We are delighted to welcome author Marie Moore to Omnimystery News today, courtesy of Great Escapes Book Tours, which is coordinating her current book tour. We encourage you to visit all of the participating host sites; you can find her schedule here.
Marie's third mystery to feature travel agent Sidney Marsh is Side Trip To Kathmandu (Camel Press; March 2015 trade paperback and ebook formats) and we recently had the chance to catch up with her to talk more about the book and the series.
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Omnimystery News: Introduce to Sidney Marsh. What is it about her that appeals to you as a writer?
Photo provided courtesy of
Marie Moore
Marie Moore: Sidney Marsh is in trouble again! The young Mississippi-born, New York based travel agent does a great job of leading her clients on tours to exotic destinations around the world, but she has a real problem … her clients don't always make it back alive! Then it is up to Sidney to discover who is killing them and why, without getting killed herself. Her boss at Itchy Feet Travel has given her an ultimatum in Side Trip to Kathmandu, the third mystery in the Sidney Marsh Murder Mystery Series. These tragic and unfortunate deaths may not be Sidney's fault, but they must stop, he threatens, or Sidney is out of a job.
I love writing about Sidney. She is a good girl with a valiant spirit, always trying to do her best for people even if in doing so she risks her own safety. I like her courage, her curiosity, and her humor as she struggles with situations that often turn deadly and a love life that somehow always seems to end in disaster.
OMN: How has the cast of characters developed over the course of the series?
MM: The Sidney Marsh series follows her around the world, thus far travelling on a cruise ship from England to Russia through Scandinavia (Shore Excursion, 2012), to Cape Town and on safari in South Africa (Game Drive, 2013), and in the most recent mystery (Side Trip to Kathmandu, 2015), to Northern India and Nepal. Though Sidney changes somewhat, as we all do over time as she experiences the challenges she finds in these varied adventures, she remains basically the same girl throughout, though who knows how future adversity may affect her? Time will tell. Her outrageous best friend and colleague, Jay Wilson, also remains largely the same, but various other characters come and go, with some taking on a more prominent role and others fading into the background or being eliminated entirely.
OMN: Into which fiction genre would you place this series?
MM: My books are travel mysteries, written in the cozy tradition with no gratuitous violence, graphic sex or offensive language. Like my fellow Mississippian, John Grisham, I don't write books my mother can't read. Sidney is an amateur sleuth, untrained in police procedure. She tries to solve her deadly puzzles as any of us would in such a situation, to the best of her knowledge and ability. But she is not a pro at resolving the crime of murder and that lack of training and experience often puts her in jeopardy. There are always disadvantages in trying to fit what we do into an exact slot, and that applies to this series, for it is a cozy, but with elements of a suspense and thrill.
OMN: Tell us something about the books that aren't mentioned in the publisher's synopses.
MM: In my books I try create an accurate feel for the countries that Sidney visits, for I think people enjoy "armchair travelling" and it is important to me to get the details right. I also touch lightly on issues that I feel strongly about, like the plight of the homeless (Shore Excursion) the systematic decimation for profit of the African elephant and rhino (Game Drive) and the chattel status of women in some parts of the world (Side Trip to Kathmandu). I fully realize that it is my primary function in these books to entertain, not to preach. Yet if my speaking to these issues, however lightly, makes my readers think about them, then I think I've accomplished a goal.
OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in the books?
MM: A lot of my experience is in the Sidney Marsh mysteries, for I owned and managed a retail travel agency for fifteen years and travelled all over the world in my job. However, Sidney is not me or my daughters and none of the characters are based in real people. I believe that to do so limits the writer's imagination, for then your characters can only do or say or look like your friends and neighbors. My characters are definitely alive, but only in my imagination and in between the pages of my novels. Besides stifling the creative process, I think using real people is not quite fair to those near and dear to you. That said, it's always a real temptation to vicariously kill of the baddies! I will, however, sometimes characterize strangers that I observe in passing in daily life and in my own travels. The same is true of situations. I rarely use anything personal. Though if something truly funny has happened to me, some version of it might show up in a book sometime.
