1–What is the title of your latest release?
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
The murder of a local contractor may be the final nail in the coffin for Tricia Miles. Can she find the killer before he or she has the chance to bring the hammer down?
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
As it’s the 17th book in the series, it was a no-brainer. Stoneham, NH where all but one of the Booktown Mysteries takes place. (#10 takes place on a cruise ship–but Tricia brought half the village along with her, so all my favorite characters got to go on a vacation, too!)
4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Definitely. Especially at happy hour.
5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Strong, capable, curious.
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That I can meet a deadline under EXTREME pressure.
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I always edit the previous day’s work before I start my writing day.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Sausage Egg McMuffin. I make a pretty good version at home.
9–Describe your writing space/office!
Chaotic. My cats insist on lying on my keyboard when I try to work. I also seem to have a genetic defect when it comes to filing papers.
10–Who is an author you admire?
Ellery Adams. Her gift for description is exquisite.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
Ammie Come Home by Barbara Michaels. It was the first “cozy-ish” book I read–and the first “adult” book I ever read (recommended by my mother when I was 12). I was always a reader, but after reading that book, I became a voracious reader. And because of its paranormal thread, it inspired me to write my first mystery series, The Jeff Resnick Mysteries (under my L.L. Bartlett name.) The book hasn’t aged as well as some of her others, but I reread it every few years just to revisit the characters.
12–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.
LOL. I never got “the call.” I got emails. Not as dramatic, but pretty satisfying. The call for me was the first time I hit the New York Times Bestsellers List. I couldn’t believe it when my editor shared the news. I may have used a naughty word because my sense of astonishment was so great at that moment.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
Memoir. Cozy mysteries. Cookbooks. Biographies. EVERYTHING!
14–What’s your favorite movie?
Galexy Quest. Groundhog Day, or maybe Little Miss Sunshine. (Can you tell I don’t get out much.) These are movies I tend to watch when I need a laugh or a break.
15–What is your favorite season?
Summer. I get to grow veggies!
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
With coconut cake. And I love presents. But I don’t necessarily have to have NEW presents. I’m a big believer in keeping things out of landfills, so give me a pretty thrifted dish or a vintage cookbook from a yard sale and I’m happy as a pig in poop!
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
As someone who recycles, upcycles, and cares for the Earth, one of my favorite podcasts is the Sustainable Minimalist by Stephanie Safarian. I’m not a minimalist by any means, but she has a lot of good advice and interviews on how making small changes can impact our world for the better.
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Indian. The hotter the better. Unfortunately, there’s no Indian restaurants in my part of town, so I either make it myself (and not nearly as well) or depend on commercial products. I make sure to never run out of naan or poppadoms.
19–What do you do when you have free time?
Read and garden. (I’m much better at reading than gardening.)
20–What can readers expect from you next?
I’m juggling several projects under my other writing names (Lorraine Bartlett and L.L. Bartlett), but I’m currently working on A Controversial Cover, the 18th Booktown Mystery!
A QUESTIONABLE CHARACTER by Lorna Barrett
The murder of a local contractor may be the final nail in the coffin for Tricia Miles in the latest entry to Lorna Barrett’s New York Times bestselling Booktown series.
It’s a busy summer in Booktown. Contractor Jim Stark is in great demand: he’s overseeing a number of projects, including Angelica Miles’s newly constructed building on Main Street, finishing up the new brew pub, and gutting a stone mansion off Main Street that Angelica bought to be the world headquarters for Nigela Ricita Asssociates. It’ll house office space where her marketing staff and the rest of the NR Associates clerical personnel will work.
Tricia Miles and Angelica arrive at the mansion before their workday to see how the construction is going. They find the place unlocked and Stark’s right-hand man, Sanjay Arya, dead—bludgeoned to death. The loss of the contractor’s top man threatens all the projects in the works, which would effectively ruin the expensive marketing plan that the Chamber of Commerce has been working. Is Jim a suspect? (He’d be stupid to kill the person he depends on to keep the projects going.) But Stark also thinks his wife, who was very chummy with Sanjay, might have been cheating on him with the second-in-command, making him a likely suspect.
Once again Tricia finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation, but can she find the killer before he or she has the chance to bring the hammer down?
Mystery Cozy | Mystery Amateur Sleuth [Berkley, On Sale: July 25, 2023, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593549414 / eISBN: 9780593549438]
Engaging visit to Booktown introduces new characters…
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About Lorna Barrett
The immensely popular Booktown Mystery series is what first put Lorraine Bartlett’s pen name Lorna Barrett on the New York Times Bestseller list, but it’s her talent — whether writing as Lorna, or L.L. Bartlett, or Lorraine Bartlett—that keeps her in her readers’ hearts. This multi-published, Agatha-nominated author also pens the exciting Jeff Resnick Mysteries as well as the acclaimed Victoria Square and Lotus Bay Mystery series, and the Tales of Blythe Cove Manor, and has many short stories and novellas to her name(s).
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