Kaye George Interivew by E. B. Davis

Vintage sweets, a deadly surprise, and a mischievous Maine Coon cat—Deadly Sweet Tooth is the delightful cozy mystery you’ve been waiting for!

In a darling tourist town like Fredericksburg, Texas, a vintage sweet shop offering delicious old-fashioned favorites is a perfect fit—until someone decides to debut a recipe that’s lusciously lethal…

With Tally’s Old Tyme Sweets finally—well, almost—turning a profit, Tally Holt is taking one busy Saturday off to host a grand party for her parents, traveling performers who spend most of their time on the road. Tally’s counting on the publicity and free treats to attract new customers. And the event is a sweet success—at least until Fran Abraham, the town’s foul-tempered theater director, drops dead after a bitter confrontation with Tally’s mother.

Murder was definitely not on Tally’s menu, but it’s clear that Fran’s death wasn’t natural. The list of possible culprits includes not just Tally’s mom, but her protective dad too. Relying on Yolanda Bella, her best friend and the proprietor of Bella’s Baskets next door, for help, Tally will need to unwrap the sticky pasts and unsavory presents of everyone from her own parents to her new hires before Fran’s death sours everybody on her fledgling shop….

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Kaye George’s second book in the Vintage Sweets mystery series, Deadly Sweet Tooth, was released by Lyrical Press on June 2. Main character Tally Holt is a likeable, hardworking business owner and amateur sleuth. Her shop, located in the small tourist town of Fredericksburg, TX, in the heart of the hill country, attracts mystery and mayhem. With her best friend, Yolanda, another business owner, the two help solve the mysteries and at times help each other stay alive.

Deadly Sweet Tooth reveals Tally Holt’s parents, Nancy and Bob, and their history. Entertainers, who travel world-wide, they have not held center stage until this book, and perhaps with good reason. I admire Tally all the more after meeting her parents. Not that they are bad people, but running away from problems seems to be their specialty. Luckily for us, Tally’s specialties are sweet candies and solved mysteries.

If you have a question for WWK Blogger Kaye George about her book, please ask by leaving a comment. Here’s a link to the interview I did with Kaye about the first book in the series, Revenge is Sweet.                                                                                           E. B. Davis  

I was surprised that in August, Fredericksburg would have such a difference in day and night temperatures, getting as high as 90s and as low as the 60s. Is this typical of the Texas hill country?

Yes, I used temperature charts to be sure and be accurate. It’s rather dry, classified as semi-arid, hence the day and night differences.

Tally seems almost unprepared for the party she is giving her parents when they arrive in town. How did the party evolve?

Very quickly! Her parents’ schedule is always erratic and they are arriving without much warning. She also rather suddenly needs new employees. Naturally, since it’s for her parents, she’s eager to do a good job presenting her new shop to them for the first time. Her friend Yolanda, who is more organized, usually, is a big help in getting it put together.

Although Tally had a successful business in Austin that she sold, she doesn’t seem to have a system for hiring employees. Why is she having so many problems?

See above! Also, these are the usual problems an employer has when hiring unskilled workers, from my experience. Being in a small town and having a small pool of possibilities doesn’t help! She can’t afford to pay a high salary.

Tally’s mom, Nancy, starts to feel unwell at the party and has to leave. At the hospital, they learn she has dengue fever. What is that, and how do you know about it? Is it contagious?

Great question! I know about it because my son contracted it in Thailand a few years ago. There is no treatment, as stated in the book, except to rest and hydrate until it’s over. You get it from an infected mosquito and it’s a perennial problem in that part of the world. I don’t think it’s contagious, since no one he was with caught it. There is a possibility that it remains in your body and you have relapses, he was lucky and has never had one. A friend of my daughter also has it and does have relapses every six months or so. It causes a fever, headache, and muscle and joint pain. Another name for it is “breakbone” fever. Nasty stuff!

Yolanda reveals to Tally that her sister Vi is gay. Yolanda and Vi decide to introduce their parents to Vi’s girlfriend at Tally’s party, thinking that their reaction will be contained in a public place. Is this fair to them? It almost feels underhanded to spring the unexpected on them there.

The thought, and hope, was that there would be less of a scene in a public place. Yolanda wants, first and foremost, to protect her little sister from their father’s formidable wrath. He’s not violent, just very opinionated and both daughters take his disapproval to heart whenever they’re on the receiving end of it. She’s very afraid her father will disown Violetta. The best laid plans, however…

When another woman at the party, Fran, leaves the party due to illness, she dies later of poisoning. Why didn’t Tally become the most likely suspect? It was her food that was poisoned. Instead her parents are more seriously considered.

