Welcome, Booklovers!
Are those of you in the US ready for Turkey Day (and all the trimmings)? I am. While we wait, I want you to meet cozy mystery author Nancy Good!
Nice to have you visit us, Nancy. What may I get you to drink?
NG: I don't drink coffee, although I loved chocolate tasting coffee years ago. Now I drink herbal teas, or even plain hot water with steamed soy milk or almond milk. Starbucks will actually prepare that.
Ally: We always have great tea on hand. While I prepare my coffee and your tea, please tell our readers something about yourself.
About the Author:
I'm a lifelong Manhattan resident and think biking along the Hudson River is the best place to be. I had a bestselling non-fiction book years ago when publishers sent you to expensive hotels like the Four Seasons on book tours. I appeared on Oprah and CNN among other shows to promote How to Love a Difficult Man. It sold widely and was translated into 12 languages.
I'm in two NYC choruses and get to sing in places like Carnegie Hall. Backstage at Carnegie is a maze of rooms on many floors. As I'm finding my way to a free bathroom on a quiet floor down a long hallway, I've thought that this would be a good place for a murder.
I am on the search for a long haired mix or maincoon cat, as my wonderful cat passed away recently. Cats are my muse, they keep late night hours like I do. And they don't talk, usually.
Killer Calories is my first mystery and the first in the Melanie Deming Manhattan Mystery series.
Contact the Author:
Website: https://www.nancygood.com or just nancygood.com
FB: facebook.com/nancygoodauthor
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/nancy-good
I'm a lifelong Manhattan resident and think biking along the Hudson River is the best place to be. I had a bestselling non-fiction book years ago when publishers sent you to expensive hotels like the Four Seasons on book tours. I appeared on Oprah and CNN among other shows to promote How to Love a Difficult Man. It sold widely and was translated into 12 languages.
I'm in two NYC choruses and get to sing in places like Carnegie Hall. Backstage at Carnegie is a maze of rooms on many floors. As I'm finding my way to a free bathroom on a quiet floor down a long hallway, I've thought that this would be a good place for a murder.
I am on the search for a long haired mix or maincoon cat, as my wonderful cat passed away recently. Cats are my muse, they keep late night hours like I do. And they don't talk, usually.
Killer Calories is my first mystery and the first in the Melanie Deming Manhattan Mystery series.
Contact the Author:
Website: https://www.nancygood.com or just nancygood.com
FB: facebook.com/nancygoodauthor
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/nancy-good
INTERVIEW:
Ally: What do you find most rewarding about a writing career? Most negative or frustrating?
NG: There are so many rewards and equally so many frustrations. Creating fiction, and for me, humor, gives me a sense of well being and excitement like nothing else can. As Elizabeth Gilbert said, it’s big magic. With mysteries, I can solve a problem that I can’t solve in real life. And of course have a happy ending.
The negatives are definitely the promotion which is so internet and technology dependent. There’s a lot of frustration with that as well. Writing can be frustrating and hard but there’s a great payoff in the end. That’s not necessarily true with book promotion. I do enjoy doing book readings and hope to do more of those. Readings are enjoyable when others enjoy the humor and suspense.
Ally: Do you know the book’s ending before you start writing?
NG: I don’t know the ending of a book before I start. I have an idea and the first chapter almost writes itself. The ending comes somewhere in the middle of the book, as if I’m investigating all the suspects and seeing who is most likely to have done it.
Ally: Do you read reviews of your books?
NG: Definitely. I learn a lot about how another person sees the book. What they found important is always enlightening.
Ally: What three books in your genre would you recommend to fans (after they’ve read your books, of course!).
DB: Rhys Bowen is a funny, wonderful mystery writer. Any of her series are good. I also like her novels about WWII, like The Tuscan Child. But her Royal Spyness Mysteries are so much fun. I’ve learned a lot from her.
Susan Isaacs and her bestseller Compromising Positions provided inspiration for Killer Calories.
John Grisham is great and does incredible research. I loved Camino Island, about the theft of priceless Fitzgerald manuscripts. There are so many fun and creative mystery writers. Hard to pick out three.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
NG: Book Number 2 in the Melanie Deming Manhattan Mystery Series is almost half done. Killer Condo, a murder during an Open House for a four million dollar condo. Real estate is priceless and deadly on Park Avenue.
