We are delighted to welcome back mystery author Lauren Carr to Omnimystery News today.
Lauren's latest mystery, Kill and Run (Acorn Book Services; September 2015 trade paperback and ebook formats), is the first in a new series and features a couple of characters that will be familiar to fans of her other series. It's been a while since we talked with the very busy author, but we did manage to catch up with Lauren recently to discuss her new book.
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Omnimystery News: Introduce us to the Thorny Rose Detectives.
Photo provided courtesy of
Lauren Carr
Lauren Carr: The Thorny Rose Detectives are the second generation of the protagonists from my other two series, The Mac Faraday Mysteries and Joshua Thornton of my Lovers in Crime Mysteries. In Three Days to Forever, I introduced Jessica Faraday, Mac's daughter, to Murphy Thornton, Joshua's son. At the end of that Mac Faraday mystery, Murphy and Jessica got married less than a couple of days after meeting — talk about a whirlwind romance!
I am really excited about Murphy and Jessica, especially as a couple, because being younger (they are in their early to mid-twenties) they are more passionate and impulsive than their parents. Also, being so young, I'll be the first to admit that they are not perfect. In Kill and Run, Murphy, a Navy Lieutenant, is conducting his first official murder investigation and his bosses send for his father to travel to Washington to help him.
On the romantic side, as newlyweds, Murphy and Jessica are still in the discovery phase of their marriage. In Three Days to Forever, they vowed that divorce was not an option. Therefore, any differences they have, they have to work through, which creates some witty banter between the two of them that readers are telling me they love about them. For example, readers discover in Kill and Run that Murphy wants to have family right away. He comes from a large family and his parents started having children immediately. However, Jessica has plans to go to medical school. She wants to wait.
OMN: How do you expect Murphy and Jessica to develop over the course of this new series?
LC: When I started out writing my first series, the Joshua Thornton Mysteries, I did not intend for my characters to change. I wanted and expected them to remain the same from one book to the other — exactly like Hercule Poirot and Perry Mason. However, readers pointed out to me that my characters were changing as they grew — which is a good thing. I purposely do not put continuing storylines that spill from one book to the other, which forces readers to read every installment in order. I write each book as a stand-alone.
However, as the characters grow, then they do change, even though I don't intend for that to happen. With the Thorny Rose Mysteries, Murphy and Jessica will have to change at they adjust to one another while their marriage grows. There is one tender scene in Kill and Run where Murphy, upon discovering that Jessica's best childhood friend had died in a motorcycle accident, offers to sell his beloved motorcycle because she worries when he goes out riding on it.
OMN: How would you tweet a summary of Kill and Run?
LC: 5 strangers R brought together for murder in Lauren Carr's hit #newrelease KILL AND RUN #mystery #ASMSG #IARTG #bynr http://ow.ly/Q3Ffp
OMN: Have you based any of your characters on people you know?
LC: My husband is the business manager for our church and I do a lot of volunteer work for them. Since I use a pen name, there are still people who have known me for years who don't know that I write murder mysteries. One day, a young pastor who was doing an internship at our church walked up to me. After telling me that he had just found out, after knowing me for many months, that I wrote murder mysteries, he asked with a touch of fear in his voice, "Do you ever kill people you know in your books?" To which I replied, "Oh, yes! And sometimes I'll kill total strangers!"
He's still scared of me.
Just because I'm mad at someone about something, I don't put them totally into one of my books to kill them or make them a killer. My primary goal, at all times, is the story — the plotline. During the whole writing process, I'm exploring and adjusting the characters to make them the best fit for the murder mystery puzzle.
I have one extremely nasty character in Kill and Run — Hillary Koch, Murphy's boss during his day job assignment at the Pentagon. Hillary is the worst boss in the whole world. Murphy call her Crotch for a reason. In creating her character, I lifted every nasty trait and deed from every horrible boss I have ever had during my whole working life to create this Frankenstein monster of a boss.
OMN: Where do you most often find yourself writing?
LC: I have a writer's studio that my husband had built for me. It has a desk and windows that look out onto a treetop view. My needs have changed throughout the years. I used to carry my laptop around the house, curling up in one chair or sofa or even the bed. But I find that as I have more and more deadlines to meet and demands, that I actually need an office to get away from distractions — aka my family.
I'm a workaholic — meaning that when I am on a roll with a book that I will literally write all day long — which, I am surprised to learn, have caused some health issues — like migraines. So, now, on doctor's orders, I have this giant elliptical in my studio that I have to take regular breaks to use at least once a day.
Who would have thought?
OMN: You mentioned that you use a pen name. What are the advantages or disadvantages to having one?
LC: I've had my pen name longer than I've had my real name. I was using Lauren Carr before I met my husband and got married. I use a pen name because I write fiction and, simply, I don't like my real name. My husband doesn't even call me by my given name. He calls me Marilyn (that's another story).
I thought long and hard and carefully chose what I wanted to use before I settled on Lauren Carr.
I always go by Lauren Carr when I do author events or anything that has to do with writing or publishing — which is really all day long anymore. There are people who I do book business with who have no idea what my real name is. I even answer to Lauren. If I'm in a public place and someone calls out, "Lauren!" I'll answer. The other day, I was given something to sign and I had to pause to think about who I was.
As for disadvantages? Well, maybe some people think I'm strange having two identities.
OMN: What's next for you?
LC: Right now, I am working on the eleventh Mac Faraday Mystery, Cancelled Vows. In this mystery, David O'Callaghan and Chelsea Adams' wedding plans collide with one tiny little obstacle. David is already married … and didn't know it! Now, with less than a week before his wedding day, David rushes off to get his wife to sign divorce papers. When she ends up murdered, it is up to David's best man, Mac Faraday, and Gnarly, K9-in-waiting, to sort through the clues to get David to the church in time!
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Lauren Carr is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She also passes on what she has learned in her years of writing and publishing by conducting workshops and teaching in community education classes.
The owner of Acorn Book Services, Lauren is also a publishing manager, consultant, editor, cover and layout designer, and marketing agent for independent authors. This year, several books, over a variety of genre, written by independent authors will be released through the management of Acorn Book Services, which is currently accepting submissions. Visit the Acorn Book Services website for more information.
Lauren lives with her husband, son, and three dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.
For more information about the author, please visit her website at MysteryLady.net and her author page on Goodreads, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
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Kill and Run by Lauren Carr
A Thorny Rose Mystery
Publisher: Acorn Book Services
Five women with seemingly nothing in common are found brutally murdered in a townhome outside Washington, DC. Among the many questions surrounding the massacre is what had brought these apparent strangers together only to be killed.
Taking on his first official murder case, Lieutenant Murphy Thornton, USN, believes that if he can uncover the thread connecting the victims, then he can find their murderer.
Before long, the case takes an unexpected turn when Murphy discovers that one of the victims has a connection to his stepmother, Homicide Detective Cameron Gates. One wintry night, over a dozen years before, her first husband, a Pennsylvania State trooper, had been run down while working a night shift on the turnpike.
The Thorny Rose Mysteries, the Lovers in Crime join newlyweds Lieutenant Murphy Thornton and Jessica Faraday to sift through a web of lies and cover-ups. Together, can the detectives of the Thorny Rose uncover the truth without falling victim to a cunning killer?
— Kill and Run by Lauren Carr
