Thank you so much for your time and interest in the Jamie Winters Mysteries. I’m excited to have the opportunity to speak with you.
Describe your sleuth Jamie Winters for readers who may be new to the series.
While she works as a secretary at an offbeat personal injury mill law firm, Jamie is a chronically insecure underachiever, a woman with a snarky inner voice who longs to be fierce and unafraid, but never quite manages to achieve that as she's pulled inexorably along in her sidekick (and polar opposite) Maizy's wake.
What's the dynamic between Jamie and her “sassy teenaged sidekick” Maizy?
Maizy is the niece of Jamie's landlord/love-lust interest, Curt Emerson. Maizy is brilliant, completely without a filter, an unabashed free spirit with blue hair, body piercings, and sometimes legal-adjacent skills, who has (rare) moments where she's vulnerable. Jamie helped mend her fractured relationship with Curt, and the two developed and maintain a friendship and partnership as they solve murders.
I usually stick with cozy mysteries, but how would you describe the Jamie Winters? Is it all suspense, murder, and mayhem all the time? Or are there some lighter moments with supporting characters?
The series is almost exclusively lighter moments, with the murder occurring offstage and no graphic descriptions of violence. The momentum is propelled by the push-and-pull of Jamie's self-acknowledged ineptitude and Maizy's go-for-broke crazy schemes, and the misadventures that inevitably arise from that as they work a case.
When you write a mystery, do you decide who the murderer is ahead of time, or does the identity of the culprit evolve in your mind as you're writing the book?
Before I begin writing, I know both the whom and the how, if not the full why, of the killer, and I know the victim. (Although in one book, the perpetrator I'd relied on to come through for me flat out refused, and I had to give the dirty deed to someone else who proved more compliant.) The supporting characters and red herrings are fleshed out as I write. I have real admiration for authors who can outline; sadly, I'm not one of them. I'm what's called a “partial pantser” which is exactly what it sounds like. Other than those few pre-established elements, I fly by the seat of my pants when I write, which keeps the book fresh for me.
Have you ever thought of writing a paranormal mystery?
While the paranormal fascinates me, a paranormal mystery isn’t on my agenda at this point. But I never say never. And I do enjoy reading them.
A few authors I've interviewed in the past have told me that the kind of book they enjoy writing is not the same kind of book they enjoy reading. What do you like to read? Favorite books? Authors?
It’s much easier for me to write in a genre with which I’m familiar, and I love reading cozies. But like most writers I know, I've always loved to read, and I read widely across many genres, including thrillers, police procedurals, humor, medical, legal and romantic suspense, and women's fiction. As far as favorite books and authors, I love the work of well-established authors such as Robert B. Parker, Sue Grafton, Ed McBain, Lawrence Block, Mary Higgins Clark, Nicci French, Tess Gerritsen, Harlan Coben and Janet Evanovich, but one of my greatest pleasures is discovering a writer I haven't previously read whose work I really enjoy, such as Laura Levine, Lisa Lutz, Freida McFadden, Karin Slaughter, Leslie Meier, Jana DeLeon, Erin McCarthy, and Simone St. James. Not surprisingly, my dream home would contain a cozy library with dark wood and floor-to-ceiling shelves to accommodate my books, because books are my happy place.
What are you currently working on?
I have two projects underway: the next installment of the Jamie Winters series, working title Haunted Homicide, as well as another collaboration with the wonderful Gemma Halliday titled Ruthless in High Heels. I love losing myself in Jamie and Maizy’s slightly skewed world, but it’s been so fun and instructional to work with Gemma. My weakness is her strength, and I think the symbiosis creates enjoyable mysteries. At this point, that’s all I can share about either project!
Jamie Winters Mysteries #7
From USA Today bestselling author Kelly Rey comes a mystery full of twists-and-turns and laugh-out-loud moments…
Legal secretary and reluctant sleuth Jamie Winters might have thought her hectic life was about to slow down...but she was dead wrong.
Vicious Vic Hartman is the tabloid Grapevine’s star reporter and celebrity host of television’s Grapevine Live. But he’s made lots of enemies on his climb to the top of the trash journalism heap, so when he’s found murdered after a party at his home, there’s no shortage of suspects. Which is why the victim's family hires Jamie and her sassy teenaged sidekick Maizy to figure out just which one of the not-so-grieving is his killer. Between Vic’s intimidating boss, a bitter ghostwriter, an unscrupulous would-be replacement, a jilted girlfriend, and an assortment of disgruntled neighbors and family members, the dynamic duo have their work cut out for them—not to mention trying to avoid the menacing Lincoln Park Loper and a creepy doll named Tara who may or may not be stalking them! Can they find the killer...before they become the next victims?
Mystery Cozy [Gemma Halliday Publishing, On Sale: May 24, 2022, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9798824009200 / ]
From her first discovery of Nancy Drew, Kelly has had a lifelong love for mystery and tales of things that go bump in the night, especially those with a twist of humor. Through many years of working in the court reporting and closed captioning fields, writing has remained a constant. If she's not in front of a keyboard, she can be found reading, working out or avoiding housework. She's a member of Sisters in Crime and lives in the Northeast with her husband and a menagerie of very spoiled pets.
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