Welcome, booklovers!
This week's guest is mystery writer Sandra de Helen.
Ally: Good Morning, Sandra! Thanks for visiting the Coffee Chat. What may I get you to drink?
SANDRA: I don’t drink coffee, I drink Irish Breakfast Tea with a bit of milk.
I got hooked on tea when I went to Ireland for a writer’s residency, and have been a tea drinker ever since.
Ally: My magic pot is excellent at tea also. So while I pour, please introduce yourself to readers.
SANDRA: I don’t drink coffee, I drink Irish Breakfast Tea with a bit of milk.
I got hooked on tea when I went to Ireland for a writer’s residency, and have been a tea drinker ever since.
Ally: My magic pot is excellent at tea also. So while I pour, please introduce yourself to readers.
About the Author:
Sandra de Helen, author of the LGBTQ thriller Till Darkness Comes also pens the Shirley Combs/Dr. Mary Watson series. She is a poet and a playwright. Her plays have been produced in the Philippines, Ireland and Canada, in thirteen of the United States, as well as Chicago and New York City. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Dramatists Guild. Her poetry chapbook All This Remains to be Discovered is available online and at Another Read Through Bookstore in Portland, Oregon. Samples of her work are available on her website.
Something not in my regular bio: "I was born and raised in rural Mid-Missouri. My latest play, The Missouri Cycle, is about my own family from 1951 to 1977, including my coming out as a lesbian in 1977. It includes four generations of women, drama, and humor."
Author contact links:
Email: sandra@sandradehelen.com
Website: http://sandradehelen.com/wp/
Twitter: @dehelen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SandradeHelenAuthor/
Something not in my regular bio: "I was born and raised in rural Mid-Missouri. My latest play, The Missouri Cycle, is about my own family from 1951 to 1977, including my coming out as a lesbian in 1977. It includes four generations of women, drama, and humor."
Author contact links:
Email: sandra@sandradehelen.com
Website: http://sandradehelen.com/wp/
Twitter: @dehelen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SandradeHelenAuthor/
Interview:
Ally: How did you select your main genre? What about it intrigues you and readers?
SANDRA: Mystery is my main genre, and I've been reading mysteries since I first read the Complete Sherlock Holmes when I was about ten. Later I read Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys when we moved into town where there was a library and I wasn't allowed to read adult books. Before then I read whatever was in the house. But mysteries are a puzzle for the mind, and I enjoy them. Conan Doyle was a master at having the detective solve the crime and then show the reader how it was done. As a writer, I enjoy putting the puzzle together and then taking it apart, scrambling it for the reader, and letting them watch as Shirley solves it, with Dr. Mary Watson as her sidekick and narrator.
Ally: Describe your writing process.
SANDRA: I'm one of those annoying writers who work every day, including weekends and holidays. I avoid writer's block by having too many writing projects. <grin> I work on one project, then another, then another -- often in the same day. I currently have a weekly column, have just finished a new play, have a novel in progress, and am writing an essay a week for 2017. My goal is to produce as much written material as I can. I have more stories than I can tell in a lifetime.
Ally: If you met your favorite author Val McDermid, what would you talk about?
SANDRA: First, I would tell her that I bought a scarf she knitted and donated for a silent auction at the Golden Crown Literary Society conference. I'm sure she'd be impressed. Then, I would tell her how much I appreciate that she was writing lesbian feminist crime fiction in the 70's and ever since. (She writes several series now, not all lesbian, but all great.) She'd probably want to know when I'm going to sell millions of books like she does, and I'd smile mysteriously and say, "any day now, Val."
Ally: Have you thought about one of your books being made into a movie? Who would play the parts, if you could choose?
SANDRA: Of course I have. I frequently think about seeing Shirley and Mary on the big screen. Or the little screen. I'd love it if the producer who options my books wants to make a movie from each book, rather than jumbling the stories, or worse, just making up their own story and using my characters. But when they come calling, I will keep an open mind. Shirley and Mary are in their 30's and early 40's, so I'd love to see some of the "older" women actors in the roles. Charlize Theron as Shirley and Teá Leoni as Mary would be interesting. But what if they wanted to use women of color in the roles? That would be fine by me. Viola Davis as Shirley and Gabby Sidebe as Mary would be amazing.
Ally: What is your next writing project?
SANDRA: I'm currently working on the third Shirley Combs mystery, entitled A Valley of Fear. Dr. Mary Watson is engaged and Shirley Combs is engaged in learning new skills when they are pulled into the world of crime organized by Dr. James Moriarty. Expected release now set for May, 2018.
Ally: I always love the short answer questions. Are you ready to start?
Ally: It was a pleasure to share coffee with you. Before I let you go, please tell us about the book you brought for this week's feature, The Illustrious Client...
