It’s no secret that I love detective mysteries, but what I really like to read are mysteries from different areas of the world. It’s amazing how different police procedures, organizations and investigations can be, both fictional and real life. Fiona Barton has created one of my favorite female detective persona’s in her Elise King Mystery series. Her writing captures the true struggles female detective face both on and off the job. The job is everything—until it’s not. I hope you enjoy this fascinating series and getting to sit down with Fiona Barton as much as I did.   Kym Roberts:  Welcome to the Cozy Corner, Fiona! Your background in journalism has required you look into some dark events and crimes. How were you able to separate your everyday life from the brutality of some of those assignments? Fiona Barton: It was hard at times – I remember covering the mass shooting of primary school children in Dunblane, Scotland and then returning home to my young family, who were upset about a sick pet. Two different realities but you have to deal with both with empathy. The danger is becoming numb to the terrible events in the news – as a…

Jennifer Vido: What inspired your new, summertime release, THE FRIENDSHIP PACT? Jill Shalvis: I’ve always wanted to write a story about a teenage girl who found her The One (lol, I’m such a sap) and then blew it … and then runs into that The One (sexy Riggs!) years later. Would she take the second chance? And just like that, Tae and Riggs were practically writing their own story. As for April (Tae’s mom), I loved that she’d had Tae as a teen herself because that made the mom/daughter relationship deliciously complicated. I also love complicated.   Jen: How would you describe April and Tae Holmes’s mother-daughter relationship? Jill: Complicated! April was 15 when she had Tae, so to say they raised each other isn’t far off the mark. Although Tae would tell you SHE raised her mom, and not the other way around.   Jen: What’s going on in Tae’s personal and professional lives? Jill: Tae is the middle of opening her own event planning service. She’s scrappy and determined, always has been, but she knows she needs this to succeed. Growing up dirt poor had hammered the point home that she doesn’t ever want to be scared and…

Your new “Electra McDonnell” mystery series is set in the 1940s. Is that a favorite time period for you? I know you’ve had mysteries set in the 1930s before. Is there another time period you’d be interested in having as a setting for your mysteries? The 1940s is such a fascinating time period. There was, obviously, so much going on globally, and there were so many significant factors at play, on both small and large scales. Ordinary people did extraordinary things in the face of insurmountable odds, and that aspect of life during World War II has so much potential for storytelling. As for other time periods I’d enjoy as settings, I do love a good Victorian murder mystery, and the Roaring Twenties has a lot of potential for mystery as well. Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll venture to those eras!   Your female protagonist and sleuth, Electra McDonnell, seems like a complex character. Do you prefer writing more complex and complicated characters rather than ones who are very rigid or immovable? Electra—or Ellie, as she’s known—is a really fun character to write because there’s the contrast of her being a thief and safecracker with the very noble and…

SMOKE AND OTHER STORMS is described as a “western fantasy adventure”. How would you describe the setting for this story? I think of it as the American Wild West meets 1800’s Australia. Half of the people are there to prospect and mine, the other half are violent prisoners shipped from back east so the cities don’t have to deal with them. However, the weather is savage and the bulk of the west is unmapped and toxic. It’s a do or die, kill or be killed environment, which is why the family bond the characters have is so important, they keep each other safe and alive.   What was you inspiration for this book? I grew up with all sisters and wanted to write a book that celebrates the bond between women. I also wanted it to be fun and I really love the desert, so that part was obvious. I started thinking about treasure hunt, action-adventure stories like Indiana Jones and National Treasure (still one of my favorite movies). We hardly ever get to see why the antagonists are really after the gold. We’re usually just left to assume it’s because they’re greedy. I wanted to explore the human side…

I absolutely loved the ending solution to MILLION DOLLAR DEMON, so much in fact I was worried how TROUBLE WITH THE CURSED would handle the consequences surrounding Constance. Any hints about where you’ll take us with her next? Thank you! I’m so pleased that the ending to MILLION DOLLAR DEMON was satisfying. I’ve had to become more inventive when it comes to giving Rachel more powerful antagonists to tackle and yet avoid the temptation to simply kill them off. The quirky solutions she employs is what makes Rachel, Rachel. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that the erratic, undead vampire is not gone. She appears in the next book, poised to step into Rachel’s story once more. Just how big a part she will be playing remains to be seen. I have ideas, but until I get them on paper, they are as changeable as the weather. One question I’ve been dying to ask ever since starting The Hollows series… why tomatoes?! The Hollows began much more tongue-in-cheek than it is now. Actually, it was a lot more, much of it pruned out before DEAD WITCH WALKING hit the shelf. That a GMO tomato…

