#ThisorThatThursday Interview with Debra Goldstein

I’d like to welcome back mystery author, Debra H. Goldstein, to #ThisorThatThursday!

Favorite thing to do when you have free time: Reading, watching TV, spending time with friends

The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list: Cooking – any meal.

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave: My computer and easy access to the kitchen for snacks.

Things that distract you from writing: My husband, Joel – he always wants to be entertained.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Making myself sit down and write. I’m not a person who schedules times and word counts.

Easiest thing about being a writer: The pure joy when words are flowing

Favorite snacks: Almond Toastees, sushi

Things that make you want to gag: lobster

Favorite smell: The powdered sweet smell of a newly bathed baby

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: Doctor

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: Exercise (but I try not to glisten)

Something you wish you could do: Be with family and friends without social distancing

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Cook even minimally

Things you always put in your books: Fun – humor

Things you never put in your books: Lies that manipulate the reader

Things to say to an author: “I love your book.” “I love your writing style.” “I gave all my friends and family a copy of your book for Christmas.”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “You look older than I thought you were.”

Favorite things to do: Go to a Broadway musical. Ever since I was taken to my first show at the age of four, when the lights go down and the first notes of music begin, I feel a tingle of excited electricity go through me.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Camping. The outdoors and I are not best buds…. Those bugs would probably eat me if given half a chance.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Walking away from my lifetime judicial appointment to follow my passion to write.

Biggest mistake: When a friend and I invited a guy I thought was cute for dinner in an hour. My friend and I then went up to our apartment to defrost the chicken we planned to serve. Needless to say, I never saw him again after we served him a wing we’d hacked off the still frozen bird, despite our best efforts to cook it, and he remarked, “My, this is a bit rare.”

The nicest thing a reader said to you: “Thank you. You helped me forget what was really going on in my life for a little while.”

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “That couldn’t possibly happen.” --- It was at a university book club and before I could answer, another woman whipped out two pieces of paper and said, “I knew someone would say that so I googled how many times it has happened in the last five years.” (the irony was it had happened on the original woman’s own campus six months earlier).

About Debra and Her New Book:

When a romantic rival opens a competing restaurant in small-town Wheaton, Alabama, Sarah Blair discovers murder is the specialty of the house . . . 
 
For someone whose greatest culinary skill is ordering takeout, Sarah never expected to be co-owner of a restaurant. Even her Siamese cat, RahRah, seems to be looking at her differently. But while Sarah and her twin sister, Chef Emily, are tangled up in red tape waiting for the building inspector to get around to them, an attention-stealing new establishment—run by none other than Sarah's late ex-husband's mistress, Jane—is having its grand opening across the street. 
 
Jane's new sous chef, Riley Miller, is the talk of Wheaton with her delicious vegan specialties. When Riley is found dead outside the restaurant with Sarah's friend, Jacob, kneeling over her, the former line cook—whose infatuation with Riley was no secret—becomes the prime suspect. Now Sarah must turn up the heat on the real culprit, who has no reservations about committing cold-blooded murder . . .
 
 Includes quick and easy recipes!

Judge Debra H. Goldstein writes Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery series (Three Treats Too Many, Two Bites Too Many, One Taste Too Many). She also authored Should Have Played Poker and IPPY Award winning Maze in Blue. Her short stories, which have been named Agatha, Anthony, Derringer finalists, have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Weekly. Debra serves on the national boards of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and is president of SEMWA and past president of SinC’s Guppy Chapter. Find out more about Debra at www.DebraHGoldstein.com

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Buy Links:

Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Three-Treats-Sarah-Blair-Mystery/dp/1496719492

Barnes & Noble - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/three-treats-too-many-debra-h-goldstein/1135275342?ean=9781496719492

#ThisorThatThursday Interview with Melissa Face

I’d like to welcome Melissa Face to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday. Melissa’s new book, I Love You More Than Coffee is coming out soon.

Things you need for your writing sessions: Laptop, coffee, paper, and pen. Even if I am typing a draft, I still handwrite from time to time as ideas pop in my head.

