What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?
I had been a rare books librarian at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. I thought I had found my place and settled down… but Daphne apparently had other things in mind for me. She took me on a real expedition - scouring for an ancient Celtic manuscript in a cemetery near the Chesapeake Bay. It’s funny because I had spent a lot of time traveling before becoming a librarian, and it never occurred to me that there might be so many adventures in my home state.
What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?
Like a lot of librarians, I’m endlessly curious. Everything fascinates me. I believe everything has a story to tell, and I want to know it all. I’m never bored as a result.
What do you like least about yourself?
Remember how I want to know it all? Well, I’m also a big “know-it-all.” I have a tendency to run my mouth and share pretty esoteric information, especially about Maryland and book history. In one of Daphne’s books, I get dubbed “Encyclopedia Blume,” like the Encyclopedia Brown children’s series.
What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?
Hah. She loves to mess with me. The strangest was probably in the climax of the first book Crime and Parchment, but I don’t want to give that away, so instead, I’ll come back to what I mentioned earlier about searching for an ancient Celtic manuscript in a Maryland cemetery. Did I include that it was at midnight? And that I hid the truth about my going from my sister? Not only did I not find that book then, but I did find a body instead!
Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?
She thinks she’s in control, but really, even she knows she isn’t. One time she was working on a story about me, and I asked her why she had glossed over this whole other story? Daphne claimed not to know what I was talking about, but I crossed my arms and gave her my patented librarian look. Then she put away that story to start the new one. It’s going to be book 3, coming out in November next year. The one she had been working on will be book 4, coming out in November 2026! Daphne knows I have a lot of stories, and I won’t let her slide on telling them.
What is your greatest fear?
Something happening to my family. Losing my grandmother Zinnia - or Nana Z as everyone called her - really upset me and kept me away from my sister Azalea. I’m glad we’ve reunited, but all these mysteries make me worry for her, my niece, and my rescue pup Clover. Fortunately, we have a great support system, and I won’t let anything happen to them.
What makes you happy?
Finding out the story behind a book. Each book has two stories: the one we read in it, but also the one we bring to it. Every reader adds to their book’s story, and I love discovering those journeys.
If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?
Easy. I’d never have waited so long to get back in touch with my sister Azalea. I’m relieved we’ve reconnected now.
Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?
Probably my neighbor Cordelia, as she was my grandmother’s nemesis. She can be quite haughty and has always thought she was better than my grandmother. That’s really frustrating.
Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?
There is this one guy, Leo, who gets to sponsor archaeological digs around the world. Right now, he’s leading expeditions in Europe. How absolutely incredible would it be to go there and search for these historic treasures in Italy and England?
Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?
Daphne Silver is the Agatha-winning author of the Rare Books Cozy Mystery series. The first in the series, Crime and Parchment, won the Agatha Award for Best First Mystery Novel. She’s worked more than twenty years in museums and symphonies and has the great fortune of being married to a librarian. When she’s not writing, she’s drawing and painting. She lives in Maryland with her family. Although she’s not much of a baker, she won’t ever turn down a sweet lokshen kugel.
Learn more about Daphne and her books, find links to her other social media, and sign up for her newsletter to receive a free short story from Juniper’s cozy-verse, at her website.
What's next for you?
The Tell-Tale Homicide, the second book in the Rare Books Cozy Mystery Series, just launched on November 19th, so I’m hoping readers will continue along with Juniper’s journey! Rare books librarian Juniper Blume lands her dream job: creating a new museum in her Chesapeake Bay town of Rose Mallow, Maryland. But on her very first day, she makes a shocking discovery—a dead man clutching a book by Edgar Allan Poe, stolen from the collections!
A Rare Books Cozy Mystery, Book 1
Rare books librarian Juniper Blume knows this much… an ancient Celtic manuscript shouldn’t be in a Maryland cemetery. But that’s exactly what her brother-in-law claims.
Last year, Juniper saw the 1,200-year-old Book of Kells in Ireland. She learned how their bejeweled covers were stolen centuries ago, never to be seen again. So how could they have ended up in Rose Mallow, a small Chesapeake Bay town? Being Jewish, the Book of Kells might not be her sacred text, but as a rare books librarian, the ancient book is still sacred to her, making it important to Juniper to find out the truth.
Rose Mallow is the same place where Juniper used to summer with her sister Azalea and their grandmother Zinnia, known as Nana Z. Ever since Nana Z passed away, Juniper’s avoided returning, but her curiosity is greater than her grief, so she heads down in her vintage convertible with her rescue dog Clover.
Juniper discovers that her sister Azalea has transformed their grandmother’s Queen Anne style mansion into the Wildflower Inn, backing up to the Chesapeake Bay. Although Juniper isn’t much of a cook, Azalea has kept their grandmother’s legacy alive, filling the house with the smells of East European Jewish treats, like sweet kugels and tzimmes cake. Will coming back here feel like returning home or fill Juniper with a deeper sorrow? Can she apologize to her sister for not being there when she was needed most?
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Thank you so much for having me (err... Juniper!) ❤️
ReplyDeleteLois and I are both happy to have hosted you and Juniper, Daphne. We hope you'll come visit again at some point.
ReplyDeleteGreat fun and very interesting!
ReplyDeleteEnjoying book
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