Jennifer Vido: What inspired you to co-write EMERGENCY CONTACT? Lauren & Anthony LeDonne: This was one of those “gift from the muse” stories! The idea of a woman waking up after a concussion and coming face-to-face with her ex-husband, all because she forgot to update her Emergency Contact information was an idea that just wouldn’t let go. Jen: How would you describe your writing process? Lauren & Anthony: It was a bit atypical, actually! Because we wrote this as a screenplay first (very much a collaborative effort), when it came time to write the novel version, we had what was basically, the best, most robust outline ever in the form of a script! We weren’t particularly organized it; every day our goal was just “get more words down.” We’d write as much as we could individually, and then read over what the other had written and make tweaks. The end result is a manuscript that ended up feeling very layered in terms of voice. There are no “Lauren sections and Anthony sections.” Each of us took so many passes at every single sentence, that the prose reads a bit differently than either of us writing individually.   Jen: Let’s talk…

Baby, it’s getting cold outside—but I think Diane Kelly’s victim in her new release is a bit colder than the rest of us. (Actually in Texas colder means 90 degrees today—I guess that’s colder than our smoldering summer of 2023!) For the rest of the country, fall is getting chilly and winter is just around the corner—what better way to welcome the cooler temps and shorter days than with the latest release of a talented mystery author. I met Diane when she lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area but she moved on to the greener and colder mountain tops of North Carolina. When a writer moves, a new story line starts, and luckily for us, the oldie but goodies are still continuing—you can take the writer out of Texas, but you can’t take the Texas stories out of the writer;)   Kym Roberts: Hi Diane, welcome back to the Cozy Corner! October 26th marks the release of your third Mountain Lodge Mystery, SNOW PLACE FOR MURDER featuring amateur sleuth Misty Murphy, the owner of the Mountaintop lodge in Beech Mountain, North Carolina. Your town, with its paradoxical name, is absolutely adorable like many of the real small mountain towns located in…

Jennifer Vido: What inspired your new release, WHAT WILD WOMEN DO? Karma Brown: I have this memory of being about seven years old and sitting cross-legged in a rustic, wood-beamed lean-to at the Great Camp Sagamore in the Adirondacks. It was the height of summer, and everything smelled green and lush. We had little money when I was growing up, but my parents had a bountiful network of friends and a keen sense of adventure, and that was how we ended up being invited to stay at the camp. It was around 1979, and I am certain only mere fragments of this memory are accurate. However, the feeling of that place wormed into my younger self—the wonder of its history (Camp Sagamore had originally belonged to the gilded Vanderbilt family, and the cabin where my family stayed had been Gloria’s), the isolated beauty of its surroundings, and the fun to be had, including hours spent hand-setting pins with my sister in the camp’s open-air bowling alley. In many ways WHAT WILD WOMEN DO began simply as a love letter to my 1970s hippie-infused childhood, and that first magical visit to Camp Sagamore.   Jen: Let’s start with Rowan. What’s going…

Jennifer Vido: What inspired your new holiday release, CHRISTMAS AT THE SHELTER INN? RaeAnne Thayne: From 2014 to 2019 I wrote a long-running series, HAVEN POINT, set on fictional Lake Haven in Idaho, loosely based on McCall, Idaho. The series featured eleven titles, starting with SNOW ANGEL COVE and ending with SUMMER AT LAKE HAVEN.   As I was creating Haven Point, for various plot-related reasons I needed a neighboring larger town, so I came up with the town of Shelter Springs, which was only referred to in passing. When I was thinking about where to set a new holiday-only trilogy, Shelter Springs immediately came to mind. The Lake Haven area feels so real to me and creating a spinoff series to Haven Point really offered me the best of both words. I had the fun of coming up with an entirely new community and cast of characters while staying in a setting I know and love.   Jen: What brings Natalie Shepherd back to Shelter Springs? RaeAnne: Natalie is a digital nomad who has created the perfect life for herself, house- and pet- sitting for others around the world while freelance editing and writing. She always tries to stay…

Jennifer Vido: What inspired INTO THE FIRE, the first book in your new Undaunted Courage series? Irene Hannon: I decided to start this new series by focusing on a crime I’d never dealt with in any of my previous 18 suspense novels. Arson immediately came to mind. While researching firefighting, I came across a lot of information on smokejumpers. These are the men (and a few women) who parachute into the wilderness with only the equipment on their backs to fight wildfires, mostly in the western part of the U.S. I knew I had to give my arson investigator heroine that background. And who better to pair her with than an ATF agent? I also gave both of these characters backstories with significant trauma that they are still dealing with years later. So expect lots of drama and conflict in this book, not only in the mysterious fires they are investigating, but in their developing romance!   Jen: Why did you select St. Louis, Missouri, for the setting? And, what’s your favorite independent bookstore in the area? Irene: St. Louis is the setting for all but one of my suspense novels for a simple reason—since I know the area well,…