Things that hamper your writing: Knowing that there are other chores that I need to be doing in order to focus. But sometimes I create other projects even though I’m “supposed” to be writing.

Things you love about writing: I love deadlines because they keep me focused and motivated.

Things you hate about writing: I also hate deadlines because they cause stress and anxiety!

Hardest thing about being a writer: Not having as much time to write as I need.

Easiest thing about being a writer: I have material everywhere, and I keep an ongoing list of ideas. Sometimes ideas come to me in the middle of the night, and I wake up and type them into my notes on my phone. And then I can’t fall asleep for a while. So maybe that’s also the worst thing?? A lot of my writing life can be classified as great and terrible.

Things you never want to run out of: I never want to run out of coffee, chocolate, ideas, or time.

Things you wish you’d never bought: I wish I’d never bought a pair of jeans that were a size too small with the plan of fitting into them. They’re still in my closet. I need to let them go.

Words that describe you: Fun, witty, strong, confident, blunt, opinionated, motivated

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Impulsive

Favorite foods: Salad, pizza, eggplant parmesan, Brussels sprouts, chocolate. Have I mentioned chocolate?

Things that make you want to gag: Meat that isn’t well done

Favorite music or song: Look at Miss Ohio, by Gillian Welch

Music that drives you crazy: Current country music (I like older country artists)

Favorite beverage: Coffee

Something that gives you a sour face: Root Beer

The last thing you ordered online: a Pusheen coffee mug. My daughter is obsessed with Pusheen the cat. As it turns out, he’s pretty great, and this is now my favorite mug.

The last thing you regret buying: A dress that fits me like a tent. It was so cute on the model.

Things you always put in your books: Funny things my children have said or done

Things you never put in your books: Things that I know will embarrass them when they are older or stories that are simply too personal

Things to say to an author: I’m enjoying your book, I related to the part when…

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: How many copies have you sold?

The funniest thing to happen to you: A seagull crapped on my shoulder when I was walking to a waterfront restaurant in Charleston, SC.

The most embarrassing thing to happen to you: Not confirming the spelling of someone’s name when I was working as a reporter for the Myrtle Beach Herald. The wrong name was published, and the gentleman was livid.

The coolest person you’ve ever met: Jakob Dylan (Bob Dylan’s son)

The nicest thing a reader said to you: The nicest thing was a recent question from someone who bought my book. She asked me to please tell her when my next one is out.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: Since I have been contributing to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series for years, my bio has been published in editions all over the world. As a result, I have received many interesting requests from readers who want me to help them with various aspects of their lives. Not always writing related! Still, the strangest most recent thing I have been asked recently is how I plan to compete with websites that are free. She was an attendee at one of my events!

About Melissa:

Melissa Face is the author of I Love You More Than Coffee, an essay collection for parents who love coffee a lot and their kids...a little more. Her essays and articles have appeared in Richmond Family Magazine, Tidewater Family Magazine, Scary Mommy, and twenty-one volumes of Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Read more at melissaface.com.

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#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Kat Jorgensen

I’d like to welcome author Kat Jorgensen to the blog today for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: Absolute quiet! My laptop. And my mystery wheel for plotting and keeping me on track.

Things that hamper your writing: Noise. My sweet cats tussling and running through the house chasing one another. My mind when it’s working overtime and too busy. Hunger or thirst.

Things you love about writing: The satisfaction of creating. Getting to know my characters. And typing “the end.”

Things you hate about writing: Writer’s block. The blank page – especially when starting a new project. When your characters don’t follow the plot and go rogue on you.

Words that describe you: Kind, loyal, trustworthy, responsible, smart, good sense of humor.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Somewhat disorganized. Overweight (yuck), and out of shape.

Favorite music or song: Classic rock and alternative music.

Music that drives you crazy: I like just about all music, but rap and opera are my least favorites.

Something you’re really good at: Knitting. I’d say I was an advanced knitter.

Something you’re really bad at: Staying on budget sometimes and resisting a really good sale.

Things you’d walk a mile for: Family or friends if they needed me.

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Arguments or loud voices. I love a peaceful and tranquil environment.

