LUCY BURDETTE: I know we're coming up on Christmas, not Valentine's Day, but in mysteries, it's always a good time to talk weddings...This morning we welcome Allison Brook aka Marilyn Levinson who has a new book out in her haunted library series...
ALLISON/MARILYN: Love is in the air--at least it is for Carrie's best friend, Angela Vecchio, and her fiancé in DEATH ON THE SHELF, the fifth book in my Haunted Library series. Of course no wedding plans run smoothly and that's mainly due to some of Angela's relatives. Her hot-tempered brother is in from California, drumming up investors for his most recent movie. And Angela's two older, sophisticated cousins who used to intimidate her have taken over her bridal shower because the restaurant where it was supposed to take place burned down. What else can go wrong?
Carrie's father, long divorced from Carrie's mother, has found a woman he adores and plans to marry. But not every married couple in DEATH ON THE SHELF is happily wed. Angela's cousins, Donna and Roxy, have both married doctors. While their economic situations are secure, their relationships are shaky. In fact, Roxy has divorced her husband because he cheated on her, and she's an emotional wreck. Donna and her husband Aiden seem to be growing apart. Why is Roxy stopping by Aiden's office most days? Is something going on that shouldn't?
Carrie's relationship with Dylan, her significant other, is moving in the right direction. But observing her great aunt and great uncle's solid marriage and her cousins' happy family life with their two young children, she wonders if she's capable of sustaining a lasting relationship, given her dysfunctional family background.
Writing a series gives me the opportunity to place my characters in various situations where they resolve problems and deal with past events that affect their present lives. I get to see how new insights help them change and mature. I especially love to see how they relate to one another. At the end of DEATH ON THE SHELF, Carrie discovers the murderer and a relationship she never suspected.
Are you intrigued by characters' relationships in cozies and traditional mysteries?
About Marilyn/Allison: A former Spanish teacher, Marilyn Levinson writes mysteries, romantic suspense, and novels for kids. Her books have received many accolades. As Allison Brook she writes the Haunted Library series. DEATH OVERDUE, the first in the series, was an Agatha nominee for Best Contemporary Novel in 2018. Other mysteries include the Golden Age of Mystery Book Club series and the Twin Lakes series.
Her juvenile novel, RUFUS AND MAGIC RUN AMOK, was an International Reading Association-Children's Book Council Children's Choice. AND DON'T BRING JEREMY was a nominee for six state awards.
Marilyn lives on Long Island, where many of her books take place. She loves traveling, reading, doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku, and chatting on FaceTime with her grandkids.
ABOUT DEATH ON THE SHELF: "Clover Ridge librarian Carrie Singleton is thrilled to attend her best friend Angela's wedding, but Angela's family can be a bit...much. Angela’s wealthy cousin Donna hosts an extravagant bridal shower at her resplendent home, but the celebrations turn to gossip as the guests notice Donna's surgeon husband, Aiden, spending a bit too much time with Donna’s cousin Roxy. At the wedding reception, the sweet occasion turns darkly bitter when Aiden topples into the chocolate fountain - dead.”
Buy link: Penguin Random House
Congratulations, Allison, on your newest book. It does sound as if Angela is in for a bit of a bumpy road on her way to happily ever after . . . I’m looking forward to finding out how she manages everything.
ReplyDeleteI do find the relationship between characters interesting . . . it always adds another dimension to the characters and often it seems to help explain why they do some of the things they do . . . . .
Thanks, Joan. I agree-—characters' relationships add another dimension to the readers' enjoyment.
DeleteCongratulations on your latest. Looking forward to being a guest at Angela's wedding.
ReplyDeletePart of the fun of reading cozies, any series, really, is developing a relationship with the characters and becoming a vicarious part of their lives.
yes. Wouldn't we all love to live in Cozyland——at least part of the time.
DeleteI love the relationships in a cozy. It can be the relationships between the characters and also between the reader.
ReplyDeletethat's so interesting Dru, would love to hear more about that!
DeleteI think readers identify with different characters. One reader told me how much she identified with Carrie, my protagonist.
DeleteALLISON (MARILYN): Congratulations on your latest Haunted Library mystery. I enjoy reading the series. I hope Carrie's father and Carrie's relationship with Dylan continues to develop in a positive way. Not sure how things will turn out for Angela, though!
ReplyDeleteI do like long-term relationships in mystery series.
