#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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FRIDAY BOOK CLUB--AN INTERVIEW WITH COZY MYSTERY AUTHOR ALLIE PLEITER

Today we sit down with cozy mystery and inspirational romance author Allie Pleiter who also writes writing craft nonfiction. Learn more about her and her books at her website.

When did you realize you wanted to write novels? 

I have always been a storyteller and started life as an actor. When a friend dared me in my thirties to try writing a novel, I discovered the knack for how a story should go was within me and ready to come out. All the instincts I had as an actor, but never really had the acting talent to realize, now play into my novels and characters.

 

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

I am very prolific now (I have more than fifty titles published), but that first book took me more than three years to write. It was about five years from that first dare until I saw my name on a book cover.

 

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

All my fiction—with the exception of the Sweet City Hearts series—is traditionally published. My nonfiction is both traditionally and indie published. I continue to pursue both and love the myriad of options available to authors today.

 

Where do you write?

HA! Just about everywhere. In my office I have a traditional desk and a treadmill desk, but I can also be found on the couch or my kitchen counter or on nice days my deck. I also travel frequently for my speaking career, so I’m fortunate that I can write on airplanes, in coffeeshops, and lots of other places.

 

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

I prefer to work with music, but not with lyrics. Spotify’s “Deep Focus” channel is a personal favorite. Movie soundtracks are great for that, too.

 

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

I get asked this ALL THE TIME. Of course, now that I’m writing murder mysteries, I feel like the answer is a bit more complicated :) Mostly, I just pick out bits and pieces of real life—what someone said, a story I heard, an object I saw, or in the case of the Riverbank Knitting Mysteries, an aspect of fiber arts that I want to explore. The same is true of characters. It’s never someone from my real life, but a combination of all sorts of people in my life.

 

Describe your process for naming your character?

Usually, they just come to me. Although with a series, you’ve got to be more scientific about it—you can’t have six Peters or four Carols or even a dozen people whose name all starts with “T.” So I keep track. Scrivener (a writing software program) has a name generator, and I’ll often wander through baby name websites if I’m stuck. And I try never to murder anyone with the same name as someone I know (and like….).

 

Real settings or fictional towns?

I create fictional towns based on real settings. Collinstown is a combination of a handful of Maryland towns—and no, I won’t tell you which.

 

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

Oh, that’s a great question. I think my favorite quirk—not sure if it’s the quirkiest—is how Rhonda views her memory hiccups as just “how things were meant to be.” If she forgot her lunch date was on Tuesday and shows up on Monday, it must be lunch was supposed to happened on Monday. Pretty good way to look at life, if you ask me.

 

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

I talk…a lot. And I take notes handwritten with a very specific notebook and pens. It’s also important what I’m drinking my coffee out of—I like pretty mugs and cups that mean something to me…not just tableware from the department store.

 

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?

I’d have to say Outlander. I love the series, am so pleased that it’s found such success, and have great respect for how Diana Gabaldon has followed the characters through such a huge story arc. I’m often asked what my favorite novel is, and my answer is always Outlander. A close second, however, is The Night Circusby Erin Morgenstern. A stunner of a debut!

 

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?

I’d have been more confident taking my own path in high school and college. I did, to some respect, but I let the expectations of others color some choices I would have made differently in hindsight.

 

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

As a writing productivity expert (my other side from my novelist self), it drives me absolutely nuts when people don’t deliver on their promises.

 

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?

Yarn, of course! And very good coffee, and my husband. He’s an engineer, so between the two of us I feel like we could solve most of the problems we’d encounter.

 

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

I worked in high school for a dry cleaner. Mercy, the fumes could knock you over. And it was beyond boring. But it did teach me that I wanted a career, not just a job.

 

Ocean or mountains?

I grew up on the water in Connecticut, so most definitely beach and ocean.

 

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

I’m happy just about anywhere except a very rural situation. As long as there’s a Target or a Starbucks within a 15-minute drive, I’m good. So, maybe “suburb” would be the happy medium option?

 

What’s on the horizon for you?

I hope to run with the Riverbank Knitting Mysteries for a good long while. The third book, It Came Upon a Midnight Shear, will hit the shelves in November. And I still have two more inspirational romance works coming out in 2022 as well. I don’t like to do just one thing, so I’ll be continuing my writing as well as my speaking and coaching practices. I love having a diversified career.

