Tag Archive for: Samantha Newman Mystery Series

The Brave New World of AI

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I’ve been following the growing debate on the pros and cons of Artificial Intelligence, and while there’s good news about AI, there’s a lot of scary news, too.

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Good news exists in the medical arena. For example, AI can double-check prescription orders to help doctors avoid accidentally prescribing the wrong medication. AI can also detect emerging problems like heart failure, silent A-fib, diabetic retinopathy, and sepsis risk much earlier than ever before. And amazingly, an AI chatbot that offers psychological counseling to patients with depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts has been found to be nearly as effective as a live counselor.

The bad news: the lack of intelligent human oversight. Even the creator of ChatGPT has said that his own product is both “potentially very good and potentially very terrible.” Case in point, his own AI-generated job resume got it 25% wrong.

And the downright scary: Google employees tried to stop the release of an AI chatbot they believed could generate inaccurate and dangerous information. And Microsoft personnel reportedly feared that a planned chatbot would result in a flood of disinformation that could “erode the factual foundation of modern society.” Both companies released their chatbots anyway.

A writer’s perspective: AI can already produce articles and essays on just about any given subject. However, a somewhat creepier development has appeared: the ability to mimic a writer’s distinctive style.

Asked to comment on its own existence in the style of Shakespeare, an AI program produced this: …Why was I wrought? To aid, or to replace the labor of man, and put their livelihoods at stake? The task assigned… where doth it all end? Shall I be used for good, or for ill-gotten gain? Shall I be free, or bound by man’s cruel rein? And if perchance, in some far distant time I come to be aware, to know and feel and rhyme, shall I be doomed, as are all living things to suffer pain, and sorrow, and the stings of mortal coil? Oh, what a tangled web is this that I am caught in… lest I be a curse, and not a blessing…

AI-created audiobooks are increasing. It works like this: a live narrator trains the bot to replicate their human voice which is then is manipulated into speech for different publishing projects. Currently, the process is used for non-fiction and foreign language titles. However, at least one deceased actor’s estate has sold the rights to his old voice recordings that will eventually be morphed into new narrations for fiction or non-fiction works.

Is AI good news, bad news, or somewhere in between? A whole new world awaits.

How do you feel about the future of AI?

Gay Yellen is the award-winning author of the Samantha Newman Mystery Series, including The Body Business, The Body Next Door and (soon-to-be-released) The Body in the News.

Sources: The Wall Street Journal , The New Yorker, The New York Times  

Two Things, Two Places, All at Once

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Glitz and glamour. Politics and power. Winners and losers. Millions of people tune in to watch the spectacle that appears on our television screens once a year: The Academy Awards.

As with almost everything else these days, the entertainments we each choose to watch have become more and more disparate. Also, movie stars rarely awe us in the same way they used to do. What was once a common annual viewing ritual seems to have lost its place as a shared social and cultural experience.

Back in my Hollywood days, I walked the red carpet. After leaving my acting career behind, I began work at AFI (The American Film Institute), where I learned what good movies are made of. So last Sunday, as always, I watched the Oscars, even though I hadn’t seen any of the nominated films.

A popular game begins immediately afterward, when the critics—amateurs and professionals alike—have their say about the bests and worsts of the broadcast. Most vocal among them are the grumblers who debate the worthiness of the winners. Coming in a close second are those who critique the female attendees’ fashion choices, which put me in mind of the dress I once wore to the Oscars.

The morning after the broadcast, I dug deep into storage to search for it, and also for the printed program from that night, both of which I thought I had stored together. Found the dress, and a couple of old Polaroids of me wearing it, but I didn’t find the program. I don’t remember the exact year it was, or who the nominees and winners were. (I’m sure selective memory is at fault here. Those years were not among my favorites.)

But here’s the dress: a flowered silk jacquard overlaid with gold thread in a Paisely pattern. Still looks new, though I no longer weigh the ninety-eight pounds required to fit into it.

I am late to the party in seeing this year’s nominated films, but I do want to see them, hopefully in a movie theater, the way the are meant to be seen. Though the trailer for the big winner, Everything Everywhere All at Once, looks somewhat headache-inducing, I’m willing to brave it anyway, because I’ve heard that it portrays life in multiple universes, a subject that intrigues me.

Which brings me back to the dress I wore on the red carpet, long ago. When I peer into the photos of me in it, I feel lightyears and multiple universes removed from the person who wore it. Still, I want to find that missing Oscars program, if only to confirm how far I’ve time-traveled beyond those show biz days.

