1--What is the title of your latest release?
THE LAST NOTE OF WARNING, the third installment in my Nightingale Mystery series
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
THE LAST NOTE OF WARNING is my third Jazz Age mystery following Vivian Kelly, a working-class seamstress who delivers dresses by day and escapes to a speakeasy by night. But New York’s underground world can be dangerous. When Vivian is accused of the murder of a wealthy client’s husband, she’ll cash in every favor she can from the criminals and bootleggers she calls friends to prove she had no connection to the dead man. But she can’t prove what isn’t true. The Last Note of Warning is twisty and dramatic and a little bit sexy, and I’m so excited to share it with readers!
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I almost always start with characters, rather than plot or setting, and I had three very different women who all lived in Jazz Age NYC bouncing around in my head for a little while. I didn’t know what their story was, or quite how they all connected to each other, but I knew that they couldn’t live in any other time or place.
When I started planning the Nightingale series, I knew I wanted to write something set in the US in the recent but not too recent past. 1920s New York City was a perfect fit, and the characters I already had in mind gave me exactly the starting point I needed.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
I’d love to visit the Nightingale to have a cocktail and spend the night dancing. But I’m not sure I’d hang out with any of my main characters while I was there! That’s the trouble with writing murder mysteries. Your protagonists are always getting into more trouble than any real-life person would ever want to deal with.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Determined, loyal, impulsive.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
As I was researching, I stumbled across the fascinating historical tidbit that in the 1920s and 1930s, there was a regular drag masquerade ball that was hosted in Harlem. It actually began in the late 1800s and lasted until the mid-20th century, but it reached its greatest level of popularity during the Jazz Age. It was attended by thousands of people, some from the queer community and others who were just there for the party, and each ball was written about in local newspapers.
At the time I was learning about it, I had a bit of an empty space in my outline where I knew what my characters needed to discover but had no idea where or how they would do that. I instantly knew that giant, illicit masquerade ball was the perfect setting.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I have to wait until I’m done drafting to edit. For me, they involve two completely different ways of thinking, so if I switch from my drafting brain to my editing brain, I lose too much momentum and struggle to get it back.
When I stick with drafting, I can get a whole book written in a few months. But I have no idea as I’m writing whether the whole thing holds together or if it’s going to be an absolute mess! I just have to keep writing and trust that there’s a book in there waiting to be polished up during the editing process. So far, there always has been.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Honestly, anytime I go out to eat it feels like an indulgence! It wasn’t something my family did much when I was growing up, so it always feels special to me. More specifically, whenever I find really good gluten-free desserts, I will almost always treat myself to one because they can be hard to come by!
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I can and do write from wherever I am. At a desk in my bedroom, on the couch, in a coffee shop, at my kitchen table… Right now, I’m writing in a lounge chair next to a pool at a writers’ retreat, and it’s heavenly. But last week I was finishing a draft in the front passenger seat of the car on the way from Virginia to South Carolina while my husband drove, and my kids talked nonstop in the backseat. I’ve learned that I can make words happen from anywhere if I’m determined enough (or close enough to a deadline!)
10--Who is an author you admire?
I honestly admire anyone who writes a book and puts it out in the world, because doing that requires so much commitment and bravery and vulnerability. One author I am constantly blown away by, however, is Elle Cosimano, the author of the Finlay Donovan series. Not only does she write hilarious, touching books, she is beyond generous to other writers. She especially goes out of her way to encourage and advise early-career writers. I admire that so much because it is entirely self-motivated. Readers, she’s exactly as lovely in person as you hope she would be after reading her books!
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. I started reading them in second grade, and they were the first series I really became obsessed with. I felt absolutely transported reading them, and I remember thinking, one day I want to write books that mean as much to someone as these books mean to me.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
It was actually an email! (Followed by a phone call.) And it was terrifying. I was so excited that this thing I had worked toward for years was finally going to happen. But it was also the moment I realized that soon this book (my first Lily Adler Mystery, The Body in the Garden) wasn’t going to be mine anymore; it was going to belong to readers as much as it would to me. That’s a hard realization, and in a lot of ways a scary one. But it’s also a beautiful thing. It’s an incredible privilege to create and share something that will touch the lives and emotions of so many people, most of whom I will never meet.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
I will truly read all of them! Though I won’t read horror before bed.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
You know, I don’t think I have one! My favorites growing up were probably Labyrinth and The Secret Garden, and I think that paints a good picture of how hard my taste is to pin down.