Things you always put in your books: Cats, especially a black or tuxedo cat. And some levity or humor. Things you never put in your books: Gratuitous violence or abuse of any sort.

Favorite books (or genre): Mysteries, Thrillers. General fiction.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Book about vampires or anything where animals are abused or killed off

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): Friends and family – they make the best guests.

People you’d cancel dinner on: Politicians!

Things that make you happy: Spending time with the people I love. Sunny days and blue skies. The beach. Things that drive you crazy: Taxes.

Most embarrassing moment: I have so many to choose from. But one sticks out in a long line of embarrassing moments. The afternoon I closed on a house. I was downtown. It was raining. Hard. I slipped and fell crossing 9th and Main Streets wearing a white dress and carrying a congratulatory bottle of wine. Landed in the gutter with yucky water all over my dress and legs. Didn’t break the bottle of wine. But I couldn’t get up because I was laughing so hard due to a bad case of nervous laughter. A kind gentleman helped me to my feet. That memory is etched in my memory banks.

Proudest moment: Seeing my children succeed in life.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Fall in love and marry my second husband. He was a great guy and I’m so lucky to have had the years together with him. Sadly, he passed away in 2012 after a very brief illness. Biggest mistake: Marrying the first husband. It was a disastrous marriage, and we were both better off when we divorced.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: It doesn’t sound like a daring adventure, but it was. Going up in the St. Louis Arch. I’m very claustrophobic. My husband didn’t enjoy heights. He knew how much I wanted to go to the top of the Arch. While I was in the Ladies’ Room, he got our tickets and answered the questions about claustrophobia and heights. Without my knowledge. He told them we were fine with both! No, not so much. Those little pods to the top are tight, confined spaces. But I did it, and so did he. And we had a good time. But had I known ahead of time, how we’d have to travel to the top, I wouldn’t have done it.

Something you chickened out from doing: Skydiving.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: That I made then laugh and smile while reading my book.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: Why not write romances instead of killing off people in books? I enjoy my murder mysteries and they do have some romantic moments. But I am just not cut out to write straight romance. I’ll stick to mysteries.

About Kat:

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Kat still lives in River City.  Her handsome black cats, Sam and Milo, amuse her and keep her company.  You can reach Kat through her website at https://katjorgensenauthor.com.

Your Eight O’clock is Dead

Becca Reynolds is having a bad day. Her grandfather’s lecture (#405: Eat a Healthy Diet or Die Not Trying) makes her late for her job at Daley & Palmer, the psychiatric group where she works as office manager – her title not theirs. But she knows her day has taken a really bad turn when she finds the firm’s eight o’clock patient dead with Dr. Daley’s letter opener opening the patient instead of the mail.

With the fledgling firm in danger of an early demise, Becca appoints herself the unofficial investigator since the police seem to be looking in all the wrong places.

The case takes Becca from the sordid depths of the Russian mafia to the upscale West End of Richmond, Virginia (known locally as River City), and even to her own back yard. In the course of the investigation, she finds herself in hot water, hot danger, and with dreams of hot men.

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#ThisorThatThursday Interview with Michele Drier

I’d like to welcome Michele Drier to the blog today for #ThisorThatThursday.

A few of your favorite things: Chocolate, my daughters and grandchildren, books.

Things you need to throw out: My business suits and high heels, clothes older than 20 years, divorce papers from my first husband.

Things you need for your writing sessions: Quiet, atlases from around the world, that Great Card Catalog in the cloud (Google.)

Things that hamper your writing: Meetings, marketing, other things I’ve said yes to (political campaigns, National Women’s Political Caucus).

Things you love about writing: Creating stories, giving characters those strengths I lack (organization!), figuring out the puzzle, righting the wrongs, research (I’m a frustrated historian!).

Things you hate about writing: Finding the best word, going too far down the rabbit hole of description, proofreading.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Consistency, developing a schedule and sticking to it, carving out three-hour time blocks.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Making stuff up! (I spent years as a newspaper editor and everything had to be fully-fact-checked!).

Writing characters who have interesting and quirky habits which wouldn’t go in real life.