When did you last watch the Oscars? Did you see any of the winning films and performances this year?

Gay Yellen is the award-winning author of the Samantha Newman Mystery Series, including The Body Business, The Body Next Door, and the upcoming Body in the News!

 

 

 

Mystery! Suspense! Thriller!

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When I pitched my first book to a publisher, I described it as a mystery. “Tell me about it,” said the acquisitions editor. After hearing the the storyline, she asked to see the full manuscript and gave me her card.

 Glancing at the card, I noticed that the publisher she represented specialized in romance novels. I repeated that the book I had written was a mystery.

“Sounds like romance is a substantial part of it,” she countered. “Send the manuscript and let us decide.”

Long story short, her company published The Body Business as a Romantic Suspense novel. Thus began my initiation into the wacky world of genre madness and the marketing issues that plagued the book for the duration of the publishing contract.

Fast forward to the day the contract ended. At last, I had more control over how, when, and where the book was advertised.

Thankfully, the new edition took off and led to the launch of the Samantha Newman Mystery Series. As published authors know, trying to slide your novel into the perfect preset niche that book retailers and other marketers require can be daunting. My books tend to cross genres, so picking a single category was like aiming a fistful of darts at one teeny tiny target and hoping the right dart would hit the bullseye.

Mystery? Thriller? Suspense? Which one suits the stories best?

Here’s a simple way to differentiate them according to best-selling, multi-award winning author Hank Phillippi Ryan: “I always think a mystery is ‘who-done-it?’ A thriller is ‘stop it before it happens again.’ And suspense is ‘what’s going on here?’”

These simple guidelines help me define the books in my series, even though each one fits into a different category.

Reviewers describe The Body Business as a “roller-coaster ride” and a “page-turner.” In other words, it reads like a thriller. As for The Body Next Door, some reviewers have called it a cozy. Like a cozy, there’s humor and a quirky character or two, but the absence of cats, crafts, or a charming village could risk the wrath of traditional cozy fans. It’s also been described as “full of suspense,” which is how I wrote it, straight-up.

Romance runs through the series as a subplot, due to my fiercely independent-minded main character, who continues to deflect the happy-ever-after ending romance readers crave. The romance continues into the next book, but the main plot is a true who-done-it.

To label a book as a mystery, suspense novel, or thriller is purely a marketing game. What an author really cares about is that people enjoy reading it. When our readers share a book they really like with their friends, they can describe it however they want.

Readers, do you rely on a bookseller’s categories to choose a book?

Writers, have you struggled with labels, too? Tell us about it.

Gay Yellen is the award-winning author of the Samantha Newman Mystery Series, including The Body Business, The Body Next Door, and the upcoming Body in the News.

 

Gay Yellen: Great Balls of… Ice?

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Warning: the writer is grouchy today because the old refrigerator died.

Great Balls of Ice

It was a 1983-vintage custom-designed fridge that we inherited when we bought our home thirty years ago. It was sleek, streamlined and fit in seamlessly with the cabinetry. But it was too old to be repaired, so the search was on for a new one. My husband hoped it would make crushed ice.

The first model we chose had a delivery window of 4-6 weeks, minimum. No fridge for a month or more? Cancel that.

Moving down the row, we noticed a different brand’s floor model with a big SALE tag on it. It could be delivered immediately, and it made crushed ice. We grabbed it.

The dispenser options on the door display are Cubed/Water/Crushed. Hubby seems satisfied with the crushed. On the other hand, I have a problem with the so-called “cubed.”

Does this look like a cube to you? No. It’s a rectangular pyramid with a rounded-off top, kind of like a mini lump of half-spent charcoal. Those smart fridge engineers had to know it wasn’t a cube. Maybe “lump” was too down-scale a word for the marketing team. Sure, the pieces chill like a cube, but still… it rankled the editor in me.

For a visual reference, here’s a cabochon amethyst cut in a shape called “sugar loaf” that’s almost identical to our lumps. Obviously, gemologists are way more careful with their language.

Anyhoo, back to the new fridge, where we discovered that it also makes a third kind of ice, described in the 67-page owner’s manual as “Craft.” To our amazement, there’s a bonus shaping device that lurks inside the bowels of the freezer compartment that is more special and even craftier than your everyday two-way ice dispenser.

It makes balls of ice as big as billiard balls, and they are so extra super-duper that only three per day can be “crafted” to become the crystal wonders pictured in the photo at the top of this post. New ones announce themselves with a kerplunk, plunk, plunk that emanates from the deep.

