Happy Valentine’s Week!
Are you ready for book talk and to meet another author? This week’s guest is Dianne Ascroft with her featured cozy mystery book, Out of Options.
Good morning, Dianne. What may I get you to drink?
DA: I’m a tea drinker (milk, no sugar) but when I drink coffee, it’s a caramel latte.
Ally: Let’s go with what you prefer. While I pour your tea and my coffee, please tell readers about yourself.
Are you ready for book talk and to meet another author? This week’s guest is Dianne Ascroft with her featured cozy mystery book, Out of Options.
Good morning, Dianne. What may I get you to drink?
DA: I’m a tea drinker (milk, no sugar) but when I drink coffee, it’s a caramel latte.
Ally: Let’s go with what you prefer. While I pour your tea and my coffee, please tell readers about yourself.
Bio:
Dianne Ascroft is a Canadian who has settled in rural Northern Ireland. She and her husband live on a small farm with an assortment of strong-willed animals. She is currently writing the Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries series. Out of Options is the prequel to the series. Her previous fiction works include The Yankee Years series of novels and short reads, set in Northern Ireland during the Second World War; An Unbidden Visitor (a tale inspired by Fermanagh’s famous Coonian ghost); Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves: A Collection of Short Stories (contemporary tales), and an historical novel, Hitler and Mars Bars, which explores Operation Shamrock, a little known Irish Red Cross humanitarian endeavour.
Something not in your regular bio: “For many years I played the Scottish bagpipes in pipe bands wherever I was living (Canada, Scotland and Northern Ireland), and I still love Scottish and Irish folk music.”
Author contact links:
Website: https://www.dianneascroft.com
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/DianneAscroftwriter
Twitter: @DianneAscroft
Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/y1k5c3
Dianne Ascroft is a Canadian who has settled in rural Northern Ireland. She and her husband live on a small farm with an assortment of strong-willed animals. She is currently writing the Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries series. Out of Options is the prequel to the series. Her previous fiction works include The Yankee Years series of novels and short reads, set in Northern Ireland during the Second World War; An Unbidden Visitor (a tale inspired by Fermanagh’s famous Coonian ghost); Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves: A Collection of Short Stories (contemporary tales), and an historical novel, Hitler and Mars Bars, which explores Operation Shamrock, a little known Irish Red Cross humanitarian endeavour.
Something not in your regular bio: “For many years I played the Scottish bagpipes in pipe bands wherever I was living (Canada, Scotland and Northern Ireland), and I still love Scottish and Irish folk music.”
Author contact links:
Website: https://www.dianneascroft.com
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/DianneAscroftwriter
Twitter: @DianneAscroft
Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/y1k5c3
INTERVIEW:
Ally: When a reader opens a Dianne Ascroft book, what can they expect?
DA: I write cozy mystery set in a small town in Canada, and historical fiction set in Northern Ireland during World War II. My books are all PG.
Ally: Why did you write your featured book?
DA: In A Timeless Celebration, the first novel in my series, Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries, I made references to the main character Lois Stone’s life in Toronto before she moved to Fenwater, and to the events that occurred which made her decide to move to a small town. I had this backstory very firmly in my mind when I wrote the first book in the series so I decided to write a prequel novella to let readers see Lois’s life in Toronto and what happened to upend it, causing her to move to the town where the rest of the series is set. This backstory became my prequel novella, Out of Options.
Ally: Do the people in your real life show up in your writing? In what way?
DA: I don’t usually include people from my real life in my books but I do use some of the characteristics and quirks of people I know as facets of a character. But my characters don’t closely resemble anyone I know. They mostly just escape from my imagination and run free to do whatever they please.
There is one exception to this. In many ways, though not entirely, Lois Stone, the main character in my cozy mystery series, is rather like me. After years of doing detailed historical research for my previous historical fiction series, I decided that my cozy mysteries wouldn’t involve a huge amount of research. So, as I created Lois, I deliberately used some of my own likes and dislikes to bring her to life. I also borrowed her name from the first and last names of two women whom I admire and are important to me (my mother and one of her best friends).
