Coffee Chat with Guest Author ME Roche

MER:  I drink my coffee black—often day-old and lukewarm.

I am a product of the Midwest, but have lived on both coasts, as well as in Ireland. While being a retired RN, I continue to work as a volunteer with a neighborhood clinic.

Something that isn’t in my bio: I have worked as a volunteer, assisting with autopsies in the coroner’s department of my local sheriff.

MER: As I was working on a follow-up in my Nora Brady series, friends brought me the story of their grandfather who was accused (rightly so) and jailed for bigamy in the 1930’s. They had numerous newspaper clippings from that time and they thought it would make a great novel. I did further research on the story, but it took me some time to decide if I could shape the story into a book; there was no murder. What would make readers want to read about this? Eventually, I did decide to write and the product is BIGAMY. What makes this story different from all the other books I have found written about bigamists is the fact that both wives were full participants in the plot and that the story was true—to a point. Times were different then. No TV. No Internet. No real communication between different state departments, or different states for that matter. These people had every reason to assume their goal was achievable, but they forgot one tiny factor which proved to be their downfall. I hope my readers will enjoy!

Ally: Do you write from an outline?

MER: I don’t use an outline, preferring to let my characters take me to where the story goes.
 
Ally: Tell us about your own reading habits.

MER:  As part of my effort to discover writers previously unknown to me and possibly to my readers, I read approximately 6-10 books/month, as well as listening to another 4-8 audiobooks. Because I’m trying to read those authors who are new to me, I can’t say I yet have a favorite, but I do prefer the mystery/thriller/suspense genre. New to me: Hank Phillipi Ryan, Nita Prose, Alex Michaelides and Robert Dugoni.
 
Ally:  What is your best research source?

MER:  I use Google most often when I’m researching; it can generally give me the quickest answer if I’m checking a small fact. For greater depth, I will go to the library.

Ally:  What is next on your writing agenda?

MER:  My next novel will be another in the Nora Brady adult series. This new one will be a paranormal mystery which I plan to have out mid-summer.

Ally:  Which of the trivia questions did you select to answer?

Loosely based on a case that captivated people’s attention coast to coast in 1930’s rural New Jersey, the story follows the lives of Sophie, her husband William, and Aine, the second wife and their former servant. The question to which everyone wanted an answer: “What can a woman possibly be thinking, when she willingly steps aside and gives her husband to another woman?” For Sophie, it was clear she had not considered all that she should have. For William and Aine—and finally Sophie—nothing worked out as they had naively imagined.