with Reba White Williams
We are delighted to welcome mystery author Reba White Williams to Omnimystery News today.
Reba's new art world mystery is Restrike (Delos, May 2013 trade paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats), which introduces cousins — and amateur sleuths — Coleman and Dinah Greene.
We recently had the opportunity to talk to Reba about her book.
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Omnimystery News: Into what subgenre of "mystery" does Restrike fall?
Photo provided courtesy of
Reba White Williams
Reba White Williams: It is a cozy, which is what I like to read myself. My two protagonists — Coleman and Dinah Green, and a pet dog — have been carefully modeled as characters; I also wrote a prequel with them as children. I expect to age them gradually in the series, and their character and personalities will change, but only a little.
OMN: Say something about the book that isn't mentioned in the synopsis.
RWW: Dolly, the Maltese terrier, doesn't get mentioned, but she has a role throughout the series.
OMN: You have extensive knowledge of the art world. Did you include any of your personal experience in the book?
RWW: There's a lot of me in the book. Like my lead characters, I grew up in small-town North Carolina, graduated from Duke, and came to New York to seek my fortune. I've spent my adult life in the worlds of art and business, in New York, just like the Greene cousins.
OMN: Tell us about your writing process.
RWW: I have created biographies of my lead characters, beginning with a book about their childhood I wrote and privately published, titled Angels. I do not write a synopsis, but I've got the plot pretty much in mind, adding color and characters as I go along.
OMN: Did any of your plot points require outside research?
RWW: I rely mainly on firsthand knowledge and my experience. But as an example, I went to a detective equipment store to examine devices used for bugging phones, because I wanted to make sure my explanation in Restrike was accurate.
OMN: The cousins are shown (with Dolly) in a framed portrait on the cover. Did you model them after real people?
RWW: I have a very clear idea of what my characters look like, and they are fairly well described in the book. I worked extensively with the cover artist, and he did a good job of creating Coleman and Dinah. Coleman is pretty close to a British TV actress, who shall remain nameless for now.
OMN: The book is set in New York City, a place with which you are very familiar. Did you have to change anything for the book?
RWW: My settings are as true-to-life as I can make them. They're based on where I've lived and worked, restaurants where I've eaten, theatres where I've been, hotels and vacation spots I know well.
OMN: What do you like to read or watch for fun?
RWW: I read a great deal, mysteries and popular fiction. I also read the New York Times and Wall Street Journal and Country Life. I'm a gardener and a traveler (including to see gardens). I like to entertain, mainly dinner parties in my home. All of these experiences and observations get into my books.
My all-time favorite movie (and book) is To Kill a Mockingbird. Second place is Mrs. Minniver. I like the WWII and 1940s period. I'm a great fan of BBC drama, such as the Lord Peter Wimsey series and Upstairs, Downstairs. I liked all the Harry Potter movies and books. I didn't line up the night before to purchase the Harry Potter books, but I was there the next day.
OMN: What kinds of questions do you like to get from readers? Are there any you particularly enjoy hearing … and maybe some you don't?
RWW: The question I've learned to hate is "Why do you collect prints?" Been asked too many times. I like to talk about my characters.
OMN: Create a Top 5 list for us on any subject.
RWW: Top five places to visit, and see flowers:
• England, in February for snowdrops, spring for bluebells;
• Wales, for the laburnum arch at Bodnant Gardens;
• Central Texas, for the bluebonnets;
• Southern France, in the summer for the fields of sunflowers and lavender; and
• Jersey (Channel Islands) for wildflowers.
OMN: What's next for you?
RWW: Restrike is the first of a series featuring cousins Coleman and Dinah Greene. The second, Fatal Impressions, will be published next March. I'm working on the third and fourth, and have a setting in mind for number five. I have years and years of ideas.
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Reba White Williams has written articles for American Artist, Art and Auction, Print Quarterly and Journal of the Print World. She served on the Print Committees of The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum and The Whitney Museum. She was a member of the Editorial Board of Print Quarterly, and is an Honorary Keeper of American Prints at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge University. She earned her MBA from Harvard, MA in Art History from Hunter, PhD in Art History from the Graduate Center, CUNY, and MA in Fiction Writing from Antioch University.
Williams has served as President of the New York City Art Commission and Vice Chairman of the New York State Council on the Arts. In 2009, most of her and her husband's collection — about 5,000 prints — was donated to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
She and her husband founded the annual Willie Morris Award for best Southern fiction, now in its sixth year. With her husband and their dog Muffin, who is fictionalized in her books, Williams divides her time between New York, Connecticut and Palm Springs.
To learn more about the author and her work, please visit her website at RebaWhiteWilliams.com.
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Restrike
Reba White Williams
A Coleman and Dinah Greene Mystery (1st in series)
Money and murder in the New York City art world, where sleuth Coleman Greene owns ArtSmart magazine and her cousin Dinah manages a Greenwich Village print gallery. Together they show the NYPD how to solve a crime and the swells of Manhattan that in spite of being polite southern women, they mean business.
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