An Interview With Tina deBellegarde

by Grace Topping

It’s always a delight to read mysteries set in exotic locations, but it is even better when the author actually lives in the location or setting, even if only part of the year. Tina deBellegarde joins me at Writers Who Kill to talk about her experience living in and writing mysteries set in Japan. 

 

Autumn Embers

Bianca St. Denis travels to Kyoto to return a priceless artifact recovered in Batavia-on-Hudson during last summer's flood. It's late October, and the city of 2,000 shrines is in full autumn splendor. While she's in Japan's ancient capital, Bianca visits with her son, a student at Kyoto University. Ian shows her the sights and introduces her to his circle of friends—his chosen family.

 

On the night of her welcome party, Bianca thinks she witnesses a struggle in the garden, perhaps even a murder. When the police investigate and find no body, she is stumped, yet alarm bells won't stop ringing. She knows she's witnessed something. When a dead body surfaces and suspicion falls on her son, Bianca's maternal instincts spring to action to protect Ian and clear his name. Meanwhile, things in Batavia-on-Hudson are tense. Sheriff Mike Riley is losing his re-election while tackling devastating news about his dead partner and wavering about his troubled marriage.

 

Autumn Embers explores the malleable nature of our identities and reminds us that chosen families can be stronger than we think, and that true friendship can bridge any distance.

www.tinadebellegarde.com

 

 

Welcome to Writers Who Kill, Tina.

 

The first two books of your Batavia-on-Hudson series are set in the Hudson Valley. However, you have set Autumn Embers partially in Japan. What prompted you to make a change in setting? 

My main character, Bianca St. Denis, and I have a few things in common, and one of those is a son who lives in Kyoto, Japan. Her son was introduced in the first book, Winter Witness, along with Ishikawa, a Japanese expat living in Bianca’s town of Batavia-on-Hudson. They were planted in the series early just so I could get her to Japan. I always knew when I started the series that the third or fourth book would be set there. Once I had experienced Kyoto, I had to write about it—the sights and sounds are so rich and so compelling that I wanted Bianca to have the same experience I had had. 

 

Why the dual setting in Batavia-on-Hudson and Kyoto? Why not just start another series with the setting entirely in Japan?

 

I have actually started working on a series set in Kyoto about a woman who moves from New York to live closer to her son in Kyoto where she opens an Italian café and cooking school. While working on the first series, I had not envisioned a second series, and like I said, I had planned to bring Bianca there all along. But the experience of writing Autumn Embers made me want to write more in that setting.

 

As far as the dual time-line is concerned, I felt I owed it to my readers not to stray too far from Batavia, so I made sure that Bianca needs the Sheriff’s help and he in turn has his own headaches at home that we could follow. Bianca and Mike had already developed a strong connection in the first two books, and that connection bridges the physical distance in the third book through frequent phone calls. And in order to keep the reader centered in Batavia, I also have Bianca send dispatches home that are posted in the small local paper and often read aloud at the local diner. In these dispatches she shares her adventures with her friends back home. 

 

Was the dual setting hard to pull off?

 

I never thought it would have been as hard as it was. I figured all I needed to do was bridge the time difference between them (14 hours) and find reasons for them to need each other. The time difference was hard. The relationship was not. We need our people when we are dealing with struggles, and Mike and Bianca naturally turned to each other. Remembering which day was which, and where, and coordinating the timing required some creativity however. 

 

You travel frequently to Kyoto. Is Autumn Embers partially autobiographical based on your experiences in Japan?

 

Definitely. Bianca walked in my shoes in that beautiful city. Almost every establishment they frequent in Autumn Embers is a place I have been, including some of my favorite spots. The expat community is very much as I have described it—close knit, festive and supportive. Naturally there are a few strained relationships, as would be expected in any group, but no murder of course. Basically, a chosen family. 

What do you enjoy most about Japan?

 

That is a very hard question. I can only speak about Kyoto. I have been to a few other cities but Kyoto is the only one I truly know. There is so much that is special about that city. It’s the cultural center of the country, so the traditions and the arts are in full display there. I love how much they pay attention to detail, and how they respect, celebrate and incorporate the seasons into their lives. I love how quiet and considerate everyone is of others, and how clean it is. I love that I could find a different café to read and write in every day of a six-week visit and still not get to all of them. I love that jazz is playing everywhere. And I love that my son is at home and happy there. 

 

One reviewer said that Bianca, your main character, thinks about how well mythology can capture the paradoxes of our personalities. How we are two people at once—maybe even several people. Can you talk a little about that?