Things you never want to run out of: Printer ink, copy paper, butter, chocolate, coffee.

Things you wish you’d never bought: An old printer, a small bedside lamp (too low to read by), a book on knitting.

Favorite foods: Indian, Thai, Mexican, French, salmon, salads, French bread.

Things that make you want to gag: Liver, escargots, okra.

Favorite smell: The air after a rain, cut grass on a summer evening.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Diesel fumes, pulp mills, fermenting grapes (but, afterwards…yum!).

Last best thing you ate: Chicken Caesar salad.

Last thing you regret eating: The brownies I made last night.

Things you always put in your books: Strong women, some true information (my WIP is based on a horde of Medieval stained glass they discovered in the attic of Westminster Abbey in 2017.) My paranormal romances, The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, always have some current political information about the Eastern European bloc.

Things you never put in your books: On the page violence, shootings, stabbings, dismemberment, explicit sex, mass murderers preying on women.

Favorite places you’ve been: Oh God. France, Greece, Italy, England…pretty much anywhere in Europe.

Places you never want to go to again: Kansas, Nebraska, Idaho.

Things that make you happy: Sun, soft rain, cats, my garden, the beach, opera, museums.

Things that drive you crazy: Bad drivers (the ones who buy cars with no turn signals!), people who talk in jargon, people who believe conspiracy theories and never learn to check facts.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: When a cousin and I drive a rented car into Hungary. We only had one map and didn’t speak or read the language. Great adventure!

Something you chickened out from doing: Climbing to the top of the Eiffel Tower (and I backed down half-way up to the rotunda of the Florence Cathedral. Got cussed out by all the people going up!).

About Michele:

Michele Drier is a fifth generation Californian. During her career in journalism she won awards for investigative series. She is the past president of Capitol Crimes, the Sacramento chapter of Sisters in Crime, the Guppies chapter of Sisters in Crime and co-chair for Bouchercon 2020.

Her Amy Hobbes Newspaper Mysteries, set in the California Delta area, are Edited for Death, (called “Riveting and much recommended” by the Midwest Book Review), Labeled for Death and Delta for Death. A stand-alone, Ashes of Memories was published May 2017.

Her paranormal romance series, SNAP: The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, named the best paranormal vampire series of 2014 by PRG, continues with book ten, SNAP: Red Bear Rising released 2018.

The first book of her new series, Stained Glass Mysteries, Stain on the Soul, was released in 2019 and she is currently working on the second book in the series, Tapestry of Tears

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Visit her webpage, www.MicheleDrier.me

Or her facebook page, ,http://www.facebook.com/AuthorMicheleDrier

Or find her on her author page at http://www.amazon.com/Michele-Drier/e/B005D2YC8G/

#ThisorThatThursday Interview with C. A. Rowland

I’m so excited to have author, C. A. Rowland, as my guest today for #ThisorThatThursday.

Things you need for your writing sessions: A quiet place where I can outside or if I am writing something atmospheric, music that fits the mood. That and my computer.

Things that hamper your writing: Interruptions and paying too much attention to what is going in the world so that I am distracted.

Favorite foods: I grew up in Texas and love having a cheesy plate of enchiladas.

Things that make you want to gag: I have never liked licorice.

Favorite smell: I love the smell of the ocean – the saltiness and the spray. Between that and the motion of the waves, it is so relaxing and soothing.

Something that makes you hold your nose: The smell of oil rigs in Texas. I never got used to that smell. Something you like to do: I love sitting down to a meal with family and friends. The luxury of being able to just listen and talk is something I wish I did more often.

Something you wish you’d never done: My cousins and I have a competition where when we visit we try to outdo each other for extravagance. The last one was a huge plate of ten scoops ice cream, toppings and whipped cream, where you received a t-shirt and your picture on the wall if you could eat it all. It took several days to recover from that, but I got my t-shirt.

Things you always put in your books: I love cats. They all have their own personality and they can really show not only their character but their owner’s.

