Good Morning, Booklovers!
Join me for book talk with cozy mystery author Kate Fellowes on this week’s Coffee Chat!
Welcome, Kate! How do you take your coffee?
KF: With just a bit of soy creamer, preferably vanilla or hazelnut
Ally: No problem. While I get our drinks ready, please tell readers a little about your background.
Good Morning, Booklovers!
Join me for book talk with cozy mystery author Kate Fellowes on this week’s Coffee Chat!
Welcome, Kate! How do you take your coffee?
KF: With just a bit of soy creamer, preferably vanilla or hazelnut
Ally: No problem. While I get our drinks ready, please tell readers a little about your background.
Bio:
Kate Fellowes has published six mysteries, most recently A Menacing Brew. Her short stories have appeared in many publications, from Woman's World to Crimestalker Casebook. Working in a public library, every day is a busman's holiday for her. She blogs at https://katefellowes.wordpress.com/
Something unusual/unique that isn’t in your regular bio: “I love to roller skate, a skill I learned at the rink near my house when I was in college. (The rink has been closed now, due to the pandemic, and I really miss it!)”
Other Author Contacts:
Twitter: @katefellowes
Facebook: Kate Fellowes, Author
Kate Fellowes has published six mysteries, most recently A Menacing Brew. Her short stories have appeared in many publications, from Woman's World to Crimestalker Casebook. Working in a public library, every day is a busman's holiday for her. She blogs at https://katefellowes.wordpress.com/
Something unusual/unique that isn’t in your regular bio: “I love to roller skate, a skill I learned at the rink near my house when I was in college. (The rink has been closed now, due to the pandemic, and I really miss it!)”
Other Author Contacts:
Twitter: @katefellowes
Facebook: Kate Fellowes, Author
INTERVIEW:
Ally: How did you get your first book or story published?
KF: The first thing I ever published was a poem about Santa Claus that appeared in our local paper when I was junior high. When I decided to write a novel, I read—a lot—in the field, even making a template to follow: when do we meet our protagonist? How many sentences describe her? How long are the chapters? Etc., etc. Then, I came up with a story, wrote three chapters and submitted them. When the publisher requested the full manuscript, I learned the value of discipline and got busy writing the rest of the book that became Secrets of Echo Moon. It appeared under my real name, Jill Giencke.
Ally: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? What influenced that decision?
KF: When I was in grade school, I knew I wanted to be a writer. Maybe because Mom made sure we had regular visits to the library and read to us every night. I wrote my first “book” on construction paper stapled together, with an inspired crayon drawing of the author on the back cover.
Ally: Do the people in your real life show up in your writing? In what way?
KF: You’ve heard the phrase: careful, or you’ll end up in my novel. It’s true. I have poached personality traits and physical ones, merging them into entirely new characters. I also combine places I’ve been and visited to create fictional settings.
Ally: Do you know the book’s ending before you start writing? How specific is it? Does it ever change?
KF: Before I begin, I know who committed the crime and why. I really should try to outline the whole story, like I did that first time, so I can move easily from one plot point to another, but I usually only manage to outline the first fifty pages before I get so excited about the idea, I jump in. By the time I’ve actually written those fifty pages, I can see the next fifty, and so on, all the way to the end.
Ally: Do you write on a desktop, laptop or on paper?
KF: I write every first draft in longhand. Then, when I type it, I make my first revisions.
Ally: What is your next writing project?
KF: I’m working on the second book in my Kirkwood Clues series, (working title: Deadly Harbor), planning a 2021 release.
Ally: Which of the trivia questions did you pick to answer?
KF:
Ally: How did you get your first book or story published?
KF: The first thing I ever published was a poem about Santa Claus that appeared in our local paper when I was junior high. When I decided to write a novel, I read—a lot—in the field, even making a template to follow: when do we meet our protagonist? How many sentences describe her? How long are the chapters? Etc., etc. Then, I came up with a story, wrote three chapters and submitted them. When the publisher requested the full manuscript, I learned the value of discipline and got busy writing the rest of the book that became Secrets of Echo Moon. It appeared under my real name, Jill Giencke.
Ally: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? What influenced that decision?