 

Bianca is a mother and a former teacher. She is a very observant and introspective person. The type of person who isn’t afraid of getting involved in things to help find a resolution—this is, of course, how she ends up a sleuth. In many ways she is very wise, and her experience tells her that we all try on identities as the years go on. Some are obvious, such as daughter, sister, wife, mother. Others less so. They take more daring, like artist, writer, expat. We try one identity on and we keep it. We try another and discard it. A third we tweak until it suits us, and so on until eventually we have filled out the whole picture of us. And it takes all these iterations of ourselves to begin to understand what resonates with us, and how we can be our true selves. Hopefully, anyway. Bianca continues to evolve as do many of my characters, but not all of them. And often it is the perpetrator in these mysteries who is the one who stopped growing, who stopped trying on identities, and stopped developing as a person. These stunted people often lash out and blame others for their own shortcomings. The perpetrator in Autumn Embers is just that sort of person. 

 

Is Autumn Embers available in Japan? If so, how has it been received. 

 

Yes, it is available in Japan. I have had several book events in Kyoto including my launch for Autumn Embers, and it seems to have been well received there. Most importantly to me, I belong to a group called Writers in Kyoto and they have welcomed the book and approved of my depiction of the city. It was a huge relief to me. When writing the first book and planning Autumn Embers, I never expected to find myself a member of a group of professional writers there. So, when they celebrate my book, it is a true validation for me. 

Do you plan to do a Japanese translation?

 

I certainly hope there will be one someday. No plans so far on that front.

 

You spend your year in different locations, including New York, Florida, and Japan. Do you find your creativity and productivity differ based on where you are?

 

Absolutely. I am most productive in Florida, most inspired in Japan, and most organized in Catskill, New York. 

 

My creative juices are encouraged most when I’m in Japan, and I do plenty of writing and notetaking there, especially at my favorite cafés (I also have the most time because I have fewer responsibilities while I’m there.) 

 

In Catskill, I have my writing cottage behind the house which is a wonderful writing space, but the property and house need a lot of attention—it’s basically a small farm with a garden, fruit trees, bee hives, mushroom logs, even chickens at one time.

 

In Florida, I happen to be a few miles from the beautiful Morikami Japanese Gardens where I take flower arranging classes and write. So basically, Japan all over again. 

 

Japan is where I plan the most. Catskill is where I start, finish and revise. Florida is where I write the most. 

 

The first two books in your series were nominated for two different Agatha Awards. Did the early recognition of your work put pressure on you for subsequent works?

 

I never expected to be nominated either time and was shocked (and thrilled, of course.) But I have always been very realistic about where my work fits in the enormous industry that is today’s publishing world. When I was writing the first book, Winter Witness, my head spun with all the contradictory advice. I must do this. I absolutely can’t do that. I need this, I can’t have that. It made me question my own ideas and my own sense of what I write just at the time I was most vulnerable. So, subsequently I have tried hard to follow my own instincts. My first priority is to write what I want to write and what I like to read. I think I have done that and continue to do so. So thankfully, no, I didn’t feel any pressure from the nominations. 

What is the most valuable thing you’ve learned since you started writing?

 

I touched on this in the last question. I have learned to trust my gut more. To listen to advice from those who know more, but to assess it in relationship to what I am trying to accomplish. Advice that will lead me to write someone else’s book is not useful. I need to be open to guidance and also confident enough to follow my own instincts.

 

What’s next for Bianca? Are you working on anything new?

 

There are several more books sketched out for Bianca, but no release dates yet. Stay tuned. In the meantime, I hope to release the first book in the new series.

 

Thank you, Tina. I’m envious of your travels to Japan.

 

To learn more about Tina and her books, visit www.tinadebellegarde.com

 

Bio

 

Tina deBellegarde is a two-time Agatha Award nominee for her Batavia-on-Hudson Mysteries. Autumn Embers, the most recent addition to the series, takes place in Kyoto. Her short stories have been nominated for an Agatha Award and a Derringer Award. Tina co-chairs the Murderous March virtual writers conference. She enjoys reviewing Japanese fiction for Books on Asia, and is the Membership Coordinator of Writers in Kyoto. 

 

Tina lives and writes in Catskill, New York with her husband Denis, and their cat Shelby. When she isn’t writing she is helping Denis tend their beehives, harvest shiitakes from their mushroom logs, or tend their vegetable garden. She makes lampworked glass beads and contributes to her husband’s jewelry designs. For Tina, baking and cooking are meditations that allow her to plan her writing. She travels to Kyoto, Japan regularly to visit with her son Alessandro, who has lived there for many years running his media production company.

 

Tina most recently worked at the Catskill Public Library. She is a former middle school teacher, paralegal, and exporter.

 

Grace Topping is the author of the Laura Bishop Mystery Series.