Things you never put in your books: I don’t know that I could ever write a really gruesome death scene. I think the reason I gravitate to amateur sleuth and cozy mysteries is that I just don’t like all the gore and what it takes for someone to commit such a crime.

Favorite places you’ve been: This has to be Easter Island. It is the most wonderful place. So unique with the Moai statutes. The people are wonderful. And the food was excellent. I had fish that had been caught in the morning, the boat brought it to the dock and they walked it across the street to the restaurant for the noon meal.

Places you never want to go to again: I love Mexico and the Mayan ruins but there is so much turmoil that I don’t know I will ever go back. I met so many wonderful people when I was there but now I would think twice.

Favorite books (or genre): I love books that manage to pull me into a new world and let me experience it. It can be mysteries, fantasy and science fiction.

Books you wouldn’t buy: I don’t buy a lot of non-fiction. If I am interested, I’ll usually borrow it from the library rather than own it. Except for books that I use as reference for my writing.

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): Ruth Bader Ginsberg. She’s had such an amazing life. I’d love to just sit and talk.

People you’d cancel dinner on: A serial killer. I can’t imagine ever wanting to spend any time with someone who values other people so little.

Favorite things to do: I love to scuba dive. There is something about being under the water and seeing the fish as the swim by or being in a lava tube or seeing a tiny seahorse holding onto an undersea plant. The quiet is amazing and having to concentrate on breathing makes you leave all the other stress behind.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: I hate dusting. That was my chore growing up and now I’d rather eat bugs than have to do it.

Things that make you happy: Watching my cat chase her tail. Knowing the rescue kitty has a good home now.

Things that drive you crazy: Traffic on I-95 heading into the District of Columbia.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: I am afraid of heights to the most daring thing was jumping out of a plane. I didn’t manage to do it the first time, so I chickened out on this as well. It took me a week to get my anxiety under control, but then I went back and jumped. It was one of the most amazing and scariest things I’ve ever done.

Something you chickened out from doing: Parachuting the first time after my class.

About C.A.:

C.A. Rowland’s novel, The Meter’s Always Running, is the first in the Haunted City Mystery series. She has always loved traveling and exploring new places, from neighborhood empty houses to foreign lands with rich histories that draw her. She comes by her interest in ghosts, myths and legends and the paranormal naturally, having spent hours in cemeteries with her grandmother. Her work can also be seen in several upcoming volumes of Fiction River, Pulphouse Magazine and other short story anthologies.

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website:  www.carowland.com

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Amazon page: https://bit.ly/themeter

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Libby McNamee

I’d like to welcome author Libby McNamee to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: Reading, Traveling, Visiting Historic Sites, My Friends, Comfort Food, Swimming and Biking

Things you need to throw out: Clothes that no longer fit me, but I hope they will someday; sentimental chotchkies; and random papers that I plan to refer back to someday

Things you need for your writing sessions: QUIET!

Things that hamper your writing: Constant distractions

Things you love about writing: Creating a labor of love from a blank page

Things you hate about writing: It often feels pointless

Hardest thing about being a writer: Believing in yourself enough to keep going when things aren’t coming together

Easiest thing about being a writer: Flexible hours!

Favorite foods: Chocolate, Twizzlers, Sushi, Anything Asian

Things that make you want to gag: Meatloaf, Stewed Tomatoes, Cooked Carrots

Something you like to do: Finding bargains

Something you wish you’d never done: Gone to law school

Last best thing you ate: Homemade Thai Lettuce Wraps

Last thing you regret eating: The frosted cookie for breakfast Things you’d walk a mile for: A bookstore!

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Someone chewing with their mouth open

Things to say to an author: “Congratulations! What a wonderful accomplishment!”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “Why haven’t you finished another one by now? Shouldn’t the second one be easy?”

Favorite places you’ve been: Mount Rushmore; Sedona, Arizona; Paris; Hawaii; Everywhere in Washington State; Vail, Colorado

Places you never want to go to again: Camp Bedrock in Tuzla, Bosnia, where I lived for six months as the only female officer when serving in the US Army JAG Corps

Best thing you’ve ever done: Publishing “Susanna’s Midnight Ride”

Biggest mistake: Not publishing it sooner!