Ally: Tell us about your reading habits. Favorite genres. Books read per month, year? Print or ebooks? Current favorites?
DA: I read a wide variety of fiction, contemporary women’s fiction and historical fiction as well as mystery and romance. I look for stories that feature memorable characters, and settings that nearly jump off the page. And the plot has to grip me too, of course. Most of my reading is done on an ereader but I do still take paperback books with me on long bus and airplane journeys. I read several books per month but I don’t actually keep track of exactly how many.
Ally: What three books in your genre would you recommend to fans (after they’ve read your books, of course!).
DA: In the cozy mystery and traditional mystery genres Leighann Dobbs, Anne R. Tan and Deborah Garner are authors I really enjoy. In the historical fiction genre, I’m a fan of Diana Gabaldon and Manda (M.C.) Scott. When an author has the ability to breathe life into characters, unveil complex stories and create vivid settings, I’m hooked. I love stories that come alive in my mind.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
DA: The Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries series is my focus for the foreseeable future. So I’m working on the second book in the series and then will write the next one and the next one…Book 2 should be ready to release early this summer. It’s a tale that revolves around the theft of a very important town heirloom from the fall fair just before the item is to be raffled for charity.
Ally: Which quick answer questions did you choose?
DA:
Ally: When a reader opens a Dianne Ascroft book, what can they expect?
DA: I write cozy mystery set in a small town in Canada, and historical fiction set in Northern Ireland during World War II. My books are all PG.
Ally: Why did you write your featured book?
DA: In A Timeless Celebration, the first novel in my series, Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries, I made references to the main character Lois Stone’s life in Toronto before she moved to Fenwater, and to the events that occurred which made her decide to move to a small town. I had this backstory very firmly in my mind when I wrote the first book in the series so I decided to write a prequel novella to let readers see Lois’s life in Toronto and what happened to upend it, causing her to move to the town where the rest of the series is set. This backstory became my prequel novella, Out of Options.
Ally: Do the people in your real life show up in your writing? In what way?
DA: I don’t usually include people from my real life in my books but I do use some of the characteristics and quirks of people I know as facets of a character. But my characters don’t closely resemble anyone I know. They mostly just escape from my imagination and run free to do whatever they please.
There is one exception to this. In many ways, though not entirely, Lois Stone, the main character in my cozy mystery series, is rather like me. After years of doing detailed historical research for my previous historical fiction series, I decided that my cozy mysteries wouldn’t involve a huge amount of research. So, as I created Lois, I deliberately used some of my own likes and dislikes to bring her to life. I also borrowed her name from the first and last names of two women whom I admire and are important to me (my mother and one of her best friends).
Ally: Tell us about your reading habits. Favorite genres. Books read per month, year? Print or ebooks? Current favorites?
DA: I read a wide variety of fiction, contemporary women’s fiction and historical fiction as well as mystery and romance. I look for stories that feature memorable characters, and settings that nearly jump off the page. And the plot has to grip me too, of course. Most of my reading is done on an ereader but I do still take paperback books with me on long bus and airplane journeys. I read several books per month but I don’t actually keep track of exactly how many.
Ally: What three books in your genre would you recommend to fans (after they’ve read your books, of course!).
DA: In the cozy mystery and traditional mystery genres Leighann Dobbs, Anne R. Tan and Deborah Garner are authors I really enjoy. In the historical fiction genre, I’m a fan of Diana Gabaldon and Manda (M.C.) Scott. When an author has the ability to breathe life into characters, unveil complex stories and create vivid settings, I’m hooked. I love stories that come alive in my mind.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
DA: The Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries series is my focus for the foreseeable future. So I’m working on the second book in the series and then will write the next one and the next one…Book 2 should be ready to release early this summer. It’s a tale that revolves around the theft of a very important town heirloom from the fall fair just before the item is to be raffled for charity.