 

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

Knit or Dye Trying is about knitting, yes, but it’s not all about knitting. It’s simply a good mystery with a fair amount of yarn involved. So you don’t need to be a knitter to enjoy it. But if I inspire you to start, I wouldn’t mind.

 

Knit or Dye Trying

A Riverbank Knitting Mystery, Book 2

 

Business is booming for Libby Beckett and her fabulous Maryland shop, aptly named Y.A.R.N., but when a town festival brings a fatality with it, Libby gets all tangled up in murder.

 

As spring comes to Collinstown, the village launches a food festival to draw a new group of tourists. Libby, proud owner of Y.A.R.N., has planned a yarn event to provide an alternative option to a foodie weekend. Artisan fiber dyer Julie Wilson—known for her work with animal-friendly, plant-based knitting fibers such as bamboo and hemp as well as her brilliant use of color—will hopefully draw a crowd with a special dyeing workshop.

 

The festival begins, but it draws more than crowds. First a flock of sheep parades down the street, herded by farmers protesting Julie’s antiwool stance. Then Julie’s celebrity chef sister appears, and the siblings resume a long-standing rivalry. Despite all this, Julie’s workshop has sold out. Libby is thrilled, and they’re preparing for a full house. But the night before the event, Julie is found alone in the warehouse event space—dead. The witty “Watch Julie Wilson Dye” workshop title now has a terrible new meaning—and it’s up to Libby to catch a 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--MYSTERY AUTHOR ALLIE PLEITER'S NEW KNITTING SHOP MYSTERY SERIES

Allie Pleiter writes both fiction and nonfiction. The bestselling author of over fifty books, Allie has enjoyed a twenty-year career with over 1.5 million books sold.  Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

The great thing about books is that we get to step into other people’s lives. The really wonderful ones let us slip into a life we’ve always dreamed of living. Being the passionate knitter that I am, I have always day-dreamed about what it would be like to own my own shop, surrounded all day by color and texture and yarn and other people who knit and crochet. 

 

So it should come as no surprise that when the opportunity to write a mystery came to me, I chose to write a series set in a yarn shop. With a pie shop across the street. Bliss!

 

Whether or not you’re the crafty type, cozy mysteries seem to tic all the boxes for us. On the one hand, we get the warm emotional fuzzies of a quirky and close-knit community, a cast of characters we’d love to have as friends (plus one or two we’re glad we don’t), a touch of romance, and a dash of adventure. On the other hand, we get the satisfying intellectual puzzle of deducing the killer right alongside the sleuth. Who doesn’t love the victory of “I knew it” or the shock of “I never saw that coming”?

 

One of the great pleasures of writing On Skein of Death was getting to dream up a knitted dog sweater and then commission the pattern. Just like watching my words come to life in a book, I got to watch my idea come to life under the design talents of Starla Williams. I’m so very happy that the full pattern is included in the back of every book. And you audiobook listeners have access to a downloadable PDF, too. The thought of so many pups keeping warm in Perle’s Norwegian Dog Sweater just makes me grin ear to ear. I’ve included a shot of my own four-legged darling, Paisley, in the version I knit up especially for her.

 

Best of all, this is only my first visit to Libby Beckett’s Y.A.R.N. shop and the fictional town of Collinstown, MD. On Skein of Death launches the Riverbank Knitting Mysteries series, so there will be a whole lot more yarn, friendship, pie, cute dogs…and mystery to come. Who could ask for more?

 

On Skein of Death

A Riverbank Knitting Mystery, Book 1

 

For Libby Beckett, opening her charming yarn shop, and introducing customers to the joys of knitting and crochet, is the work she was meant to do. Until the yarn she loves is used for murder....

Libby has come home to Collinstown, Maryland, to live her dream and open her own yarn shop, aptly named Y.A.R.N., along the Chester River. To Libby, Y.A.R.N. stands for "You're Absolutely Ready Now". But the acronym changes whenever inspiration strikes, and customers add to the list of suggestions that fill the blackboard wall in a shop stuffed with color, fiber, and comfort. 

Libby is thrilled when she lands famous Norwegian knitting celebrity Perle Langager for a series of events at Y.A.R.N. Libby's English bulldog, Hank, has been modeling one of Perle's doggie sweaters, and customers just can't wait to see Perle in action. The mayor of Collinstown even decrees a Collinstown Yarn Day to celebrate. But once Perle arrives in town, she seems distracted and on edge. And when she's found strangled with a skein of red yarn, Libby knows she has to solve a knotty mystery before her new life unravels.

 

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