We are delighted to welcome back author Dorothy Howell to Omnimystery News today.
Dorothy's new entry in her Haley Randolph mystery series is Backpacks and Betrayals (September 2016 ebook format) and we recently caught up with the busy author to talk a bit about her books.
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Omnimystery News: Tell us a little more about your Haley Randolph mysteries. What is it about the character that appeals to you as an author?
Photo provided courtesy of
Dorothy Howell
Dorothy Howell: The Haley Randolph series is a cozy — but not your grandmother's cozy mystery. Haley is 24 years old, dating, shopping, and trying to find her way in life. The series is set in Los Angeles, and Haley is a fashionista obsessed with designer handbags.
There are eight full-length books and several novellas in the series. The latest is Backpacks and Betrayals.
Throughout the series Haley has had a number of jobs, none of which worked out well until she stumbled into the position of event planner at L.A. Affairs. Now she's staging parties for stars, celebrities, and high profile Hollywood insiders.
I like that Haley is up for most anything and, while she finds herself in all sorts of predicaments, she always lands on her feet. She works part-time for Holt's Department Store where she is, undoubtedly, the world's worst sales clerk. I try to balance that by giving her some admirable qualities — she's very loyal to her friends, has a strong sense of justice, and is a complete old lady about drinking and driving, and sleeping around.
The series is very funny, which is something that appeals to me when I read a book. I prefer light reads — no grim, gruesome crimes for me — so that's what I write.
OMN: The first book in the series, Handbags and Homicide, came out in 2008. How has Haley changed over the years?
DH: Haley's character has progressed throughout the series. She's grown up quite a bit. Her job is more responsible now, and she has a better handle on her finances and life in general.
Her love life is still up in the air, of course. Since I also write historical romance novels, I had to give her a boyfriend. He's Ty Cameron, whose family has owned the Holt's Department Store chain where Haley works part-time, for five generations. Their relationship has had many ups and downs. Of course, I couldn't resist adding a hot guy to the series — Jack Bishop, the private detective. There's also Shuman, a handsome guy-next-door LAPD Homicide Detective.
OMN: You mentioned that the series books are cozies. Why do you think readers are attracted to this genre?
DH: I think this genre appeals to readers because the books are light, funny, and don't evoke images that might keep them up at night. When buying a cozy, the reader knows what to expect so they can relax and enjoy the read.
OMN: Tell us something about your new book that isn't mentioned in the synopsis.
DH: In Backpacks and Betrayals, Haley is working as an event planner for L.A. Affairs, staging a fashion crawl for the North Hollywood Art's District when one of the models is pushed to her death down a flight of stairs.
The model who dies is a fit model. Almost no one knows what that is — I certainly didn't. The novella explains what the job entails and its impact on the fashion industry. It offers a rare, behind-the-scenes peek at one of fashion's best kept secrets.
OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in your books?
DH: Most of my own experiences relate to Haley's job as a sales clerk — even though I never spotted a dead body while shopping!
I was a sales clerk many years ago for Sears when I lived in Charleston, SC. My daughters put in their time working retail when they were younger, going through college. In fact, the experiences of one of my daughters actually inspired the Haley Randolph series.
I'd been writing historical romance and wanted to get into writing mystery, though I didn't have any solid ideas about what to write. Then my daughter came home telling me horror stories about the new job she'd just taken at a midrange department store — how awful the management was the employees, how awful the employees were to customers and to each other. It was so terrible I realized it would make a great book!
I used the "handbag" theme for the series because, like Haley, I have a crazed obsession with purses.
OMN: You use a pen name for your other series, right?
DH: I write historical romance novels under my pen name, Judith Stacy. When I moved into mystery I wanted to use a different name so readers wouldn't be confused about what they were buying. I write the Haley Randolph series and the Dana Mackenzie series under my own name, Dorothy Howell.
OMN: What kinds of books did you read when you were young?
DH: As a child I didn't like to read. Weird, huh, considering that I've published 40 books. I was a slow reader and my comprehension was poor. Reading anything seemed like a daunting task — my worst fear in high school was that one of my English teachers would assign Moby Dick. It was a really thick book, and I'd heard it was about a whale. Ugh.
I started to enjoy reading when, as an adult, I discovered books that were actually fun to read. I stumbled upon The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss and I was hooked.
When I started writing I chose to write historical romance because I loved the genre, and the books always had a happy ending.
OMN: What's next for you?
DH: Launching later this month is the next full-length novel in the Haley Randolph series, Pocketbooks and Pistols. It will be available in hardcover and digital editions from Kensington books, and can be pre-ordered now.
Readers have asked that I do something to improve Haley's somewhat difficult relationship with her former beauty queen mother. In Pocketbooks and Pistols, Haley discovers a huge secret her mom has been harboring for decades. It's so stunning, so shocking, Haley can hardly believe it, and it spins their relationship in an entirely different direction.
Last year's hardcover book, Swag Bags and Swindlers, will soon be released in paperback.
Several more of my historical romances, written under my pen name Judith Stacy, are being made available as ebooks.
The latest is The Last Bride in Texas, a Rita Award Finalist published by Harlequin Historicals, in which the town spinster's world is rocked when a stranger shows up looking for her.
Coming soon is the novella Christmas Wishes. Set in the 1890s, a widower is desperate to learn his daughter's one Christmas wish and turns to an unlikely source for help.
I'm gearing up for the holidays. I always do special giveaways for my Facebook readers. You are invited to sign up for my newsletter at DorothyHowellNovels.com to join in the fun.
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Dorothy Howell writes for two major New York publishing houses, in two genres, under two names. She's sold 39 novels, and her books have been translated into a dozen languages and have sold worldwide. Dorothy writes the Dana Mackenzie and Haley Randolph mystery series. She also writes historical romance for Harlequin under the pen name Judith Stacy. She lives in Southern California.
For more information about the author, please visit her website at DorothyHowellNovels.com and her author page on Goodreads, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
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Backpacks and Betrayals by Dorothy Howell
A Haley Randolph Mystery
Publisher: Dorothy Howell
Fashionista and event planner Haley Randolph is staging the North Hollywood Art's District fashion crawl, and everything looks flawless — until one of the models is pushed to her death down a flight of stairs!
With celebrities, VIPs, and the fashion world's most celebrated clothing designers expected to attend, Haley fears the bad publicity could crush the crawl. To save the event, Haley investigates — and she knows she can't be fashionably late finding the killer.
Soon she uncovers rivalry, deception, and misplaced loyalty among the models. Plus, everyone at the agency harbors secrets of their own.
In the middle of this, Haley also has to plan for a family wedding and knows she'll never measure up to her overachieving cousins — unless she shows up with the Domino, an exquisite artisan handbag made specifically for her. Problem is, the waiting list is months long.
Haley must find a killer and get that handbag — before time runs out!
— Backpacks and Betrayals by Dorothy Howell
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