A Conversation with Mystery Author LynDee Walker

with LynDee Walker

We are delighted to welcome mystery author LynDee Walker to Omnimystery News today, courtesy of Cozy Mystery Book Reviews, which is coordinating her current book tour. We encourage you to visit all of the participating host sites; you can find her schedule here.

LynDee's first "Headlines in Heels" mystery featuring crime reporter Nichelle Clarke is Front Page Fatality (Henery Press; January 2013 trade paperback and ebook formats).

We recently had a chance to talk to LynDee about her new series.

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Omnimystery News: Front Page Fatality is the first book in a series. Why did you choose to develop a recurring character for your mysteries?

Photo provided courtesy of
LynDee Walker

LynDee Walker: I actually started writing the second Nichelle Clarke book the same day I typed "the end" on the first one, because I loved the characters and wasn't ready to say goodbye to them. I'm now working on a novella in the same series, and then will start another novel. I hope the characters grow and develop over the course of the series. I expect they will, because they're real people to me, and real people tend to change. I'm excited to see what happens.

OMN: Do you consider your mystery to be a "cozy"?

LW: A lot of people have categorized my books as cozy mysteries, and they have a lot of the cozy characteristics (amateur sleuth, humor, no excessive gore). That said, I think they straddle the genre line a little because of Nichelle's sass, a touch of language, and Nichelle's job. She's not a police officer, but she works on the edges of the law enforcement world because she's a crime reporter, so she has access to people and information your average Jane wouldn't. I wouldn't say hard-boiled, but "traditional" or "humorous mystery" fits well. I think most of the marketing has been as "cozy" or "humorous mystery" and it's working great! The categories help readers discover new books, which is helpful for debut authors like me.

OMN: Tell us something about your book that isn't mentioned in the publisher synopsis.

LW: One thing that seems to stand out to readers from the feedback I've seen is the relationship Nichelle has with her editor, who is very much a father figure. Bob is one of my favorite characters, a hard-nosed boss who demands excellence, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and a good man.

OMN: Did you base any facet of Nichelle on your own experiences?

LW: Well, I used to be a reporter before I was a mom, and I covered cops for a long time, so the newsroom and Nichelle's job are very familiar and comfortable for me. The almost getting killed and the sexy Mafia guy, though, I did not pull from personal experience.

OMN: How do you go about writing your books?

LW: I outline the mysteries, because I'd really get myself in trouble trying to work out clues and suspects if I didn't. Other than that, I let the story develop as I go. It's so much more fun for me that way!

OMN: You probably encountered a plot point or two that needed to be researched. What did that involve?

LW: In Front Page Fatality, the most challenging thing had to do with drugs and forensic science. I was fortunate to meet a lovely lab tech while I was writing, and she may well have thought I was a little crazy for being so interested in her work, but I got great information while listening to her.

The most exciting thing to research for the book was the car trunk scene. I got into the trunk of a friend's sedan to make sure I had the mechanics right. I'm pretty sure she thought I was crazy, too, since I didn't tell her at the time that I was writing a novel. But I love that scene, and I know it would work.

OMN: Imagine Nichelle on the big screen. Who do you see playing the part?

LW: Nichelle looks like Nichelle to me, not like an actress. But if I had to pick, I'd say Anne Hathaway or Alexis Bledel, maybe. I'd really love to see Lauren Graham, actually, because she's the closest to the picture I have in my head, but Nichelle is a bit younger than most of the characters she usually plays.

OMN: Nichelle works for the Richmond Telegraph newspaper. Tell us why you chose Richmond, Virginia as the setting for the series.

LW: I love Richmond, and I sincerely hope that comes through in my work. Like me, Nichelle moved to Virginia from Texas as an adult, and she loves it, too. I have a lot of fun roaming around the parts of the city where she lives and works, thinking up interesting places for body discoveries.

I do take liberties with some things: the baseball team for instance. When I wrote the rough draft of Front Page Fatality, we didn't have a baseball team at all, so I decided if I was going to give us one it might as well be a big league one. Since then, we've gotten a triple-A team, but I decided to leave the Generals and major league baseball in the books.

