A Conversation with Mystery Author Lauren Carr

with Lauren Carr

We are delighted to welcome back mystery author Lauren Carr to Omnimystery News today.

Lauren has published two titles in her "Mac Faraday" mystery series this year: The Murders at Astaire Castle (Acorn Book Services; July 2013 trade paperback and ebook formats) and The Lady Who Cried Murder (Acorn Book Services; October 2013 trade paperback and ebook formats).

We recently had a chance to catch up with the very busy author to talk to her about her work.

— ♦ —

Omnimystery News: You are the author of three different mystery series, though two share a character. How did these series come about?

Photo provided courtesy of
Lauren Carr, shown together with Gnarly

Lauren Carr: Believe it or not, I did not plan on writing a series. When I dreamed of being an author, I always dreamed of writing stand-alones — big thick deep stand-alones. But then, when I wrote my first book that was published, A Small Case of Murder, I discovered that after spending so much time developing a character, in this case, Joshua Thornton, that I wanted to stay with him, and I still go back to him in the Lovers in Crime Mysteries.

By the time, I got to Mac Faraday with It's Murder, My Son I was hooked on developing a character and sticking with him. Yes, my characters do change, due to the circumstances that they are in — the same way real people do. For example, falling in love or even something as simple as inheriting an overly-intelligent dog.

For example, in Mac's case, he suddenly comes into $270 million on the same day that he loses everything in a nasty divorce. That's enough to affect any man. Being down to earth, Mac does manage to see the humor in the ways of the rich and famous surrounding him, which amuses my readers. While his friends enjoy a life of extravagance, in Blast from the Past, Mac notes that the monthly bill for Gnarly's grooming costs more than he spends annually at the barber. Yet, he also adapts socially over time to the new power that he now holds.

OMN: As a publisher as well as an author, how do you feel about the labels that are frequently applied to mysteries, i.e. cozy mystery, mystery thriller, police procedural, etc.

LC: There are both advantages and disadvantages to labeling an author's books.

The Advantage: Readers know where to look for your books and have a certain expectation.

The Disadvantage: Traditional publishers and bookstores sometimes have trouble knowing where to place you.

That's the beauty of being an independent author and publisher. I can write outside the box. One reviewer has coined the phrase "gritty cozy" for my books. Another reviewer says that my books have "a touch of crime drama to the cozy without losing the cozy charm."

I categorized my books as cozies, but Amazon has also placed them under police procedurals. They are cozy mysteries because Mac Faraday is a retired detective. However, he is hired on contract by the Spencer police department to help with murder investigations. That places it in the police procedural category.

Let's go with gritty cozy. That sounds like more fun.

OMN: Tell us how you go about researching the plot points of your books.

LC: Back before the Internet (which I love!), I started out phoning the police.

Being a newbie, when they answered, I said, "I have dead body. He was murdered, but it looks like a suicide. So when you come, what are you going to do?"

The police officer on the other end of the line got excited. "What? You have a dead body? Murder? Where are you? Who is this?"

I told him where I lived. Then, I realized I was so excited about being an author doing research on a murder that I failed to mention that this was all fiction. Scared out my wits, with visions of the police digging up my yard for a dead body while I tried to explain that I was just writing a book, I slammed down the phone and peered out the window looking for the police the rest of the day. At least I was smart enough to not call them on 9-1-1.

Now, I am lucky in that I have a handful of friends who actually work in these professions who I can check with. They supply me with small details that you can't find anywhere on the Internet, which proves to be invaluable.

I do watch a lot of the crime documentary shows, like American Justice, Forensics Files, as well as CSI, and Law & Order. I went to the Writers Police Academy, which is fabulous. If you are a writer of mystery or suspense, you should go at least once.

Like I said, the Internet is great, but check your facts and check them in more than one place to make sure they are correct. Just because it is on the Internet does not mean it is true.

Surprisingly, the details that I have gotten called on are the tiniest, seemingly insignificant, things that most writers would not think someone would have the time, or care enough, to contact the author about.

I do check my facts. In It's Murder, My Son, where Mac Faraday arrives at the Spencer Inn, Archie orders a five-hundred-dollar bottle of champagne. When I wrote that scene, I searched the Internet for a very expensive champagne. I found an online store with the brand, and picture of the bottle. I could have ordered it, but knew my husband would go through the roof. But I had the site and picture and description of it. I actually copy and pasted the name into the manuscript.

Well, more than two years after the book was released, a reader emailed me to claim that champagne did not exist. I jumped right onto the Internet to find the site to send the link to that reader and could not find it! Now I know that it did exist because I remember joking with my husband about ordering it to test it out in the name of research. But now, when a reader was calling me on it, it was nowhere to be found.

I emailed this information to the reader and she said that she was going to embark on a search for the champagne. Incidents like that make me laugh and groan both at the same time.

OMN: Where do the mysteries in your books take place?

LC: The Mac Faraday Mysteries take place in Spencer, (a fictional town) set on Deep Creek Lake (a real lake) in western Maryland. While Spencer is a fictional town, I have stayed true to the local environment. Deep Creek Lake is a resort area in western Maryland. There are a lot of seasonal residents from metropolitan Washington DC.

Of course, there is a story behind how the Mac Faraday Mysteries ended up set in this fictional town.

Years ago, my sister-in-law had asked me to set a murder mystery in her home town, a sweet summer place in Wisconsin called Pelican Lake. At the time, I was working on a storyline that wasn't a good fit for the Joshua Thornton Mysteries, my first series. So I went to work on a new series set on a lake in the resort town of Pelican Lake.

