I must be dreaming; otherwise Mary Kennedy wouldn’t be sitting in the Cozy
Corner answering all my questions. Yet a pinch of my arms proves I’m not in lala
land, but rather sitting at my computer absolutely thrilled to meet my long time
Facebook buddy, bestselling author of A PREMONITION OF MURDER,
Mary Kennedy.
Mary Kennedy is the national best-selling author of two mystery series for
Penguin-Random House, The Dream Club Mysteries and the Talk Radio Mysteries. She
has written over forty novels, including a young-adult fiction series called The
Hollywood Nights. Dr. Kennedy is a psychologist in private practice on the East
Coast where she lives with her husband and six neurotic cats. She has tried
unsuccessfully to psychoanalyze both husband and cats but remains optimistic.
Kym: Hi, Mary! Welcome to the Cozy Corner!
Mary: Thanks, I’m thrilled to be here and am a fan of your
books! Plus I envy your background. As a detective, you will have some terrific
stories to tell.
Kym: Thank you! Mary, can you tell us a little bit about your Dream Club
Mysteries?
Mary: Yes, it’s all about a group of women who meet in Savannah
once a week to share their dreams, try to analyze them and eat some wonderful
desserts! At least that’s how it started. But everything changed when there was
a series of murders in Savannah and it seems that the dream club members are
finding clues in their dreams to solving the crimes.
Kym: The series is based on something you’re very familiar with, dreams.
What made you want to focus on the time people spend with their heads on their
pillows—or maybe their desks?
Mary: In my day job (clinical psychologist) I’m surrounded by
people who have fascinating dreams and want to tell me about them. They offer an
intriguing look into their personalities. The important thing about a dream is
the emotional reaction it provokes in the dreamer. The “plot” of the dream is
less important because dreams are often symbolic, one thing stands for another,
etc. So as a psychologist, I always go after the emotional content. It’s also
interesting to know how the dream ends. If it was an anxiety dream, did the
dreamer manage to overcome the obstacles and reach safety? Or did he wake in a
panic, still wrapped up in the dream? This gives me valuable information about
my client’s state of mind. You learn a lot about what’s going on in a person’s
subconscious by listening to her dreams.
Kym: Tell us about your heroines Ali and Taylor. What made you choose
two women (sisters) instead of one heroine?
Mary: I thought the interplay between the two might be
interesting from a plot point of view. Yin and yang, that sort of thing. They
each bring something unique to the story and I try to develop their characters
in each book. I used the same technique with Dr. Maggie Walsh and her roommate
Lark in The Talk Radio
Mysteries. It’s fun to have two characters with opposite ideas and
personalities.
Kym: In your series, Ali and Taylor along with the rest of the dream
club, solve homicides by interpreting dreams. Some readers love the possibility
of the concept being transferred into real life; while others are skeptical. Do
you believe dreams could be used to help police solve crimes?
Mary: I wish I knew the answer to that! I know there are cases
in which psychics supposedly helped the police solve crimes, but I think these
cases are mostly anecdotal. Taylor (the very pragmatic sister with the MBA) was
initially very skeptical about whether clues in dreams could really be relevant
to crime-solving, but as the series progresses, she is becoming a convert. Ali,
of course, believes fervently in the power of dreams to shed light on events in
our waking lives. And she is convinced that clues in dreams really do help solve
murders.
Kym: Could the dreams you use in your series have any possible ties to
the realm you disappear to at night?
Mary: I wish I could say I had interesting dreams, but I’m
afraid they’re quite mundane. I’m always fascinated by my clients’ dreams,
though, and many of my readers write me about their dreams.
Kym: Will there be a fourth book in the series?
Mary: Yes, I hope it will be out by late spring.
Kym: Your short, but very interesting release,
A PSYCHOLOGIST’S GUIDE TO DREAM
INTERPRETATION, ties into The Dream Club
Mysteries. Did you write it for readers who were interested in learning
more about their dreams?
Mary: So many readers asked me more details that I thought it
might be worthwhile to put up a small booklet about them. It’s an e-booklet, if
there is such a thing. It’s only 99 cents and all the proceeds go to a wonderful
animal shelter in Lyons, New York.
Kym: You also have a Talk Radio Mystery
series? Can you tell us about Maggie Walsh?
