Krista Davis Interview

It’s beginning to look a lot like murder…

The holidays are domestic diva Sophie Winston’s favorite time of year.

But this season, there seem to be more mishaps than mistletoe. First, Horace

Scroggins tumbles from a balcony during his office Christmas party. Then,

Sophie’s neighbor takes a fall from his ladder while decorating his roof with lights.

But it’s the cookie swap that really starts her wondering who’s naughty or nice….

http://www.kristadavis.com/

I wondered what the publisher was thinking releasing a Christmas book, The Diva Wraps It Up, in May. As I read the book on my screen porch in the sweltering humidity of June, main character, Sophie Winston wrapped herself in woolens to keep warm while the snow fell on Old Town Alexandria, VA.

I stopped sweating.

Reading about the cold without experiencing it felt great. Although Christmas recipes were enticing, I wasn’t tempted to heat up the oven. Had the book been released at the holidays, I wouldn’t have had time to read it. In January, no one wants to revisit Christmas. I revised my thinking. Perhaps June was the perfect time for releasing this book. All of the charm, none of the work, and time for leisure—a perfect summer read!

Krista, welcome to WWK.                                                                                               E. B. Davis 

Thank you! I’m delighted to be here.

The series focuses on the life of Sophie Winston, a divorced event planner and domestic-diva columnist. Mars, her ex, lives up the street with her long-time rival Natasha. Perhaps Sophie is on a higher philosophical level than most of us, but I keep wondering when Sophie is going to get even. She doesn’t seem to have a nasty bone in her body. Is Sophie too good? 

Oh my, no! Sophie often has snarky thoughts. Sometimes they’re downright uncharitable. She has even been known to give Natasha a hard time on purpose. She’s certainly not beneath a little teasing. Sophie realizes that she’s not the first person to have to deal with an ex-husband’s new squeeze. It’s in her nature to try to make the best of things, especially things she can’t control. Her ex, Mars, is a decent guy, and they’re still friends. Sophie has moved on and has had other boyfriends, except there was that one kiss with Mars . . .

Most of the mysteries in your series focus on the people, Sophie’s neighbors, living in Old Town. I’d

like to think this is unrealistic drama, but the neighborhood in which I grew up could have been described as Peyton Place. Was and is your neighborhood similar?

Aren’t all neighborhoods? People are the same everywhere. There’s often a lot of drama going on behind closed doors. We all have some kind of trouble in our lives. Not to mention all the people with secrets, whether they involve an old love or something much more sinister. I suspect that if we could open the doors and peek inside people’s lives, we might be very surprised by what we found.

Edith Scroggins is a wonderfully deceptive character. She’s a mean old wealthy woman who seems

uncaring and unconcerned about her poor husband, Horace. Unlike his wife, Horace celebrates the season by giving a Christmas party for his staff. Why do some people allow events to control their lives while others rise above them?

That’s a good question. I’d have to be a shrink to understand completely. I guess some people compartmentalize the tragedies of their lives and try to move on. Other people don’t seem to be able to cope. It’s as though they’re stuck in time and can’t get past the pain or the loss. They go through the motions of ordinary life every day but they won’t allow themselves to be happy again.

Edith enlists Sophie to help her. Sophie considers a few solutions to the strange occurrences in Edith’s house. Why does the situation remind Sophie of Hitchcock’s movie Gaslight?

In Gaslight (which is a fabulous movie, BTW) a husband plays tricks on his wife to make her think she’s losing her mind. He does little things like move items in the house. Edith is an older woman and the things that are happening to her could easily be dismissed as forgetfulness. We all misplace items now and then. Only two people besides Edith have access to the house, so naturally Sophie wonders if Edith’s husband is behind the ruse.

Edith’s reveal and transformation changes readers’ perceptions of her. We feel more charitable once we understand. You’ve given your readers many Christmas lessons in The Diva Wraps It Up. What does Christmas mean to you? 

Oh, gosh! Christmas has so many facets that I could fill a book. Aside from the obvious religious part, it’s about family and friends to me. It’s about the kindness in people. About mercy and charity and grace. And who could forget fun, and music, and great food? I loved having readers send me their must-have Christmas cookie recipes and share a little bit about their Christmas traditions. It’s not Christmas until our favorite cookies show up!

Even as Horace lies on the pavement awaiting an ambulance, he thinks of Edith first. He’s a lovely man, but he harbors a secret love, the evidence of which he fears will hurt his wife. As we age, does lost love haunt us?