OMN: Did you read mysteries when you were a child?

LW: I did read a lot of mystery growing up: Nancy Drew, The Three Investigators, Encyclopedia Brown — I guess that influenced me when I began to write. I still read a lot of mysteries, and I tend to gravitate toward funny mysteries (I'm a big fan of Laura Levine's Jaine Austen series), so I think when I started writing, I think the book just naturally went down that path.

OMN: What are some of your hobbies? Do any of these find their way into your books?

LW: I love to read, which Nichelle does a lot of, and I adore my family and my dog (who is also a toy pomeranian). Aside from that, I dabble in scrapbooking and I try to play tennis. Nichelle's not a scrapbooker, but tennis has a couple of small cameos in my novels.

OMN: You said earlier that you've been getting positive feedback about your cast of characters. What else do you hear from readers?

LW: I'm about as available as a person can get online, and I reply to every email I get from readers. I've been amazed by the number of folks who not only read my novel, but took time out of their lives to write me a note or message me and tell me they enjoyed it or ask me a question. That always makes my day.

I love all the questions I've gotten, though I do particularly remember one exchange of several messages with a reader who asked for more physical description of Nichelle (I like to picture characters on my own, so while there's some in there, there's no "character looking in the mirror describing herself" scene). I told her how I picture Nichelle, and she replied that she had wondered if Nichelle was African-American. I love it! I don't picture her as such, but the idea that I did a good enough job with my purposely-vague description that someone else could gave me such a warm-fuzzy.

OMN: You mentioned being a fan of Laura Levine's Jaine Austin mysteries. Are there any other authors you have on your "must-read" list?

LW: There are so many, I hesitate to answer for fear of leaving someone out! In addition to Laura Levine, Sarah Strohmeyer and often Stephen King. I like mysteries, women's fiction, and some paranormal and horror, too. The list of books I don't like is much shorter than the list of ones I do.

OMN: Create a Top 5 list on any topic.

LW: Top 5 types of shoes every woman should own. (You can own them without wearing them regularly, right?)

1. Knock-out stiletto heels: if you have only one pair, black is a great color choice.

2. Wedge sandals: sturdier than heels, they're usually more comfortable and still add height.

3. Flip flops: what summer is complete without flip flops? I like Havianas best for comfort and durability.

4. Sneakers: exercise is good for you, and a good pair of walking/running shoes will help keep it from hurting you.

5. Knee-high boots: the perfect thing to wear with a great dress or skirt on a crisp fall day.

OMN: What's next for you?

LW: My next novel, Buried Leads, goes on sale everywhere on October 15th, and I'm so excited for y'all to see what Nichelle's up to now! On a personal note, summer runs a photo-finish second to Christmas on my list of best times of the year, and I'm looking forward to long days by the pool, working on Nichelle's third adventure.

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LynDee Walker grew up in the land of stifling heat and amazing food most people call Texas, and wanted to be Lois Lane from the time she could say the words "press conference". An award-winning journalist, she traded cops and deadlines for burp cloths and onesies when her oldest child was born. Writing the "Headlines in Heels" mysteries gives her the best of both worlds.

When not writing or reading, LynDee is usually wrangling children, eating barbecue or enchiladas, or trying to walk off said barbecue and enchiladas. She and her family live in Richmond, Virginia.

To learn more about the author and her work, visit her website at LynDeeWalker.com.

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Front Page Fatality
LynDee Walker
A Nichelle Clarke, Headlines in Heels Mystery (1st in series)

Crime reporter Nichelle Clarke's days can flip from macabre to comical with a beep of her police scanner. Then an ordinary accident story turns extraordinary when evidence goes missing, a prosecutor vanishes, and a sexy Mafia boss shows up with the headline tip of a lifetime.

As Nichelle gets closer to the truth, her story gets more dangerous. Armed with a notebook, a hunch, and her favorite stilettos, Nichelle races to splash these shady dealings across the front page before this deadline becomes her last.