Welcome to the Coffee Chat!
This week’s guest author is Gayle Carline, featuring her mystery book, MURDER BYTES.
I’m delighted to meet you, Gayle. How do you take your coffee?
GC: I like it black, although sometimes I will splurge for a latte. Medium Roast. I’m partial to a whisper of vanilla or hazelnut.
Ally: Perfect. While I pour, please tell readers a little about yourself.
This week’s guest author is Gayle Carline, featuring her mystery book, MURDER BYTES.
I’m delighted to meet you, Gayle. How do you take your coffee?
GC: I like it black, although sometimes I will splurge for a latte. Medium Roast. I’m partial to a whisper of vanilla or hazelnut.
Ally: Perfect. While I pour, please tell readers a little about yourself.
Bio:
GAYLE CARLINE is the award-winning author of the Peri Minneopa Mystery series, as well as a weekly columnist for the Placentia News-Times. When she’s not writing, she teaches workshops at conferences about writing and publishing. Gayle lives in southern California with her husband and four-legged menagerie.
Something not in your regular bio: “I own three horses, one of which I show competitively in AQHA events. The other two are at a horsey retirement home, being lawn ornaments.”
Author contact links:
http://gaylecarline.com
http://gaylecarline.blogspot.com
http://facebook.com/AuthorGayleCarline
http://twitter.com/GayleCarline
GAYLE CARLINE is the award-winning author of the Peri Minneopa Mystery series, as well as a weekly columnist for the Placentia News-Times. When she’s not writing, she teaches workshops at conferences about writing and publishing. Gayle lives in southern California with her husband and four-legged menagerie.
Something not in your regular bio: “I own three horses, one of which I show competitively in AQHA events. The other two are at a horsey retirement home, being lawn ornaments.”
Author contact links:
http://gaylecarline.com
http://gaylecarline.blogspot.com
http://facebook.com/AuthorGayleCarline
http://twitter.com/GayleCarline
INTERVIEW:
Ally: Why did you write your featured book?
GC: I wrote MURDER BYTES with a couple of goals in mind. One is that it’s the “next” installment in my Peri Minneopa Mystery series, and I had decided that the character’s arc was coming to a completion. So “next” became “last.” Also, a lovely woman had won a silent auction with my books and the promise to have her name in the next one. She wanted her husband’s name, instead (thank God his name is not John Smith). I HAD to write the book!
Ally: Do you write with a theme or message in mind?
GC: I’m always writing to theme. My books are very character-driven, and they are working on something personal while the bullets fly around them, so to speak. In my first mystery, FREEZER BURN, it was about the ambiguous feelings women might have about pregnancy. In my second, HIT OR MISSUS, Peri is 50 and doesn’t know where she fits in, in the fashion-and-body-consciousness world. Seems like a trite theme, and yet it can define a woman whether she likes it or not.
Ally: Do you know the book’s ending before you start writing? How specific is it? Does it ever change?
GC: True confession: I rarely know who the killer is until I get to the end of the book. After 5 mysteries and 1 romantic suspense, I’ve accepted the fact that I begin the book thinking the murderer is X, and know it will be someone else by the end. When I write, I usually have a general structure written down, but in between I’m a pantser.
Ally: You’re thrown through a black hole into an unknown world, what book hero would you want with you? Why?
GC: It would be someone smart enough to talk their way out of trouble, but strong enough to do battle if it came to that, probably Edmond Dantes (the Count of Monte Cristo), Jean Valjean, or John Carter (Edgar Rice Burroughs’ hero of Mars). Or Chyna Shepperd from Dean Koontz’s INTENSITY. She’s badass.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
GC: I’m actually in process of editing a fantasy I wrote, called BLOOD DRAGON RISING. Girl pirates and dragons and all. It will be at least a two-parter, if not a trilogy. I’d like to have it out next year, but we shall see, won’t we?
Ally: Which of the short answer questions did you choose?
GC:
a. memorable book you’ve read: A Prayer for Owen Meany
g. a movie you’ll always remember: The Big Sleep
m. If you were a color, what would it be? Purple. Mostly I’m cool blue, but occasionally my red temper flares.
o. favorite quote: “It’s not the years, honey, it’s the miles.”
t. Your pets: Duffy is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Lady Spazzleton is a Golden Retriever, Dhani (All Hats Off) is a Quarter Horse, as are Frostie (One Zip in Time) and Snoopy (My Flashy Investment). Snoopy wrote his memoir, FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH. It’s pretty good.
Ally: It was a pleasure to have you, Gayle. I hope you'll come back and tell us about your fantasy when it's released. But today, I'd love to hear more about MURDER BYTES, the finale of your Peri Minneopa series.
