What is the title of your latest release?
THE MUSEUM OF UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Welcome to the Museum of Unusual Occurrence – a place full of strange exhibits and even stranger murders. The first in the new Psychic City mystery series.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I was eight months pregnant in October 2020 and watched a Halloween-ish movie more or less every night. Most horror movies are too much for me, but I like a creepy, charming vibe. There was a lot of Tim Burton in rotation plus Hocus-Pocus, Practical Magic, and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I decided that my next mystery novel would have an eerie, fun vibe. Then I remembered learning about Cassadaga, Florida when I lived in Gainesville. It’s known as the “psychic capital of the world” and only certified mediums can live there. I used Cassadaga as my setting inspiration.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Definitely. Although Aly might not want to hang out with me. She’s rather reclusive and likes it that way.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Loyal, resourceful, and cynical.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned a lot about Spiritualism while researching this book. It’s easy to dismiss séances and psychics, but Spiritualism’s roots are more genuine than you might expect. Of course there were charlatans like the Fox Sisters who claimed to communicate with the dead by knocking on walls, but there were also mediums who simply wanted to bring comfort to people who were grieving.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I prefer to draft by hand, which means that all editing is done later. Well, I suppose I cross out particularly cringe-worthy sentences or ideas, but for the most part, I just try to move forward. Writing by hand makes me feel looser, as if I haven’t committed to anything.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I’m a mediocre cook, so eating out anywhere is my foodie indulgence. There’s a place called Kaizen here in Knoxville that makes a dry fry eggplant cooked with Szechuan pepper, and I think about it a lot. When I cook eggplant, it tastes like…nothing?
Describe your writing space/office!
I love my office. It’s tiny and packed with books, photographs, and knick-knacks. I have a little clockwork tableau, a first edition of Flannery O’Connor’s The Complete Stories, and an orange giraffe with pompoms that my son made me. It’s not quite a Wunderkammer, but I’d like it to be. My office is also not insulated, so it’s very, very cold some days.
Who is an author you admire?
So many! In terms of mystery writers, Tana French and Sara Gran are auto-buys for me.
Is there a book that changed your life?
I like the wording of this question. JANE EYRE is my favorite book, but a book that changed my life? Maybe TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS by Cheryl Strayed for the way it makes a case for treating everyone – including ourselves – with kindness.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was chatting with a bookseller recently who asked me to tell him when I had a new “weird” book coming out. We both laughed at that description, but it’s true. Even when I’m leaning into a genre, my own preoccupations surface. It takes me a long time to write a book, so I figure that I might as well write about what interests me. That’s a long-winded way of saying that when my agent told me Severn House wanted to published THE MUSEUM OF UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE as the beginning of a new series, I was over the moon. What a vote of confidence in my weird books!
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Mystery and poetry
What’s your favorite movie?
The English Patient
What is your favorite season?
Winter – although this last one tried my patience. Enough with the ice!
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I only watch Taskmaster these days. It’s great, though. Highly recommend.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Probably French. One food I crave that I can’t seem to find near me is what I think of as a French museum sandwich. Jambon beurre, I believe it’s called. Ham, butter, and that perfect crunchy bread that gets all over your clothes.
What do you do when you have free time?
Free time’s a bit limited around here, but my son loves making bug habitats, so that’s what I like to do, too, right now.
What can readers expect from you next?
I have a new collection of poems out later this year called A BUYER’S GUIDE TO THE AFTERLIFE.
THE MUSEUM OF UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE by Erica Wright
A Psychic City Mystery
Welcome to the Museum of Unusual Occurrence—a place full of strange exhibits and even stranger murders. The first in the new Psychic City mystery series by talented author Erica Wright.
“Every small town thinks it’s special—That might be true, but this one actually is.”
Rational and cynical Aly Orlean’s life in her psychic hometown of Wyndale, Florida couldn’t be more hectic. It’s all about running her business, raising a teenage sister, sending out holiday greetings—and her new task: finding a killer.
For her Museum of Unusual Occurrence not only houses odd curiosities but now has a brand-new display: The body of Rose Dempsey, a local twenty-year-old, set up in one of the exhibits as if she has been ritually sacrificed.
With the police clueless, Aly is worried that this is a vicious warning for her and her solitary way of life. Fearing for her sister Merope’s wellbeing, she’s determined to find out why the killer murdered Rose and how her body was placed in Aly’s museum . . . But might the killer be someone hiding in plain sight?
Thriller Paranormal – Supernatural [ Severn House, On Sale: April 7, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781448320233 / ]
Buy THE MUSEUM OF UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Ripped Bodice | Walmart.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Erica Wright
Erica Wright is a poet and novelist. Her latest mystery HOLLOW BONES (Severn House) was called “an incredibly rich work of literature” in the Nashville Scene. Her essay collection SNAKE (Bloomsbury) was one of LitReactor’s Best Books of 2020. She’s over the moon to be releasing two books in 2026: the poetry collection A BUYER’S GUIDE TO THE AFTERLIFE (Black Lawrence Press) and the mystery THE MUSEUM OF UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE (Severn House).
No Comments
Comments are closed.