Thursday, September 10, 2015

A Trick or Deceit Interview & Giveaway

I'm pleased to welcome Shelley Freydont back to Cozy Up With Kathy. In addition to the Gilded Age Newport Mystery series we discussed when last she visited, Shelley also writes the Celebration Bay Mystery series. Trick or Deceit is the fourth book in that series and was released September 1st.


Kathy: Trick or Deceit takes place around Halloween. Are you a fan of the holiday? Do you like to decorate for Halloween?

SF: I’m a fan of celebrating most holidays. I like the fun things at Halloween, the carnivals and jack-o-lanterns, the costume and zombie parades. Not such a fan of trick or treating which seems to encourage greed and is bad for the teeth. We never really decorate for Halloween but we carve crazy, elaborate pumpkin faces and line them up on the porch.


Kathy: It's Halloween time in Celebration Bay and there's a contest to be the town’s official Haunted House. While I'm fascinated with houses that happen to be haunted, houses created to be haunted leave me cold. Are you a fan of the Halloween haunted house? What about "real" haunted houses?

SF: I believe we should leave spirits to themselves. I wouldn’t want to live in a real haunted house. Just seems like trespassing. I enjoy a good interactive created haunted house. There’s a farm in New York state, just over the New Jersey border that gives haunted hayrides. They’re a big production, creative and scary. Those kinds are fun.


Kathy: I love the cover for Trick or Deceit. Did you have any input in its design?

SF: None whatsoever, except there was a new artist on the project and the first time the cover came back, Whiskey, the white Westie was brown. The editor was also new so she wasn’t familiar with the series. Fortunately, once the artist realized her mistake she fixed it and Whiskey was back to his usual white, lovable self. That usually doesn’t happen, thank goodness. It was just a case of several new people on the same project.


Kathy: Was there a specific inspiration for this story?

SF: Not really. I don’t usually have a big inspiration for any of my stories. I work from a “Firefly” method. I’ll get a bright little spark of an idea here, and another there, and then another and another, and they start to gel and I play with them, test them out, and if I’m lucky, they become the basis of a story.


Kathy: When it comes to writing I understand there are 2 general camps-plotters, who diligently plot their stories, and pansters, who fly by the seat of their pants. Are you a plotter, a panster, or do you fall somewhere in between?

SF: I’m both, definitely. I like to have the skeleton (appropriate for the season) of my story before I begin the actual chapter writing. But before that, I take time to get to know the new characters, find out what’s happening with the old characters, decide on some plot points, write down a few notes or a scene I might be able to use somewhere. For mystery, I rely heavily on plotting because to have a good mystery you must make sure that all the clues and red herrings are presented in the right place. Know who has the alibis, and have a time line that works. So I plot even more for mysteries than I do for the women’s fiction I write as Shelley Noble, but since those are more character driven I get to meander a bit before reining myself in and tightening the story up.


Kathy: Are you able to share any future plans for Liv Montgomery?

SF: I’m hoping she’ll have a long happy life as a fictional sleuth. But it’s too early to know about specifics.


Kathy: Will you share any other upcoming books?

SF: The first of my new Gilded Age Newport mystery series came out last month. A Gilded Grave. I love that era of outrageous fortunes and power struggles and had a lot of fun writing that one. I just turned in next summer’s addition, A Golden Cage. I’m also working on my next women’s fiction, currently titled Leila after one of the characters.



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14 comments:

  1. This looks to be s good series. I hadn't heard of it before but I looked this author up with all the promo for her new series. I want to read A Gilded Grave as well.

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  2. This soundd like a fun series, thank you for the opportunity to win! I did not know you were the author of A Gilded Grave until looking at your books on Goodreads; you can write in different genres, which takes talent!

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  3. I enjoyed reading the interview with the author. It is always nice to learn more about the person(s) who create books. I do enjoy reading Halloween theme cozy books so I am looking forward to reading Trick or Deceit, and I love the cover art! Thank you for the giveaway.

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  4. A Trick or Deceit sounds like a great read ... I'm looking forward to reading it. Thank you for the opportunity to win a copy of this book!

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  5. Thanks everyone for participating in the Trick or Deceit giveaway and thanks Cathy for having me.

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  6. I enjoyed the interview and would love to read this book! Thanks for the giveaway!

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  7. I love these books so much & the interview was great. Thanks for this awesome giveaway. Linda May

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  8. I enjoy Halloween because it's a fun holiday--nothing serious about it. This shoyld be a good book to add to my collection. Thanks for the giveaway.
    suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com

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  9. Halloween is my very favorite holiday. It always has been. It isn't as fussy as Christmas, you get candy, and you can dress up in all kinds of costumes and no one will say a word.

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  10. Fun interview! Glad to hear there's more in the works for both series!

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  11. This sounds fun. I loved the first book

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  12. I love holiday books. Halloween is a great start to the season. Thanks for the giveaway.

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  13. It is always nice to read an interview with an author. I'm always amazed at how different ones come to their stories, and how they write. I'm not a writer, and have no aspirations of being one, but I do wonder whether I'd be the plotter or panster.
    Holloween is fun. I love to see the fall decorations, pumpkins, and the kids in costume - tho I'm not so fond of the witches, devils, etc. Ghosts are ok -- who didn't love Casper, the Friendly Ghost?.

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