There is a diva in every profession. An individual recognized for their vast skills in their field of expertise, and the hours of dedicated hard work to back up the confidence they wear like Prada. Yet despite all of their talent, every now and then you just can’t hold back an eye-roll when dealing with their idiosyncrasies and demanding natures. If you didn’t you might let it go, you just strangle them. Liza Tully has captured that personality perfectly in her Merritt and Blunt Mystery series.
Kym: Welcome to the Cozy Corner, Liza!
Liza: Hi! Thanks for inviting me!
Kym: People have a love/hate relationship with reunions and chapter one of THE FORTY YEAR GRUDGE describes those two point of views perfectly. Did a reunion spark your inspiration for your second Merritt and Blunt Mystery? And if so, who’s the suspect from your reunion?
Liza: Yes, actually it did. I went to my college reunion and was struck by how little anyone had changed. I started to think about personality - about whatever it is that remains constant in each of us throughout our lives. And then I thought about all the triumphs, failures, joys, and sorrows that each of us had experienced, and about the role that luck had played in all of it. It was a lot to ponder! I didn’t immediately exclaim, “Oh, I should write a novel about this!” But ten years later, when I was thinking about the second book in the Merritt & Blunt series, the idea of a college reunion came to me, and I immediately knew I would use it.
Just to be clear: my novel is not based on my actual reunion. I was never in a sorority and the characters in my book aren’t at all similar to my college friends. As far as I know, none of my college friends are murderers.
Kym: LOL, let’s hope not! The premise of THE FORTY YEAR GRUDGE seems like you were paying homage to the board game Clue with a few twists of your own. Was that your intent?
Liza: I wasn’t thinking consciously of the board game, but there was one brief moment when a character in the book was wearing a mustard-colored blazer, and I remembered Colonel Mustard from Clue.
Kym: Exactly! Olly is obsessed with scorpions and snakes. As someone who lived in the arid rocky parts of Texas, I can honestly say her preoccupation with them is completely understandable, especially for a city girl. Is a little bit of her fear a reflection of your unease?
Liza: Funny you should say that. The whole time I was writing this book I was wondering how people who live in the southwest feel about snakes, and it is reassuring that, as a Texan, you are not condemning Olly for being super phobic.
Yes, Olly’s fear comes straight out of my own unease. I once went to a family reunion at a ranch in Oregon. I was told there were snakes and I spent the entire three days nervously looking for one. My son was four and all I could think of was that he was going to run through the long grass straight into a snake. I didn’t see one until the very last day when there was a really big one lying across a paved walkway. The ranch manager said he thought the snake might be sick. By that time I’d been on edge for so long I thought, “Finally! There’s the damn snake I’ve been waiting for! Now I can relax.”
Kym: Not quite a Texan, but I have many dear friends who still brave the beasts. You did something very unique in Chapter Ten, Olivia Does Her Homework and throughout the book. You actually formatted the chapter and other sections into a list of potential suspects/evidence, something I’ve never seen done before, and I loved it. What made you decide to write it this way, and did you get any push back from your editor. Did you do this in your first Merritt and Blunt mystery and do you plan to continue?
Liza: I’m really bad at following clues in mysteries. I don’t even try because I know I can’t do it, and I suppose on some level I don’t care about clues that much. I’m more interested in the characters. So as I was writing the first book, THE WORLD’S GREATEST DETECTIVE AND HER JUST OKAY ASSISTANT, I kept a list of clues just so I wouldn’t forget them. Then I realized that, if I was having a hard time remembering the clues, then Olly would be having a hard time too, and so would the reader! So it seemed fair to share my list and let Olly and the reader keep track of the clues right along with me. Naturally, Olly had to add her commentary.
In the second book, THE FORTY YEAR GRUDGE, I did something similar. There was no push back from my editor or his assistant. In fact, you’re the first person who’s mentioned it, and I’m glad you did because I like these sections too.
Kym: I adore the general’s craving for chocolate cake and milk. If you get up for a midnight snack, what will it be?
Liza: If I could have my choice of midnight snack, it would definitely be chocolate cake and milk. Like the general, I would insist on it being a small piece of cake. But the Olly in me would somehow end up with a big one.
Kym: Ha! I’ll join you and Olly. Some of an author’s personality appears on the page of a book, but in reality that doesn’t mean they would be the one to solve a crime if something happened close to home. If you were going to write a mystery involving people in your real life, who would be the individual to rise to the occasion and find all of the clues to solve the case?
