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Deborah Plummer Bussey
We are delighted to welcome mystery author Deborah Plummer Bussey to Omnimystery News today.
Deborah's second "Sister Nun" mystery featuring former nun and practicing psychologist Kathy Carpenter is The Family That Stays Together (Half Dozen Publications; July 2013 trade paperback).
We recently had the opportunity to chat with Deborah about her series.
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Omnimystery News: Introduce us to the characters in your mystery series.
Photo provided courtesy of
Deborah Plummer Bussey
Deborah Plummer Bussey: Kathy Carpenter is a former nun and practicing psychologist, who always finds out something in her therapy practice that she must bring to light without breaking confidentiality. She solicits the help of her gregarious sister, Tina, an interior designer in Atlanta with primarily rap musicians as clients. The sisters could not be more different in personalities but they work well together to prove that a suicide was really a murder in They Still Call Me Sister and an accidental death was not an accident after all in The Family That Stays Together. The sister sleuths continue in the series with other familiar characters.
As a psychologist and former nun I enjoy getting to find out how Kathy is both like me and not like me as she comes alive on the pages. The character Tina is inspired by my gregarious sister Simone Alisa who is actually a designer for rap artists in Atlanta so I am getting to know that character very well. Together, the sisters grow personally in the stories. Kathy becomes a little less naïve and Tina appreciates life lessons in a very different way. Although they grow personally they never age in the series. Kathy will always be 44 and Tina has always just turned 50. Maybe that says something about me having a problem with life moving too quickly and my desire to stop the age clock!
OMN: Into which mystery genre would you place your books?
DPB: My books are cozy mysteries with psychosocial themes. The Sister Nun mysteries also include a great deal of pop culture. Pop culture provides the context for what influences the characters in the story. As a psychologist, understanding the psyche and motivations of the characters is important to me as a writer; thus, the stories have more background and character development than typical mysteries that are more driven by plot. They are cozy mysteries because I am squeamish about blood and gut stuff and I can't imagine crime scenes let alone write about them realistically. As you can imagine, being a former nun writing great sex scenes would not be my strong suit; although, who knows, I may make that a stretch goal as a writer. I experimented with including a brief sex scene in The Family That Stays Together and blushed even while writing it!
OMN: Your personal and professional background seems remarkably similar to that of Kathy. Did you base the character on your own experiences?
DPB: When I was moving to a new home, I found my journals from the thirteen years when I was in the convent. I used these journals to reflect on the emotions that Kathy would have as a former nun.
Kathy and I also share the same fascination with human behavior and what makes people tick. Our values are the same — strong connection to family, steadfast faith, love of people and a deep appreciation for the value of diversity. We are both a little neurotic and are particularly fond of worrying. However, Kathy is riddled with a lot more self-doubt than I possess (only because I am older). Kathy is a lot more naïve than I hope that I am, and far less of a rebellious Catholic than I often can be.
OMN: Describe your writing process.
DPB: I have to at least know how I will start and end the story. Having a beginning, middle and end before I start to write is important. I have done outlines but they do not seem to work well for me. What does work well is for me to write an outline of the scenes. I also write a brief bio of each of the characters and a description of certain rooms so that I remember what kind of furniture is in a reoccurring space. I don't want to have someone sitting on a black leather chair and then in the same room the chair is suddenly floral print.
OMN: What kind of research is involved with creating your storylines?
DPB: I use the internet a lot to do my research. I also do interviews with people who are in the professions that I am writing about. As a practicing psychologist for many years, I am familiar with a number of behavior disorders and how they might manifest in real life. Yet, I still check out behaviors that I am describing in the book. For example, in The Family That Stays Together I interviewed gamblers and had conversations with a psychologist who is an addiction specialist. For They Still Call Me Sister I interviewed people who worked on political campaigns and worked in public office.
OMN: How true are you to the settings in the books?
DPB: The Sister Nun Mysteries are set in Cleveland, Ohio and Atlanta, Georgia. The geography is true to real life and the cities are almost characters in the novels. I lived in Cleveland for most of my life; so I know the city very well. My sister lives in Atlanta; so I have made several trips there just to scout out the geography of the scenes. The names of most of the institutions are changed but those who know the cities will be familiar with the places.
OMN: A screenplay adaptation of the series has been written and you have been asked to help cast the key roles. Who are you recommending?
DPB: I have often dreamt about the Sister Nun Mysteries as a movie. I think Halle Berry would be great as Kathy and Vanessa Williams be a fabulous Tina. Of course, they are both beautiful women and not even close to what I or my sister look like … but this is dreaming, right?
OMN: What kinds of books do you read for pleasure?
DPB: I have always loved to read books where the personality of the characters and their development were the overriding arc of the story. Even though I write in the cozy mystery genre, I do not read a lot of mysteries. A story with a character where I feel like I want him or her to be my friend and who I will miss when I finish reading the book is my best reading.
I am among the first to buy anything by Khaled Hosseni, Junot Diaz, Ann Patchett, Jhumpa Lahiri, Anna Quindlen, Jennifer Weiner, John Grisham, Wally Lamb and a host of other authors. I also read a lot of non-fiction, mostly business books.
OMN: Where might we find you when you're not writing?
DPB: I love to cook and watch endless hours of programs on the Food Network. Occasionally one of the characters will prepare a meal that I have actually cooked. In my next life I am coming back as a celebrity chef.
OMN: Create a Top 5 list for us on any subject.
DPB: The top five new authors you should follow are
• Carol Brunt Rifka, Tell The Wolves I'm Home;
• John Green, The Fault in Our Stars;
• Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl;
• Addison Corban, Walk Across the Sun; and
• Lori Stevic-Rust, Greedy for Life.
They are amazing storytellers and have written some great novels across a variety of subjects.
OMN: What's next for you?
DPB: My husband and I are engaging in a new business to promote new authors through entertainment called Authors in the House. We are building the concept of a Live Bookstore where three authors pitch their stories to a live audience and then the audience votes who they want to hear more about in a longer interview. It is kind of an American Idol meets The Moth Story Slam. We are excited about this new venture. I love promoting new authors and creating a forum where authors can come together with avid readers and folks who just like to be entertained by a good story.
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One of Deborah Plummer Bussey's favorite childhood memories is visiting the local library where she first immersed herself into the world of books, but she never thought that one day she would become a writer. Deborah lived in Cleveland, Ohio, until she was recruited to the University of Massachusetts Medical School in New England. She holds a Master of Education degree in community consultation and a doctorate in psychology. She is a psychologist and human resources professional with expertise in diversity management and organizational development. After a lengthy career as an academic, she discovered a passion for writing. Deborah lives in Westborough, Mass., where she is a regular blogger for The Huffington Post.
To learn more about Deborah and her work, visit her website at DLPlummer.com, or find her on Facebook and (as her character, Kathy Carpenter) on Twitter.
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The Family That Stays Together
Deborah Plummer Bussey
A Sister Nun Mystery (2nd in series)
Sisters Kathy and Tina join forces to protect a family friend, a television celebrity who has been accused of murdering her ex-fiancé. But as usual, scandal, foul play and trouble lurk around every corner.
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