Lesley Diehl
Gets Cozy with Mystery
Lesley Diehl retired from her
life as a professor of psychology and reclaimed her country roots by moving to
a small cottage in the Butternut River Valley in upstate New York. In the winter she migrates to old Florida—cowboys,
scrub palmetto, and open fields of grazing cattle, a place where spurs still
jingle in the post office, and gators make golf a contact sport. Back north, the shy ghost inhabiting the
cottage serves as her literary muse.
When not writing, she gardens, cooks and renovates the 1874 cottage with
the help of her husband, two cats, and, of course, Fred the ghost, who gives
artistic direction to their work. She is
author of several short stories and several mystery series: the microbrewing
mystery series set in the Butternut Valley (A
Deadly Draught and Poisoned Pairings)
and a rural Florida series, Dumpster
Dying and Grilled, Killed and Chilled. She recently signed a three-book deal with
Camel Press for The Consignment Shop Murders including A Secondhand Murder. For
something more heavenly, try her mystery Angel
Sleuth. Several of her short stories
have been published by Untreedreads including one (Murder with All the Trimmings) in the original Thanksgiving
anthology The Killer Wore Cranberry
and another (Mashed in the Potatoes)
in the second anthology The Killer Wore
Cranberry: A Second Helping. She
invites readers to visit her on her blog and website: www.lesleydiehl.com
/ http://anotherdraught.blogspot.com
Please
tell us your latest news!
I signed a three book contract with Camel Press. The first A
Secondhand Murder will be released in September and I’m very excited about
it. The protagonist, Eve Appel, first
appeared in a short story I wrote for Mystery Writers of America Sleuthfest
2009 short story contest. I won first
place. Yippee! But most important, I found Eve would not let
go of my imagination, and I knew she had to become the main character in a series. It is called the Eve Appel Mystery
Series. The second book will come out
sometime in 2014 with the tentative title Dead
in the Water. Here’s a bit about Eve’s first appearance in A Secondhand Murder:
There’s something odd about a fashionista from
Connecticut who chooses to open an upscale consignment shop in rural Florida,
but Eve wants to get as far from her bad
marriage as she can. Selling clothing of
once-wealthy, Madoff-injured society matrons to the thrift-conscious seems like
her kind of therapy until she discovers the body of one of her West Palm
clients on the dressing room floor. Not
only do the police come calling, but soon her husband, the victim’s financially
strapped family and friends, a hunky private eye with too much sex appeal to be
honest, and a mob boss from Boston complicate her life more than Christmas
shopping at Neiman-Marcus.
How
much research do you do for your books? Have you found any cool tidbits in your
research?
I do a lot of research for my books, most of it
fun. For example, for the second book in
the Eve Appel Mystery series, I took an airboat ride through the swamps of
Florida. For the third book I’ll be
visiting a game reserve in rural Florida so that I know something about sports
shooting on private reserves. It’s a
very popular pastime there and I know little about it. For another series set in Florida I’m
researching mud bog racing or mudding, a sport requiring a 4 wheel drive truck
and a lot of dirt mixed with water, aka mud.
There’s a festival near where I live in Florida, but it costs like crazy
to get in and is attended mostly by beer guzzling guys and naked babes. I think I’ll stick to the videos on the
internet.
I know a bit about brewing beer because I spent time
in microbreweries, picking the brew masters’ minds about the process to write
my series about a woman brewer in upstate New York. It’s a great setting for murder. My protagonists in my Florida books also like
to go to country bars and dance. So do
I, so that research is easy.
What
main genre do you write in?
I write cozy mysteries, most of them humorous. I do this because I can entertain myself as I
write. I find no point to writing
something that doesn’t tickle me.
That’s only part true. The mircrobrewing
series is cozy but serious. And of
course I throw some romance into all my work.
What
are your hobbies?
I go a fitness center and work out, a necessary
pastime to keep winkles and sags away from my doorstep. But then I counter all that sweating,
grunting and groaning by cooking. Hubby
and I like to take turns at this, and we also cook together. Our favorite dish is bouillabaisse. While researching my microbrewing series, I Iearned
to respect the many kinds of beer and love cooking with them. I especially like making sweet dishes using
stout.
My Big Lake Murder Mystery series set in Florida
features a retired preschool teacher turned bartender. To be certain my character can mix a mean
martini, I’ve had to learn some mixology skills myself. I make a dandy Cosmo or pomegranate Cosmo.