OMN: What is the best advice — and harshest criticism — you've received as an author? And what might you say to aspiring writers?
MM: The best advice I've had came from reading the books on writing written by masters Lawrence Block (Telling Lies for Fun and Profit and Spider, Spin Me a Web) and Stephen King (On Writing). Not only were they great fun to read, but they also contained a lot a solid, usable, down-to-earth advice on writing and I highly recommend them.
The criticism that I found most offensive was an online review from a person (troll) who gave a bad rating and had ugly things to say about my book but obviously, from the included comments, had never read it. That sort of thing, all too common nowadays, is doubly hurtful because the author has no defense against an unfair ambush like that. I do not mind constructive criticism at all and have profited greatly from the comments of my readers and editor. I appreciate their time and interest in helping me improve my work. But I don't like to be blindsided by a malicious mugger. No one does. I can't imagine what a miserable person this must be to want to do such a thing to anyone and I feel really sad for such people that have apparently found so little to do in their own lives.
The best advice I have for anyone who wants to write a novel and see it published is to do it! So many people at writer's conferences and signings tell me that they have written something good but they either have not finished it or have not submitted it to anyone for consideration. To those writers I say, "Your book will never be published from your hard drive or the bottom drawer of your desk. Pull it out into the light of day, work on it until you are satisfied, and then send it off! And if it is rejected, send it out again, and again, until someone decides to take it on."
OMN: How did your books come to be titled?
MM: All of my book titles are travel terms.
OMN: What's next for you?
MM: I am presently working on Sidney's fourth adventure, speaking to groups and doing signings for third one, and travelling to writer's conferences. As an active member of Mystery Writers of America I attended Edgar Week and the Edgar Awards Banquet in New York City, followed by Malice Domestic Mystery Conference in Bethesda MD, where I will speak on a travel mystery panel. I will also be attending Sisters in Crime functions as often as possible. This is a wonderful, supportive group of writers that I strongly urge any aspiring writer to join, even if you are a man. For some time now, "Misters" have been warmly welcomed into the "Sisters"!
Fall will bring Bouchercon "Under the Oaks" in Raleigh, then Killer Nashville. I will also make a couple of family trips in between, see the Cardinals play in St. Louis, enjoy my children and my vegetable garden, paint some, and read, read, read!
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Marie Moore is a native Mississippian. She graduated from Ole Miss, married a lawyer in her hometown, taught junior high science, raised a family, and worked for a small weekly newspaper — first as a writer and later as Managing Editor. She wrote hard news, features and a weekly column. She left the newspaper to open a retail travel agency, which she managed for the next fifteen years. The Sidney Marsh mysteries are inspired by those experiences. She and her husband now live in Memphis, TN, and Holly Springs, MS.
For more information about the author, please visit her website at MarieMooreMysteries and her author page on Goodreads, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
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Side Trip To Kathmandu by Marie Moore
A Sidney Marsh Murder Mystery
Publisher: Camel Press
Sidney Marsh's job as a New York travel agent is on the line. On her last two tours, she and her colleague Jay ended up smack in the middle of murder and mayhem. Their sleuthing sideline did not endear them to their employer, Itchy Feet Travel, so naturally they are relieved when their wealthy friend Brooke requests their presence on a no expense spared tour of India and Nepal. Another agency has made the arrangements, so all they need do is sit back and enjoy the ride.
Well, not quite all.
Brooke has enlisted them to keep a sharp eye on their fellow travelers, all "friends" who have grown rich from the demise of others. After surviving an attempt on her life, Brooke is certain the culprit must be one of the five: a handsome Scotsman, a Bollywood actress, an investment banker, a Parisian filmmaker, or a twice widowed blonde. Many of the tour accommodations prove to be as dodgy as the reputations of the travelers themselves. After one of the members of the moving house party dies of an apparent heart attack, everyone's nerves are on edge. Sidney can hardly be blamed for assuming a deadly game is afoot … or for falling for Adam, the doting Scotsman.
Now, if only she can unmask the killer before the killer beats her to the punch.
— Side Trip To Kathmandu by Marie Moore
