Book Tour de Ginny Smith
Murder By Mushroom (Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense)
It's been a few months, but I'm back, just in time to join in the Blog Book Tour with author Virginia Smith (aka Ginny). Ginny and I met a couple years ago at the 2005 ICRS convention in Denver, Colorado, where we discussed our current projects. In 2006 I fell in love with Ginny's protagonist, Mayla, in her first fictional debut, Just as I Am (Kregal). Now I'm excited to introduce her new book, Murder By Mushrooms (Steeple Hill).Here's the skinny:"A potluck on the lawn of Heritage Community Church attracts the usual pests - ants and flies, gossips and murderers. In this cozy mystery set in the small town of Versailles, Kentucky, kitchen klutz Jackie Hoffner decides to bring something other than potato chips to the church potluck. When someone plants poisonous mushrooms in her casserole to kill a gossipy old lady, Jackie determines to find the killer and clear her name."I thoroughly enjoyed Ginny's cozy mystery, noxious fungus and all! Krazy Jackie Hoffner is a loveable--albeit--tenacious leading lady. I read this book snuggled up with a wool blanket while cruising (literally cruising through the Alaskan Inside Passage last week. (sidenote: It seemed appropriate to read a book with a food title while veritably eating my way to oblivion). I was particularly looking for a fun read and Smith delivered. It was both cozy and mysterious. I caught up with Ginny today and had a few questions for her regarding her new book.
Your first book was inspirational Christian fiction. What inspired you to move into the cozy mystery genre? I’ve loved Agatha Christie’s books since I first started reading. My mother has every AC book ever published, and I think I’ve read them all. So I always wanted to try my hand at writing a mystery, and over the years I came up with a couple of ideas. When I finally got my first book contract it was for a chick lit book, so I put mysteries on the back burner for a while.Then a few months after my first novel was released I found myself sitting beside an editor for Steeple Hill during dinner at a conference. She told those of us at the table that she had recently bought a cozy mystery series that centered around a controversy about the style of music in a church choir. Well, I was indignant – that was my idea! Don’t you hate it when that happens, when you have an idea and you don’t act on it, and then you hear that someone else has taken it and run with it? Well, I’m sitting there chewing my food, stewing about that missed opportunity, and trying to come up with another idea for a mystery. I was eating chicken with a mushroom sauce. I have a friend who is a wild mushroom harvester, and a few weeks before she’d been telling me that she was called to the hospital ER to consult on a case of mushroom poisoning. When we stood up to leave dinner, I turned to the editor and said, “I have an idea for a cozy mystery.” And I told her idea I’d just dreamed up. She smiled, handed me her card and said, “I’d like to see that.” In a couple of months, I had a contract for Murder by Mushroom.
Who is your favorite mystery writer?
Well, my favorite classic mystery writer has to be Agatha Christie. That woman was a master! But there are some really good ones today, too. In the general market Dick Francis’ books are terrific. In the area of Christian mysteries, I think Rene Gutteridge is excellent, and Sharon Dunn, too. I like humor, and both those ladies have made me laugh out loud as I read their books.
[okay, F.Y.I.: I'm an Agatha Christie FREAK - have been for 25 years. I own 156 AC books, my treaure being a 1954 edition of A Pocket Full of Rye I bought in England in 1994. I also love Rene Gutteridge's stuff. No wonder Ginny and I hit it off so well!]Okay, back to the interview. What good books on writing (fiction particularly) can you recommend?
When I received the contract for Murder by Mushroom I had never written a mystery. After indulging in several moments of panic (as in, “What was I thinking to say I could pull off a mystery!”) I ran to the library where I found a book called Writing the Modern Mystery by Barbara Norville. For a mystery writer, that book is an absolute must. I also highly recommend Brandilyn Collins’ Getting Into Character for all novelists. And one of my favorites – though the language is a bit shocking – is Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird.
Are you involved in a writers group of some sort?
Several. I am a confirmed critique groupie. I’ve been active in writing groups since the mid-90’s and I can honestly say that I have never turned in a piece of fiction without running it by at least one critique partner. Over the years my critique groups have helped me develop the skills I needed to produce publishable fiction, and I’m eternally grateful to every one of them. Currently, I’m the critique group moderator for Christian Writers Fellowship International, and also belong to a face-to-face group in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Alrighty, since your book starts with a potluck, I have to ask: what’s your favorite item to bring to a potluck???? (since I have picky kids, I always bring a plate of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches – they go every time!)
My church in Kentucky has a potluck every month, on communion Sunday. I love potlucks, which is probably why one became a pivotal event in Murder by Mushroom. I have a Broccoli-Craisin Salad that I like to bring, and that’s always a big hit. But that has no mushrooms, and I also love mushrooms. So I have another dish that always goes over well – Jambalaya, with cayenne pepper, spicy sausage, and extra mushrooms!
Thanks for coming and visiting me here on Chatter Matters, Ginny! I look forward to reading more--especially anything cozy and mysterious!
