Author’s Choice with Susan Van Kirk

Please welcome Susan to Author’s Choice.

Dear readers, here’s where you get to play along. The author will tell us two truths and one lie (ed comment –I randomized the order). At the end of the questions, we’ll reveal what really happened. Remember, we write crime fiction, so lying is in our nature . . .

Two Truths, One Lie

Truth or Lie?: I have written and published  ten novels and one novella in the past sixteen years.

Truth or Lie?: I have eleven grandchildren, including two sets of twins in the same family.

Truth or Lie?: My first mystery, Three May Keep a Secret, was nominated for an Agatha for Best First Novel.

Eight Quick Questions

Now for some fun insight into today’s author. Here are eight forced choice questions.

1.      First draft: longhand, keyboard, or dictation? Definitely keyboard. I use a writing software called Novelize. It makes writing on my laptop easy. Much of my editing, however, I do by hand. Just can’t give up that red pen.

2.      Plotter, pantser, or plantser (that chaotic middle ground)? I’m in the chaotic middle ground. I plot the major points (tent posts) and fill in the details as I go along.

3.      Writing space: coffee shop chaos, library quiet, or home sweet home? I usually write in the quiet of my home office, but occasionally I go to the nearby college library and work on the top floor. This way, I can walk down the aisles of books every thirty minutes to get some exercise. The students are usually on the middle or lower floor, so it’s quiet and peaceful.

4.      Writer's block: push through, step away, or "it's not real"? Hmm. I’ve never had it. I’m going to consider myself lucky. Seriously, not bragging, but I guess when I’m ready to write I already have ideas in mind.

5.      Social media for authors: necessary evil, genuine fun, or absolutely not? This is a tough question. I would say necessary evil because I use social media to promote my books, but it takes a lot of my writing time. I’d much rather talk to groups or audiences in person or via zoom.

6.      Reading your own work aloud: love it, tolerate it, or would rather eat glass? I taught communications/speech for 44 years, so I don’t have any trouble reading aloud. I enjoy it.

7.      Happy ending, bittersweet, or gut-punch finale? The reason I write cozy/traditional mysteries is because they give me an opportunity to make people accountable for their actions and bring the world to rights in the end. When I see the world we’re living in, I’d rather live in my cozy world.

8.      Deadline approaching: calm and prepared, thriving on adrenaline, or full panic mode? I’m usually calm and prepared. One of my best qualities is that I’m organized. Probably comes from teaching. So, if I have a deadline, I’m on it. I used to have to write college recommendations for high school students, and they all had different deadlines. Only once, in 35 years, did I miss a deadline by one day.

About the Book

Enough about you, let’s turn to three questions about your book.

Q: If your main character in this novel showed up at your door right now, what would be the first thing they'd say to you (and would it be a complaint)?

A. “I’m so glad you just moved to town. I live next door and brought some chocolate chip cookies. We’re happy to have you in the neighborhood, and I’m sure you’re exhausted from moving in, so how about coming over to dinner this evening?”

This actually happens in my Fabric of Lies. Then the couple Grace invites over disappears.

Q: What's one thing you hope readers take away from this book?

A. The subplot involves a hedge fund coming to town to buy the local newspaper and destroy it. This is happening all over our country, and it also destroys the fabric of life in a small town or even a region. I’ve seen it first-hand. It takes a fight to keep that fabric alive.

Q: What question did you want me to ask, and what is your answer? 

A. What is next on your writing agenda? It’s not a mystery for a change. Sixteen years ago, I wrote and published my first book, The Education of a Teacher (Including Dirty Books and Pointed Looks.) It was a series of fifteen stories about students who came into my life and changed me and my teaching. It’s filled with stories you couldn’t imagine really happened, but they did.

It sold very well, and it’s out of print now, so I’m revising it and putting in a new introduction. Even better, I’ve been contacting former students who were in those stories and finding out what happened to them. What glorious conversations!. Those updates will go at the end of each story. It’s a wonderful book for people who might want to teach, are teaching, or are thinking about teaching. But it’s also a human interest story collection. Should be out by March/April.

The Big Reveal

Now let’s see how good a sleuth (or guesser) our readers are. Please reveal all.

The lie is that my first novel was nominated for an Agatha. 

Truth #1. I have two series, the Endurance Mysteries (5 bks) and The Art Center Mysteries (3 bks). Then there is my teaching memoir mentioned above, a novella about my Endurance detective, and a standalone called A Death at Tippitt Pond.

Here’s a blurb for and some links where you can find Susan’s latest:

Book Blurb

What happened to the Blackburns?

Grace Kimball and Jeff Maitlin are now married, and into their lives comes an unsolved mystery from 30-some years earlier. In 1981, Matt and Gemma Blackburn disappeared from the house next door to Grace and her then-husband, Roger Kimball. At that time, the Blackburn’s two-year-old, Anthony, was in the hospital recovering from pneumonia. Now, it’s 2014, and a thirty-five-year-old Anthony Blackburn returns to Endurance to find out what happened to his parents and solve a mystery deeply embedded in the history of the town.

Meanwhile, Jeff Maitlin, Editor-in-Chief of the Endurance Register, is threatened with a takeover of his local newspaper. The newspaper has been owned by the same family for four generations, and it would be a disaster for the tight-knit community to lose their local news and local ownership. But Jeff is fighting against a huge competitor—a corporate vulture hoping to steal everything of value and destroy the fabric of the town and Jeff’s beloved newspaper. Can he win? Can Grace help Anthony Blackburn solve the mystery of his parents’ disappearance?

[Amazon]

Want to know more?

For more information about Susan https://susanvankirk.com