1--What is the title of your latest release?
NO PAW TO STAND ON
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
When a heat wave hits northern Michigan, Minnie, Eddie, and their bookmobile head to the beach to catch some rays and some customers. But library business is put on hold when Minnie’s restaurant-owning best friend, Kristen, calls. The specialty ice cream cone treat she'd been serving to patrons was sabotaged, making some customers horribly sick. Kristen needs Minnie to sniff out the culprit fast, or the restaurant's reputation will be destroyed forever.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I went with the “write what you know” mantra and set all 12 books in the bookmobile cat mystery series where I live, which is northwest lower Michigan. It’s a fictional county, but I do insert real places every so often, which is a lot of fun.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely yes! Minnie is smarter than I am, way funnier, and although she wouldn’t believe this, she’s far better with social interactions than I am.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Insightful, curious, and kind-hearted.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Now that’s an interesting question; let me think…(Laurie quickly pulls up the book’s synopsis and starts skimming)…ah, I remember! While doing some internet research, I learned that there was a magazine titled Hay and Forage Grower. I am not making that up.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I mostly wait until the first draft is completed. With a series this long, that are all sorts of details I know I’m going to have to look up later, but since I don’t want to pause in the middle of writing, I just type XX and a detail or two in all caps. When I go back to edit, the first thing I do is take care of all the XXs. Also, as I write, I create a file titled “Plot Notes.” I’m currently writing the next book in the series, and right now there are 13 things listed. Some will take real work to correct, others not so much. All part of the job!
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Pasta, more pasta, and yet more pasta.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
Thanks to laptop computers, I’m able to drift around, which makes me very happy. Right now, I’m on our porch, which is probably my favorite place to write. Earlier today I was writing on the patio, and before that I was on the bed with a cat on my shins.
Because I have a day job, I also write in my car. I like to get in at least ten minutes in the morning before heading into the office, half an hour at lunch, and sometimes I’ll stop at a park on the way home and rip out a couple hundred most words.
10--Who is an author you admire?
All of them! To me, anyone how has the courage to write down their ideas and push them out into the world is worthy of admiration.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
I read KNOCKDOWN by Dick Frances when I was about 13, and it made me a mystery reader for life.
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 the summer of 2009, in the heart of the recession. I’d been laid off from my day job since January. There was no new job in sight, and I was deeply afraid we were going to have to sell our beloved lakeside home. The Call lifted my spirits out of the spiral into which they were descending, and the subsequent writing kept my mind occupied until I did land a new job. (Which I had to do, because sadly, I don’t make enough money writing to leave the other gig.)
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Depends on my mood. Mysteries are my Go To, but historical fiction is always a draw, along with thrillers, suspense, fantasy, science fiction, young adult, and the occasional romance.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
THE STING. The ending surprises me every single time.
15--What is your favorite season?
I love them all! But I do have a least favorite month: April. It’s not winter, and up here in northern Michigan, it’s not even close to what you want spring to be. April’s only saving grace is that it’s when we cook maple syrup.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
In a hammock with a book.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
The podcast Everything Everywhere Daily is my absolute favorite. The shows are about 15 minutes long, just right for my daily commute. Topics range from the Library of Congress to jet propulsion to the Dunning-Kruger Effect. I always learn something, which is a great way to start my day.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
See answer to question 8 above.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I wish I had an answer to that -- if I ever get some, I’ll let you know.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
Bookmobile cat mystery #13 will be released next year. After that…we’ll just have to see!
Bookmobile Cat #12
There’s no rest for the whiskered as librarian Minnie Hamilton and her rescue cat, Eddie, have to investigate a poisoning—and a murder—in the newest installment of the national bestselling Bookmobile Cat Mysteries.
When a heat wave hits northern Michigan, Minnie, Eddie, and their bookmobile head to the beach to catch some rays and some customers. But library business is put on hold when Minnie’s restaurant-owning best friend, Kristen, calls. The specialty ice cream cone treat she'd been serving to patrons was sabotaged, making some customers horribly sick. Kristen needs Minnie to sniff out the culprit fast, or the restaurant's reputation will be destroyed forever.
Minnie and Eddie are hot on the tail of the suspect when an employee from another restaurant is found dead. Could the poisoning and the murder be related? It’ll take a feline to catch a felon...
Mystery Amateur Sleuth | Mystery Cozy [Berkley, On Sale: August 6, 2024, Mass Market Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593547441 / eISBN: 9780593547458]
Laurie Cass grew up in Michigan and graduated from college in the 80's with a (mostly unused) degree in geology. She turned to writing in the late nineties. After a number of years in management, she felt the need to move on and took a job with fewer responsibilities. A month later, she was dead bored and began to consider writing as a way to wake up her brain. She started reading a lot of books on writing and happened across a particular sentence: "What's it going to be, reasons or results?"
The phrase practically stuck her in the eye. She printed it out, framed it, and put it next to her computer. "Reasons or results?" At the end of her life, was she going to have a pile of reasons for not having done anything? Or was she going to sit down and write a book? Once she started looking at it that way, the decision was easy. A short 13 years later, her first book was published.
Currently, Laurie and her husband share their house with two cats, the inestimable Eddie and the adorably cute Sinii. When Laurie isn't writing, she's working at her day job, reading, attempting to keep the flowerbeds free of weeds, or doing some variety of skiing. She also write the PTA Mysteries under the name Laura Alden.
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