#WriterWednesday Interview with Joyce Woollcott
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I’d like to welcome Joyce Woollcott to the blog for #WriterWednesday.
A few of your favorite traditions: I usually like to make a Christmas Eve supper with special treats. Smoked salmon, nice cheeses and tasty hors d'oeuvres, and champagne of course!
Something holiday-related that you’ll never do again: Shop at Ikea on Christmas Eve.
Favorite holiday song: I love Silent Night, sung by King’s College Chapel choir.
Holiday song that always gets stuck in your head for the wrong reason: Feliz Navidad.
Favorite holiday treat: (Not traditional) but Banoffee Pie and Sticky Toffee Pudding.
A holiday treat that makes you gag: Royal icing and Christmas cake in general, always too sweet and dense for me.…
Favorite holiday show or movie: A Christmas Story.
A holiday show or movie that you’ve seen too much: Wizard of Oz.
Favorite holiday beverage: Wine
A drink that gives you a sour face: I don’t like sweet colas, Dr. Pepper, and pop like that. And sherry is too sweet for me.
Favorite holiday smell: Oh, roast beef! And Turkey of course. Although I find turkey can be dry sometimes.
Something that makes you hold your nose: The smell of burning just before Christmas dinner––and we won’t go into that!
Favorite holiday candy: Always chocolate, I know it’s sweet…
A holiday candy that gives you a pickle face: Those holiday tray bakes with cherries and icing and marshmallows and cool whip.
Best holiday memory: Waking up to a winter wonderland of snow on Christmas morning. It had snowed late on Christmas Eve.
Something you’d rather forget: Going to a friend’s house for Christmas long ago. When we arrived, there was no smell of cooking. We sat and chatted and finally her mum disappeared to the kitchen. Half an hour later she served dinner. She had cooked the turkey the night before to save time and all the veggies too. And had reheated everything… Oh dear.
Best holiday gift ever: When I was a young girl in the N. Ireland my parents always bought me lots of books for Christmas, I loved Enid Blyton. The Famous Five and the Secret Seven. When I was very young, I used to get the Rupert The Bear Annual, and the Judy and the Bunty! Girl’s annuals. I loved them.
Something you wished for but never received: A dog!
Best holiday gift you gave to someone: A lovely, dove grey linen dressing gown.
A gift that needs regifting: A wine cork remover the size of an engine block.
A tradition you share with others: On Christmas Eve, the whole family listen to Dylan Thomas read a Child’s Christmas in Wales.
A tradition that can be retired: Cooking Christmas dinner for the whole family by myself.
Best thing you ever cooked/baked for the holidays: A big prime rib with all the trimmings, gravy, Yorkshires, roast potatoes, gravy–– and a breast of turkey, with everything, cranberry sauce, gravy, sprouts and stuffing.
Your worst holiday kitchen disaster: The kitchen after that meal…
Favorite place you spent the holidays: At home.
The worst place to spend the holidays: On holiday.
About Joyce:
J. WOOLLCOTT
J. Woollcott is a Canadian writer born in Northern Ireland. She is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers in Toronto. A Nice Place to Die won the RWA Unpublished Mystery/Suspense Daphne du Maurier Award in 2019 in New York, was long-listed in 2019 and 2020 in the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence and was short-listed in 2021. A Nice Place To Die is published by Level Best Books.
She is a member of Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and the Suncoast Writer’s Guild.
Let’s Be Social:
Twitter: @JoyceWoollcott
A NICE PLACE TO DIE
The body of a young woman is found by a river outside Belfast and Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride makes a heart-wrenching discovery at the scene, a discovery he chooses to hide even though it could cost him the investigation – and his career.
The victim was a loner but well-liked. Why would someone want to harm her? And is her murder connected to a rapist who’s stalking the local pubs? As Ryan untangles a web of deception and lies, his suspects die one by one, leading him to a dangerous family secret and a murderer who will stop at nothing to keep it.
And still he harbors his secret ...
Book and Ebook available on Amazon and to order from most major booksellers and sites.
See my website for quick links.
BLOOD RELATIONS
Due for release August 2023
Retired Chief Inspector Patrick Mullan is found brutally murdered in his bed. Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride and his partner DS Billy Lamont are called to his desolate country home to investigate. In their inquiry, they discover a man whose career was overshadowed by violence and corruption. Is the killer someone from Mullan’s past, or his present? And who hated the man enough to kill him twice?
