#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR EMMIE CALDWELL'S KNITTING SLEUTH LIA GEIGER

Today we sit down for a chat with Lia Geiger from mystery author Emmie Caldwell’s (AKA Mary Ellen Hughes) Craft Fair Knitters Mysteries.

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

I was a widowed mom of a young adult daughter, I loved to knit, and my knitting group was and still is a very important part of my life.

 

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

I care very much about the people in my life and am ready to help when they need it.

 

What do you like least about yourself?

I tend to worry too much about the problems of those people in my life (maybe poke in their business too much?) which gives me sleepless nights.

 

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

She’s actually been pretty good to me, well, except for almost getting me killed by a murderer when I got too close to them. Does that count?

 

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

When I’ve had a few too many sleepless nights I’ll complain with, “Can’t you simply tell me who did it and save me a lot of trouble?” She just tells me to get to work.

 

What is your greatest fear?

That something terrible might happen to my daughter. It came very close to happening in A Wicked Yarn, so can you blame me?

 

What makes you happy?

Oh, so many things! Being with people I love, knitting a special-order sweater for a client and anticipating her excitement, spending time at the alpaca farm with those super-sweet animals who provide such wonderful yarn.

 

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

I would gather together the people who have all these gripes against each other and work on getting them to talk it all out instead of resorting to violence. But that’s one of the things my author and I argue about.

 

 

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

Ronna Dickens, the proprietor of Eco Alley, a shop that carries only environmentally safe merchandise, is really difficult to be around. She cares passionately about the environment, which is great! But she alienates so many by the way she goes about promoting her ideas, arguing and insisting instead of explaining and persuading. So counterproductive. 

 

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

This might sound a little weird, but I’d often love to trade places with Pete Sullivan. As Crandalsburg’s Police Chief, he has access to scads of resources to help track down a criminal. On the other hand, he can’t always worm out those small but important details from witnesses the way I usually can, things they might think are too unimportant to bother the police with but don’t mind sharing with me. So I might have to rethink that.

 

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

My author, Emmie Caldwell, has written four more cozy mystery series besides the Craft Fair Knitters Mysteries under her own name, Mary Ellen Hughes. She’s a national bestselling author who lives in Maryland, where she’s set many of her stories. Her website is http://www.maryellenhughes.com  Emmie’s is http://www.emmiecaldwell.com

 

What's next for you?

Emmie/Mary Ellen is still deciding what to do with me. I’m trembling can’t wait to find out!

 

Knits, Knots, and Knives

A Craft Fair Knitters Mystery, Book 3

 

Lia Geiger and her Ninth Street Knitters have been knitting for the Civil War reenactment being held on the grounds next to the Crandalsburg Craft Fair. It’s all fun and battle games until one of the “injured soldiers” turns out to be the very real victim of a murder, and Lia’s friend and neighbor falls under deep suspicion. Lucky for Lia, she has the combined wits of her knitting friends to help her track down the truth about a very crafty killer.

 

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--AN INTERVIEW WITH CRAFTING COZY MYSTERY AUTHOR EMMIE CALDWELL (AKA MARY ELLEN HUGHES)

Today we sit down for a chat with cozy mystery author Emmie Caldwell/Mary Ellen Hughes. Learn more about her and her books at her Emmie Caldwell and Mary Ellen Hughes websites.  

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

Probably after I’d written (and published) a few short stories and realized I wanted to write longer and more deeply.

 

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

For a long time that “dream” was more wishful thinking. I got serious about novel writing around the late 1990s. My first book, Resort to Murder (written as Mary Ellen Hughes) was published in December, 2000. 

 

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

All my books have been traditionally published. I re-issued the older ones when I received the rights back to them, so I guess that makes me a hybrid author.

 

Where do you write?

In a spare bedroom upstairs, next to a window where I can catch sight of any wildlife - and occasionally Amazon delivery vans.

 

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

Silence is definitely golden when I write. For me, music isn’t background noise but something to pay attention to and enjoy, so it would be totally distracting.

 

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

Plots might have bits and pieces from my life but probably 90% comes from my imagination. The same with characters. I’ve used characteristics from people I’ve known but then change physical descriptions enough to make them unrecognizable.

 

Describe your process for naming your character?

I used to sift through obituary notices for first names of elderly characters. Now I go to the Social Security Popular Names by Decade website to choose first names, then random name generator for last names. Sometimes the right name pops up immediately. Other times I might change it several times during the writing until it feels right.

 

Real settings or fictional towns?

Fictional towns, but often within reach of real ones. The Craft Corner Mysteries are in a fictional town within reach of Gettysburg, PA.

 

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?

I’m not sure how quirky it is, but the adult daughter of my main character gave up a better paying job to work at an alpaca farm (marketing, not stall-shoveling). Her favorite alpaca is Rosie, who Hayley would love to adopt.

 

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

I like to do online jigsaw puzzles. No table space required, and they can be very relaxing.

 

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Bad grammar used by someone who should know better – like a television news anchor - is like nails on a blackboard to me.

 

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

Truthfully, my worst job was a part-time one at a bookstore. I thought it would be wonderful, but most of my time was spent finding books for others and ringing them up, with no time left to browse through them myself. Frustrating!

 

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

I can’t really say. The more I read, the more my tastes and understanding of fiction evolve, so that what blew me away twenty years ago might get a different reaction now. Or I might have once dismissed a great book that I’d feel differently about now.

 

Ocean or mountains?

Both, but 75/25 mountains to ocean.

