BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--CHARACTER INTERVIEW WITH MYSTERY AUTHOR JEANNETTE DE BEAUVOIR'S SYDNEY RILEY

Today we sit down for a chat with Sydney Riley from mystery author Jeannette de Beauvoir’s Provincetown Mysteries.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

Very much like it is now, minus the dead bodies, of course. That only started happening when she decided to write about me… hey, you don’t think they’re connected, do you?

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

I live in an incredibly diverse community, made up of a lot of smaller intersecting communities. I like that I’m able to fit in—even if only at the fringes—with most of them. I have friends who are artists, fishermen, actors, club owners… I don’t make assumptions about people and I think that makes for a much more harmonious life.

What do you like least about yourself?

Mostly it’s my reliance on sarcasm to get me through awkward situations. The more stressed I am, the more I’m snarky. Oddly enough, people around me seem to find that off-putting.

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

Do you have about an hour for me to list them all? Dodging bullets in the Gropius house. Diving off the pier in October and nearly dying of hypothermia. Finding a skeleton hidden in a wall. Every single book she has me up to something most people would never experience in their lifetime. Every. Single. Book.

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

Yeah, did you pick up on that? I’d love to just show up somewhere and not find a body or get drawn into a mystery. I want her to transfer me to a science fiction series where I can have some fun on other planets. Then again, she’d just have me solving some extraterrestrial murder, wouldn’t she?

What is your greatest fear?

My boyfriend Ali works for ICE in the human trafficking department, and he’s often undercover. I worry about that a lot—about him getting discovered, maybe tortured, definitely killed. These people play for high stakes.

What makes you happy?

I get to wake up every morning in a perfect postcard of a place. I can start my days with a walk on the beach. I spend time all day around people I genuinely care about. Living this life? That’s what makes me happy.

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

Honestly, who wouldn’t want a little rewrite here and there? I think I’d be nicer to Ali when I first met him. The circumstances were strange and adversarial, but I didn’t need to be as nasty as I was. But that worked out in the end. If I could write my mother’s voice out of my head, that would be pretty cool.

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

That has to be Adrienne, the inn’s diva chef. I always think of her like that, too: Adrienne-the-inn’s-diva-chef. That says it all, doesn’t it? What Adrienne wants, Adrienne gets. Of course people travel from literally all over the world, they come here specifically to eat her food, her creations, so she really is a culinary rock star. I just wish she weren’t so completely aware of that all the time!

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

Mirela. She’s my best friend. She came here from Bulgaria for a summer job and stayed. Provincetown’s an art colony, and she’s become a very sought-after artist. She loves what she does, and it shows. She loves everything—food, wine, music, sunshine. She’s just a very happy person. She takes life as it comes.

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

Her name is Jeannette de Beauvoir and logically enough she’s at www.jeannettedebeauvoir.com. She’s also all over social media. I don’t know when she finds time to write.

What's next for you?

Once I recover from this year’s Holly Folly celebration (when I literally trip over a body!) I’m going to visit Ali in Boston for a while. I gather there might be something untoward happening at the Provincetown International Film Festival next spring… Jeannette mentioned something about matinee murders. I’ll have to see what she’s talking about.

A Fatal Folly

A Provincetown Mystery, book 5

Holly Folly is approaching, and Sydney Riley is feeling far from festive. She hasn’t heard from her boyfriend in weeks, a mysterious stranger has crashed into her beloved “little green car,” and, in a moment of temporary insanity, she’s invited her parents for the holidays. She’s convinced things could not possibly get worse—until she stumbles over a body at the lighting of the lobster pot Christmas tree. 

As if this is not enough, when a gold coin and nameplate of a missing fishing boat are discovered, she’s asked to investigate the unsolved mystery of a murdered fisherman. While Provincetown is aglow with holiday lights and events, Sydney, Provincetown’s unofficial sleuth, is in the dark but determined to uncover the motive for both murders.

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