15--What is your favorite season?
Summer, hands down. I love warm weather and beach days and stormy nights. Spring is a close second, though, because I’m always excited to see the world start blooming around me.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
It’s not a great answer, but I’m not much of a birthday person as an adult. I don’t do much to celebrate. I like getting letters, so a heartfelt letter is probably my favorite type of birthday gift. And if my birthday falls on a weekend, I appreciate being the parent who doesn’t have to get up with the kids.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I recently picked up Sun Seekers by Rachel McRady and loved it. It’s a family drama about a little girl who breaks her grandfather out of his nursing home because she thinks that will cure his dementia. It’s completely unlike anything I write, and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for something poignant and heartbreaking and beautiful.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Probably Thai food. Or TexMex, but not the kind you get at an upscale restaurant. I always want to go to the hole-in-the-wall place that locals like.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I realized a few years ago that I didn’t have a good answer to “what are your hobbies” type of questions and decided I needed to change that! Now I have lots of answers. I love working in my garden; I kill houseplants, but the ones outside do much better. I play the piano, though not extremely well. I enjoy baking and yoga and I’m thinking about taking a kickboxing class. I go out regularly with friends to local events. I love to travel, and I read a lot, including as part of a local book club that focuses on queer authors. I also play in a regular D&D group with some of my best friends who live all over the country. I want to model for my kids that life isn’t just things you have to do. There’s room for the things you love in there too.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I have a second book coming out this year! My fifth Lily Adler mystery will arrive in August 2024. It’s also a historical mystery series, this one set in Regency England. So imagine Bridgerton, but instead of everyone being worried about getting married, they’re worried about getting murdered.
Nightingale Mysteries #3
The Last Note of Warning is the third in the luscious, mysterious, and queer Nightingale mystery series by Katharine Schellman, set in 1920s New York.
Prohibition is a dangerous time to be a working-class woman in New York City, but Vivian Kelly has finally found some measure of stability and freedom. By day, she’s a respectable shop assistant, delivering luxurious dresses to the city’s wealthy and elite. At night, she joins the madcap revelry of New York’s underworld, serving illegal drinks and dancing into the morning at a secretive, back-alley speakeasy known as the Nightingale. She's found, if not love, then something like it with her bootlegger sweetheart, Leo, even if she can't quite forget the allure of the Nightingale's sultry owner, Honor Huxley.
Then the husband of a wealthy client is discovered dead in his study, and Vivian was the last known person to see him alive. With the police and the press both eager to name a culprit in the high-profile case, she finds herself the primary murder suspect.
She can’t flee town without endangering the people she loves, but Vivian isn’t the sort of girl to go down without a fight. She'll cash in every favor she has from the criminals she calls friends to prove she had no connection to the dead man. But she can't prove what isn't true.
The more Vivian digs into the man’s life, and as the police close in on her, the harder it is to avoid the truth: someone she knows wanted him dead. And the best way to get away with murder is to set up a girl like Vivian to take the fall.
Mystery Historical | LGBTQ [Minotaur Books, On Sale: June 4, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781250325792 / eISBN: 9781250325808]
Katharine Schellman studied theatre and history at the College of William & Mary, after which she went on to dance professionally, work in political consulting, and collect addresses up and down the east coast of the United States. Her nonfiction and essays have been published on The Huffington Post, Mother Magazine, A Practical Wedding, and more.
Katharine's debut historical mystery, The Body in the Garden, was published in April 2020 and led to her being named one of BookPage's 16 Women to Watch in 2020. Katharine currently lives and writes in the mountains of Virginia with her husband, preschooler, and the many houseplants she keeps accidentally murdering.
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