When I first heard about your book THE MISSING GIRLS OF ALARDYCE HOUSE, I was intrigued because it sounded like the kind of historical gothic mystery I adore. What inspired you to write this book, and why a trilogy?  Does each book pick up where the previous one left off? Does each book focus on the same characters? Is each book told from the same character’s perspective? I was inspired to write this series by a clip from Downton Abbey. I’d never actually watched the program before, but I saw a snippet of it on Harry Hill’s TV Burp of all things. It was a scene where the family were gathered around the table for dinner and I saw the character Thomas, played by the lovely Rob James Collier. This inspired the character of Matthew. He sprung to life in my mind very vividly and quickly. I wrote the first book in just three weeks and that was handwritten in a notebook, not even on a laptop. The book just poured out of me so quickly my hand could barely keep up with my brain. It was the most intense writing experience I’ve ever had. Each book in the series…

Jennifer Vido: What inspired your new release, Where the Road Bends? Rachel Fordham: Every novel has its own way of going from nothing to something. It was the beginning of the pandemic, and I was thinking about how there was going to be the time before Covid and the time after, but things weren’t ever going to be exactly the same. This line of thinking led me to reflecting on the novel Les Misérables and how one moment changed the main characters entire life. I decided I wanted to explore that idea, of a defining moment, but in a different time period and setting. After that, pieces began coming together until I had a novel, I was extremely proud of.   Jen: What is Norah King willing to sacrifice in order to save her family’s land and why? Rachel: At the beginning of the novel Norah King is about to have her family farm taken over by the bank. In order to save it and keep herself from a desperate situation she agrees to marry an older man that she doesn’t love. At this time in history her options were limited, and this seems like the safest route to taking…

In your latest book, UNTIL DEAD, your unknown villain is a bomber. As a writer, what draws you to these types of thrillers and suspense stories? Thank you for inviting me. I enjoy books with a ticking clock. I also like to create an antagonist that is equal to my protagonist(s). In Until Dead, A Cold Case Suspense, my bomber is actually more than a bomber. He’s a Jack-of-all-trades’ assassin. He’s an explosives, weapons, and IT expert who no longer goes by his given name but calls himself The Tradesman.   How would you describe Special Agent Brian DiPietro to readers who may be new to your books? Brian is a stand-up guy (says the woman who created him). He’s a good supervisor, although he hates the idea of supervising because of a tragedy that happened in his past. He tried to leave the Bureau afterward, but his superiors convinced him to take a demotion instead. So, Brian is no longer Supervisory Special Agent Brian DiPietro but Special Agent Brian DiPietro. As I said, Brian balks at supervising others. Unfortunately for him, and the fun part for me, is to ensure he doesn’t get his way. By his experience and…

For readers, like me, who normally don’t read it – can you describe what “domestic suspense” means? In my mind, I picture poster for the film Serial Mom, with Kathleen Turner in a 1950s outfit, holding a pie in one hand, and a knife poised to stab somebody in the other. When I think of “domestic suspense,” I think of a genre of thrillers that are set in a neighborhood and focus on the relationships between family members or neighbors. I think of taut pacing and lots of secrets. Pies and knives most certainly could feature in these stories!   From THE FAVOR’s description, it sounds like there is an element of psychological suspense in your novel. Is that right? And what makes that possibly more interesting to write about than more obvious murder and mayhem? I think that’s right, and I think the hidden, simmering nature of psychological suspense makes it interesting to me. In particular, THE FAVOR tells the story of two women trapped in abusive marriages to men who are highly successful and credible. The nature of the abuse they suffer is, at times, coercive control, which can be more hidden, secretive, and difficult to prove. The…

Your book SERENADE is described as a “Paranormal Fantasy”. What about paranormal fantasy inspires you as an author? Do you think you’d ever dip into a different genre or subgenre? A great question! I love books that whisk you away to other worlds—that transport you. A great book is one that makes me forget real life for a while. I hope to accomplish that with the worlds I create. And I also write Gothic Mystery! I have book I just signed a deal with that will be coming out in 2023, called THE DOLLMAKER, so be on the lookout for that! How would you describe your female protagonist, November Huntington? Does she evolve over the series, or stay the same? Initially timid but becomes stronger, or always confident? November is different because she struggles with mental health. A lot of my early readers have really related to her because of this. She grows through the series. I wouldn’t say she starts out weak—she definitely has fight and spirit and knows how to stand up for what’s right—but she learns to open up her heart and mind as the story progresses. How would you describe the dynamic between November and Vincent?…