Mystery Author of the Month, Kaye George

Patricia: Kaye, I’m pleased to have you with us today. Let’s start at the beginning. Where did you grow up? Did your childhood contribute to your desire to be a writer?

Kaye: I grew up in northern Illinois, but have lived in many parts of the US since leaving college. Unfortunately, I had a very happy childhood, so don’t have early-life trauma to blame for my turning to fiction for self-expression. We had a wonderful library that I visited often. My mother was also an avid reader and I think coming from a reading family helped give me the urge to write. I’ve made up stories my whole life. I remember narrating my crayon drawings. Later, when I was in elementary school, I drew comic strips and wrote two “novels” in 5th or 6th grade. They probably were about 10 pages long. I guess I was born wanting to write. My mother often said she wanted to write a book, so I’m kind of living her dream.

Patricia: Where do you live now? Do you use that locale for settings in your novels?

Kaye: I tend to use places I used to live for my settings. I think the distance helps distill the setting for me. If I wrote about where I’m living now, there would be too many details to get in the way. At the moment, I’m living in a very small town outside Waco, TX. My first series published used the Wichita Falls, TX, area, where I lived 9-11 years ago. The book coming out in April will be set back in Illinois where I grew up, and the series debuting with Berkley Prime Crime in 2014 will be set in Minneapolis, where I lived in the early 1980s.

Patricia: What inspired you to write your most recent novel?

Kaye: EINE KLEINE MURDER, published this month by Barking Rain Press, was started a few years ago. I recently picked it up again and, after dusting it off and rewriting, turned into an amateur sleuth mystery featuring a classical musician. That character is close to my heart because I was “writing what I know” with Cressa Carraway. I used my own mother’s summer cabin for the setting, and my own love of classical music for the sleuth character. I’m a classically trained violinist and have done a bit of arranging and composing. I would love to have been a conductor, so my ambition for Cressa, after she finishes writing her composition and solving the mystery of her grandmother’s death, is that of being a symphony conductor. If this gets off the ground, I intend to take Cressa to lots of places with her conducting career, maybe even to Europe.

Patricia: When did you “know” that you wanted to be a writer?

Kaye: As I’ve said above, I’ve never not wanted to write. I knew, as soon as I learned to read, that words could be written and that I needed to write them.

Patricia: Name three of your favorite authors in the mystery/suspense genre. What makes them your favorites?

Kaye: I’ll have to go with my childhood and early adult favorites. If I expanded to present-day writers I could never limit them to three! Rex Stout, Dick Francis, and Agatha Christie. They’re my favorites simply because they’re the first mystery writers I read. I’ve never been bored or dissatisfied by a single book from any of these three.

BIO: Kaye George is a short story writer and novelist who has been nominated for Agatha awards twice. She is the author of three mystery series, the Imogene Duckworthy humorous Texas series, the Cressa Carraway musical mystery series, and the FAT CAT cozy series with Berkley Prime Crime (the last will debut in 2014). She reviews for "Suspense Magazine", writes for several newsletters and blogs, and gives workshops on short story writing and promotion. Kaye lives in Texas, near Waco.
  

Purchase info:
CHOKE
Available at:
(http://www.amazon.com/Choke-Imogene-Duckworthy-Kaye-George/dp/1477571507/)
as well as Ingram.

SMOKE
Available at:
(http://www.amazon.com/Smoke-An-Imogene-Duckworthy-Mystery/dp/1478146494/)
as well as Ingram.

BROKE
Available at:
(http://www.amazon.com/Broke-Imogene-Duckworthy-Mystery-Volume/dp/1480032328/)
as well as Ingram.
 

FAT CAT cozy series from Berkley Prime Crime, coming 2014 http://kayegeorge.com/


This just in! Kaye's most recent novel is available for purchase at the following links:

http://www.amazon.com/Kleine-Murder-Carraway-Musical-Mystery/dp/1935460641/

http://www.barkingrainpress.org/products/eine-kleine-murder/