Maybe so. It seems to be haunting me since I found myself writing about another character and an old love recently. LOL! Maybe it haunts the people who didn’t wind up with their true love. That might be a lot of people.

Sophie has Mushroom and Leek Turnovers in her freezer ready to throw in the oven and a Linzer Torte on hand for her guests’ dessert, but readers never see her laboring in the kitchen. Does every cozy mystery have an element of magic?

LOL! I don’t think so. Sophie cooks quite a bit in my books. She often has some dishes in her freezer that she prepared ahead of time. Ahem, don’t you?  ;  )  And, of course, Sophie is a domestic diva, so she would be inclined to cook ahead and have a loaded freezer and pantry. I have an unbelievable crop of zucchini in the garden this year and made some zucchini muffins that we love so much that I’m going to make a few batches and freeze them for winter. There’s nothing magic about that, though it might seem that way when I serve them in January.

Sophie readily accepts houseguest Patty into her home just before Christmas. Patty reveals that her two children live with her ex, Baxter Babineaux, and his wife, Gwen, and all is not well in that household. What motivated Gwen to write a Christmas letter to her friends and neighbors full of lies?

It’s all part of Gwen’s character. The letter reflects what she wants people to think about her and her family as opposed to reality. Gwen has worked hard to change her life. The letter reflects the status she craves and wants to project.

While Sophie and her friend Nina try to solve the deepening malicious events in their neighborhood, Mars and the other men compete in the neighborhood’s contest for best-decorated house. Sophie’s house starts to resemble the Griswold home. Why does Sophie allow Mars to decorate her house?

Sophie and Mars are still friends. They inherited the house from Mars’s aunt when they were married. Even though Sophie bought out Mars’s half, she recognizes that it came from his side of the family. Besides, her family is coming to Christmas at her house this year so she’s going all out with decorations. And, as mentioned above, she’s not beneath aggravating Natasha. She knows Natasha will be upset by Mars’s outrageous light display.

When Sophie discovers Gwen’s body in Natasha’s garage (Carriage House), Wolf, Sophie’s former boyfriend and police detective, arrives at the scene. Upstairs renters and toy storeowners, Jonah and Twiggy Lawrence, and Jonah’s mom, Claudine, become suspects. But Natasha’s wrapping advice to readers provides the murderer with the “how to” on hiding the body. Will Sophie reconsider Wolf and jeopardize her budding relationship with the hunky lawyer?

Sophie is in such a relationship muddle. There’s her ex-husband and the passionate kiss they shared a few books ago. Wolf, the detective, isn’t available – at the moment. And now Alex, the lawyer, is on the scene. Who knows how it will all work out?

Does time heal all wounds?

For all our sakes, I certainly hope so. Maybe sometimes an event, like finding a bereft little girl and a kitten, can trigger healing.

Your next book, The Ghost and Mrs. Mewer, the next Paws and Claws mystery, will be released in December. Would you give our readers a hint of the plot?

Ghost hunters are coming to Wagtail!

Wagtail, Virginia, the top pet-friendly getaway in the United States, is gearing up for a howling good Halloween—until a spooky murder shakes the town to its core . . .

Holly Miller doesn’t believe in spirits, but the Sugar Maple Inn is filled with guests who do. The TV series in development, Apparition Apprehenders, has descended on Wagtail’s annual Halloween festivities to investigate supernatural local legends, and Holly has her hands full showing the ghost hunters a scary-fun time.

But the frights turn real when Holly’s Jack Russell, Trixie, and kitten, Twinkletoes, find a young woman drowned in the Wagtail Springs Hotel’s bathhouse—the spot of the town’s most infamous haunting. The crime scene is eerily similar to the creepy legend, convincing Holly that the death wasn’t just accidental. Now she’ll have to race to catch a flesh-and-blood killer—before someone else in town gives up the ghost . . .

A year ago, Krista held a contest asking readers to submit Christmas cookie recipes. The winning recipes are included at the end of the book. Even if it is summer, I’ve been tempted to make Ann’s Peanut Butter Balls, Scotcheroos, and Real Good Cookies since they are no-bake recipes. And the Cranberry Jingle cocktail—no better refreshment than vodka, peach schnapps, and cranberry juice on a hot summer’s day.

Find out more about Krista Davis’s books at her website.