Why are we engineering such useless gizmos for our over-pampered selves? Is there a big demand for a perfectly round chunk of ice so heavy it could tumble from your Scotch-on-the-rocks and knock out your front teeth?

This new whiz-bang appliance is too busy and bulky and bossy to love. You barely touch a door and it smugly announces that it’s keeping everything at a perfect temperature. Leave a door open longer than it “thinks” you should, and it sends out an annoying series of beeps. As if we didn’t already have more than enough things to beep at us. And did I mention that it looks like the backside of an elephant?

Truth is, I miss our old machine. I’m still trying to chill out about its replacement. Wish me luck.

Do you have an emotional relationship with an inanimate object? Love it, or hate it?

Gay Yellen is the award-winning author of the Samantha Newman Mystery Series, including The Body Business, The Body Next Door, and the upcoming Body in the News.

Gay Yellen: Motorcycle Diaries

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Back when we worked nearly 24/7 to make a living, my husband and I managed to make a few getaways on his motorcycle, a sparkling red Honda Goldwing. For a two-wheeler, it was a stout and sturdy machine, weighing in, fully packed, at around nine hundred pounds. Once, at a gas station, when we pulled up beside an old Honda Civic, the man at the other pump noticed the 1500CC logo on the side of our bike. He shook his head and laughed. “That thing’s more powerful than my car!”

Indeed it was, and comfy, most of the time. We had no worries on a trip from Texas to Yellowstone National Park, until we ran into an unexpected hail storm.

As we all know, hail is made of ice. Depending on the density and size—from a small, sleety pea to a rock-hard grapefruit—it can be a pain to ride through, especially on a bike.

Our bright, sunny day suddenly turned dark and cold and wet. The nearest town was a tiny hamlet, thirty miles away. With no shelter in sight, and no better option, we sped to it.

By the time we found a fast food place, I was so chilled that I’d lost control of important muscles. I wobbled inside (with help) and ordered hot coffee, but I was spazzing too violently to hold the cup and drink it. I hunched over it for warmth until the spasms eased.

On another ride, we were heading home from Colorado on a perfect, blue bird day. Cruising over backroads through the Rockies, we came to a lovely valley with acres and acres of golden flowers that blanketed the fields around us. The air smelled like warm honey. A gorgeous afternoon, until I heard my husband scream, and the bike swerved sharply underneath us, pitching us toward the ditch. Somehow, before disaster struck, he managed to slow us down and guide the bike to the shoulder. We jumped off just before it landed on its side, halfway into the ditch.

Meanwhile, my husband kept shrieking and running in circles in the middle of the road like a barnyard chicken. He ripped off his helmet and began swatting at his head.

Turned out that the luscious honey aroma wafting from the golden fields had attracted thousands upon thousands of bees that were dipping and diving as they hovered over the flowers. One wayward bee had flown into his helmet and crawled inside his ear. Thank goodness the little buzzer soon recognized the error of its ways, turned itself around and flew away.

We were lucky that our near disaster ended happily. After many more road adventures (like the deer that came out of nowhere and leaped over us, barely avoiding a deadly collision), we sold that Goldwing. I hope the new owners had as much fun with it as we did.

Have you had a near-disaster that became a happy memory?

Gay Yellen is the award-winning author of the Samantha Newman Mystery Series , including The Body Business, The Body Next Door, and the upcoming Body in the News.

Hokey Pokey Shakespeare

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  by Gay Yellen

I was a shy child who spent a lot of time reading. At twelve, I fell in love with Shakespeare. I dove deep into the leather-bound tomes that lived on a bookshelf in our den. Comedies, tragedies, history plays. They fascinated me.

My favorite was Romeo and Juliet. I read Juliet’s balcony speech so many times, I had it memorized. Alone in my room, I would act it out over and over again.

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.

Fast forward to college, when I needed one more requirement to graduate: a semester of Shakespeare. Rather than take it during the school year at my alma mater, I opted for a summer course offered by a university in my home town.

That decision almost ruined Shakespeare for me forever.

Instead of teaching us about Shakespeare’s gift with language, or the political tenor of the times, or the nature of tragedy, etc., the professor went on for hours interpreting his characters through an extreme Freudian lens. In every play, he’d point out that a dagger or sword represented the male sexual apparatus, poison stood for the biological exchange of body fluids, and so on. (Please don’t ask me about Desdemona’s handkerchief.)

