Color Me Murder by Krista Davis

JENN McKINLAY: One of my fave traditional mystery authors is the super talented diva (just kidding, that's a nod to her awesome series) Krista Davis! It is always a delight to run into her at conferences because as we all know my criteria for people is whether they make me laugh or not, and she always does! Plus, she's really smart and I always feel smarter by association when I hang out with her. Just listen to how she gets her ideas...

KRISTA DAVIS: I am not one of those writers who is in constant contact with my agent. Two series are enough to keep me busy writing. But, as many of you know, a couple of years ago, there was a great disturbance in the mystery force, and that launched me into many, many phone calls with my agent, Jessica Faust.

            So when the Caller ID showed Jessica calling, I assumed something else had developed in connection with the great disturbance. Instead, she said she had something she wanted to talk with me about but it was top secret. Double super top secret!

            Ohh! Now she had my attention. There’s nothing we mystery authors like more than a mystery. I had to know what it was. But she insisted that I promise I wouldn’t say a word. Not to anyone.

            It had to be juicy. A tidbit? She’s not the type to gossip. Yes, yes, yes! I promised.

            Only when I was sworn to secrecy did she tell me that Kensington editor Wendy McCurdy had an idea for a new series and she was looking for someone to write it. I was prepared to say no until Jessica told me that it was a coloring mystery. The protagonist would be an adult coloring book artist and, best of all, the covers would be colorable.

            It was nothing short of brilliant. Everyone seems to be coloring. What fun to combine a mystery with the adult coloring trend. Jessica and I brainstormed a little bit. She came up with the name of the bookstore, Color Me Read. Wendy and I brainstormed a little bit more. I wrote three chapters about Florrie Fox, who works in her grandfather’s bookstore by day and draws adult coloring books by night.

            And then I threw all three chapters out. Boom. In the trash. I changed the grandfather to a wealthy retired professor, and I was off and running on the first book, Color Me Murder.

JENN: I am itching to color this cover!!! Brilliant!

KRISTA: In case you’re wondering, it is not a work for hire. It’s a regular contract. Wendy and Jessica get all the credit for the concept of the Pen & Ink Mysteries. The cover of the second book, The Coloring Crook, just appeared on Amazon a couple of days ago.

            But Jenn’s questions about how it came about reminded me that we’re often looking for current themes. Whether it’s hooks that haven’t been done or plots that are fresh and original, we’re always on the lookout for new material.

            I find a lot of interesting ideas in newspapers. Seriously, criminals think of things that would never occur to me. I admit that I find it somewhat reassuring that I don’t think like a criminal.

            Television seems like another great place to see what’s trending. I confess that I’m addicted to The Curse of Oak Island. I know they haven’t found the Holy Grail because it would be all over the news. Still, I watch them dig waiting for something fabulous to appear. Seriously, who would ever have thought anyone would watch backhoes digging on TV? The ruby and cross they found this year were pretty amazing. But what could that mean for us as writers? That a lot of people are interested in history and mysterious hidden treasures?       

            I suspect that Facebook and trending stories on social media might yield clues to what interests readers as well. It doesn’t always have to be as unlikely as finding historic treasure. Mixing mysteries and coloring in a series is an example of that. Wendy took two things people like and combined them in a very clever way.

            Two weeks after I signed the contract to write a third series, my Golden Retriever woke me with insistent barking just after four in the morning. It wasn’t like her at all. I assumed she was having a potty emergency and needed to go out. I had just let the dogs out of the door when the phone rang. You know those emergency alerts that are advertised by people who say they can’t get up? My mom’s emergency alert company was calling me. She had broken her wrist. Consequently, she wound up moving in with me. But that’s another story called Three Series and Mom.

So, Reds, where do you find your best fresh ideas?

A little more about Krista: Color Me Murder is the first book in the Pen & Ink mystery series. The protagonist runs a bookstore by day and draws adult coloring books by night. To make it all the more fun, you can color the covers of the book!

Krista’s longest running series is the Domestic Diva Mysteries. After a one year hiatus, the tenth book, The Diva Cooks Up a Storm will be out in May. But don’t think you have to be a diva or a fancy cook to enjoy these books about a group of friends in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

If dogs and cats are your thing, you might enjoy Krista’s Paws & Claws Mysteries featuring Trixie the Jack Russell with a nose for trouble (or more precisely—dead people) and Twinkletoes, the long-haired calico cat. The animals don’t speak in Krista’s books, but they do know how to how to follow the scent of murder.

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