with Billie Thomas
We are delighted to welcome mystery author Billie Thomas 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.
Billie introduces interior decorator and amateur sleuth Chloe Carstairs in Murder on the First Day of Christmas (Annie Acorn Publishing, December 2012 trade paperback and ebook formats).
We recently had a chance to talk to Billie about her new series. And we don't want you to miss out on the opportunity to win one of four terrific prizes courtesy of Cozy Mystery Marketing; click on the banner at the end of this post for more details.
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Omnimystery News: Introduce us to your new series.
Photo provided courtesy of
Billie Thomas
Billie Thomas: Murder on the First Day of Christmas is the first case for Chloe Carstairs, but expect to see plenty more of her and her mother Amanda, as the series continues. (Murder in a Two Seater is up next.) The idea of writing a series really appealed to me because it allows readers to invest in a character and watch them grow and change over the course of series. I've gotten hooked on several mystery series myself, and love watching the main character (be it Stephanie Plum or Kinsey Millhone just to name a couple) develop in their personal and professional lives.
OMN: There are niches for all sorts of mysteries now. Into which would yours fall?
BT: The Chloe Carstairs Mysteries are rom-com mysteries. Or chick-lit whodunits, I'd say. That has a nice ring to it, right? I hear from readers all the time who say they don't read mysteries (wha-?), but that the romantic and comedic elements hooked them.
OMN: Tell us something about your book that isn't mentioned in the publisher synopsis.
BT: A cast-iron cornbread skillet makes a pretty good weapon in a pinch.
OMN: How would you tweet a summary of the book?
BT: MURDER ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS: A Christmas fatality...with a dash of Southern hospitality. http://amzn.to/106dfN8
OMN: Tell us about your writing process.
BT: I'm a bit of a control-freak … but lazy too. So I do have a synopsis and biographies before I start to write but they're pretty loose and subject to change. When I'm working on a manuscript I try to write every day unless work is out of control. A thousand words a day is my goal but I often do more if the story is taking off. And it only takes off if I'm writing consistently.
OMN: Did you draw on any of your own experiences in developing the plot or characters?
BT: Well, I've never stumbled upon a dead body, or mooned half the Birmingham police department, but there are several parts of the book that draw from my real life. The setting, instance. I love Birmingham and want everyone to know what a great city it is. It's a character itself — often underestimated, full of surprises. Another Birmingham author, the late Anne George, was a master at using Birmingham as a backdrop for her stories. She was a definite inspiration. Also the relationship between Chloe and Amanda is very much like the one I had with my mother. Even better though, the relationship between Chloe's parents is similar to the one my parents had. A true love story, full of humor and affection. Definitely something to aspire to!
OMN: You mentioned the books are set in Birmingham. How true are you to the location?
BT: While many of the specific places are fictionalized, the city itself helps add a Southern flavor to the story that really helps define my characters.
OMN: What is the best advice you've received as an author?
BT: Connect with other writers. I love writing but it's not the solitary experience everyone thinks it is. You need to workshop your early drafts and network at conferences. You need have people to commiserate with when rejections start rolling in. And you'll need connections to help you market your book — which you'll have to do yourself whether you go the indie or the traditional publishing route. I've met some of the best, most creative and generous people through writing. I'm part of a writers' collective called Indie-Visible.com, which helps connect indie writers with the resources they need to be successful at self-publishing. It's a lot hard work to go indie, but very fulfilling to take your destiny into your own hands.
OMN: Tell us who you would cast in the roles of Chloe and her mother if the book were to be adapted for television or film.
BT: I've always said a fifty-something Debbie Reynolds to play the mom, Amanda. That's a no-brainer. Chloe, however, is harder to cast. Usually I say a paler (read: pastier) Mindy Kaling. But maybe Molly Ringwald at thirty.
OMN: What are your hobbies or interests outside of writing mysteries?
BT: I work in the advertising industry. I have a super-cute boyfriend and an even cuter Rhodesian Ridgeback named Kamali. I love to travel (Thailand, Cambodia, Peru are just a few of my favorite destinations), cook (not everything Southerners eat is fried) and write — which is good, since it's my day job and my dream job.
OMN: What's next for you?
BT: I would like to keep the Chloe Carstairs series going and going. It's a numbered series so Murder in a Two-Seater is next, but I want readers to still be clamoring for another book when I sit down to write Murder, SPF 15. Meanwhile I'd like to experiment with other genres as well, including a YA series.
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Billie Thomas is the pseudonym of a Birmingham-based author. After the real Billie passed away unexpectedly at the end of 2011, getting Murder on the First Day of Christmas, the first of a series, revised and published was her daughter's top priority as a way to honor the mom who had given her a lifelong love of books.
In her real life, Ms. Thomas writes within the advertising industry and is a founding member of the writing collective, IndieVisible.
The author enjoys combining her interests in decorating and gourmet cooking with her writing. She is still trying to solve the mystery of her own love life.
Learn more about Billie and Chloe at ChloeGetsAClue.com, or find them on Facebook and Twitter.
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Murder on the First Day of Christmas
Billie Thomas
A Chloe Carstairs Mystery (1st in series)
It's beginning to look a lot like murder.
Finding a severed hand at a client's house might throw lesser decorators off their games. But Chloe Carstairs and her mother, Amanda, won't let a little thing like murder keep them from decking the halls. With a body under the partridge's pear tree and a dead Santa in a sleigh, they have to crack the case before the killer strikes again — this time much too close to home.
Filled with laugh-out-loud humor, romance and a delightfully difficult mother-daughter relationship, this new series from Billie Thomas offers a fast-paced caper as these two southern ladies try to keep their very merry Christmas from turning into the Noel from hell.
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