An Interview with Gloria Alden

After writing for years and trying the traditional publishing route, Gloria Alden, a WWK blogger, opted to self-publish. I read her first novel, The Blue Rose, and enjoyed this cozy mystery. As a gardener, Gloria knows her subject well. Her plant descriptions of the public garden where the murder takes place made the setting come alive. E.B. Davis

Before we start, Gloria, could you give us the jacket paragraph so readers will know a bit about the plot in The Blue Rose?

Catherine Jewell enjoys the small quiet town she’s recently moved to where she’s a botanist at Elmwood Gardens and also has a small garden center, Roses in Thyme. At least she does until she discovers a body with a garden fork in his back at Elmwood Gardens. John MacDougal, the police chief of Portage Falls, has never had to deal with a murder in his ten years as police chief. As he questions the suspects, many who are Catherine’s co-workers and friends, she works to divert his suspicions elsewhere since she’s sure none of them could be the murderer. When another body is discovered, they start working together. In spite of their inexperience and several close calls with death, they solve the murders and restore calm to the little town of Portage Falls.

Is there really a blue rose?

     

No – only in The Blue Rose. There are roses with blue in the name, but they’re not a true blue, more of a lavender.

Much like blue roses, your characters aren’t always as they seem. Do you think that most people hide behind facades or withhold secrets?

  

I think most people do to some extent. We probably all have things we’d rather not share whether it’s our own secret or someone else’s.

Catherine Jewell, your main character, doesn’t particularly like the victim. Why does she want to solve the mystery?

The police chief is looking at her friends and co-workers as prime suspects, and she seriously does not believe they could be the murderer.

Although your characters seem traditional, they are not typecast. Why did you mix traditional roles with anomalies, such as John bearing the parenting responsibility and Catherine saving John?

I guess I wanted my police chief not to be a tough macho kind of guy. There are times he assumes that role in this book and maybe even more in the next one, but I wanted him to be more like my dad. And wasn’t it nice to have Catherine saving John? I think so.

Mothers have a hard time in The Blue Rose. Do you think motherhood is a particularly hard job?   

Yeah, they do. I’m speaking from personal experience here.

Your characters are distinctive. I particularly liked how your secondary characters’ backstories lent themselves to plot. How did you choose their characteristics and did you tailor them to suit the plot?  

Yes and no. I find people interesting and certain characters have some of the attributes of someone I know. Ed in my book has a lot of the characteristics – but not the background – of my brother. Because he was an avid gardener, I made Ed a master gardener. Ed is also how I remember my brother working in his gardens. Usually I create murderers from my mind. They are not based on anyone I know, but I do write biographies for them in some detail so I know why they felt they needed to murder their victim.

You leave many questions open for the reader in The Blue Rose regarding the past and the future. How many books are you planning for the series?  

Lots and lots. My series is on a monthly timeline. The first takes place in June, the second Daylilies for Emily’s Garden is finished and waiting for a cover. It takes place in July, the third, Ladies of the Garden Club is finished, but not polished. It takes place in August, and I have the plot for my 4^th book in my head and am eager to get started on it. It will take place in September.

Why did you decide to self-publish?

I was tired of trying to get an agent, although I hadn’t been submitting to them for over a year. I thought of the small publishers and sent to a few, but I wasn’t willing to slash as much as

was necessary to meet their word limit. Plus even if I was accepted, it could be another year or so before the book would come out.

Then I started reading on the Guppy list serve of all the Guppies going that way and reading blogs of well-published authors who had gone this route. I started buying the self-published books of Guppies and found that almost all of them were as well edited and interesting as the published books I buy. Another thing, even if a small publisher accepted me, there would be a gap of a year between books coming out – if they even accepted the second. An author has to sell several hundred books before they’ll take on the next one. And from what I hear, most publishers aren’t doing that much promotion for the books, either. With three books finished, I didn’t want to wait any longer.

Will you bring books to Malice for sale?

I’m planning on it. I still need to contact the dealers.

Bonus: Beach or Mountains?  

I like both, but I prefer the mountains. I love trees and camping.

I’ll look for you at the Malice Domestic conference, Gloria. Meanwhile, if you’d like to read Gloria’s The Blue Rose, the book is available at Amazon.