Terrie Farley Moran Interview

Read ’Em and Eat is known for its delicious breakfast and lunch treats,

along with quite a colorful clientele. If it’s not Rowena Gustavson loudly

debating the merits of the current book club selection, it’s Miss Augusta

Maddox lecturing tourists on rumors of sunken treasure among the islands.

It’s no wonder Sassy’s favorite is Delia Batson, a regular at the Emily

Dickinson table. Augusta’s cousin and best friend Delia is painfully shy

—which makes the news of her murder all the more shocking.

Terrie Farley Moran (Jacket Copy)

http://terriefarleymoran.com/

No one more than I can appreciate a beach read. I settled into my beach chair, dug my feet in the sand, and read Well Read, Then Dead. The mix of cozy sleuthing and literary references provided fun reading. There are elements of treasure-hunting wreckers, lost loves, and melt-in-your-mouth cooking in this book, which will appeal to all beach lovers and maybe a few mountain people, too. I’ve traveled to the Gulf Coast of Florida on more than one occasion since my siblings live there. This mystery described the area and its flavors well.

Please welcome Terrie to WWK.                          E. B. Davis 

Thanks so much for inviting me to visit Writers Who Kill. I am delighted to spend some time with you today.

Would you give our readers a plot summary?

When sweet and unassuming Miss Delia Batson is murdered, her cousin crusty but determined Miss Augusta Maddox begs Sassy Cabot to help find the killer. Sassy and her BFF Bridgy Mayfield struggle to solve the murder, locate Miss Delia’s missing cat, and still keep the Read ’Em and Eat providing their patrons with  breakfast, lunch and engaging book club meetings.

I was confused to learn that Fort Myers Beach is an island off the coast from Fort Myers. Do you live there?

There are a lot of islands off the coast of Fort Myers. Sanibel, and Pine Island are the more well known among them. The town of Fort Myers Beach consists of San Carlos Island and Estero Island, but since Estero Island has the eight mile long, absolutely gorgeous beach, most people think of Estero Island as being Fort Myers Beach. No, I do not live there, although I have family living on the mainland about half an hour away from the beach.

Sassy, your main character, loves books. Bridgy, her old friend and business partner, loves cooking. The Read ‘Em and Eat Café and Book Corner combines their interests. What are the names of their tables?

Well, the tables are all named for writers. Table tops are covered with snippets of the writer’s work and perhaps a picture or two all protected with heavy lamination. Some of the writers so honored are: Robert Frost, Doctor Seuss, Robert Louis Stevenson, Emily Dickenson, Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Barbara Cartland, and Alex Haley.

Miss Marple Scones, Robert Frost Apple and Blueberry Tartlets, Old Man and the Sea Chowder, Harper Lee Hush Puppies, Agatha Christie Soft-Boiled Eggs, and Catcher in the Rye Toast are a few of the Read ‘Em and Eats entrees. Did you have fun naming them?

I did. Because of the intermarriage of food and books in the Read’Em and Eat, it is entertaining to name foods after books, characters and authors. But it’s not always easy. There is a segment in the book where Aunt Ophie demands that Sassy come up with one of her “book names” for Ophie’s delicious chicken salad. Sassy has a hard time but eventually succeeds.

One character I loved was Heap-a-Jeep since we have a rusty 1986 GMC Jimmy beach truck (of course, named Jimmy, who we refer to like a grandfather dog). Do you get around in a similar vehicle?

Unfortunately, my car is a bit newer and has a lot less character.

Augusta seems like a genteel, older lady, but another side of her appears when she pulls out a bottle of Buffalo Trace (really—a trace of buffalo!). What is Buffalo Trace, and is it a real product like bourbon?

Buffalo Trace is in fact a brand of bourbon. Here are a couple of quotes from the distillery website describing how the product name came to be. http://www.buffalotrace.com/distillery.html

“In Kentucky, buffalo carved a pathway that was followed by America's early pioneers. On the spot where the buffalo migration route crossed the Kentucky River, we've been making legendary bourbon whiskey for over 200 years.”

“In tribute to the mighty buffalo and the rugged, independent spirit of the pioneers who followed them westward, we created Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey.”

Are the Ten Thousand Islands real? If so, are any privately owned?

The Ten Thousand Islands is an archipelago (chain of islands) that stretches for hundreds of miles from the edge of Marco Island south along the Gulf of Mexico coast of the Everglades, past Lost Man’s River down to Florida Bay. Some are part of the Ten Thousand Island National Wildlife Refuge and the rest are part of Everglades National Park. Chokoloskee is privately owned and in fact has a trailer park where visitors can rent sites. Since the islands were occupied more than a hundred years ago and did not become parks until the 1940s, I am sure that there are plenty of Florida families that have “papers” in a trunk or a desk drawer that would indicate island ownership regardless of the fact that a grandparent signed the land over to the Federal Government decades ago. And there are islands that were just taken when no owner could be found because the family had moved on to a different part of the state or country.

Are you a sucker for an old fashioned love story?

I think everyone is charmed by the idea of a love that endures.

I loved your depiction of Sassy’s and Bridgy’s apartment. Would you describe it for our readers?

Ah, the Turret. The building is four stories high except for the two beach view apartments on the fifth floor. Sassy and Bridgy live in one of those apartments and it has a wide terrace and a fabulous view of the beach, the Gulf of Mexico and the chain of islands that head north toward the panhandle.

How did the contract with Berkley occur?

Several years ago I pitched a cozy I had written to an agent at Sleuthfest. She read a partial, pronounced it unsalable but said she liked my voice and style and asked if I would consider writing something else. I agreed and wrote Well Read, Then Dead, which she sold to Berkley as part of a three book series package.

What’s your favorite drink to toast the sunset over the Gulf?

Without a doubt, Iced Green Tea.

Bio: Twice short-listed for Best American Mystery Stories, Terrie Farley Moran’s cozy mystery novel, Well Read, Then Dead  http://berkleysignetmysteries.com/book3011 released by Berkley Prime Crime in 2014 will be followed by Caught Read Handed in 2015. Website www.terriefarleymoran.com.