Mary: Maggie Walsh is a former Manhattan psychologist who moves
to sunny Florida to become a radio talk show host at WYME-RADIO. (Think
Frasier). She’s surrounded by a wacky crew at the radio station, and she’s
shocked when her very first guest—an annoying Guru—is murdered. I used to work
in radio, so I loved writing about that environment. DEAD AIR, the first in the
series, is available right now as part of a Sleuthing Women Ten First-in Series Mysteries boxed set, for
only 99 cents. If you like a little humor and a fun cast of eccentric characters
with your mystery, (including Maggie’s fifty-something stage-struck mother) I
think you’d enjoy it.
Kym: Are Maggie and Frasier’s personalities similar as well, or does
Maggie have a bit of Dr. Kennedy in her?
Mary: I’m not nearly as witty or interesting! I made sure I
created the radio setting as accurately as I could, though. It’s a fun, exciting
place to work and I enjoyed every minute of my job at a Nashville radio station.
Kym: Although not in the cozy mystery genre, The Hollywood Nights Series
is something special. Can you tell us how you branched out with these
novels?
Mary: I started out writing middle grade and young adult
fiction for Scholastic and wrote over thirty-five books for them. I wanted to
combine my interest in young adult fiction with my love of Hollywood and the
film industry. Most of all, I wanted to create for teens that are hip, edgy but
squeaky clean. MOVIE STAR
takes place on a film set in a small New England town, the sequel CONFESSIONS takes place in
Hollywood and GOLDEN GIRL
is set in Miami, which is known as “Hollywood East” because it’s popular with
film producers. I won an award and grant from the National Endowment of the Arts
for “artistic excellence in literary fiction” for MOVIE STAR.
Kym: Wow! I had no idea you had that many books through Scholastic,
that’s awesome! You’ve also released two cookbooks with your blog group,
The
Cozy Chicks, what made you and your fellow authors tackle
not one but two projects like this?
Mary: Many of us include recipes in our books and we thought it
would be a fun project. The response has been amazing!
Kym: With such a diverse library of releases, can you tell us what
you’re working on now?
Mary: The first in my new Crazy Love series just came out. It’s
a series for “young teens,” not as sophisticated as Hollywood nights. The first
release is LOVE SIGNS
and it’s available right now. It’s a sweet, innocent, humorous series for girls
from around ages 11-13.
Kym: Our readers would love to reach out to you on social media. Where
can they can find you?
Mary: www.marykennedy.net, Amazon Page, Facebook, Twitter: @marykennedybook, Goodreads, and BookBub
Kym: Thank you for filling our day with sweet dreams at the Cozy
Corner!
Mary: Thank you so much for having me! Happy reading and sweet
dreams to all your readers, love this blog!
Giveaway Alert: A signed copy of DREAM a LITTLE SCREAM, book
2 in the Dream Club Mysteries and the electronic version of LOVE SIGNS, book 1 in the
Crazy Love series for tweens and young teens is available to one commenter on
the Mary’s interview! Good luck!
Until Next time, get cozy and read on!
Kym Roberts is
a retired detective sergeant who looks for passion, mystery and suspense in
every book she reads and writes. She can be found on the web at kymroberts.com, on Facebook at Kym Roberts
(author) and on Twitter @kymroberts911. Look for her upcoming releases,
Red Lace, A Hard Men of the Rockies Novella
and Fatal Fiction,
A Book Barn Mystery available for pre-order now.
Dream
Club
An elderly Southern heiress’s nightmare becomes a real case of murder in
the latest Dream Club Mystery from the national bestselling author of Dream a
Little Scream.
When Abigail Marchand, Savannah’s famously reclusive heiress, invites the
Dream Club ladies to lunch at her Beaux Reeves mansion, Taylor and Ali hope for
an invitation to join the distinguished Magnolia Society. But Abigail has a more
pressing concern: a recent dream that seems to foretell her death.
Taylor reassures Abigail that there are many ways to interpret a dream, but
at the next meeting of the Dream Club, their discussion is cut short by a call
from Detective Sam Stiles. She's at Abigail's mansion, where the elderly woman
appears to have been pushed to her death down a flight of stairs. Now Taylor,
Ali, and the Dream Club need to catch a killer before someone else is laid to
rest.
Mystery Cozy [Berkley Prime Crime, On Sale: June 7, 2016, Mass Market
Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780425268070 / eISBN: 9781101624135]
15 comments posted.
Love this blog and look forward to reading your books. You are a new author for me!
(Bonnie Capuano 10:02am September 1, 2016)
I love these kind of mystery books, great review I'm looking forward to reading this,
Penney
(Penney Wilfort 12:03pm September 3, 2016)
Cozy mystery is what I started with reading when I was in grammar school. I still continue to read them as an adult.
(Kai Wong 1:47am September 6, 2016)