This is due to the history of Fran and Nancy, Tally’s mother. Tally barely knows the woman, just what other people have told her about Fran. Also, you’ll see that Tally wasn’t around the food, having so many other details to take care of. The altercation is what everyone reports, so the suspicion naturally falls on Nancy…and Bob, Tally’s father, who the police are told did have access to the treats.

With Yolanda’s parents being so conservative, I was surprised that she got involved with a separated, but still married man. Is this her way of rebelling?

Yolanda has spent her whole adult life rebelling, or trying to. More than anything, she wants the approval of her stern father, and to be able to think of herself as an adult, rather than as the child he sees in her. She doesn’t know Kevin has or had ever had, a wife, when she first starts seeing him.

Tally’s employees help make the candy. I thought candy-making was almost a science. How could inexperienced people take on the most important part of the business? Is it actually easy?
Those famous recipes from Tally’s grandmother are all they need. Don’t worry, there’s one in the back of each book. Actually, I love to make candy and it’s not that hard.

Tally also lets one of her employees alter her website without her permission. I was floored. Why would she allow that even if it was a good thing?

Ah, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Tally trusts everything Lily does. She’s Tally’s golden girl. Why? Because she’s actually my granddaughter, who has begged me for years to be put into one of my novels. I finally thought she was old enough to read these, so in she went. I had great fun adding her! Another secret? She really wants to be the killer, so, someday…

When Tally questions her parents about their involvement with the victim, they reveal a whole lot of secrets I’m sure Tally never wanted to know. But I was surprised that Tally didn’t discuss their reveals with her brother, Cole. Why didn’t she?

She’s the big sis and just as protective of and fond of her little brother as Yolanda is of her little sister. She thinks less of her parents after learning all of their past, and wouldn’t want her brother’s opinion of them to be colored by that, too. There’s a lot about family relationships and entanglements in this book.

What lessons has Cole learned from their parents that Tally didn’t or rejected?

He’s more self-confident, almost to a fault. He’s making a good living with his art, something Tally would never dare to—or even want to—do. Tally isn’t really interested in art as much as being a success at something far removed from art and performing as possible. She never liked being on the stage as a child and would never want to relive those days. Cole didn’t mind it nearly as much.

Why would Tally’s father, Bob, pay blackmail on something he didn’t do? It makes him look

guilty.

He does consider himself guilty, for not having insurance and therefore being able to take care of the man after he promised him he would. He’s not guilty of murder, but feels he could have done a lot better for the man and his family.

Mrs. Gerg’s garage-sale gifts to Tally are at least smaller, alleviating her space problem. What is she collecting for Tally now?

Jewelry! Tally is happy she won’t have to buy or build shelves for the trinkets. Like she had to when her landlady kept bringing her decorative boxes of various sizes, some of them not small.

Although Tally seemed on the verge of developing a personal relationship with Detective Jackson Rogers, he now knows many of the Holt’s secrets. Won’t Tally feel uncomfortable around him knowing he knows?

I doubt it. She knows she is not her parents, she is herself. She trusts Jackson to know that, too.

Is liquid nicotine sold for vaping regulated?

Not much. Minors are not supposed to buy it. That’s the only law in the places I researched. It has the same regulations as tobacco.

What’s next for Tally and Yolanda?

Into the Sweet Hereafter! They run up against an international smuggling ring, and, of course, murder. The book is scheduled to come out March of 2021, but this is extremely subject to change, since the publication date on this one was moved from September to June.

Long or Short?

Kaye George

We all hope to fool our readers, don’t we? We want them to breeze through our deathless prose and think it was easy to write that. After all, we dash these things off all the time, right?

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Once you try it, you’re not fooled, though. The writing that looks simple, reads easy, is the hardest to do. Then there’s the type of writing. Journalists don’t find it easy to write fiction. Novelists don’t find it easy to write short stories. And short story writers don’t find novels very easy, either. Poets generally just write poetry. Then there’s non-fiction. Whole ‘nother animal.

Thick Books Upsplash morgan harris

It’s hard for me to write a novel, but, I admit, much easier to write a short story. Many writers are the exact opposite. Novels are fun and short stories are hard work. Well, it’s all hard work, sometimes. (Except for those rare instances when The Muse dictates a story to you, fully formed, and you need only copy down the dictation. I think I’ve had that happen twice.) I really do think that the best novels and stories make it look easy. That takes skill! 

