Jenn McKinlay | Are The Characters Me?

For Scarlett Parker, part of the fun of living in London is celebrating the
British holidays, and she’s excited to share her first Bonfire Night with her
cousin Vivian Tremont. Invited to a posh party by their friend Harrison
Wentworth, Scarlett and Viv decide to promote their hat shop, Mim’s Whims, by
donning a few of their more outrageous creations. The hats prove to be quite the
conversation starters as the girls mix and mingle with the guests—never
suspecting that one of them is a killer.

It’s a cold, clear night, perfect for the British tradition of tossing a straw
stuffed effigy of Guy Fawkes, traitor to the crown, onto the bonfire. But
instead of a straw man, they realize in the heat of the moment that the would-be
Guy Fawkes is actually Harrison’s office rival and he’s been murdered. Before
the smoke has cleared, Harrison is the Metropolitan police’s prime suspect, and
Scarlett and Vivian must find the real homicidal hothead before their dear
friend’s life goes up in flames.

Frequently, I am asked if my characters are me. Is Mel Cooper, who runs the
bakery in the Cupcake Bakery series and has a severe sweet tooth, me? Is Lindsey
Norris, who has my former occupation of librarian, in the Library Lover’s
mysteries me? Is Scarlett Parker, the customer contact for the London Hat Shop
mysteries and a real people pleaser, me? Or are these characters based on people
that I know? Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

I’d be lying if I said these character’s lives aren’t based a little bit on my
own. It’s only natural, I suppose, that much of my life experience is siphoned
off a bit into each character. But I’ve noticed that while a character might
start out with some of my idiosyncrasies or personality traits, they usually
morph into their own person by the end of the first book and if the series runs
even longer, they are fully developed with little to no resemblance to me by
book three.

Such is the case with Scarlett in COPY CAP MURDER. When it comes to her business manager Harrison Wentworth, Scarlett has quite the jealous streak. This amused me to no end while writing it because I don’t have one. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I did when I was younger but then I dated this one guy who thought it was great when I was jealous when he hit on other girls because it made him feel valued. Yeah, that did it. I broke up with him and vowed to myself that I would never ever be jealous again. In hindsight, he did me a big favor. Jealousy is a pretty lousy emotion and as far as I can tell a complete waste of time. That being said, it was fun to revisit the old green eyed monster in the guise of my character Scarlett. Because she’s feisty and fiery, she made it work so much better for her than I ever did for me.

Of course, Scarlett has no need to be jealous where Harrison is concerned. He is
as smitten with her as she is with him. But still, when a calculating
ex-girlfriend of his arrives in the picture, Scarlett can’t help feeling a bit
turfy about Harry, especially when Tuesday Blount makes it clear that she is
determined to win Harrison back and there is nothing Scarlett can do to stop her.

Having made a vow that she wouldn’t date for at least one year after her last
disastrous relationship, Scarlett is thrown into quite a quandary. Should she
break her promise to herself and grab Harry before the hideous Tuesday can get
her mitts on him? Or should she stay the course, wait out the year and hope that
Harry is still available when she is ready to date? Decisions, decisions. Sadly,
I guess you’ll just have to read the book to find out what Scarlett does. Sorry,
no spoilers here!

With that in mind, I hope you enjoy reading COPY CAP MURDER as much as I enjoyed writing it. Scarlett and Viv sure do keep me guessing and I hope they do the same for you! Cheers!
Jenn