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Joining the Army

Something you chickened out from doing: Joining the State Department

About Libby

Libby McNamee is an author, lawyer, and veteran. She loves exploring America’s many historical sites. When a descendant told her the TRUE story of Susanna Bolling from Hopewell, Virginia, and her heroism during the Revolutionary War, Libby was determined to share it with the world. “Susanna’s Midnight Ride: The Girl Who Won the Revolutionary War” is her first published novel, geared to upper middle grade readers through old age. "Susanna's Midnight Ride" was named #1 in Juvenile Fiction by the 2020 Independent Publisher Book "IPPY" Awards. In 2021, she will release "Dolley Madison & the War of 1812: America's First Lady."

Libby served as a US Army JAG Officer in Korea, Bosnia, Germany, and Washington State. A native of Boston, Libby graduated from Georgetown University cum laude and Catholic University Law School. She has lived in Richmond since 2000.

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#ThisorThatThursday Interview with Author Janis Wilson

I’d like to welcome author, Janis Wilson, to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday.

A few of your favorite things: Cats, books, travel and wine.  If I can combine these things, I’m as happy as anyone can be.
Things you need to throw out:  Dresses that no longer fit but hope springs far into the future.

Things you love about writing:  I love researching the Victorian era in which I set my books.  I love learning about Brits from that time period. As a result, I have an entire bookcase filled with Victoriana. I like finding ways to torture my protagonist, who really doesn’t deserve what I put her through. I also love fellow writers and researchers whom I’ve found to be generous and helpful.
Things you hate about writing:  I hate it when my plot refuses to thicken, even after I add cornstarch.

Favorite foods:  Pasta and seafood and any combination of them.  I was born in the south, so my favorite confections are always a combination of brown sugar and pecans.
Things that make you want to gag:  I have a real aversion to wet bread.  Simply grosses me out.  Makes it difficult for me even to eat sandwiches taken from cold storage because the bread always feels damp.

Favorite beverage:  Pimm’s No. 1 cocktail.  I’ve had Pimm’s 1 through 6, but No. 1 is my favorite.
Something that gives you a sour face:  I know single malt whiskey is highly prized, but I detest the taste of scotch.  Always reminds me of cough medicine, which I loathe.

Something you’re really good at:  My critique group says I write convincing dialog and I appreciate that tremendously.  I’m also a pretty good researcher, which is essential if I’m going to keep Lady Sarah Grey credible.
Something you’re really bad at:  Anything involving technology.  I keep Geek Squad at full employment.

Things you always put in your books:  The feminist perspective.  Lady Sarah is a progressive and I can’t write her any other way.  My readers should also expect Sarah always to have a cat or two living with her in the castle.
Things you never put in your books:  Animal cruelty.  Can’t bear to even think of it, much less write about it.

Favorite place you’ve been:  London.  I love everything about it.  The bookstores are old and musty.  The people are polite.  Fragrant pots of tea are readily available alongside cute little sandwiches and cakes covered in pastel frostings.
Places you never want to go to again:  This is a tough one.  Even a problematic visit makes for an interesting experience and often results in entertaining stories to relay at a dinner party. So, I wouldn’t disparage any locality.  There are places where most of the residents disagree with my politics and that would make me uncomfortable.

Favorite books (or genre):  The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.  It is a cool mystery set in the Victorian era.  I’d read anything by Collins or Charles Dickens.  They were close friends and I can see why.  Both were smart and talented.
Books you wouldn’t buy:  I would refuse to read anything where animals are harmed.  I also wouldn’t buy a book by an odious person because I wouldn’t want to give financial support to that author.

Favorite things to do:  I love going to the theater.  Even a sad play is immensely fulfilling.
Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Being subjected to mansplaining.

Most embarrassing moment:  Pick any day from when I was 12 to 18 years old.  You’re bound to come up with something I did that was humiliating.
Proudest moment:  The launch of my first novel, Goulston Street.  I loved being surrounded by people who like to read and celebrate those who go to the trouble of writing.  Plus, the launch party was a lot of fun.