Preferring to write novels or short stories may be due to the difference between our own basic tendencies. I tend to write “short,” which means that when I write a novel, it comes in way under the required word count and I must go through my edits, keeping in mind that I need a lot more words. I learned to write lean through doing flash fiction. A 1000-word story doesn’t leave space for extra words. A 100-word story, even worse. I consider flash fiction excellent training for short story writing.

Thin Book Upsplash kelley sikkema

I know many writers tend to write “long.” They end up way over their word count on the first draft and have to cut, cut, cut.

Sometimes I wish I could HAVE those cut words for MY novel. Yeah, they probably wouldn’t go with the rest of the story.

Word count is usually dictated by the publisher. My required word counts for my novels are in my contracts. I’ll admit, I’ve turned some in that are a bit shy of the requirement, but you’re allowed to round your word count. No one said I couldn’t round it up.

If you’re a writer, do you prefer writing long or short? If you’re a reader, does it look easy to write a novel or a short story?

An Interview with Agatha Nominee Kaye George by E. B. Davis

In the picturesque tourist town of Fredericksburg, Texas, Tally Holt has opened a new candy store with a vintage twist . . .but there’s no sugar-coating a nasty case of murder . . .

Tally Holt has poured her heart, soul, and bank account into Tally’s Olde Tyme Sweets, specializing in her grandmother’s delicious recipes. Tally’s homemade Mallomars, Twinkies, fudges, and taffy are a hit with visiting tourists—and with Yolanda Bella, the flamboyant owner of Bella’s Baskets next door. But both shops encounter a sour surprise when local handyman Gene Faust is found dead in Tally’s kitchen, stabbed with Yolanda’s scissors.

The mayor’s adopted son, Gene, was a handsome Casanova with a bad habit of borrowing money from the women he wooed. It’s a sticky situation for Yolanda, who was one of his marks. There are plenty of other likely culprits among Fredericksburg’s female population, and even among Gene’s family. But unless Tally can figure out who finally had their fill of Gene’s sweet-talking ways, Yolanda—and both their fledgling businesses—may be destined for a bitter end…

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Kaye George has been nominated twice in the short story category of the Agatha Awards. We’ll see if this May brings Kaye an Agatha. (See our marquee above.) She’s been nominated also in the Best First and Best Historical categories. And that was one reason I was disappointed to see that only one book was listed in the front of Revenge is Sweet as previously written. The fact is, Kaye’s been nominated twice for two books in two different series. The Vintage Sweet Mysteries is the fifth series Kaye has written (one under the pseudonym of Janet Cantrell) plus many short stories.

The main character in the Vintage Sweet Mysteries, Tally Holt, is a likeable character. She’s an experienced candy maker who previously had a bakery shop in Austin, Texas, but returned to Fredericksburg, Texas, where she grew up, and opened Tally’s Olde Tyme Sweets. Her best friend, Yolanda, owns a basket shop next door. Kaye presents both Tally and Yolanda’s perspectives as the storytellers. When a young man is found murdered in Tally’s shop both women are implicated in the murder.

Please join us in discussing Kaye’s new series!                                                                           E. B. Davis

Fredericksburg, TX, is a real place. Why did you decide to set your series there? And please tell our readers a bit about the town.

I’ve visited Fredericksburg and had wonderful times there. I was casting about for a cozy town for a new series and lit on this one. There are lots of shops, it’s a small town, and has some unusual features due to its unique history. It was settled by Germans, and the ones who farmed the surrounding area built small two-story houses, called Sunday Houses, which they used when they drove to town for church on the weekends and stayed overnight. Many of them are still standing. It’s located in the Texas Hill Country, which contains a lot of vineyards, so wineries abound in the area and tasting rooms in the town. You can also get authentic German food in the many restaurants. It seemed like an excellent place, not only for a small shopkeeper, but for one dealing with edibles.

When I read the description of Tally’s Whoopie Pies, I gathered there are similar but different treats in various places in the country. In my home state of Pennsylvania, they are big soft fat chocolate cookies with a vanilla buttermilk filling. How are Tally’s so different?

The fillings I’ve encountered are more marshmallowy, so hers are that way, too. Not very different at all! The recipes she works from were handed down from her New Jersey grandmother, who loved to recreate the store-bought treats of her time with original, home-made versions.

How did Tally come to grow up in Fredericksburg?

Her parents started out there, so she lived with them. When they later decided to go on the road, performing, she and her brother, Cole, were looked after by their grandparents, who had moved there to follow the children.