SANDRA: Mystery is my main genre, and I've been reading mysteries since I first read the Complete Sherlock Holmes when I was about ten. Later I read Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys when we moved into town where there was a library and I wasn't allowed to read adult books. Before then I read whatever was in the house. But mysteries are a puzzle for the mind, and I enjoy them. Conan Doyle was a master at having the detective solve the crime and then show the reader how it was done. As a writer, I enjoy putting the puzzle together and then taking it apart, scrambling it for the reader, and letting them watch as Shirley solves it, with Dr. Mary Watson as her sidekick and narrator.
Ally: Describe your writing process.
SANDRA: I'm one of those annoying writers who work every day, including weekends and holidays. I avoid writer's block by having too many writing projects. <grin> I work on one project, then another, then another -- often in the same day. I currently have a weekly column, have just finished a new play, have a novel in progress, and am writing an essay a week for 2017. My goal is to produce as much written material as I can. I have more stories than I can tell in a lifetime.
Ally: If you met your favorite author Val McDermid, what would you talk about?
SANDRA: First, I would tell her that I bought a scarf she knitted and donated for a silent auction at the Golden Crown Literary Society conference. I'm sure she'd be impressed. Then, I would tell her how much I appreciate that she was writing lesbian feminist crime fiction in the 70's and ever since. (She writes several series now, not all lesbian, but all great.) She'd probably want to know when I'm going to sell millions of books like she does, and I'd smile mysteriously and say, "any day now, Val."
Ally: Have you thought about one of your books being made into a movie? Who would play the parts, if you could choose?
SANDRA: Of course I have. I frequently think about seeing Shirley and Mary on the big screen. Or the little screen. I'd love it if the producer who options my books wants to make a movie from each book, rather than jumbling the stories, or worse, just making up their own story and using my characters. But when they come calling, I will keep an open mind. Shirley and Mary are in their 30's and early 40's, so I'd love to see some of the "older" women actors in the roles. Charlize Theron as Shirley and Teá Leoni as Mary would be interesting. But what if they wanted to use women of color in the roles? That would be fine by me. Viola Davis as Shirley and Gabby Sidebe as Mary would be amazing.
Ally: What is your next writing project?
SANDRA: I'm currently working on the third Shirley Combs mystery, entitled A Valley of Fear. Dr. Mary Watson is engaged and Shirley Combs is engaged in learning new skills when they are pulled into the world of crime organized by Dr. James Moriarty. Expected release now set for May, 2018.
Ally: I always love the short answer questions. Are you ready to start?
- a. Book you're currently reading: Kate Kasten's Too Happy.
- b. What comes first - character or plot? Character first. Then the story, then the plot.
- something unique in your handbag: I carry my own chopsticks because I hate plastic flatware.
- c. Your hobbies: Baking, sewing, designing wallpaper.
- d. If you couldn't write anymore, what would you want to do? Travel if I could. And create something, anything I was able to.
- e. Favorite place to write: in my Eames Lounge chair in the corner between two windows, with my MacBook Air and a bottle of club soda.
Ally: It was a pleasure to share coffee with you. Before I let you go, please tell us about the book you brought for this week's feature, The Illustrious Client...
Book Blurb:
Book Two of the Shirley Combs and Dr. Mary Watson series, THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT, shows us the private investigator and her sidekick sharing an office, and introduces their receptionist, Lix. They are hired to influence a young international pop star, Oceane Charles, to pry her away from her older, richer, player of a girlfriend.
The cast is made up of people with various ethnicities and backgrounds, and of course the job soon includes solving a murder mystery. Along the way, Mary discovers her latent lesbianism. Set in Portland, Oregon on a superyacht, in a hospital VIP room, at Rose Festival, and other fun places.
Buy Links (Note: 18+, alternative lifestyle):
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/ILLUSTRIOUS-CLIENT-Shirley-Watson-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B00GZ4W4JK
Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/audiobook/illustrious-client-unabridged/id898136443
Audible: http://adbl.co/1TVy2RN
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1Usz8Em
Bookmate: https://bookmate.com/books/JkXPYQbV
Powell's: http://www.powells.com/book/the-illustrious-client-9780991079209/61-0
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/dehelen
Tanum (Norway): http://bit.ly/1XNueEt
Book Two of the Shirley Combs and Dr. Mary Watson series, THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT, shows us the private investigator and her sidekick sharing an office, and introduces their receptionist, Lix. They are hired to influence a young international pop star, Oceane Charles, to pry her away from her older, richer, player of a girlfriend.
The cast is made up of people with various ethnicities and backgrounds, and of course the job soon includes solving a murder mystery. Along the way, Mary discovers her latent lesbianism. Set in Portland, Oregon on a superyacht, in a hospital VIP room, at Rose Festival, and other fun places.
Buy Links (Note: 18+, alternative lifestyle):
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/ILLUSTRIOUS-CLIENT-Shirley-Watson-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B00GZ4W4JK
Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/audiobook/illustrious-client-unabridged/id898136443
Audible: http://adbl.co/1TVy2RN
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1Usz8Em
Bookmate: https://bookmate.com/books/JkXPYQbV
Powell's: http://www.powells.com/book/the-illustrious-client-9780991079209/61-0
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/dehelen
Tanum (Norway): http://bit.ly/1XNueEt
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