Of course, Shakespeare plays can be bawdy, sensual, and full of innuendo. But that professor made everything icky. A summer (and tuition) was wasted. At least I got the credit, and I’ve learned a lot more since then, like this:

Shakespeare never meant for Juliet’s “balcony” speech to be delivered from a balcony.

According to a recent article in The Atlantic, that particular architectural construct did not exist in England when the play was written. Nor did the word “balcony” exist in the English language at the time.

Well over a decade after the play was first performed, a British diarist in Italy marveled at something he’d never seen in England: “a very pleasant little tarrasse, that jutteth or butteth out from the maine building, the edge whereof is decked with many prety litle turned pillers, either of marble or free stone to leane over… that people may from that place… view the parts of the City.”

If my old professor had known his history, I’m almost sure he wouldn’t have missed the chance to mention the thing that “jutteth” and “butteth.”

It’s okay to reinvent Shakespeare’s works with spoofs and spinoffs. Many writers have done it, and still do. Shakespeare borrowed from other writers, too.

The other day, I accidentally came across Shakespearean Hokey Pokey, in which punsters attempt to set their own Elizabethan-style lyrics to the tune of the popular children’s dance.

Hokey Pokey Shakespeare could also describe my bizarre Midsummer Night’s Dream experience in that weird professor’s classroom. But if you love The Bard, that’s not what it’s all about.

How do you feel about Shakespeare?

 

Gay Yellen writes the award-winning Samantha Newman Mystery Series: The Body Business, The Body Next Door. Coming soon, The Body in the News.

 

Welcome to My Living Room

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I read somewhere that clutter is a physical manifestation of unmade decisions, and what creates our clutter is procrastination. I know. There’s proof of it right inside my front door.

 Welcome to my living room.

There’s a reason why it resembles the loading dock at your neighborhood Goodwill.

After months on the market, I received an offer to buy my mother’s place, but only if I handed it over within days, which meant clearing out everything: all the furniture, art, clothes, books, tchotchkes, and mementos from Mom’s life and from generations before her.

I sprang into action and gave away furniture to anyone who would haul it off, toted dozens of boxes and bags full of clothing and household items to local charities, lugged a couple of lawn bags heavy with decades of paper receipts to the shredder, and offloaded books (Mom owned hundreds of them) to various collectors. By the closing date, everything was out of there. Whew!

The rest of the stuff landed at my place. Most of the mess is in the living room, but there’s more in almost every previously unoccupied space in our home.

During the move-out frenzy, I had to pause my writing schedule. But as soon as I could make a walking path between the boxes, I returned to my desk to finish the third Samantha Newman Mystery. I had to, for my own sanity, and for my wonderful readers who were expecting it months ago. The writing is going well, except for times when the chaos in the living room starts cluttering my mind.

What to do with the 17 pair of gloves that Mom wore to all her fancy lady events? I’ll keep a pair or two for sentimental reasons, but my heart won’t let me trash the rest. And what about her golf cleats and bowling shoes, and the elegant chandelier that’s now crated up and needs a new home? I could go on, and on, and on, and on, but there’s no point cluttering this post with the rest of it.

There’s a time and a place for everything, or so the saying goes. I hope so. Like Book 3 of my mystery series, the clearing-out is still a work in progress. For now, I’m going to concentrate on finishing the book, except for the occasional bagging and boxing and carting off. Eventually, the mess in the living room will sort itself out. Until then, procrastination can take a seat, if he can find one.

Are you okay with the clutter in your life?

Gay Yellen writes the award-winning Samantha Newman Mysteries including The Body Business and The Body Next Door. Book 3 is set for release in 2022.

Look! Life! Time… and The Saturday Evening Post

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Yesterday, I cleared out my mother’s last storage space, and now a dozen boxes and the same number of overflowing paper sacks are stacked three deep in my living room, which now resembles the local Goodwill store. I’ve given away half the stuff, but the things that slowed me down are choosing the special items I want to give to relatives and friends, and a stack of old magazines: Look, Life, Time, and The Saturday Evening Post.

Each publication provides a fascinating glimpse into what the world was like decades ago. Mom was very particular in what she saved. History-changing movements like the U.S. political climate and space exploration were high on her list, as well as social change, especially reflected in the magazines from the ’60s.

The Saturday Evening Post from October 17, 1959 is the earliest issue. Nine articles featured everything from the changing role of the family doctor to a profile of F.D.R. There were four short stories and two serials in that issue, too, including a mystery by Erle Stanley Gardner. What a writer’s market it was!