How have Tally and her brother, Cole, made different lifestyle decisions?

They both wanted to avoid the stage where their parents made a living. At young ages, they were both used in the acts the Holts created. They were sensations, well-received, but, as children often do, they rejected the choices of their parents, although both ended up involved with creative endeavors. Cole is a sculptor of large-scale, expensive pieces, and Tally creates comestibles.

How does Tally’s relationship to her parents differ from Yolanda’s?

Yolanda’s father, especially, treats her as a child and smothers her. He insists on financing her project, Bella’s Baskets, even though he wishes she would go into real estate, his field and the one her sister works in also, and the field that made him rich. He doesn’t understand people who don’t want to be rich.

Tally’s parents are much more hands-off, and have been ever since Tally and Cole began to live with their grandparents.

How did Cole end up with Maine Coon cat, Nigel?

Cole goes through women pretty regularly, never getting attached to any of the females who fall for him. In this book, one who moved in decided to leave him, but didn’t take her cat with her. Since he’s on the road installing his sculptures much of the time, he can’t keep the cat either. He brings it to Tally, who isn’t at all sure she wants a pet, at first, since she’s never had one. Nigel, however, quickly wins her heart.

I was surprised when early July was described as early in the tourist season because here on the

east coast, early tourist season is April or May. How is July early?

I researched this to get the information. The main tourist season is summertime and, for this town specifically, holiday shopping is the focus.

Yolanda seems immature compared to Tally. Have her parents interfered in her development? Why are they still so “hands-on” when she and Tally must be close to thirty-five?

The fact that Yolanda’s father foists money on her, keeps her in his debt. She needs to resist this, but it’s hard, when she really does need the money, and enjoys the things it buys. She loves the expensive Sunday House he bought for her, for example. Yes, they are about 35. Yolanda has also never left home and Tally went to Austin to start her own business with bank loans, which she managed to pay off herself.

How did Tally come by her recipes for vintage sweets? What are some of the sweets Tally sells?

When her grandmother passed away, she had arranged for her little metal recipe box to be delivered to Tally after her death. Tally was delighted to receive it, because she remembers making many of the recipes beside her grandmother. Some of them that Tally markets are her grandmother’s versions of Mary Janes, Mallomars, Clark Bars, Whoopie Pies, even Twinkies.

What are “rhomboid” patches?

You are referring to the light thrown onto the pavement from shop windows at night. Since the windows are rectangular, and the light shines out obliquely, the shapes cast are rhomboids.

Allen, one of the repairmen who services Yolanda and Tally’s shops, attracts Tally. She goes out with him for a few dates, but then she decides she doesn’t want to see him anymore. Why? And how does Nigel’s interaction confirm Tally’s feelings?

She doesn’t see much future with Allen. He has no interest in staying in one place very long. She foresees a broken heart if she gets too attached and he pulls up roots and leaves. She is also alarmed at his temper and wonders if he’s the person who killed Gene, since he was his co-worker.

Allen is rather dismissive of Nigel’s awesomeness, to Tally’s chagrin, although Nigel likes Allen. When Nigel rubs against Allen’s leg, Allen pushes him away.

I was surprised that Tally cleaned up the blood and gore from the murder in her shop’s kitchen. Why

didn’t she call experts to do the job?

She wouldn’t even think of doing that. She’s a Texan woman through and through who takes cares of things herself.

Mrs. Gerg is a hoot. Will she continue to be helpful or problematic (or both) to Tally?

Oh yes, both!

Yolanda and Tally are both the oldest sibling. Has their birth order affect their affected their thinking and behavior?

I think they get along with each other well because they are both the older child. They do have very different relationships with their parents and their families are quite different, but they bonded as young children going to school together and have always gotten along.

What is a Sunday House? Is Fredericksburg the only place they exist?

I explained those above and that’s the only town I’ve ever seen them in, which doesn’t mean they don’t exist in other places. They probably have a different name and are not the same distinctive architecture. The ones here were built so the men would sleep on the first floor and the women and children on the second floor. They had an outside staircase, so the second floor was decidedly more inconvenient, which tells you something about Germans of that era.

What is Jaeger Schnitzel (and brats)?

The former is my favorite German food. They are delicately breaded pork cutlets served with a mushroom gravy. Brats are…brats—bratwurst.

Is Enchanted Rock a real formation? Does it have legends or did you create them?

It’s a fantastic park right outside town that I’ve hiked. I didn’t make up a thing. It has enough lore of its own. I haven’t been there after dark (it’s supposed to be closed then), but there are lots of stories.