DEBORAH's Duncan and Gemma are a good example of a couple in a long-running series. I like the break from the police investigation when there are family scenes with the kids/pets, as well as some non-work related scenes with Duncan and Gemma.
But reading about dysfunctional (couples) and families is also fun.
Dysfunctional families give us so much to write about.:)
DeleteMarilyn, welcome to JRW. It is such a joy to wake up in the morning and meet a new-to-me author on the blog! Your new book sounds terrific. Like Grace, I love following family dynamics in series and Angela's family has lots of stuff going on! I look forward to reading this series. I will start with book 1.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Judy. Starting with Book #1 is always a great idea.
DeleteCongratulations on the new book! I like seeing developing relationships in a book. It makes the characters "real" for me.
ReplyDeleteYes!
DeleteHonestly, I think most mystery readers today read because of the characters. The crime and deduction are primarily the engine that keeps the plot moving along, so we can see what the characters do when they're in a pickle.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Our characters are what bring readers back to each new book.
DeleteIt is also true for me
DeleteAgreed, same here.
DeleteA priest and a married police chief find an abandoned baby. Talk about relationship issues! I was hooked from book 1 in this series just because of the characters, the relationship dynamics among all of the characters. How do you forgive your friend and co-worker when you find out he had an affair with your wife? Even the secondary characters step up and twist our emotions. Definitely, the characters bring me back.
DeleteSo true!
DeleteSure--that's what a story is all about, right? Dennis Lehane says he takes people and puts them in a room and then sees what happens. A story is what someone wants, and how far they'll go to get it--and then others who want the opposite thing.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your book! I also love that the relationships are generational--that's so wise!
Thanks, Hank. I think so many of our relationships are intergenerational. We learn from one another, don't we?
DeleteThank you all for your kind words regarding my latest Haunted Library mystery. My characters are the most important element of my series, and I love writing about their relationships with one another as well as delving into their pasts.
ReplyDeleteThe characters and their relationships are what keep me interested in the story. In a long-running series I look forward to the return of certain characters, while hoping that other characters will find other things to do with their lives than show up on the pages of the book. Just like in real life, I guess! Margaret Maron’s characters in the Deborah Knott books were so realistic that I was heartbroken when she ended the series. It was a long time before I could bring myself to read the final book.
ReplyDeleteDebRo
DebRo, I couldn't agree more! It was only when Margaret Maron actually passed away that I finally gave up hope that sometime, somewhere, she'd be motivated to do just one more short story or novella or anything that would have given me the pleasure of hanging out in Colleton County just one more time!
DeleteI can well understand this. I stopped reading a popular series because the author killed off the sleuth's wife.
DeleteHi Marilyn, and congrats on the book! Relationships make the world go round, as far as I'm concerned. They are what keeps me reading--and writing!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Deborah!
DeleteThe relationships in cozy mysteries are one reason I keep coming back to them. I do still like the mystery to be front and center, but I enjoy revisiting with friends each time I pick up a book.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your new book, Marilyn/Allison. I read Death Overdue and really enjoyed it, but then there were so many other series I was reading, it got lost in the shuffle. That shouldn't have happened, and I hope to start getting caught up in this series.
ReplyDeleteCharacters' relationships are what make the story, both adversarial and friendships and romantic. They provide the motivations for the actions that can result in the murder(s) that happen. The good relationships in stories can mirror what we readers desire in our own relationships, or the bad relationships can confirm what we want to avoid. The many series that I read are full of characters in whom I've become invested and, as Mark says above, it's like revisiting old friends in each book I read.
Sometimes characters in books are more real to us than people.:) I think characters are what drive cozy mysteries.
DeleteOne of my favorite things about series is watching the main character change over time and her relationships unfold. This wedding has all the signs of a major disaster, considering the family and all the "help" they're offering. Love it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pat! Major events like weddings and funerals bring out different sides of people, don't they?
DeleteI'm very interested to find out what happens, Marilyn! Character arcs and relationships, plus setting all make the mysteries being solved part of the fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lynn. Every aspect plays its part.
DeleteI'm a series person mainly because I like to see the characters develop. It is really sad when a book, TV, or movie series ends because I miss those people. Looking forward to your new book.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sally. I love to see how my characters change and develop. Sometimes it's a surprise to me, and I'm the author.
ReplyDelete