1--What is the title of your latest release?
A MURDEROUS PERSUASION
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
When Professor Phaedra Brighton hosts a Persuasion-themed Jane Austen murder mystery week at her aunt’s B&B, it’s all tea and sunshine…until she finds a guest’s body in the garden.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I grew up in Northern Virginia and lived in Fredericksburg for many years. I visited Charlottesville occasionally and drove up Afton Mountain to Waynesboro to visit my brother.
The area is beautiful, with breathtaking mountain overlooks and scenic drives. It’s also home to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home, and the University of Virginia. It’s an area rich in history and a perfect setting for an English literature professor and Jane Austen scholar. Phaedra becomes a reluctant amateur sleuth when her best friend’s husband is murdered.
4--Would you hang out with your sleuth in real life?
Absolutely! Phaedra is a little quirky (like me) and very astute (unlike me). We’d spend the day talking, browsing bookstores, or visiting museums, and finish with a delicious tea consisting of Earl Grey, strawberry scones, and plenty of clotted cream.
5--What are three words that describe your sleuth?
Quirky (see above). Determined. Loyal to her friends and family.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That Regency gowns didn’t have pockets. How on earth did a lady manage without the convenience of a pocket?
The answer was a “loose pocket,” which tied around the waist beneath the chemise. A side slit in her gown allowed the lady to stash her fan, a pretty length of ribbon, or perhaps a love letter from her husband (or her lover).
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I read through what I’ve written that day—maybe a chapter, maybe two, maybe only a few pages—and make any minor changes. But I try not to get too wrapped up in editing until the book is finished. Writing a first draft, for me at least, requires getting the details of the story down. Editing happens afterwards.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Cookies! Those big, chewy, sinfully good Starbucks cookies, to be exact. Studded with chocolate and bits of Reese’s peanut butter cups. SO good.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I have a desk tucked in one corner of the bedroom. There’s not a lot of room, but somehow it works. My computer is there, along with a printer, a ‘Headstrong, Obstinate Girl’ coffee mug crammed with pens and pencils, a legal pad, post-it notes, a couple of reference books depending on what I’m researching at the time, and a calendar I rarely use.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Carolyn Keene, original author of the first 24 Nancy Drew mystery series books. Her real name was Mildred Wirt Benson, and the stories she wrote enthralled generations of readers. Nancy’s adventures instilled a love of mystery stories in me and led me to discover the work of Agatha Christie, P.D. James, and Mary Roberts Rinehart.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
When I was nine or ten, I read A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Although A Secret Garden was more well-known at the time, I loved the inspiring story of brave and kind-hearted Sarah Crewe.
Orphaned and left penniless while attending a private girls’ boarding school, the headmistress forces Sarah to become a scullery maid to earn her keep and makes her sleep in the attic. Sarah maintains her optimism despite her drastic change in fortune and never hesitates to offer friendship or a kind word.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)
My husband and I were visiting our son and his family. I was upstairs in the living room, discouraged after several months of submitting proposals to publishers, wondering if maybe I shouldn’t shelve writing altogether.
Everything changed when my agent called to tell me she had not one, but two offers from publishers interested in buying my Jane Austen Tea Society cozy mystery series…and one of them was Berkley Prime Crime.
I was elated. I still am. It’s true what they say—if you have a dream, whatever it is, never, ever give up.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Cozy mystery/mystery. I also like well-written thrillers now and then.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Assassin in Love, a comedy crime/thriller starring Damien Lewis as Milo, a professional assassin on the run who’s forced to assume a new identity in Gwynfyd, Wales—as a baker who can’t bake. It’s funny, suspenseful, and there’s a lovely romance subplot as well.
15--What is your favorite season?
Autumn. I love the cooler temperatures and look forward all year to seeing the leaves change color. Hot apple cider, pumpkin spice lattes, hot chocolate, and horchata . . . who can resist those great fall flavors? Not me!
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Birthdays in our house are usually pretty low key. My husband surprises me with balloons, an ice cream cake, or a birthday bouquet.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Enola Holmes. Fantastic series, very well done, with lots of clever twists and surprises along the way. And Henry Cavill plays Enola’s famous brother, Sherlock. Enough said.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian. Who doesn’t love lasagna, chicken parmigiana, or tiramisu?
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I read, watch Netflix (Emily in Paris and Enola Holmes), or House Hunters on HGTV, and I browse through my collection of cookbooks. I love looking at recipes and pretending that I might actually make them.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
Cyanide and Sensibility is the third in the Jane Austen Tea Society Mystery series. When Phaedra’s sister Hannah opens a patisserie in Laurel Springs, trouble follows when the ganache on a cupcake is poisoned, and a young woman dies. Who would do such a thing? And why?
It’s up to Phaedra to find the answers…or die trying.
A Jane Austen Tea Society Mystery # 2
Phaedra Brighton has her life all figured out—she has a profession she enjoys, a wonderful (if exasperating) cat, and a cozy carriage house on the grounds of her aunt's inn. She needs no Captain Wentworth to sweep her off her feet (though, she would not mind a Mr. Darcy).
But when Aunt Wendy decides she is selling Laurel Springs Inn, Phaedra faces losing her beloved home. In a last-ditch attempt to drum up more business, Phaedra convinces Wendy to host an immersive Persuasion-themed murder-mystery weekend. It is a fool proof plan to draw attention to the establishment in the hopes of saving it.
Until one of the participants winds up dead.
With more suspects than she knows what to do with, Phaedra finds herself on the hunt for a killer once again. But with time running out, Phaedra quickly realizes that with this investigation, there will be no second chances.
Mystery Cozy | Mystery Culinary [Berkley, On Sale: January 3, 2023, Mass Market Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593337639 / eISBN: 9780593337646]
Murder Makes an Entrance at a Jane Austen Inspired Murder Mystery Weekend
Katie Oliver loves a cozy mystery. She also enjoys Jane Austen novels. So she decided to put the two together to create Professor Phaedra Brighton, an intelligent, outspoken Austen scholar who teaches nineteenth century literature at Somerset University, a small liberal arts college located just outside of Laurel Springs, Virginia.
Phaedra frequently finds herself in the middle of a puzzling murder mystery. What's an amateur sleuth to do? Solve the mystery, of course - with a little help from the members of the Jane Austen Tea Society, her good friends Lucy Liang and Marisol Dubois. Not to mention her Himalayan cat, Wickham.
Ms. Oliver currently resides in South Florida with her husband, her computer, and an ever-growing stack of cozy mysteries waiting to be read. She is the author of nine romantic comedies.
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