I have a small garden which is being drowned this
summer by all the rain, but I think I’ll get some nice crops of lettuce, beans
and peas.
I read (too much, not enough sleep) and love to hike
or go for long walks. We will be going
to Nova Scotia in the fall.
I do some decorating, but on a budget. I buy many items at yard sales and
consignment shops. I take the adage
“Never pay full price” seriously. This
is one hobby that fed nicely into my newest series with Eve Appel as the part
owner of a consignment shop. I do
research weekly.
Do
you write full time? What did you do before you became a writer? Or Still do?
As I said before, I was a psychologist. I taught at the college level for 27 years
and was a college administrator for several.
I found I liked being in the classroom with students a lot more than
sitting in the boardroom with other administrators which usually is a big
snooze. Since the students one teaches
never age from year to year, it kept me young.
Sometimes I regret retiring from the academic life so early; I still
have dreams about being in the classroom.
I have many friends that were once students. It’s really wonderful being able to watch
them achieve in their chosen careers and rewarding to think I might have played
a small part in that.
Finding the writing life so rewarding caught me by
surprise. I had written many scientific
papers and had to relearn how to write creatively, but I embraced the
process. I get a real chuckle out of
developing complex plots and crating unique characters, and I draw on my
background to make these people humans you’d like to meet or love to hate.
What
is your writing process? Do you outline, fly by the seat of your pants or a
combination of both?
I always wrote by the seat of my pants until I signed
the three book contract. Because of the
deadlines for the second two books, I decided I needed to outline to rely on,
so I developed one for book two. It
helped, gave me direction and jump started my writing when I’d left off for a
time, but I violated that outline so much that when I read it now, it doesn’t
look like the same book. I will also
create an outline for book three. I find
it’s a useful crutch.
Do
you have a ritual when it comes to writing? Example….get coffee, blanket,
paper, pen and a comfy place.
I get up, have my coffee while I read the paper and go
over emails. I eat breakfast, then do
promoting, e/g/ setting up programs, readings, signings, writing blogs,
replying to emails. I then do yard work,
go off to work out, and have lunch. Oh
right, when do I write? Usually in the
afternoons, and if I have difficulty getting into it, I clean out a closet or
do some laundry. Physical organization of
this sort usually clears my head so I can have a successful afternoon of
writing. I write quickly and wish I had
taken that touch typing course in high school.
I am the world’s worst on a keyboard, redoing what I’ve put on a page
takes forever. I usually do a chapter,
10 to 12 pages, in two sittings. I go
back and revise that chapter before I go ahead to another. By the time I have an entire rough draft,
I’ve revised it many times. I send out a
chapter at a time to my critique partner.
When I get back her suggestions, I revise that chapter.
If
you could be one of your characters - Who would you be? And why?
I love Eve Appel because she’s such a spicy gal, and
she’s tall and slender, something I’ve always wanted to be. She has quite a mouth on her, not for
profanity, but for saying whatever comes into her mind at the time. She has few social graces and must rely on
her partner, Madeleine, to smooth over hurt feelings. She’s smart, wise, impulsive and fun, has
wonderful taste in shoes. I too love
shoes, but with my chubby feet I can’t wear the spikey, strappy sandals she
does. Lucky girl, and she can even run
in them. She loves clothes and has a
nose for a bargain, something she learned from me.
Can
you please give us a sneak peek at any of your upcoming books?
Here’s a peek at the first in the Eve Appel Mystery
series:
She pinned us with a very cop like gaze. “My first
case as a detective and it has to concern you two.” The expression on her face
said she wasn’t happy with us and was certain we were to blame for the incident.
“It’s not our fault,” I said.
“We didn’t do it.” Madeleine shook her head.
“Maybe, but where the two of you are, there’s bound to
be trouble.”
She was, of course, referring to the incident at the
spring rodeo in town. Somehow Madeleine’s curiosity about the bulls for the
bull riding event led us to the pens where someone—I’d bet my share of the
store on it being Madeleine—fell onto a lever or something. The gate swung open
and about ten bulls stampeded through the rodeo arena and the fairgrounds,
knocking over concession stands, leaping onto the merry-go-round and running
off into the scrub until the cowboys rounded them up.