Ally: Which quick answer questions did you choose?
DA:
- a. memorable book you’ve read – The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
- b. most beloved comic book character – Charlie Brown (though I remember him from comic strips in the newspaper rather than comic books).
- c. favorite comfort food – arrowroot biscuits
- d. last time you rode a train (not subway) – last summer when I went to Dublin to have lunch with a group of writer friends.
- e. Your hobbies – walking in the countryside, taking photos of anything that catches my attention, playing ‘football/soccer’ with my cat (she has great control of the ball and never tires of passing it back and forth).
Out of Options (A Century Cottage Cozy Mystery)
Genre: cozy mystery
Rating: PG
A dry district, a shocking secret, a missing person. When Lois Stone’s friend, Beth Darrow, arranges to meet her to reveal an astonishing discovery, Lois’s curiosity is piqued. Then Beth doesn’t keep their lunch date and Lois becomes worried. What has happened to her friend?
Middle-aged widow Lois is settling into life on her own in her neighbourhood and in the library where she works, and she is just about coping with her fear of strangers after her husband was mugged and died in the park at the end of their street. But her quiet existence is rocked when her friend and fellow local historical society researcher, Beth, arranges to meet her to reveal an exciting and shocking discovery she has made about the history of prohibition in West Toronto Junction, the last dry area in Toronto, and then goes missing before she can share her secret with Lois. There isn’t any proof that Beth is missing so the police won’t actively search for her. Only Lois and Beth’s niece Amy are convinced that Beth’s disappearance is very out of character, and they are worried about her. Where has Beth gone? Is she in danger? And, if she is, who might want to harm her and why? Lois knows she must find the answers to these questions fast if she wants to help and protect her friend.
And so begins a weekend of skulking in the park, apple and cinnamon pancakes, familiar faces staring out of old newspapers, calico cats, shadows on the windowpane, and more than one person who might want Beth to disappear from the quiet, leafy streets of the historic and staunchly dry West Toronto Junction neighbourhood.
Buy Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Out-Options-Century-Cottage-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07R4GQWQN
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/out-of-options-dianne-ascroft/1131401945
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/out-of-options-5
Book trailer:
https://youtu.be/0iGhqPPYs1U
Genre: cozy mystery
Rating: PG
A dry district, a shocking secret, a missing person. When Lois Stone’s friend, Beth Darrow, arranges to meet her to reveal an astonishing discovery, Lois’s curiosity is piqued. Then Beth doesn’t keep their lunch date and Lois becomes worried. What has happened to her friend?
Middle-aged widow Lois is settling into life on her own in her neighbourhood and in the library where she works, and she is just about coping with her fear of strangers after her husband was mugged and died in the park at the end of their street. But her quiet existence is rocked when her friend and fellow local historical society researcher, Beth, arranges to meet her to reveal an exciting and shocking discovery she has made about the history of prohibition in West Toronto Junction, the last dry area in Toronto, and then goes missing before she can share her secret with Lois. There isn’t any proof that Beth is missing so the police won’t actively search for her. Only Lois and Beth’s niece Amy are convinced that Beth’s disappearance is very out of character, and they are worried about her. Where has Beth gone? Is she in danger? And, if she is, who might want to harm her and why? Lois knows she must find the answers to these questions fast if she wants to help and protect her friend.
And so begins a weekend of skulking in the park, apple and cinnamon pancakes, familiar faces staring out of old newspapers, calico cats, shadows on the windowpane, and more than one person who might want Beth to disappear from the quiet, leafy streets of the historic and staunchly dry West Toronto Junction neighbourhood.
Buy Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Out-Options-Century-Cottage-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07R4GQWQN
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/out-of-options-dianne-ascroft/1131401945
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/out-of-options-5
Book trailer:
https://youtu.be/0iGhqPPYs1U
RSS Feed
