It is a hot and humid day in the Midwest! As soon as our chat is over, I’ll be retreating into the AC. Before it gets to hot on the deck, please join me in welcoming guest author Kassandra Lamb and her featured cozy mystery, TO BARK OR NOT TO BARK.
So glad you could be with us, Kassandra. What may I get you to drink?
KL: Sadly, I can’t drink coffee. It doesn’t agree with my stomach. I drink tea instead, no milk, half teaspoon of sugar.
Ally: I’ll have that tea ready in a jiffy. Meanwhile, please tell readers something about yourself.
BIO:
In her youth, Kassandra Lamb had two great passions—psychology and writing. Advised that writers need day jobs—and being partial to eating—she studied psychology. Her career as a psychotherapist and college professor taught her much about the dark side of human nature, but also much about resilience, perseverance, and the healing power of laughter.
Now retired, she spends most of her time in an alternate universe populated by her fictional characters. The portal to this universe (aka her computer) is located in North Central Florida where her husband and dog catch occasional glimpses of her.
Author Links:
WEBSITE: https://kassandralamb.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/kassandralambauthor
PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com/kassandralamb/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/kasslamb/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/KassandraLamb
BOOKBUB PROFILE: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kassandra-lamb
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: http://www.amazon.com/Kassandra-Lamb/e/B006NB5WAI/
Ally: Who or what inspired your featured book?
KL: To Bark or Not to Bark is the last full-length novel (Book 12) in my Marcia Banks and Buddy cozy mysteries. Marcia trains service dogs for military veterans with psychological issues, and sometimes the veterans get into some kind of trouble and she gets sucked into trying to help them.
I try to highlight different dog breeds with each story. I’ve always been fond of Border Collies, so I figured it was now or never to feature one in the series.
I also like to show different tasks that these service dogs do for their veteran owners. Just before I started this current book, I was reading an article about dogs that “cleared rooms” for veterans who were phobic about being ambushed (after having been ambushed in combat). The dog would go into a room first and signal if there was anyone in the space. Since dogs have a great sense of smell, even if someone is hiding, they will locate them. This allowed these vets to slowly overcome their phobia.
I decided that task would be the focal point of this story. And just to make my fictional veteran’s life more complicated, I threw in a locked-room mystery and made his house haunted.
Border Collies are considered the smartest dog breed, which was a good thing, because clearing rooms is a hard task for these dogs to learn. I show how the task is broken down into smaller tasks for training purposes in the previous book in the series, One Flew Over the Chow-Chow’s Nest.
Ally: Are you self-published or traditionally published? How did you make the decision?
KL: I am indie published. I co-own a small indie press, misterio press, that operates as an author cooperative. The authors share their talents—editing, proofreading, etc.—and help each other polish their stories to make them the best they can be.
When I was considering which route to take to publication, my age was the biggest factor. I was 59 when I finally finished editing my first book (it took me 15 years to complete the first draft), and I felt it was ready for the world to see. It takes several years to get published if you follow the traditional route: time to find an agent, for them to sell it to a publisher, for the publisher’s editors to look it over, etc. I didn’t want to wait that long. Now I’m 69 and I have 33 stories published.
Ally: Do you write from an outline?
KL: Not exactly. Mostly I write “by the seat of my pants.” I have a story idea, I mull it over for a while, and then I sit down and start writing.
But recently I’ve been brainstorming a list of plot points before I start writing. I try to come up with at least 20 events that will happen in the story. Then as I write, I can refer back to that list if I get stuck.
Ally: Are you a speed reader or do you settle in and savor a book?
KL: I’ve always been a slow reader. In grade school, it confused my teachers because it took me twice as long to finish reading a story, but I have a very high retention rate. They could ask me any question about what happened, and I’d know the answer. I am still very much a savor-the-story person.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
KL: The story I’m currently drafting is the 2nd book in a new series about a female chief of police in a small city who likes to be hands-on with the bigger cases that come up. It’s called the C.o.P. on the Scene Mysteries. I’m really enjoying the new challenge of writing police procedurals. I hope to have that book, Fatal Escape, out by early fall.
Then I’ll be focusing on the very last book in the Marcia Banks and Buddy series, a novella called Auld Lang Mayfair, which will be a what-are-they-up-to now kind of story (with a mystery in there as well, of course). I hope to have that out by December, but no later than January 1st, since it is set during the week leading up to New Year’s Eve.
Ally: Which of the trivia questions did you choose to answer?
KL:
- memorable book you’ve read: Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine by Bebe Moore Campbell
- an item on your bucket list: Visit Australia and New Zealand
- If you were a color, what would it be and why? Peach; vibrant, yet soft.
- If you couldn’t write anymore, what would you do? Travel more.
- How long does it take you to write a book? First book, 15 years. Fifth book, 1 week (on a writers’ retreat). All the rest, 2-4 months. 😉
Ally: It has been a pleasure, Kassandra. As we wind up the interview, please show us your featured book.
Genre: cozy mystery
Just because you’re paranoid…
Service dog trainer Marcia Banks-Haines tackles a locked room mystery in a haunted house, while training the recipient of her latest dog.
The border collie, Dolly has been trained to clear rooms for an agoraphobic Marine who was ambushed in a bombed-out building in Syria. But the phantom attackers in his psyche turn out to be the least of his troubles when Marcia finds his ex-wife’s corpse in his master bedroom, with the door bolted from the inside.
Was it suicide or murder? Marcia can’t see her client as a killer, but the local sheriff can.
Then the Marine reports hearing his ex calling for him to join her on the other side of the grave. Is his house really haunted, or is he hallucinating?
Marcia has lost a client to suicide before. She’s not going to lose another!
Buy Links:
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B3WNQY1Z
NOOK: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-bark-or-not-to-bark-a-marcia-banks-and-buddy-mystery-kassandra-lamb/1141653124
APPLE: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id6442979080
KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/to-bark-or-not-to-bark-a-marcia-banks-and-buddy-mystery
Landing page link on misterio press website: https://misteriopress.com/bookstore/to-bark-or-not-to-bark-a-marcia-banks-and-buddy-mystery/