A couple times a year I get sidetracked. (My husband would say I do it more often than that, but I don’t remember asking for his input.) My reading, and writing, veer off-course to see what’s beyond the cozy forest as I explore what lies deep within the darkness—to the place where laughter and silliness don’t exist, but exceptional writing and storytelling still grasp hold and don’t let go. We all have a go-to genre, one that speaks to us the way no other does, yet just as in life, going outside the boundaries of our chosen lane allows us to experience another culture to enrich our daily lives. And I have to say, the choices I’m sharing today sweetened my reading venture – from a kiss of death to a trip through time, to the novellas of a genre king, and the threats of a haunted home, all of which brought me right back to my original trek – and a trip to Paris. I mean seriously, it’s Paris! I hope my selections inspire you to take a chance, a risk that will open your eyes to new possibilities…and then you can finish back in our cozy little corner….

While reading the description of your book ONE OF US IS DEAD, I was reminded of my favorite Real Housewives. What was your inspiration for this thriller? I actually came up with the idea for ONE OF US IS DEAD when I was sitting in a salon chair. My hairstylist had mentioned something personal I had previously told her (I don’t even remember what it was), and I was like, “Wait, I told you that? I can’t believe I told you that.” She replied, “Yes, you wouldn’t believe the things people say while sitting in this chair.” That was a lightbulb moment for me, and I immediately felt a salon was the perfect setting for a thriller. By the time I got home, I had half the book plotted out in my head. As I drafted the novel, I was definitely inspired by the Real Housewives as well as the book BIG LITTLE LIES.   Is this story divided up and alternating between the perspectives of several different characters? Yes, there are five points of view which was quite the undertaking to ensure they were unique voices and readers wouldn’t be confused by the multiple perspectives. Thankfully, early reviews gush…

How much research goes into one of your books? A: It really depends on the book. If I’m not familiar with the area, I’ll do a lot of location research, but I try to write books in places where I’ve been or where I know someone. For crime details, I have a lot of people I can call upon for help, or I can post a question in the Crime Scene Writers group. I’ve also done a lot of research over the years that’s become my own knowledge base — I’ve gone through the FBI Citizen’s Academy, gone on ride-alongs with local police, toured the morgue and viewed an autopsy, visited Quantico, and participated in training drills with SWAT teams. All that informs my books. For THE SORORITY MURDER, which came out at the end of 2021, I reached out to the head of the Criminal Justice department at Northern Arizona University as well as someone from the campus police department because I had very specific questions. But most of the forensic and psychology details I researched in books I own. For THE WRONG VICTIM, I reached out to a former ATF agent for information about bombs to make sure…

SCARLET CARNATION is set in early twentieth-century America. What made you decide to choose this period? After writing MUSTARD SEED, the companion to YELLOW CROCUS, I got the idea in my head that I would return to the descendants of these characters every twenty years or so until I got to the 2000s. SCARLET CARNATION is the fourth in the series. I enjoy starting a novel with the constraint of knowing a rough period and the main character(s) and then researching the geographical and social setting shaping their current lives. The thematic through line in all of my novels is “How does the American caste system harm my characters and how do my characters create beautiful, faith-filled and open-hearted lives despite disappointments, while challenging the oppressive structures they were born into.”   How much historical research did you do for your books? Are you a history buff? I do a lot of research. My favorite way to learn about the era is to read the newspapers from that time. Newspapers.com is by best friend. While I also read non-fiction books for my research, I prefer the raw, happening in the moment information that I get in the newspaper. I’m fascinated by…

Jennifer Vido: What inspired you to write EVERYTHING MUST GO? Camille Pagan: I’m the eldest of three sisters, so I’ve always wanted to write a novel about that complicated but often-wonderful dynamic. As Laine observes, “Being raised by the same parents at the same time was like being the last few to speak a dying language.” That’s how I’ve always felt when my sisters and I have had to deal with stressful family situations. The novel is also about the choices we make at midlife (I’m there now!) and the difficulty of dealing with dementia, especially in its early stages when it’s not always apparent there’s a “real” problem. Not all of my novels are inspired by my life, but this one definitely was.   Jen: What’s happening in Laine’s marriage that causes her to question the future? Camille: Laine and her husband Josh have been together for years, and they have a comfortable if staid relationship. But when Laine’s beloved dog, Belle, dies, she realizes that she actually isn’t happy with Josh—who is absentminded about everything, including their marriage—and is tired of being the one to keep the status quo for everyone in her life … including Josh. The…