 

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

I grew up in a small city but have been a country girl for years – with occasional city visits.

 

What’s on the horizon for you?

I’m currently working on book #3 of the Craft Fair Knitter Mystery Series: Knits, Knots, and Knives, in which a murder occurs during a Civil War reenactment.

 

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?

Just that I hope anyone who reads my books enjoys them as much as I enjoyed writing them. As Mary Ellen Hughes, I’ve written eleven books (4 series) and have now written two books in my new series as Emmie Caldwell. I feel very fortunate, and I’m delighted to hear from any reader, either through my website or on Facebook.

 

Thank you so much for having me here!

 

Stitched in Crime

A Craft Fair Knitters Mystery, Book 2

When murder pierces the fabric of the close-knit Crandalsburg Craft Fair, it's up to the Ninth Street Knitters to make a killer slip their stitch.

 

The Craft Fair may have hit a few snags lately, but knitting enthusiast Lia Geiger is hopeful her quiet life will return to its usual patterns in no time. Her daughter has officially moved back home, and sure, the house is a little crowded with Hayley's take-home work from the alpaca farm, but that's a price Lia will happily pay. All seems well until Cori Littlefield, a new vendor with a gift for crochet, is found dead, sending shock waves through all of Crandalsburg.

What begins as a tragic accident turns into a snarled spool of lies that only the combined efforts of the Ninth Street Knitters can untangle. When Lia makes a connection between Cori's death and a decades-old murder, it's up to her to weave together the clues and find the truth.

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--A NEW PEN NAME AND A NEW KNITTING MYSTERY SERIES FROM AUTHOR MARY ELLEN HUGHES, AKA EMMIE CALDWELL

Emmie Caldwell is the pen name of Mary Ellen Hughes, national bestselling author of the Keepsake Cove Mysteries, the Pickled and Preserved Mysteries, the Craft Corner Mysteries, the Maggie Olenski Mysteries and now the Craft Fair Knitters Mysteries. Learn more her and her books at her website.  

How a Wicked Yarn Began and Grew

My protagonist of A Wicked Yarn, Lia Geiger, is an expert knitter, as is her long-standing group of friends, the Ninth Street Knitters, whose love of knitting joined them together. Having run out of people to knit for, Lia began running a booth for the group at the Crandalsburg Craft Fair to sell their knits but soon got into more than she bargained for.

 

I created Lia and all the characters in A Wicked Yarn, to tell a mystery story. But I made Lia an excellent knitter as one way for me to also create beautiful knits, but with much more ease and speed, not to mention skill.

 

I learned to knit as a child from my mother, as I’d guess many knitters have. My first attempt at about six, I think, was a scarf, and I do remember it growing wider and wider as it grew longer, which was not my intention. I kept no pictures of that.

 

I got a little better over the years, and when my husband and I were dating and we took up downhill skiing, I decided to knit him a ski sweater. My lack of experience led me choose a beautiful pattern but one that called for a double yarn of worsted and mohair. It took me a while (a subsequent engagement and wedding soaked up a lot of free time – no surprise!) but once I finished, I was delighted to see that it actually fit! Unfortunately, it was quite warm. Quite warm. Perhaps if we were living in Alaska, it might have gotten more use. But Maryland winters led my husband to beg off  wearing it except for a few ice skating sessions, and even then, since the skating rinks were indoors, he suffered.

The sweater has been in a drawer  more than not, since then, and though I did knit a few things for my children over the years, writing gradually took over my creative time.

 

Enter A Wicked Yarn. It’s always important for authors to know what they’re writing about, so when Lia got a commission for an alpaca sweater, I wanted to know all about alpaca yarn. The best way for me was to visit an alpaca farm, one where they bred alpacas, sheared their fleece, and turned it into yarn, all on the premises.

 

What a delight! Alpacas are absolutely wonderful animals – friendly, curious, and fuzzy. At the Painted Sky Alpaca farm in Maryland, they were well cared for and loved. After I spent time with many of the alpacas, the owners walked me through the process of washing and spinning alpaca fleece into yarn, some of which was then dyed, and some left in their natural colors.

 

After my time at Painted Sky, I wrote an alpaca farm into the plot of A Wicked Yarn, because why not? If I enjoyed my visit so much, I think my readers will too!

 

Of course, since it’s a mystery, I also slipped in a murder or two, and plenty of danger. But rest assured, no alpacas are harmed. My knitter? Well, it’d be telling too much to share what happens to her. But the mystery does get knotty, and Lia’s investigation grows a bit tangled for a while. But it all knits up in the end, knitters, craft fairs, alpacas, and all. A Wicked Yarn is, after all, a cozy mystery, perhaps as warm and cozy as an alpaca sweater, which was my goal. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

 

A Wicked Yarn:

A Craft Fair Knitters Mystery, Book 1

 

Mother's Day should be a cinch for the good folks of the Crandalsburg Craft Fair, and knitting enthusiast Lia Geiger has a good feeling about this year's yield. But things quickly get knotty when Lia's daughter announces she's quit her job and Lia finds herself tangled up in the murder of her best friend's ex-husband. While Belinda's alibi quickly gets her off the hook, nasty rumors spread throughout Crandalsburg that shroud the entire fair in suspicion.

 

Could the vendors be responsible for the murder of a man hell-bent on unraveling the fair just days before his death? Lia and her crafty group of Ninth Street Knitters must put down their needles to gather clues and save the crafting community they've grown to love

 

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