Ally: Why did you write your featured book?
GC: I wrote MURDER BYTES with a couple of goals in mind. One is that it’s the “next” installment in my Peri Minneopa Mystery series, and I had decided that the character’s arc was coming to a completion. So “next” became “last.” Also, a lovely woman had won a silent auction with my books and the promise to have her name in the next one. She wanted her husband’s name, instead (thank God his name is not John Smith). I HAD to write the book!
Ally: Do you write with a theme or message in mind?
GC: I’m always writing to theme. My books are very character-driven, and they are working on something personal while the bullets fly around them, so to speak. In my first mystery, FREEZER BURN, it was about the ambiguous feelings women might have about pregnancy. In my second, HIT OR MISSUS, Peri is 50 and doesn’t know where she fits in, in the fashion-and-body-consciousness world. Seems like a trite theme, and yet it can define a woman whether she likes it or not.
Ally: Do you know the book’s ending before you start writing? How specific is it? Does it ever change?
GC: True confession: I rarely know who the killer is until I get to the end of the book. After 5 mysteries and 1 romantic suspense, I’ve accepted the fact that I begin the book thinking the murderer is X, and know it will be someone else by the end. When I write, I usually have a general structure written down, but in between I’m a pantser.
Ally: You’re thrown through a black hole into an unknown world, what book hero would you want with you? Why?
GC: It would be someone smart enough to talk their way out of trouble, but strong enough to do battle if it came to that, probably Edmond Dantes (the Count of Monte Cristo), Jean Valjean, or John Carter (Edgar Rice Burroughs’ hero of Mars). Or Chyna Shepperd from Dean Koontz’s INTENSITY. She’s badass.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
GC: I’m actually in process of editing a fantasy I wrote, called BLOOD DRAGON RISING. Girl pirates and dragons and all. It will be at least a two-parter, if not a trilogy. I’d like to have it out next year, but we shall see, won’t we?
Ally: Which of the short answer questions did you choose?
GC:
a. memorable book you’ve read: A Prayer for Owen Meany
g. a movie you’ll always remember: The Big Sleep
m. If you were a color, what would it be? Purple. Mostly I’m cool blue, but occasionally my red temper flares.
o. favorite quote: “It’s not the years, honey, it’s the miles.”
t. Your pets: Duffy is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Lady Spazzleton is a Golden Retriever, Dhani (All Hats Off) is a Quarter Horse, as are Frostie (One Zip in Time) and Snoopy (My Flashy Investment). Snoopy wrote his memoir, FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH. It’s pretty good.
Ally: It was a pleasure to have you, Gayle. I hope you'll come back and tell us about your fantasy when it's released. But today, I'd love to hear more about MURDER BYTES, the finale of your Peri Minneopa series.
MURDER BYTES (Peri Minneopa Mystery #5)
Genre: Mystery
Rating: PG-13
“Peri has had enough. She’s closing her business, marrying her detective boyfriend, and settling down to a life of ease–until her brother shows up, accused of a murder he swears he didn’t commit.
Now she’s back in the thick of things, investigating the death of an engineer who may have been stealing techno-secrets from other companies. Her relationship with her brother is an icy one, at best, and she struggles with her ambivalence, as well as her desire to leave investigative work behind. Digging around in people’s lives is reasonably easy, but when the bullets start flying, will Peri be able to keep her promise?”
Buy links:
Amazon:
eBook: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Bytes-Peri-Minneopa-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B083S4G7VT
PB: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Bytes-Peri-Minneopa-Mystery/dp/194365414X
HB: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Bytes-Peri-Minneopa-Mystery/dp/1943654158
Barnes & Noble:
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-bytes-gayle-carline/1136159841?ean=9781943654147
Genre: Mystery
Rating: PG-13
“Peri has had enough. She’s closing her business, marrying her detective boyfriend, and settling down to a life of ease–until her brother shows up, accused of a murder he swears he didn’t commit.
Now she’s back in the thick of things, investigating the death of an engineer who may have been stealing techno-secrets from other companies. Her relationship with her brother is an icy one, at best, and she struggles with her ambivalence, as well as her desire to leave investigative work behind. Digging around in people’s lives is reasonably easy, but when the bullets start flying, will Peri be able to keep her promise?”
Buy links:
Amazon:
eBook: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Bytes-Peri-Minneopa-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B083S4G7VT
PB: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Bytes-Peri-Minneopa-Mystery/dp/194365414X
HB: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Bytes-Peri-Minneopa-Mystery/dp/1943654158
Barnes & Noble:
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-bytes-gayle-carline/1136159841?ean=9781943654147
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