Mary Stanton on Angels and Goats

RHYS: My first interview as a Jungle Red Hot Babe is with fellow mystery writer, and my good friend, Mary Stanton, whom many of you will know as Claudia Bishop of Hemlock Falls fame. Mary/Claudia now divides her time between upstate New York, where she breeds these adorable goats, and Florida. She is a true workaholic, always juggling several books a year, but she took time to answer my questions:

RHYS: The mystery world knows you as Claudia Bishop. So who is Mary Stanton and why did you decide to write in that name?

MARY: Mary Stanton is the Real Me. I began writing twenty-some years ago under my given name, and I published fantasy. My first two novels were beast fables, like WATERSHIP DOWN, and the characters were horses. I then wrote a middle grade fantasy series called THE UNICORNS OF BALINOR for Scholastic. And I did a Saturday-morning-cartoon stint for a series about unicorns. When I turned to mysteries, both my Berkely editor and my then-agent agreed a name-change was in order. We didn't want to confuse the fantasy readers. So I morphed into Claudia Bishop.

RHYS: Tell us about your new series.

MARY: The series title is BEAUFORT & COMPANY, and the first in the series is titled Defending Angels.My heroine is Brianna Winston-Beaufort, a young lawyer who discovers that her vocation is to handle appeals for the dead. She's supported by a company of angels who help her address the difficulties that arise when she deals with the Celestial Court system and the prosecuting lawyers from Hell.

RHYS: What made you decide to write a paranormal story--have you always been fascinated with angels and demons? MARY: I'm not sure how I got into writing this series! I've read fantasy ever since I was a little kid and I love it. And in my own mind, Defending Angels is an urban fantasy, in the tradition of Neil Gaiman and Charles deLint. But yes, you're right, the marketplace does consider the Beaufort & Company series as paranormal mysteries. And the rich medieval tradition behind the concept of angels and demons was a pull for me, too.

RHYS: You create a wonderful picture of Savannah. Were you raised in the deep south?

MARY: I was SO anxious about getting Savannah right! And no, I'm not a Southerner. I'm not even a continental American. Although I was born in Florida, I grew up in Hawaii, at a time when we were still a territory and not a state. When I came to the continental United States as an undergraduate, I fell in love with incredible diversity of the continent--the South in particular.

RHYS: So what is next for Mary Stanton and/or Claudia Bishop?

MARY: Mary just finished Angel's Advocate, the second in the BEAUFORT & COMPANY series. Claudia is in the middle of the first of a new series titled THE GROUCHY GOURMET, Another Man's Poison. Both are for Berkely.

RHYS: Lastly a little game we play.
tell us four amazing or outrageous things, one of which is true.And I mean really outrageous that your fans would love to knowAnd then our readers will vote on which one is true.

MARY: How's about which one is false? All the outrageous stuff I can think of that I haven't done has to do with sex.

1. I can castrate a goat.

2. I won fifty dollars discriminating between five different vodkas in a blind taste test.

3. I got fired from my job as a night club singer because I can't dance.

4. I can talk to horses.
RHYS:So many thanks to Mary. Defending Angels is now in a store near you, and will make a great stocking stuffer! And let's see if we can decide which ourtrageous thing Mary is lying about!