KF: When I was in grade school, I knew I wanted to be a writer. Maybe because Mom made sure we had regular visits to the library and read to us every night. I wrote my first “book” on construction paper stapled together, with an inspired crayon drawing of the author on the back cover.
Ally: Do the people in your real life show up in your writing? In what way?
KF: You’ve heard the phrase: careful, or you’ll end up in my novel. It’s true. I have poached personality traits and physical ones, merging them into entirely new characters. I also combine places I’ve been and visited to create fictional settings.
Ally: Do you know the book’s ending before you start writing? How specific is it? Does it ever change?
KF: Before I begin, I know who committed the crime and why. I really should try to outline the whole story, like I did that first time, so I can move easily from one plot point to another, but I usually only manage to outline the first fifty pages before I get so excited about the idea, I jump in. By the time I’ve actually written those fifty pages, I can see the next fifty, and so on, all the way to the end.
Ally: Do you write on a desktop, laptop or on paper?
KF: I write every first draft in longhand. Then, when I type it, I make my first revisions.
Ally: What is your next writing project?
KF: I’m working on the second book in my Kirkwood Clues series, (working title: Deadly Harbor), planning a 2021 release.
Ally: Which of the trivia questions did you pick to answer?
KF:
- ebook or print? Make mine print, please!
- favorite quote: E.L. Doctorow — 'Writing is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.'
- pie or cake? Cake for me, especially chocolate!
- best place you’ve ever visited: My husband and I visited England on our honeymoon. It was the most wonderful trip imaginable. A dream come true, with my dreamboat.
- favorite holiday song: This changes every year, it seems. For 2020, I’m leaning toward “Marshmallow World” by Dean Martin.
A Menacing Brew (A Kirkwood Clues Mystery)
Genre: Cozy Mystery
With the summer off, Amy is at loose ends. Since her husband is busy with work and her son is at college, she reluctantly agrees to accompany her mom, Barbara, on a trip to visit an old college chum, Carl, who became a journalist. Amy knows their long drive will be filled with too many of her mom’s stories about her personal Summer of Love, but she never expects they’ll find Carl dead in his basement practically the minute they arrive. Things go from bad to worse when Barbara becomes the prime suspect in the crime, since she’ll inherit the dead man’s estate.
To clear Barbara’s name, she and Amy delve into Carl’s most recent assignment and discover a link to Kirkwood’s biggest employer, family-owned Stutger Brewery. More than one skeleton lurks in the Stutger closet. But are these old secrets still worth killing over? Or was Carl’s death motivated by an incident with more recent roots?
One thing’s for sure—Barbara and Amy are making few friends among locals with all their questions. As the brewery’s centennial celebration fast approaches, it’s time for Barbara and Amy to bring things to a head and unmask killers, past and present.
Buy Links:
https://www.amazon.com/Menacing-Brew-Kate-Fellowes-ebook/dp/B0864THDXQ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=menacing+brew&qid=1591125765&sr=8-1
http://prairierosepublications.com/books-view/a-menacing-brew/
Genre: Cozy Mystery
With the summer off, Amy is at loose ends. Since her husband is busy with work and her son is at college, she reluctantly agrees to accompany her mom, Barbara, on a trip to visit an old college chum, Carl, who became a journalist. Amy knows their long drive will be filled with too many of her mom’s stories about her personal Summer of Love, but she never expects they’ll find Carl dead in his basement practically the minute they arrive. Things go from bad to worse when Barbara becomes the prime suspect in the crime, since she’ll inherit the dead man’s estate.
To clear Barbara’s name, she and Amy delve into Carl’s most recent assignment and discover a link to Kirkwood’s biggest employer, family-owned Stutger Brewery. More than one skeleton lurks in the Stutger closet. But are these old secrets still worth killing over? Or was Carl’s death motivated by an incident with more recent roots?
One thing’s for sure—Barbara and Amy are making few friends among locals with all their questions. As the brewery’s centennial celebration fast approaches, it’s time for Barbara and Amy to bring things to a head and unmask killers, past and present.
Buy Links:
https://www.amazon.com/Menacing-Brew-Kate-Fellowes-ebook/dp/B0864THDXQ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=menacing+brew&qid=1591125765&sr=8-1
http://prairierosepublications.com/books-view/a-menacing-brew/
RSS Feed