What made you decide to write series about governesses? JANE EYRE fan? Or just interest in the way women at the time struggled to earn a living? I can’t really recall the reason. The series was written nearly ten years ago, and they were all short stories and were only published for a year. I always knew that that there was much more to their stories and finally revisited them. The books changed so much that I gave them new titles, new covers, and a new series name.   It’s not totally clear to me from the description for TEMPTED BY A GOVERNESS, but how do Katrina and Timothy get thrown together? What’s the dynamic between them like? Katrina had inherited her father’s book shop, but the debts he also left her were too high. She had no choice but to finally sell all the contents and return to her previous vocation as a governess. Timothy tired of his position as a Fellow at Oxford and when he saw the advertisement selling the contents of a bookshop, he decided to quit his job to open a lending library. The romance began in the book shop and discussions over Timothy’s travels….

Rachel Gibson: First let me say Hello to everyone at Fresh Fiction. You all give the best events and parties, and it’s great to chat you again.   Your new book DROP DEAD GORGEOUS involves some body swapping—what appealed to you about that idea? Were you a Freaky Friday fan?  I loved Freaky – “I’m like the Crypt Keeper!” – Friday, but it wasn’t the inspiration for DROP DEAD GORGEOUS. The idea for DDG came from my deep dislike for amnesia plots. I’ve always said that I would never write an amnesia book. However, I am a contrarian which mean that at some point I’m going to twist and bend a plot until it works for me. Every book I’ve written starts with “what if…” What if one woman’s soul jumps into another woman’s body, and she must pretend she has amnesia for the rest of her life?   The thing I like about body swapping or soul swapping stories – depending on how you look at it – is that the characters in the swap often learn more about what makes them unique, and their personality and perspective sometimes evolves. Would you say that’s true of the main characters in DROP…

WHEN BLOOD LIES is the 17th in your Sebastian St. Cyr series. What keeps this character inspiring for you? Sebastian St. Cyr is such a complex, dynamic character: he’s clever and passionate and honorable, although he’s also willing to step over a few lines when necessary. I find that if I’m away from Sebastian and Hero and the others for too long, I miss them and get impatient to start the next book. A part of that is probably because there is an important personal story arc that runs through this series, plus several overarching mysteries that make this series unusual, and I suspect help keep it fresh for me. Before I started the series I had only written standalones. It’s fascinating for me as an author to be given the opportunity to follow a set of characters through years of their lives, exploring the ways they grow and change because of various life events and experiences. And of course, the period is fascinating. We tend to think of the Regency in terms of balls and carriages and duels at dawn, but there was so much more to it than that. This was the age of Napoleon and Goethe, Byron…

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…

Your new book THE FORGOTTEN DEAD has two things I love – psychic abilities and a seemingly haunted house. What attracts you as a writer to these themes? I’ve loved spooky stories since I was a kid, even though I was deeply terrified for ghosts for most of my childhood. I still love creepy stories, whether they be something like M.R. James’s “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” or a contemporary action-driven series like J.L. Bryan’s “Ellie Jordan, Ghost-Trapper” books. I think the thing that draws me to ghostly stories is the concept that they tend to center some past injustice, a psychic wound that reaches through time, crying out for resolution. It’s hard to go wrong with a set-up like that!   Can you describe the dynamic between Nigel and Oscar? Do you alternate between perspectives throughout the book? Oscar is a big guy with a big heart. He’s a former college football player turned accountant, who leads a ghost-hunting team on the side. He’s the one who’s always trying to look out for other people, make sure they have what they need, that they’re comfortable. He’s also been seeing ghosts since childhood but is in…