Jennifer Vido: What inspired your new holiday release, THE CHRISTMAS PROMISE? Lindsay Gibson: I have a big love for ruby rings, which was a part of the painting from the auction in The Christmas Promise. Not only are rubies rare, but they’re just so beautiful. The red stone also symbolizes deep emotions: love and passion which as the reader learns in my story – perfectly represents my present and historical main female leads. I also have a love of history and learning how things used to be. Being in New England, it’s rich with history. I even live in a New England colonial home, dated from the 1700s… so new concepts and ideas are always around me. But as the idea of crafting a story centered around a red ruby ring, during Christmas, began to take shape, the idea of fusing the past and present into the characters sparked from there.   Jen: Who is Charlotte Moore, and what’s happening in her professional life? Lindsay: Charlotte is an art buyer for the established and well-known Wallace Gallery in Boston. She’s worked under the owner, Troy Wallace, for a few years and has learned many things in the art world through…

Jennifer Vido: What inspired your new release, MEET ME AT CHRISTMAS? Jenny Hale: Oh goodness, after 23 novels, there’s no telling where the idea came from! Ha! I don’t even know. Sometimes I wonder if I store subconscious little messages throughout my life that reveal themselves when I start writing. I literally turn in a novel to my editor and then open a clean Word document and start writing the next book on that same day. Some books come to me well before writing them and some come when I start typing them. This one slowly emerged once my fingers hit the keys.   Jen: What brings Stella Fisher back home to Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee, and how does she feel about it? Jenny: Her mother is spending her first Christmas without Stella’s father (after his death), and she’s faced with decorating alone and planning the Leiper’s Fork Christmas parade, which Stella’s father used to do. Stella feels the need to return to her mom, but she’s taken aback when her sister Lily elopes in Costa Rica instead of coming home to be with their mom.   Jen: What goes through Stella’s mind when she unexpectedly bumps into Henry Sutton? Jenny:…

Jennifer Vido: What inspired your new release, A ROYAL CHRISTMAS? Melody Carlson: The idea for this book was initially suggested by my brilliant editors. Of course, I wasn’t too sure. I hadn’t written anything like this before and it didn’t quite feel like me. But I promised to think about it, and as I tumbled it around in my head, a story began—and I got pulled in. I was surprised at how fun it was to write and how much I enjoyed creating a fictional royal principality and charming kingdom—complete with some king-sized challenges.   Jen: Who is Adelaide Smith? Melody: Adelaide is a hardworking student, struggling to finish law school without much help from anyone. Raised by a single mother, who tragically died a couple years ago, her birthfather is a mystery, and she doesn’t have much in the way of family to fall back on. But she’s a no-nonsense, strong-willed young woman, determined to follow her dream of becoming an attorney.   Jen: What happens to Adelaide that turns her life upside down? Melody: When Adelaide receives a mysterious letter suggesting she’s related to royalty in an Eastern European principality called Montovia, she assumes it’s a scam, or…

Jen: What inspired your new release, MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT? Nina: This novel is a love letter to my mom and strong women everywhere. I wrote it for my mom as a way to bring us comfort and joy during a tough family health crisis. Mother-Daughter Murder Night is about the Rubicon family—a grandma, single mom, and teenage girl—who come together to solve a murder on the banks of a California marine preserve. It’s part twisty mystery, part family drama, with touches of humor along the way.   Jen: Who is Lana Rubicon, and why is she convalescing 300 miles north of LA? Nina: Lana Rubicon is the superhero version of my own mom. At the start of the story, she’s a fiercely independent Jewish businesswoman in Los Angeles. When she is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, she is forced to move in with her estranged daughter Beth and teen granddaughter Jack in their ramshackle cottage in Monterey Bay so she can have support through treatment. Lana hates chemo, but even more, she despises being cooped up, and feeling powerless. When her granddaughter gets accused of murder, Lana jumps on the opportunity to clear Jack’s name and regain her own agency…

One of my favorite things about cozy mysteries are the possibilities of bonus content, like how to knit a one-of-a-kind scarf or arrange the flowers from my garden into beautiful summer centerpiece, or maybe carve that Christmas ornament for your first grandchild. (I could teach you;) If those skills are more than you want to tackle and you just want to keep those experiences on your bookshelf, I know the perfect craft for you to indulge in—Scottish scones! Who better to teach us then the Scottish Scone sisters creator, Lucy Burdette. After traveling to Scotland five years ago with a fellow writer, I decided to go back with my family in tow, but this time, we visited other parts of the UK as well. I’ve tried scones at that addictive American coffee house and just shrugged. (It’s their Frappuccino that keeps me going back, not their baked goods.) It was a different story, however, when we went to the U.K. And having tried Lucy’s recipe, I can guarantee it will bring you much closer to the real thing than any coffee shop’s pastries in the states! So of course, when the Scottish Scone sisters came stateside to visit food critic…