Ally: Which of the short answer questions did you choose?
DB:
Ally: Thanks for visiting with us during this busy holiday. Before you rush off to celebrate with family/friends, please show us your featured book.
Ally: What do you find most rewarding about a writing career? Most negative or frustrating?
NG: There are so many rewards and equally so many frustrations. Creating fiction, and for me, humor, gives me a sense of well being and excitement like nothing else can. As Elizabeth Gilbert said, it’s big magic. With mysteries, I can solve a problem that I can’t solve in real life. And of course have a happy ending.
The negatives are definitely the promotion which is so internet and technology dependent. There’s a lot of frustration with that as well. Writing can be frustrating and hard but there’s a great payoff in the end. That’s not necessarily true with book promotion. I do enjoy doing book readings and hope to do more of those. Readings are enjoyable when others enjoy the humor and suspense.
Ally: Do you know the book’s ending before you start writing?
NG: I don’t know the ending of a book before I start. I have an idea and the first chapter almost writes itself. The ending comes somewhere in the middle of the book, as if I’m investigating all the suspects and seeing who is most likely to have done it.
Ally: Do you read reviews of your books?
NG: Definitely. I learn a lot about how another person sees the book. What they found important is always enlightening.
Ally: What three books in your genre would you recommend to fans (after they’ve read your books, of course!).
DB: Rhys Bowen is a funny, wonderful mystery writer. Any of her series are good. I also like her novels about WWII, like The Tuscan Child. But her Royal Spyness Mysteries are so much fun. I’ve learned a lot from her.
Susan Isaacs and her bestseller Compromising Positions provided inspiration for Killer Calories.
John Grisham is great and does incredible research. I loved Camino Island, about the theft of priceless Fitzgerald manuscripts. There are so many fun and creative mystery writers. Hard to pick out three.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
NG: Book Number 2 in the Melanie Deming Manhattan Mystery Series is almost half done. Killer Condo, a murder during an Open House for a four million dollar condo. Real estate is priceless and deadly on Park Avenue.
Ally: Which of the short answer questions did you choose?
DB:
- a. Favorite book: The Goldfinch is one of my favorite books, Donna Tartt
- b. Manicure or pedicure? Manicure for sure.
- c. Favorite movie: Romancing the Stone. About a writer who writes bestellers about dreamy adventure romances set in exotic locations and then finds Michael Douglas when she has to set out to save her sister in Colombia.
- d. Bucket list item: Hiking in Nepal.
- e. High heels or sneakers? Sneakers for sure. I exercise daily and run for subways and buses!
Ally: Thanks for visiting with us during this busy holiday. Before you rush off to celebrate with family/friends, please show us your featured book.
Killer Calories
(Melanie Deming Manhattan Mystery #1)
Genre/key words: Cozy mystery/female amateur sleuth/humor/mild romantic suspense/chick-lit
From bestselling author of the Difficult Man books comes a new Manhattan mystery series. This is book one in the series
Spend time in the Big Apple with wise-cracking amateur sleuth Melanie Deming, as she follows clues from glamorous Park Avenue mansions to gritty soup kitchens. Melanie's a snarky writer and health fanatic who shockingly discovers the body of her good-looking co-worker. She's no Lois Lane and is scared of every germ, yet Melanie must have justice for her friend.
Devon, a blue-eyed hard-to-resist journalist, wants Melanie for a screenplay about the murder, and more. Melanie can have the success she's dreamed of and a man of her dreams, but she could lose her marriage and her life searching for a killer who now threatens her. Why couldn't she be satisfied with a normal job and the boring life her husband wants?
Underneath all the zany fun are some astute observations on marriage, the super rich, and class differences.
Read first chapter
Buy at: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo, Google Play
Kirkus Review: “The inaugural adventure of a perky, plucky...screenwriter and secret sleuth. Good has a knack for spinning humor ...and clever banter..It also touches on...the unmet desires of urban housewives. A thoroughly entertaining character-driven mystery...”
Read the full review HERE
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