with Reba White Williams
We are delighted to welcome back mystery author Reba White Williams to Omnimystery News today, courtesy of The Story Plant, which is coordinating her current book tour. We encourage you to visit all of the participating host sites; you can find her schedule here.
Reba visited with us a couple of weeks ago, when we discussed her art world mysteries, the second of which, Fatal Impressions (The Story Plant; April 2014 trade paperback and ebook formats), is being published this month.
Today, Reba interviews one of her series characters, Coleman Greene, to learn more about the magazine owner and editor for her books.
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Interviewer's note:
Photo provided courtesy of
Reba White Williams
I met with Coleman Greene in her office at ArtSmart and First Home, surrounded by award-winning covers from the magazines she owns and edits. Her Maltese terrier, Dolly, who watched from a basket in the corner, seemed to listen to every word. I'm told Dolly accompanies Coleman everywhere.
Coleman is very attractive: blonde, green-eyed, beautiful fair skin, petite. Great clothes. She was wearing a greenish-blue pantsuit, wonderful with her eyes — she designed it herself. I've eliminated my questions to her to conserve space.
She let me tape the interview, in which her Southern accent comes through, especially when she's talking about something stressful.
Coleman Greene:
I understand you want this interview for background for your book, right? About Southern women in New York and their careers? Why they left the South and came to New York?
Well, I'm Southern, all right, but my background is atypical. My mother died when I was a baby; my father died when I was three. I was separated from my remaining family until I was five, when I went to live in North Carolina with my grandmother, Miss Ida Slocumb, my great-aunt Polly, and Dinah, my cousin whom you know. We were very poor and all worked to keep our little family going. Dinah learned to cook from our grandmother, who was a wonderful cook, and the two of them helped keep us afloat with their catering. Aunt Polly taught me to sew. We did alterations and made clothes for our friends and neighbors. We, too, helped support the family. I've always been grateful for that skill, because as short as I am, I have difficulty finding clothes I like. Clothing designed for someone my height tends to be cute. I hate cute.
We were so poor, it's a miracle we got such good educations: Miss Dabney's in Raleigh, and Duke. Sadly, Miss Ida and Aunt Polly died before we graduated from Duke. Most of the girls we knew in school planned to get married, settle down, have children, and live happily ever after. Dinah planned that kind of life, but she was waiting for Prince Charming or Mr. Darcy to come along, and he didn't turn up while she was in school; she found him later, after we moved to New York.
I wasn't interested in marriage. I wanted a career — a great job, interesting people, and independence. We came to New York together, she to NYU's Institute of Fine Arts to study art history (and to meet that perfect man); I to Columbia Journalism School. My dream was to own and run my own magazine. Like Dinah, I was fascinated by art, but about art, I'm self-taught. New York's galleries and museums were my teachers. At Columbia, I learned to write about that art. I had a series of jobs in the publishing world before I saved enough money and gathered enough confidence to consider buying my own magazine. By the time I was ready, Dinah had married Jonathan Hathaway, an investment banker who helped me get the financing to buy ArtSmart.
Yes, ArtSmart has been a great success. I've had a lot of luck, but I've also worked really hard. My dream was to buy and manage another magazine. The moment arrived not very long ago. First Home is going very well, and I just came back from London where I bought 50% of another magazine, Cottage & Castle.
Spare Time? I don't have a lot of spare time, but when I do, I like to see Dinah and my half-brother Heyward Bain. Heyward is an entrepreneur and I'm learning from him. He looks for expansion opportunities for me — he found Cottage & Castle.
No, I've never been engaged, nor have I ever. I'm not seeing anyone at present. I met someone wonderful in London, but he has to live in England, and my life is here. Anyway, I don't think I'll get married — I'm not the marrying type, too independent.
What do I want that I don't have? A cottage by the ocean and a beautiful garden. Yes, I think both of those desires come out of the Southern me. I guess those desires are more typical than most of mine.
What next? I haven't the faintest idea. For now I'm pretty busy, and very happy.
Oh, you're welcome. Good luck with your book!
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Reba White Williams has written articles for American Artist, Art and Auction, Print Quarterly and Journal of the Print World. She served on the Print Committees of The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum and The Whitney Museum. She was a member of the Editorial Board of Print Quarterly, and is an Honorary Keeper of American Prints at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge University. She earned her MBA from Harvard, MA in Art History from Hunter, PhD in Art History from the Graduate Center, CUNY, and MA in Fiction Writing from Antioch University.
Williams has served as President of the New York City Art Commission and Vice Chairman of the New York State Council on the Arts. In 2009, most of her and her husband's collection — about 5,000 prints — was donated to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
She and her husband founded the annual Willie Morris Award for best Southern fiction, now in its sixth year. With her husband and their dog Muffin, who is fictionalized in her books, Williams divides her time between New York, Connecticut and Palm Springs.
To learn more about the author and her work, please visit her website at RebaWhiteWilliams.com or find her on Facebook.
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Fatal Impressions
Reba White Williams
A Coleman and Dinah Greene Mystery