I had completed the first draft of It's Murder, My Son in time for a visit from my sister-in-law. Excited about a murder set in her town at her request, she asked for all the details. When I mentioned that the murder victim was killed in her house, I was surprised to see horror on her face. Since her home and property had a unique design and layout, anyone knowing her could easily tell that the murder took place in her home.

For the sake of family harmony, I decided to do a re-write.

As luck would have it, my family started vacationing at Deep Creek Lake in Maryland. Like Pelican Lake, Deep Creek Lake is a resort area. It was child's play to pick up my series in Pelican Lake and plop it down in Western Maryland, until I asked the local police department to let me portray them as a bunch of idiots.

In the storyline for It's Murder, My Son, homicide detective Mac Faraday discovers that his birth mother is the late Robin Spencer, America's Queen of Mystery and he is her sole heir. Upon learning that he has a half-brother, police officer David O'Callaghan, he moves to Deep Creek Lake to meet him.

Mac is drawn into the murder investigation of his neighbor after Gnarly, his inherited German shepherd, drags home a dismembered head. When he sees that the chief detective is an incompetent, Mac joins David in the investigation. It is the perfect opportunity to get to know his brother better. As luck would have it, Mac ends up making David the prime suspect.

While rewriting It's Murder, My Son, I was surprised when the local police department refused to cooperate in my research. The sheriff in Garrett County would only give me a tour of the jail if I brought my toothbrush and planned to stay a while. Their resistance was understandable. Even though I promised disclaimers in my acknowledgements about my work being completely fiction and not based on anyone real, the police department was concerned about their image.

So, out of respect for the real law enforcement, I created a fictional resort town resting on the shores of the real Deep Creek Lake and had a blast doing it. Thus, Spencer, the uptown section of Deep Creek Lake, was founded.

OMN: What are some of your outside interests? And have any of these found their way into your books?

LC: Cooking. I'm a gourmet cook and I love exotic food. So, of course, the character of Archie Monday, Mac Faraday's lady love, is very much into this. She loves to cook and eat new things. Spencer Inn is a five-star resort with a gourmet restaurant. I will throw in foods that I have tried or yearn to try.

Like my husband, Mac Faraday has certain "food fears." In The Murders at Astaire Castle, I introduce an Indonesian head chef, Iman, who is based on a friend who was a chef on cruise ships. Iman teases Mac over his apprehension over eating certain foods. We learn that soon after they had met, Mac refused to touch a dinner of a whole fish because our big bad detective, who can track down brutal murderers, can't eat something that still has its head and eyeballs.

OMN: What's next for you?

LC: The next Mac Faraday Mystery, Twelve to Murder, will be released in early 2014.

When former child-star and teenybopper idol Lenny Frost is suspected of a double-murder, he becomes desperate. After taking a group of innocent bystanders in a local pub hostage, Lenny gives Mac Faraday twelve hours to prove find the real killer and prove he is innocent before the emotionally unstable former star kills all of the hostages, including Mac, and himself.

— ♦ —

The owner of Acorn Book Services, Lauren Carr is also a publishing manager, consultant, editor, cover and layout designer, and marketing agent for independent authors. This year, several books, over a variety of genre, written by independent authors will be released through the management of Acorn Book Services, which is currently accepting submissions. Visit the Acorn Book Services website for more information.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She also passes on what she has learned in her years of writing and publishing by conducting workshops and teaching in community education classes.

She lives with her husband, son, and three dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

For more information about the author and her work, please visit her website at MysteryLady.net, read her Literary Wealth blog, or find her on Facebook.

— ♦ —

The Murders at Astaire Castle
Lauren Carr
A Mac Faraday Mystery

Never tell Mac Faraday not to do something …

Spencer's police chief, David O'Callaghan, learns this lesson the hard way when he orders Mac Faraday to stay away from the south end of Spencer's mountaintop — even though he owns the property. It doesn't take long for Mac to find out what lies on the other side of the stone wall and locked gate, on which hangs a sign warning visitors to Keep Out!

Topping the list of the ten top haunted places in America, Astaire Castle is associated with two suicides, three mysterious disappearances, and four murders since it was built almost a century ago — and Mac Faraday owns it!

In spite of David's warning, Mac can't resist unlocking the gate to see the castle that supposedly hasn't seen a living soul since his late mother had ordered it closed up after the double homicide and disappearance of Damian Wagner, a world-famous master of horror novels.

What starts out as a quick tour of a dusty old castle turns into another Mac Faraday adventure when Astaire Castle becomes the scene of even more murders. Mac is going to need to put all of his investigative talents to work to sort out this case that involves the strangest characters he has run into yet — including a wolf man. No, we're not talking about Gnarly.

    

— ♦ —

The Lady Who Cried Murder
Lauren Carr
A Mac Faraday Mystery

Fame comes at a price. Some pay with their privacy. Others pay with their pride. Khloe Everest paid with her life …

Determined to get her pretty face in front of the cameras, Khloe Everest fakes an abduction only to make a grand entrance in the midst of a press conference held by Spencer's Police Chief David O'Callaghan.

Three years later, after failing to catapult her notoriety into a long-lasting celebrity, Khloe Everest returns to Spencer upon her mother's sudden death and seemingly finds another weapon to propel herself into the spotlight. Unfortunately, someone kills her before she can make this entrance.

Mac also finds himself face-to-face with an old foe from his past who had managed to escape arrest during their last encounter. Now, Mac sees that his adversary has only become more powerful, and dangerous, with the passage of time.

Intent to not let this killer escape again, Mac and his friends need to put all of their talents together to put a stop to a cold blooded lady killer.