Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve written two books, both in the Chief Inspector Gray James Detective Mystery Series.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
His Hand In the Storm (Book 1) is available for FREE on Amazon and the other major sites. It won the Colorado Gold Mystery Award and was a Daphne Finalist.
I wrote it while living in Montreal. I was immersed in the emerging tech culture there and set the book in a hot healthtech startup. The fusion of English and French cultures, the frigid yet chic streets — they all inspired me to create my protagonist: Gray James.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write at the dining room table because there are windows on both sides, and I don’t like to feel cooped up for all those hours
What authors, or books have influenced you?
elizabeth George (who I did a master class with — in Tuscany of all places. PD James, Colin Dexter, Agatha Christie…
What are you working on now?
I’m writing a mainstream stand alone suspense novel, set in Vancouver where I used to live. I miss that beach front apartment, and this is my way of going back there.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m new so I don’t know yet
Do you have any advice for new authors?
As a relatively new author, I’ll reserve from giving too much advice. It seems to me, though, that there are a lot of writing “rules” out there. You can learn them, but it’s best to also let them go. Some of the best mystery novels are loaded with passive verbs. Advice at conferences — if we all followed it — would result in us all writing the same book. I like The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Beyond that — forget it. Anything goes.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Aim for a hundred rejections this year. Meet that goal. (I might have made up this advice for myself — but it has worked. One or two things out of a hundred work out. And the other 98 don’t sting as much. Since my goal is to achieve 100 rejections!
What are you reading now?
Elizabeth George’s latest novel. She was writing it during out ten-day master class in Italy.
What’s next for you as a writer?
After the stand-alone, which I will also self publish, I will write my third CI Gray James novel. He’s a fascinating character, and there’s so much more to explore in him.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Too tough. Can I bring Benedict Cumberbatch, Cary Grant, Tom Cruise, and my husband instead?
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