In your “Travel P.I.” mystery series, your female protagonist Angel Doyle is described as a “semi-reformed thief and accidental P.I.” What made you decide to create that type of character?
In my two previous cozy mystery series, my sleuths are from fairly conventional backgrounds. In the Movie Club Mysteries, Maggie is an ex-cop who moves to Ireland and sets up her own P.I. agency. Dee in the Time-Slip Mysteries is a journalist and amateur sleuth. I wanted Angel’s story arc to be different. She comes from a family of career criminals and wants a fresh start on the right side of the law. Yet there’s no denying that specific skills she’s picked up over the years come in handy for her detective work.
At the start of KNIFED IN NICE, Angel is on the cusp of significant life changes, and the story pushes her in another direction. She had no ambition to become a detective, but she’s thrust into a situation where she must figure out what’s going on or risk being killed. She’s also a loner, and the story forces her to work with a partner to solve the mystery.
What all my sleuths have in common is a fish-out-of-water vibe in their respective communities. That’s a theme I love to explore.
How would you describe your Travel P.I. series to readers unfamiliar with it? Is it a cozy mystery with a little suspense? Is there a dash of romance or humor?
The Travel P.I. stories are humorous action-adventure mysteries with a strong cozy vibe. There’s a sense of community and a core cast of characters, even when the location of each mystery changes. I started my writing career in romance, and I always add a dash of romance to my mysteries. The Travel P.I. series is no exception and has a slow-burn romantic arc that unfolds over the first few books.
Your one mystery series is called the “Movie Club Mysteries,” which sounds like a lot of fun. Why a movie theater café as a setting? Are you a huge movie fan?
Oh, yes! I love old movies from the 40s and 50s. I spent summers with my grandparents in County Kerry when I was a child. In their local town, there was an abandoned movie theater. My cousin and I used to sneak in and imagine what it would have been like back in the day.
When I created the Movie Club Mysteries series, I knew a renovated movie theater would make a fun setting. Having it serve as a café by day and a club meeting place at night gives me lots of scope to get people together and let the action unfold. At the start of the series, Maggie, my sleuth, works in the café. She opens a P.I. agency in the old projector room in later books, but she’s still involved with the café’s monthly Movie Club.
Your “Ballybeg Bad Boys” romantic suspense series has lots of super tough alpha type heroes. What draws you to those types of heroes? What do you like about them?
I love writing alpha males who are sweethearts underneath their gruff exteriors. It’s fun to subvert expectations yet still make them tough enough to get out of dangerous situations. I like pitting them against tough heroines and letting the sparks fly.
In your book KISS SHOT, the two main characters have a history together. Does that make things more interesting for you as a writer?
Yes, definitely. Having a long-standing conflict ups the stakes. It makes it more difficult for the hero and heroine to overcome their obstacles and forces them to work hard for their Happily Ever After.
What kinds of books do you like to read? Favorite books? Favorite authors?
I read a lot of mysteries, both modern and classic. I also enjoy some Fantasy and Romance. My go-to authors include Agatha Christie, Rhys Bowen, Sara Rosett, Georgette Heyer, Jill Shalvis, and Simone St. James.
What are you currently working on?
I’ve just started writing MURDERED IN MONTEROSSO, Book 3 in the Travel P.I. series. This time, Angel’s heading to Cinque Terre in Italy.
AMBUSHED IN THE ALPS by Zara Keane
Angel Doyle, semi-reformed thief and accidental P.I., is back for a second adrenaline-fueled adventure.
Angel and her friend and sidekick, Sidney, are thrilled to get their first official assignment for the Omega Group, a super-secret international P.I. agency co-run by Angel’s mother, former adult movie actress Desirée Chablis. The agency’s mission: to recover a cache of stolen Egyptian artifacts for a prestigious auction house before an international gang of art thieves can sell them at a black-market auction.
With just seventy-two hours to locate the cache, Angel and Sidney are eager to be in the thick of the action. Finally, Angel will get to prove to Luc, the annoyingly hot ex-military P.I., that she’s just as skilled an investigator as he is. Instead, Desirée sidelines Angel and Sidney, making them bodyguards-babysitters for the auction house CEO’s bratty teenage daughter. The only upside to the job is the gorgeous setting. Who can say no to a free stay at a luxurious chalet in the Swiss Alps?
Anticipating a weekend of chocolate, cheese, and breathtaking views, the last thing Angel expects is to find a corpse in her bath. The duo soon faces an ambush, a snowmobile chase, and a literal ticking bomb. By the time Luc rolls up at the chalet, injured and expecting a peaceful recuperation, Angel and Sidney are knee-deep in snowdrifts and dead bodies. Can they escape the mountain before the bomb triggers an avalanche?
Mystery Private Eye | Mystery Woman Sleuth [Beaverstone Press, On Sale: March 29, 2022, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9783039380138 / ]
Buy AMBUSHED IN THE ALPS: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Powell’s Books | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Ripped Bodice | Love’s Sweet Arrow | Walmart.com | Book Depository | Target.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Zara Keane
USA Today bestselling author Zara Keane grew up in Dublin, Ireland, but spent her summers in a small town very similar to the fictitious Whisper Island and Ballybeg.
She currently lives in Switzerland with her family. When she’s not writing, Zara loves knitting, running, unplugged gaming, and adding to her insanely large lipstick collection.
No Comments
Comments are closed.