Best thing you’ve ever done:  I learned to read.  I don’t say marrying my husband was the best thing because if I’d never learned to read, I wouldn’t have been able to attract a smart man like him.
Biggest mistake: Not paying attention in math class.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: “I really love Sarah. I like how you allowed her to make mistakes but to go on and solve the crime.”  If she likes mistakes, she’s going to love the future adventures of Lady Sarah Grey.
The craziest thing a reader said to you: “I thought it was cool that you left it up to the reader to decide who the killer was.”  This really threw me, so I went about asking lots of readers if they knew whodunnit.  Happily, all of them correctly identified the killer I had indicated.  I don’t know how anyone could have misunderstood this, as there was a pretty dramatic scene in which the killer was captured.

About Janis:

Janis Wilson is a writer, retired trial lawyer, television commentator and lecturer. As a kid, she was inspired by Rosalind Russell, who played reporter Hildy Johnson in His Girl Friday. Janis loved the idea of digging up news about corrupt officials and putting it on the front page. Consequently, she attended the University of Memphis, graduating with a degree in journalism. As a reporter, she wrote award-winning articles about the failure of local governments to address inner city problems, life in a women’s prison and the challenges of providing quality education. She returned to the University of Memphis and obtained a Master of Arts in Political Science. Hoping to combine her love of journalism and politics, Janis moved to Pennsylvania’s capital, Harrisburg, and resumed her newspaper career. In Harrisburg, her reporting included articles on the murder of school teacher Susan Reinert and on police corruption.
Janis spent countless hours in state and federal courts, covering trials and grand jury proceedings while investigating local government. In court, Janis observed the best and worst trial lawyers. One lawyer was so bad she decided, “If he could get through from law school, so can I.” And she was right; she graduated from the Temple University School of Law and went on to try cases in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties. As a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, she chaired the Civil Litigation Section and edited its quarterly magazine, Update. She also served on the Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility and the Women in the Profession Committees. Janis has taught continuing legal education courses on trial strategy, effective brief writing and professional liability. She even portrayed Mary Surratt in the mock appeal of Surratt’s death sentence before an appeals court and performed the role of defense attorney in a recreation of the Lindberg kidnapping trial. Her cross-examination and closing argument led the mock jury to acquit Bruno Richard Hauptmann.

Her first short story, The Devil’s Triangle, appears in Death Knell V, available on Amazon. Janis is a commentator for various true crime programs, including Nightmare Next Door, Deadly Affairs and Scorned, all of which appear on the Investigation Discovery (ID) network. She has also appeared on the Oxygen network’s program, Snapped: Killer Couples. An Anglophile, she has been an avid fan of British mysteries, in print, on television and the big screen.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: https://janiswilson.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Janis-Wilson-Author-551132135369232/

#ThisorThatThursday with Author Kate Fellowes

I’d like to welcome author Kate Fellowes to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday.

A few of your favorite things: Old photo albums, my keeper shelf of books, my Christmas village.
Things you need to throw out:  Duplicate copies of manuscripts, clipped articles I’ll never read, my dresses from Prom.

Things you need for your writing sessions: A good pen, a view of the lake—and an outline.
Things that hamper your writing: Time squeeze, interruptions, too much on my mind.

Things you never want to run out of:  Chocolate
Things you wish you’d never bought: Chocolate

Favorite beverage: Coffee, not too weak, not too strong
Something that gives you a sour face: Beer

Something you wish you could do: Play the piano
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Find my way around a hospital

The last thing you ordered online: Another charm for my bracelet
The last thing you regret buying: Sneakers from the clearance rack.

Things you’d walk a mile for: Lunch with a friend
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Whistling

Things you always put in your books: Characters talking over a meal
Things you never put in your books: Animal abuse or putting them in jeopardy.  The cat will never be kidnapped.

Favorite places you’ve been: London, on our honeymoon
Places you never want to go to again: State Fair

Favorite things to do: Read—any time, anywhere
Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Yardwork

Best thing you’ve ever done: Becoming a vegetarian
Biggest mistake: Waiting so long to do it!