AN AUTHOR YOU CAN'T REFUSE

"Kozak keeps the laughs and chills in bewitching balance as Wollie uncovers the secrets of Yuri's extended family—and suffers a first-time dating consequence in the surprising denouement."

—Publishers Weekly

You’re at a conference, or seminar, or a party. You hear a huge burst of laughter. And then another one. There’s no question—in the center of that happy group is the hilarious and incredibly clever Harley Jane Kozak.

I love to say it—star of stage and screen. But to us, she’s always a star of page.

Her debut novel, DATING DEAD MEN, won the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. Its sequel was DATING IS MURDER, followed by DEAD EX and the upcoming A DATE YOU CAN’T REFUSE. Of which Janet Evanovich says: "A page-turner of a mystery. A loveable sleuth. A real winner!"

Like everyone else on the planet, we visit her (and her very talented pals) at her blog The Lipstick Chronicles . But now she’s visiting us.

HANK: Ah, Harley. A question I've never asked before. Sex in a parking lot? A Neiman Marcus parking lot?

HARLEY: Yes, Hank. Times are tough and hotel rooms expensive, and when one is undercover, on-the-fly decisions must be made. Still, parking lots sex does come at a cost, not the least of which is dry-cleaning bills. At least I sent Wollie to Neiman Marcus, and not Wal-Mart. (I also send her to Costco in this book, but not for sex.)

HANK: ON THE FLY?? You see, this is why we love you. A Date You Can't Refuse--tell us more about your latest!

HARLEY: Wollie finds herself a "social coach" -- that is, combination babysitter, bus driver and dating therapist for a trio of eastern euro eccentrics: a heavyweight boxer with substance abuse issues, a Soviet country & Western singer, and an evangelical diet book author. The FBI is involved. Hijinks ensue. And she's being poisoned, while attired in the couture clothing of a dead America's Next Top Model contestant. However, it's more highbrow than I've made it sound here.


HANK: Your wonderful Wollie Shelley--where did she come from in your head? And her name is hilarious...did you think of the name first? Or create the character first, and then name her? Or was she just--born?

HARLEY: She was a greeting card shop owner first -- I saw the shop in my head, and then the woman running it, and then realized she not only manages the shop, she designs greeting cards, and then her name came to me, followed by her wacky mother (who only appeared briefly, in Book #2). I hate to sound like I channel this stuff, but it does sort of feel that way. I imagine all authors work like this, but what do I know? Do you channel your characters, or do you do a by-the-numbers Excel spreadsheet character study?


HANK: Oh, some spring full-blown, personalities, characteristics, everything. Charlie, certainly, and Franklin, and little Penny. Who I tried to rename Ella, but it just wasn't her name, you know? And yes, I do think "channeling" is part of it, and I feel incredibly lucky when it happens.
Speaking of channeling--dialogue, too? Do your characters talk to you? Have you ever tried to get them to say or do something that they just won't?


HARLEY: They don't talk to me so much as they talk to each other, but if I don't get it right, they make me rewrite it and rewrite it and rewrite it. My biggest dialogue problem is that one of them will go on and on, a veritable aria, and then I have to go back and remind them that there are other people in the book too and let the other people interrupt, as other people (in my house, anyway) are wont to do.


HANK: Speaking of, um, channeling. I see you on TV all the time. (Thanks, Tivo. And you know, Arachnophobia is even funnier when you see it now.) Do people recognize you from movies and TV? How does your stage and screen experience translate into your novels?

HARLEY: People recognize me on occasion, but it's rare enough to be fun. As in, I never need to punch out the paparazzi. The best is when people recognize me in front of my children, who are convinced that the only life I ever had began on their respective birthdays.

I think acting trains you to put yourself into other people's shoes automatically, which comes in handy when writing novels. Mine are definitely character-driven. My plots are more left-brain; I have to work at making them credible and interesting, and then I have to interrupt my long-winded characters and make them pay attention to plot, to hit the road and carry the action forward because frankly, they'd rather sit at home and yak.


HANK: Anything you wish someone had told you when you started all this writing stuff? When was that, anyway?

HARLEY: That I'd never read fiction in the same way again, and that while I'd get lots of free books (blurb requests, conventions) I'd never have time to read them.

I started to write novels about 15 years ago in a serious way, but I've been writing long (very) letters, journals, plays, poems, and country & western song lyrics my whole life.

HANK: And now you're such a...beloved and loving part of the community. (ACK, sappy. But true.)

HARLEY: Oh, bless you. You make me feel like the mayor. Of what town, I'm not sure.

HANK: Well, Ms. Mayor , you still can’t get away without the Jungle Red Quiz:


Pizza or chocolate?
Chocolate.


Daniel Craig or Pierce Brosnan?
Daniel.


Sex or violence?
Sex

Facebook or MySpace?
Facebook

Katharine Hepburn or Audrey Hepburn?
Audrey

Your favorite non-mystery book?
currently? The Golden Compass


Favorite book as a kid?
The Godfather


Making dinner or making reservations?
reservations


*****And finally, the Jungle Red Big Lie. Tell us four things about you that no one knows. Only three can be true. We'll guess.

I was a National Merit Scholar.
My dad was an Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms agent.
I was Courtesy Queen of the first grade at St. John's School
I was a chain smoker, coke addict and pot head

HANK: Well Jungle Reds? Do we think Harley was really the courtesy queen?

And we can also ask her what it's like to work with ten billion spiders.

Harley’s debut novel, DATING DEAD MEN, won the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. Its sequel was DATING IS MURDER, followed by DEAD EX and the upcoming A DATE YOU CAN’T REFUSE. She’s still a sometimes actress, and lives with her family in California’s Conego Valley. Her short prose has appeared in Ms. Magazine, Soap Opera Digest, The Sun, The Santa Monica Review, and the anthologies Mystery Muses, This is Chick Lit and A HELL OF A WOMAN.