the other thing I’m careful about doing is letting that triangle go on too long. I think there’s a natural rhythm and I don’t want the will she won’t she to drag on too long or go to ridiculous lengths to keep it unresolved.
I was happy to find the 24 book Scumble River series. In MURDER OF A NEEDLED KNITTER, Skye is self-conscious about her curves and hesitates to buy a shipboard photograph of her in a two piece bathing suit. I see that book 24, WEDDING JITTERS AND STORMY RIVERS came out in March. Is this something you encountered with female students when you were a school psychologist?
As to the body-con issue, I have rarely met any women who are happy with how they look. I worked with a lot of students who had serious issues due to their self-image. Some imaginary and some who were being bullied about their face and body.
In book 17, Wally and Skye finally make it to the altar and are on their honeymoon cruise. Of course, there’s a wrench in the works. Just when I was breathing a sigh of relief, Skye’s momzilla mother shows up and tries to control the situation. You depict a cruise ship vacation so perfectly I’m thinking you must have gone on one.
I’ve been on quite a few as it is my favorite vacation. And I was fortunate enough to get a behind the scenes tour which really helped writing that book and my romance GOOD GIRL OVERBOARD. I was also able to talk to the head of security about how an onboard murder would be handled.
Skye and Wally have had rough patches in their relationship and I wondered how did you kept the relationship between them going for 17 books?
I think it helped that they didn’t start out the series as a couple, but they did know each other in the past. With him married in the first book, I actually never planned for Wally and Skye to be together. I thought that they’d always have some chemistry, but neither would act on it. And even when his wife turned out to be such a flake and left him, I still wasn’t envisioning Skye and Wally as they turned out.
There were a lot of legitimate obstacles in their path. Their relationship was never a true love triangle because one or the other was always committed to someone else. Skye never dated both men at the same time.
Did your training as a psychologist help you describe the complicated family dynamics in your books? Skye finds it hard to set boundaries with her overbearing mother and Dani Sloan has a difficult relationship with her father.
Absolutely. Family dynamics are fascinating. I rarely see parent/child relationships that don’t have some issues. And I have to admit my own mother was a lot like May. LOL.
You chose a small college town setting for the setting in the Chef to Go Mystery series. Dani Sloan offers not only catering and gift baskets, but take-out meals for college students. I know you’ve taught at a small midwestern college and I wondered if this was your inspiration for the setting?
In writing my third series, I was looking for something a little different from my usual small-town setting, but I still wanted that tight knit atmosphere, A college town may have a lot larger population, but so many people and businesses are tied to the college in various ways, it makes for the perfect small-town, but not a small-town setting.
The Chef to Go Mysteries has so many mouth-watering recipes it makes me think you must be a talented cook.
I used to do a lot of baking. My Grandma Swanson was Belgian and a profession pastry chef. But as my husband and I got older and were trying to eat healthier, I turned to doing more cooking. Once he retired and became my sous chef, it was a lot easier. Nobody chops an onion into such perfectly even pieces as an engineer.
I know you speak at libraries and writers’ conferences all over the country. What are the most common questions from the audience? Can I venture a guess that one is “Where do you get your ideas?”
That is certainly among the top five. Also, how can you write so many books—I’m currently working on my 46th.
Where can readers catch up with you? Any conferences or speaking engagements planned? I don’t currently have any appearances planned.
The best place to find me is in my Facebook readers page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/428723763963797/?ref=bookmarks I’m on there daily and I do a Tuesday Treat giveaway, as well as a Freebie Sunday where I post about Kindle books from other authors that are free.
About Denise Swanson
New York Times Bestseller author Denise Swanson was a practicing psychologist for twenty-two years. She writes the Delicious Love and Change of Heart contemporary romance series, as well as the Scumble River, Devereaux’s Dime Store, and Chief-to-Go mysteries. Her books all feature small-town heroines with lots of heart. Denise’s books have been finalists for the Agatha, Mary Higgins Clark, RT Magazine’s Career Achievement, and Daphne du Maurier Awards. She has won the Reviewers Choice Award and was a BookSense 76 Top Pick. Denise Swanson lives in rural Illinois with her husband, classical composer David Stybr.
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About Mary Kennedy
Mary Kennedy is a licensed psychologist and the author of the Talk Radio Mysteries and the Dream Club Mysteries. She’s written nearly fifty novels and has four million copies in print. Her first thirty-five books were young adult novels published by Scholastic nationwide and in several countries. She lives in the northeast with an eccentric cat. She’s tried unsuccessfully to psychoanalyze him but she remains optimistic.
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