Liza: That would definitely be me. Not to brag, but I do tend to remember a lot about the people I meet. I’m also fairly resourceful, and I can be patient. I could probably do a stakeout for many hours in a nondescript car on a rainy night, keeping my attention focussed on the front door of a suspect’s house, without falling asleep. However, I would not be good in a car chase, and I would flatly refuse any activity involving heights. I could not possibly carry a weapon, but I could slip into a suspect’s office during a fancy dinner party and rifle through his desk drawer looking for incriminating files, and then quickly hide in a closet if he came in. I would be a good interrogator. I think I read body language pretty well, and I believe I would excel at verbally confusing suspects so thoroughly that they ended up blurting out full confessions.
Kym: Describe your favorite cozy corner where you escape to read and/or write. Bring us into your comfy little world as if you were describing it as Olly would.
Liza: I write at a big desk that faces a big window that’s about four feet from the sidewalk of a fairly busy street. Cars and people are going by all the time. In the morning kids walk past my window from east to west on their way to school, and in the afternoon, they walk past my window from west to east on their way home. They’re always chattering and calling out to each other, and when my window is open, I can hear every word. The high school soccer teams, both male and female, run past my window every afternoon at about 2:20 on their way to their practice field. They sound like a herd of elephants. Since writing is such a solitary activity, I love the way my window makes me feel like a part of the world.
Kym: I can hear the kids! What about Olly’s life can you relate to the most? The least?
Liza: I can relate to starting my first fulltime job after college. I had been hired as an editorial assistant for a children’s magazine, and I was excited and eager to begin. On my first day they put me in a room with two big boxes of unsolicited manuscripts to read. (This was way back when people sent physical manuscripts through the mail.) The day before, I had driven my Ford Fiesta from Boston to the Midwest (about sixteen hours) with all my stuff piled in the back seat, and then I’d lugged it all into my new empty apartment. It had been a tiring day. So after I read a few manuscripts, I put my head on the desk and fell asleep. I woke to see my new coworkers huddled in the doorway laughing. I never lived it down.
Kym: LOL, OMG thank goodness you survived that first day! What are you working on now?
Liza: I am writing the third book in the Merritt & Blunt mystery series. It is set in New York City in January, and it involves Broadway, elevators, and the wealthy matriarch of a dysfunctional family.
Kym: Can’t wait! Where can our readers find you on social media?
Liza: Instagram, FB, and my website
Kym: Thank you for joining us in our Cozy Corner!
Liza: I’m so glad you enjoyed the book. Thanks for hosting me on your Q & A!
Merritt & Blunt #2
When the World’s Greatest Detective reunites with her college friends, she discovers that time doesn’t heal all wounds.
It's been four decades since the women of Sigma Delta Tau were last together. The passing years, growing families, and maturing careers may have strained the bonds of sisterhood, but now a reunion at the Western ranch of one member offers an opportunity to renew acquaintances…and at least one long-standing grudge.
Still, this weekend is supposed to be a pleasant diversion for former sorority member and current private investigator Aubrey Merritt. She's come to New Mexico to reconnect with old friends and she's brought along her personal assistant, Olivia Blunt—an aspiring detective who is learning more about packing bags on this trip than about solving crimes.
The shocking murder of a sorority sister changes everything. With the local police overmatched, all eyes turn to Merritt and Blunt to crack the case. With a surprising abundance of suspects, it's going to take both of them to cut through the knot of old hurts and current grievances to find the killer.
Mystery Private Eye [ Berkley, On Sale: June 9, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593816806 / eISBN: 9780593816813 ]
Liza Tully is a pseudonym for Elisabeth Brink, who writes dark thrillers under the name Elisabeth Elo, as well as literary fiction under the name Elisabeth Panttaja Brink. To learn more about her suspense novels visit elisabethelo.com.
Before turning to fiction writing, she worked as an editor at a children’s magazine, a project manager at a tech company, and a counselor at a halfway house. A magna cum laude graduate of Brown University, she earned a PhD in American Literature from Brandeis University, and is the author of scholarly articles on subjects as diverse as Cinderella and Walt Whitman. She lives in Boston, MA.
Kymym Roberts writes by day and is a pro-surfer in her dreams by night. Her humor is often raunchy, her jokes are often bad, but her hunger for a story keeps the adventures coming fast.
Experience the thrill & catch the wave of passion, mystery and suspense with her on her website, on Facebook, and her favorite social media site, Instagram.
Her fourth Scandalous Sisters, THE WICKED BARONESS under the pseudonym Helene Matheson is available now for pre-order. Watch for her new Bow Street Mysteries coming soon.
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