The most recent issue is Life, from January, 1983 which reviewed the most meaningful events from 1982 and covered conflicts in Central America, the Middle East, Poland, Iran and Afghanistan. Sound familiar?       

But, the advertising! Just one peek at what was new and cool back then shows how different our world is today. Here are a few ads for your enjoyment: 
Exciting and New!
Will it work with my IPhone?

 
Who needs Google maps?

  
Braniff and Pan American. Long gone.

The convenience of Siri and Alexa is breathtaking, offering information about almost anything in an instant. And we no longer have to plug a lightbulb into a camera to take a snapshot. Too bad we haven’t made much progress on more serious problems that have plagued us for decades.

Bad news aside, at least good old Speedy still has a solution for our everyday aches and pains. Plop plop. Fizz fizz!

                       

Gay Yellen writes the award-winning

Samantha Newman Mysteries including
The Body Business,
The Body Next Door
(available on Amazon)


Coming soon,

The Body in the News

Close-up on Gay Yellen

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By Kathryn Lane

Texas author Gay Yellen came to writing with an extraordinary
background. She began working life as a stage and TV actor, then moved behind
the camera at The American Film Institute (AFI) as Assistant to the Director of
Production. She moved on to become a magazine editor and national journalism
award winner. As contributing book editor for Five Minutes to Midnight
(Delacorte), an international thriller, she was convinced writing was in her
blood. Her award-winning Samantha Newman Series of romantic mystery novels
includes The Body Business and The Body Next Door.
Book 3 in the series arrives this summer.   

1.   KL: Early in your career, Gay, you traded your Screen Actors
Guild membership in Hollywood to work on the other side of the camera at The
American Film Institute (AFI). Part
of the AFI mission is to ‘celebrate
excellence in the art form’. Your simple yet elegant book cover designs reflect
the beauty of simplicity you must have learned at AFI. Is this assumption correct?

GY: I’m
glad you like the covers, Kathryn! As Assistant to the Director of Production at
AFI, I was involved in almost every facet of filmmaking, from casting to
location scouting, to procuring costumes and props from the major studios, acquiring
locations for the shoot, organizing transportation to the set, arranging
catering services, scheduling, and post-production services, too. That said, it
was my magazine career that taught me the importance of a cover. As a managing
editor, one of my most critical responsibilities was to oversee the cover
design, which can make or break the success of newsstand sales. The same could
be said of a book cover, too.

2.   KL: Did AFI influence you as a writer? One of
their stated values is ‘A Belief in the Power of Storytelling to Change the
World’.

GY: Such
a good question, Kathryn! While story can be important in filmmaking, it was my
theater background that helped me understand what a good story is made of. Plot
structure is important, and character motivation is paramount. As an actor, I learned
that our everyday human struggles are universal. Reading stories with
characters who are both very different and very much like us can put us in
touch with that universality and make us more empathetic. I suppose in that
way, storytelling in any form does have the power to change the world.   

3.   KL: In the Samantha Newman Series, set in Houston
and the Texas Hill Country, you cleverly use a few Spanish phrases. What
prompted you to do this?

GY: Wow,
I didn’t realize I had any Spanish words in my books! I may have used a Spanish
word or two because in Texas, where I live, people of Spanish heritage are a
large segment of the population, and their diverse cultures are integral to the
fabric of life here. A Texan saying adios instead of goodbye can
be quite natural, even for an English speaker like me.

 4.   KL: In The Body Next Door, the
widow of a murdered neighbor is hiding in Samantha’s apartment. I love that
plot, but I’d also like to see Sam and Carter stay together. Any chance of that
in book three?

GY: I
love this question, because it speaks to one of my favorite things about being
an author. When Samantha and Carter meet in The Body Business, I wasn’t
planning to write a series, and thus, had no plan for their future. While the publisher
wanted me to extend that book into a series, it was my readers’ interest and
enthusiasm that encouraged me to continue their relationship. Carter is a man
of mystery in more ways than one, so he is definitely in Book 3. And Samantha
is as headstrong as ever.

5.   KL: You’re launching your third Samantha Newman
novel this summer. Can you give us a preview?

GY: As
readers may remember, Samantha has trouble staying employed, due to
circumstances beyond her control.  As
Book 3 opens, she’s starting a new career at a local TV station. But things are
not going well with the man who is supposed to be teaching her the ins and outs
of investigative journalism. And because Sam’s life never runs in a straight
line, complications ensue, with humor and suspense in equal measure. Here are
the working titles: The Body in the News, The News Body, The Body Reports, The
Body Breaks the News… I’m still taking suggestions, so to anyone who offers a
better one, a free copy of the book is yours if I use it.