For a tiny person—Madeleine was only five two—she was
very clumsy, except on the dance floor where she moved like a ballerina. Off
the dance floor she moved like a tiny elephant on speed. Although my appearance
was unusual for these parts, six feet without my strappy stilettos and spiky
blonde hair—or maybe it was just unusual in general—I wasn’t clumsy or accident
prone. I was Madeleine’s friend and, by association, Frida might think of the
two of us together.
When
you have writer's block how do you break free?
I’m not aware of ever having writer’s block. Sometimes I feel it’s hard to begin writing
on a chapter. To jump start my writing,
I’ll reread the chapter before which usually puts me in the mood for
continuing. At other times, I know I
just need to let the writing go for a few days or even weeks until the muse
visits again, sometimes at four in the morning.
My muse is the ghost who inhabits our 1874 cottage. His name is Fred and he has a sense of humor
that rivals mine except he likes to play practical jokes like setting our truck
on fire. I think he does this to get
attention.
Is
there a genre of book you would like to write but haven't yet?
I have two traditional mysteries begun, but not
completed. One of them has a lot of dark
humor in it. I’d love to get back to
them someday.
What
would be the best way for readers contact you? Do you have a website? Email
address? MySpace site? Blog? Message Board? Group?
My website is www.lesleydiehl.com
and I can be contacted through my email at lesdieh60@aol.com I also like readers to visit my blog which
features some interesting interviews with other writers, bits of information
about writing and meanderings about my life.
What
is the best and worst advice you have ever received?
Everybody who writes gets the same advice: Write about
what you know. I did that and wrote a mystery
about a dead college president and a psychologist determined to solve the
case. That was deadly dull. Sometimes what you know isn’t so captivating.
Or, as in my case, what I knew I didn’t know how to write well.
The best advice I got about writing was another writer
advising me to join Sisters in Crime and the subgroup Guppies. That changed my writing. I learned from them how to write mysteries. Reaching out to other writers is absolutely
necessary for information and for sanity.
Do
you belong to a critique group? If so, how does this help or hinder you?
I have joined a number of critique groups. The best one was one a fellow writer (now my
critique partner, Jan Day Fehrman) and I started when I moved to Okeechobee,
Florida. It was called the Okeechobee
Writers league and is still in existence.
Glenn and I belonged for about five years. The best thing about the group was that we
established procedures for how the group would run early in its existence. We had a clearly stated goal, guidelines for
how we presented material to the group and how feedback was delivered. Sometimes these guidelines were violated, but
we always came back to them to center ourselves and what we wanted to
accomplish. I think determining what the
goal of the group is early is the most important aspect of a critique group.
What's
your favorite genre to read?
Mysteries, of course.
When
did you first decide to submit your work? Please, tell us what or who
encouraged you to take this big step.
Someone told me to start calling myself I writer
because I wrote and to tell others I was a writer. So I figured if I’m a writer, I need to find
an outlet for my writing. I knew I was
writing for an audience and not only myself.
I began submitting my work to agents and going to conferences to
solidify my identity as a writer.
Winning the Sleuthfest short story contest in 2009 was a turning point
for me. It gave me confidence that
others found my writing worthy of notice.
After numerous rejections from agents, I found a small publisher, then
another, then another. Then I got an
agent. I always do things
backwards. Now I’m considering self-
publishing several books. Backwards,
right?
Spunky and outspoken Eve Appel moves from Connecticut to rural Florida
intent on starting a new life, free of drama, and more importantly, her
soon-to-be ex-husband. The rural Florida town of Sabal Bay, situated only an
hour from West Palm, proves to be the perfect spot for her consignment store.
Thanks to the recent economic downturn, Florida's society matrons need a place
to discreetly sell their stuff and pick up expensive-looking bargains. But
Eve's life, and her business with it, is turned upside down when a wealthy
customer is found stabbed to death in a fitting room.
As accusations fly and business slows, Eve
decides to take matters into her own hands. With the help of an unlikely bunch
of friends--including her estranged ex, her best friend, a handsome private
eye, and a charming mafia don--she struggles to find answers and save lives.
Through a maze of distorted half-truths, dramatic cover-ups, and unrequited
passions, Eve learns just how far the wealthy will go to regain what they have
lost.
just as her career begins escalating. An L.A. restaurant owner,
Calvin, helps her recover from one, and then wines and dines his way into her
heart. However, Jade’s agent warns her that Calvin has an unsavory backstory.
