Meet Mary, Or is it Claudia?

RHYS BOWEN: 

Today it's my pleasure to welcome to Jungle Red Writers two of my favorite authors, who happen to look remarkably alike. Twins, separated at birth, you ask? Actually one person who manages to write two very different series. Her real name is Mary Stanton, and she writes the Bree Beaufort series of mysteries under this name, but she is better known as Claudia Bishop, writing the incredibly popular Hemlock Falls cozy mysteries. She is also my good friend with whom I have great fun in Florida every spring. And as you can see from her photo, she loves animals!

Rhys: Hemlock Falls has been around a long time. How many are there?

Claudia, who is also Mary:  I just signed a contract for the eighteenth. I am, to borrow a cant phrase from your heroine Georgie, a bit gobsmacked. Back in 1994, when I first signed with Berkley, I hadn’t planned to do more than one. I don’t seem to be able to shut myself up!

Rhys: Hemlock Falls is a small village in upstate New York. You grew up in Hawaii—and when you were a youngster, Hawaii was a territory and not even a state. Why did you decide on a small American town as a backdrop for murder?

Claudia: I thought upstate New York was hugely romantic, in the same way that all those Cotswold villages in English mysteries are romantic. I read a lot as a kid—and it was mostly the Golden Age writers; Christie, Sayers, Anthony Berkeley, Cyril Hare, Michael Innes—all those Oxbridgeans. Later on, I switched to Reginald Hill, Simon Brett, and Robert Barnard.

Rhys: The seventeenth book is out this month. Tell us about it.

Claudia: It’s titled DREAD ON ARRIVAL. Two competing antiques roadshow television shows come to the village. One is called “Your Ancestor’s Attic.” The other is “Pawn-o-rama.” The two hosts loathe each other on sight.  My amateur detectives are inn-keeper Sarah Quilliam and her gourmet chef sister Meg. They get pulled into the murder of the arrogant host of ‘Your Ancestor’s Attic. I had a lot of fun writing it.

Rhys: Let’s switch personae for a moment. As Mary Stanton, you also write a series featuring a young lawyer who discovers that her law practice consists of handling appeals cases for souls condemned to Hell. What on earth gave you the idea for such an unusual premise? And why angels?

Rhys: Hemlock Falls has been around a long time. How many are there?

Claudia, who is also Mary:  I just signed a contract for the eighteenth. I am, to borrow a cant phrase from your heroine Georgie, a bit gobsmacked. Back in 1994, when I first signed with Berkley, I hadn’t planned to do more than one. I don’t seem to be able to shut myself up!

Rhys: Hemlock Falls is a small village in upstate New York. You grew up in Hawaii—and when you were a youngster, Hawaii was a territory and not even a state. Why did you decide on a small American town as a backdrop for murder?

Claudia: I thought upstate New York was hugely romantic, in the same way that all those Cotswold villages in English mysteries are romantic. I read a lot as a kid—and it was mostly the Golden Age writers; Christie, Sayers, Anthony Berkeley, Cyril Hare, Michael Innes—all those Oxbridgeans. Later on, I switched to Reginald Hill, Simon Brett, and Robert Barnard.

Rhys: The seventeenth book is out this month. Tell us about it.

Claudia: It’s titled DREAD ON ARRIVAL. Two competing antiques roadshow television shows come to the village. One is called “Your Ancestor’s Attic.” The other is “Pawn-o-rama.” The two hosts loathe each other on sight.  My amateur detectives are inn-keeper Sarah Quilliam and her gourmet chef sister Meg. They get pulled into the murder of the arrogant host of ‘Your Ancestor’s Attic. I had a lot of fun writing it.

Rhys: Let’s switch personae for a moment. As Mary Stanton, you also write a series featuring a young lawyer who discovers that her law practice consists of handling appeals cases for souls condemned to Hell. What on earth gave you the idea for such an unusual premise? And why angels?

Mary, who is also Claudia: My little sister is going to smack me if I put this in print, but I was inspired to create Bree Beaufort when I sat in on a case my sister was litigating. Right before my eyes, my angelic baby sister turned into a fierce and formidable advocate. (Sort of like Ziva David on NCIS, only more articulate.) She’s been a lawyer for years, of course, I’d just never followed her around to see what she actually did.

As far as the supernatural stuff—I honestly don’t know how I came up with that. As Nora Ephron famously said when somebody asked her why she wrote Michael (a fabulous movie about a visit from the archangel), she doesn’t believe in them, but they are terrific fun to write about. I think of the Beaufort & Company novels as urban fantasy. The latest one is ANGEL CONDEMNED, and that was out two months ago.

Rhys: Do you enjoy writing urban fantasy? Any plans to go back to it?

Mary: I love reading well-written fantasy almost as much as I love reading mysteries. Right now, I’ve joined the millions of readers hooked on George Martin’s GAME OF THRONES. It’s a terrific challenge for me, though. I have an idea.  I’m hoping that I’ll be up to it.

Mary, who is also Claudia: My little sister is going to smack me if I put this in print, but I was inspired to create Bree Beaufort when I sat in on a case my sister was litigating. Right before my eyes, my angelic baby sister turned into a fierce and formidable advocate. (Sort of like Ziva David on NCIS, only more articulate.) She’s been a lawyer for years, of course, I’d just never followed her around to see what she actually did.

As far as the supernatural stuff—I honestly don’t know how I came up with that. As Nora Ephron famously said when somebody asked her why she wrote Michael (a fabulous movie about a visit from the archangel), she doesn’t believe in them, but they are terrific fun to write about. I think of the Beaufort & Company novels as urban fantasy. The latest one is ANGEL CONDEMNED, and that was out two months ago.

Rhys: Do you enjoy writing urban fantasy? Any plans to go back to it?

Mary: I love reading well-written fantasy almost as much as I love reading mysteries. Right now, I’ve joined the millions of readers hooked on George Martin’s GAME OF THRONES. It’s a terrific challenge for me, though. I have an idea.  I’m hoping that I’ll be up to it.

Rhys: These angel books are so different, so atmospheric that I look forward to any new fantasy that you write. Readers--do you like a touch of paranormal in what you read? Mary is here today to answer questions.