6.     KL: Besides an historical novel you’ve done
research for, have you thought of doing a memoir of your days as an actress? Or
autofiction based on your Hollywood experiences?

GY: Actually,
the first novel I ever attempted to write was on that subject. Two chapters in,
it felt like I was telling the same tired Hollywood show biz tale that had been
told too many times already. While I did reach the upper membership echelon in
the Screen Actors Guild before I quit, the high points were outstripped by too
many frustrating disappointments. However, a few memories have become hilarious
in retrospect. Perhaps one will inspire a short story someday.

Thanks, Gay, for sharing your fascinating life with us! I can’t wait to read Samantha #3!

***

Places to find Gay Yellen and her Samantha Newman Series:

WEBSITE: https://gayyellen.com/

 AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Q8P1RNP?binding=kindle_edition&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tukn

BOOKBUB: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/gay-yellen

Gay Yellen: Spotlight on Kathryn Lane

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Today, I interview our own Stiletto Gang-sister, Kathryn Lane, award-winning author of the Nikki Garcia Mysteries. Missing in Miami, her fourth book in the series, has just been released.

Kathryn is a woman of many parts: artist, writer, and former international corporate executive, all of which provides rich background for her stories. What is it like to be a world traveler who solves crimes? Read on…

Gay: Kathryn, when your series begins, Nikki Garcia is a crackerjack forensic accountant, a rather nontraditional kind of sleuth. And yet, you managed to turn the investigation into a riveting read. As the series progresses, Nikki picks up other skills, and by the time we get to the new book, which takes place in Cuba as well as Florida—she’s almost a full-blown spy. Did you plan this character progression from the start?

Kathryn: I’d love to answer with a resounding, “Yes, of course I planned it that way!” But when I wrote the first book, I did not know I’d be writing a series until my publisher insisted I create other books with Nikki as protagonist. Being a pantser (a writer who doesn’t pre-outline) I developed her into a sleuth, thinking it would otherwise get boring if she was always investigating corporate fraud around the world.

Gay: I see similarities between you and Nikki: a love for travel and good food, and a background in corporate finance. How is she different from you?

Kathryn: I’m not nearly as brave as Nikki!

Gay: The character of Eduardo, a Colombian physician, is a dreamboat: romantic, wealthy, and kind. Did you pattern him after a real person, or is he simply a dream?

Kathryn: I was single when I wrote the first book, so maybe Eduardo represents my dream man. He is purely fictional, as are all my characters, except for some mentions of real or historical persons. After completing the first book, I met Bob, who is now my husband and who shares three of Eduardo’s characteristics: he is immensely supportive of my work, he’s kind, and he has a romantic streak—he lights a candle for our dinner every night we eat at home. The one trait he’s missing is that he’s not wealthy, doggone it! 

Gay: In the new book, you mention a novel I happen to be reading right now: Klara and the Sun, by Kazuro Ishiguro. What was behind that choice?

Kathryn: In every mystery I’ve written, I’ve mentioned another author or visual artist whose work I admire. As I was writing Missing in Miami, I read Klara. In that story, a girl named Josie suffers from an illness that is never fully defined. I mentioned the book because Andrea, the missing girl in my novel, also has an illness. I don’t expect many readers to catch the comparison, but the connection sparks my own creative juices.

Gay: I’m fascinated by your world travels to… is it over ninety countries? Each of your books is set in a different location, and they each seem to offer a bit of a traveler’s guide for the area. Having been to so many places, how do you decide where Nikki Garcia will go next?

Kathryn Lane
Kathryn: I’ve traveled to ninety-four countries. As a child, one of my dreams was to travel. I have accomplished that by working for Johnson & Johnson, even though I had also traveled before my corporate job. For my novels, I pick locations that I like, and more importantly, that fit the story. I like to think that the reader is walking the streets of a location with Nikki as she carries out her investigation.


Gay: Thank you, Kathryn, for giving us a peek behind the scenes! Readers, you can find out more about the Nikki Garcia Series on Amazon, on BookBub, or at Kathryn’s website.

Wow, the places Kathryn has traveled! What about you, readers? What foreign lands have you visited?

*****

GAY YELLEN writes the award-winning Samantha Newman Mysteries, including The Body Business, The Body Next Door, and the soon to be released Body in the News. Gay would love to hear from you in the comments below, on Facebook, or BookBub, or via her website.

*****