We are delighted to welcome author Sharon Pape to Omnimystery News today.
Sharon is the author of a couple of mystery series — we're featuring the first in her Crystal Shop mysteries, Alibis and Amethysts (InterMix; August 2013 ebook formats), below — and we recently had the chance to catch up with her to talk more about her work.
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Omnimystery News: Tell us a little more about your series books. What is it about the lead characters that appeals to you as a writer?
Photo provided courtesy of
Sharon Pape
Sharon Pape: My first mystery series, "A Portrait of Crime", focuses on police sketch artist, Rory McCain, and deceased federal marshal for the Arizona Territory, Zeke Drummond. Rory inherits her uncle's old Victorian house and quickly learns it was the scene of Zeke's murder over a century earlier. It's a rocky road for these new housemates. Rory is a feisty, independent young woman whose views on a woman's place in society are at odds with Zeke's archaic perspective. In spite of their differences, they work together to solve the mystery of her uncle's death. There are four books in the series, and it's best to start with book one, Sketch Me If You Can, because Zeke's back story is a thread that runs through the books.
I chose these characters, because I wanted to explore what might happen if a woman and a man from different eras had to work and live together. I found there was plenty of opportunity for conflict as well as humor.
Alibis and Amethysts is the first book in my second series, "The Crystal Shop Mysteries." Jaye Saylor owns a crystal shop in Sedona, Arizona, a place purported to have psychic vortexes. Her best friend, Sierra, has a bakery in the town. They soon find themselves suspects in the murder of a rival baker, found dead in Sierra's backyard. They set out to find the real killer and clear their names, with the help of their Navajo friend, Daniel Yazzi, and a strange, little creature who seems to have adopted Jaye.
Jaye was born, because I wanted the main character to be someone who had a rough start in life, but grew into a strong, independent woman. Her sidekick, Sierra, is a quirky free spirit and the perfect foil for Jaye. Daniel and his family, especially his medicine-woman grandmother, play an important part in the story as well. My mysteries all have a paranormal element, because I love exploring where imagination can take me.
OMN: Why do you prefer writing series mysteries over stand-alones?
SP: I prefer writing mystery series, because the characters have the time and opportunity to evolve over the course of the books, both individually and in their relationships with the other characters. I wrote three paranormal stand alones earlier in my career, so I've tried both forms and enjoy the series structure more. It's great to return to a group of characters and pick up their stories again — like a reunion with old friends.
OMN: Into which genre would you place your books?
SP: My mysteries can best be described as cozy with a twist of the paranormal and a splash of humor. There's a lot of cross genre writing these days, and I love it. It's hard to confine my imagination to a single label and forbid it to play elsewhere. I think writers, as well as readers, benefit from this kind of free-range approach.
OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in your books?
SP: I think it would be difficult to write fiction without using experiences I've had or the personalities and quirks of people I've known. So — yes, there are definitely bits of me in many of my characters, as well as bits of other people, but none of my characters is cloned completely from an actual person.
OMN: Describe your writing process for us.
SP: I don't like writing a detailed synopsis. It feels too confining, and I know from experience that I won't stick to it. I think letting the story develop as I go is one of the great joys about writing fiction. I do write character bios for the main characters, but lesser characters generally spring from my mind onto the page when I need them. Whenever I hit a speed bump in the plot, I head to the gym. Occupying my body with aerobic exercise, like the treadmill, frees my mind to solve the problem. The old "two birds, one stone" approach.
OMN: How did your books come to be titled?
SP: For my first mystery series, the editor and I brainstormed, finally coming up with the same idea at the same time. Since the main character is a police sketch artist, we decided to use the word "sketch" in each of the titles. We agreed on Sketch Me If You Can for the first book, after which I came up with the other titles: To Sketch a Thief, Sketch a Falling Star and Sketcher in the Rye.
For the second series, I proposed a title that was too similar to another author's titles, so I suggested Alibis and Amethysts instead, and it was approved.
To my surprise, having a title in mind before I start working on a book, has actually helped me create the plot lines.
OMN: What kinds of books did you read when you were young?
SP: As a child, I loved reading in general, but especially mysteries. Among my favorites were the Dana Girls books by Carolyn Keene, who also wrote Nancy Drew, and the mysteries by Enid Blyton. I'm sure that enjoying these books at an early age was instrumental in my decision to write mysteries myself.
OMN: What's next for you?
SP: I've just finished writing the first book of a new cozy mystery series about a family of sorcerers of ancient lineage. Although I'd love to write the next books in my other two series, I'll probably have to wait until the rights revert to me from the publisher.
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Sharon Pape started writing stories as soon as she learned how to put letters together to form words. From that day forward, writing has been a part of her life whether it was her first attempt at a novel in seventh grade or the little plays she wrote for her friends to perform for neighbors and family. After college, when she was busy teaching French and Spanish to high school students, she was also writing poetry — some of it in French. After several years, she left teaching to be a full time mom, and when her two children started school, she went back to writing. To her delight she found that the muse was still there, still waiting patiently for her to come around.
For more information about the author, please visit her website at SharonPape.com and her author page on Goodreads, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
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Alibis and Amethysts by Sharon Pape
A Crystal Shop Mystery
Publisher: InterMix
Jaye Saylor is living her dream as the proud owner of Crystal Clear, a crystal and gemstone shop in the Red Rock area of Sedona, Arizona — a Mecca for tourists and new-age enthusiasts. And since tourists need sweets, Jaye gets to share her dream with her best friend, Sierra, who owns Cravings, a new local bakery.
But when the two friends discover the stone-cold body of a rival baker in Sierra's backyard, that dream turns into a petrifying nightmare. With the police eager to pin the murder on the two women, Jaye and Sierra are forced to investigate on their own. Sedona is known as a place of powerful psychic energy, and the friends will have to contend with some unexpected forces to catch a hardened killer and make their innocence crystal clear …
— Alibis and Amethysts by Sharon Pape