Why does Detective Rogers say he’d like to take Tally out after the investigation is over, and then ask her out during the investigation? No willpower?

Or a strong attraction. They are drawn to each other, after all.

Can people adopt a child and then have the adoption annulled?

Yes, it can happen. The rules are strict and, ideally, it has to be in the best interest of the child for that to happen.

Are you owned by a cat, Kaye?

I’ve been owned by many. The cat bed is empty right now, but will probably not stay that way.

Will we learn more about how Tally became an experienced baker/candy maker in subsequent books?

I hadn’t planned on going into it, other than that she learned from her grandmother. It’s an idea, though.

The next book in the series is Deadly Sweet Tooth. Can you give us the jacket copy?

No cover yet, but here’s the copy. Thanks for asking!

In a darling tourist town like Fredericksburg, Texas, a vintage sweet shop offering delicious old-fashioned favorites is a perfect fit—until someone decides to debut a recipe that’s lusciously lethal…

With Tally’s Old Tyme Sweets finally—well, almost—turning a profit, Tally Holt is taking one busy Saturday off to host a grand party for her parents, traveling performers who spend most of their time on the road. Tally’s counting on the publicity and free treats to attract new customers. And the event is a sweet success—at least until Fran Abraham, the town’s foul-tempered theater director, drops dead after a bitter confrontation with Tally’s mother.

Murder was definitely not on Tally’s menu, but it’s clear that Fran’s death wasn’t natural. The list of possible culprits includes not just Tally’s mom, but her protective dad too. Relying on Yolanda Bella, her best friend and the proprietor of Bella’s Baskets next door, for help, Tally will need to unwrap the sticky pasts and unsavory presents of everyone from her own parents to her new hires before Fran’s death sours everybody on her fledgling shop….

Thanks so much for having me here. I love interviews with you!

Cliffhangers

by Kaye George

Here’s where my last post for Writers Who Kill left off:

... I actually DID come up with an excellent solution, but I have to leave you with a teaser—can’t tell you yet what will happen. Tune in two Sundays from now!

Here it is, two Sundays from then. But…well…I can’t tell you the solution to having my publisher go out of business yet. I’ll have to leave you with a cliff hanger again this time. Sorry! 

Speaking of cliffhangers, they are a staple in genre fiction, at least in the kind I write. They are how we keep our readers turning pages, staying up late, and—we hope—enjoying our books. They belong at the ends of chapters and scenes. I’ve taken classes where it’s advocated to do them at the end of every chapter and scene. I’ve also been advised, by an editor I respect, not to put them at every single one. That gets too predictable—ho hum.

How do we create cliffhangers? We raise a question and don’t answer it. Yet. We start some action and don’t finish it. Yet. We create an expectation and don’t fill it. Yet. Sounds like we’re being mean, doesn’t it? It’s all for your own good. Trust me! 

Another way to produce tension with a cliffhanger is to change the point of view (POV). Just when one character is getting to the juicy part, end the scene and switch to the other character. No, that’s not cheating! It’s our way of making it more interesting.

So, hang on for two more Sundays! I hope you’ll be back.

Photos from morguefile.com

by teacake, impure_with_memory, MushyTaters

What Do You Write? by Marilyn Levinson

There are many ways of categorizing the various forms of writing. Writing can be divided into prose and poetry; fiction and nonfiction; into genres like mystery, sci-fi, and romance; into subgenres such as mystery's cozies and thrillers.

Like almost every other Writers Who Kill blogger, I write mysteries. These days, cozy mysteries with a touch of the paranormal. I also write novels for kids, the occasional romantic suspense, and if I go back far enough—short stories.

Many of us write more than one type of fiction. Best-seller Nora Roberts, probably the best known romance writer, also writes futuristic suspense as J. D. Robb. Closer to home, this is evident among my friends and fellow mystery writers. Daryl Gerber writes cozies and novels of suspense. Kaye George and Debra Goldstein are probably as well known for their short stories as their mysteries.

I think we write in various genres because we're creative beings and find that different types of stories require different genres. Though I've included ghosts and witches in some of my books, I must admit I was surprised when I found myself writing a YA horror—The Devil's Pawn. But a long time ago I learned to allow my thoughts to play themselves out so I could decide if they'd make a good story.

Though we're all fiction writers, we also do a good deal of so-called "non-fiction" writing. Think of how much, we as writers produce in the service of promoting our books and our "brand." (I think I'm beginning to hate that word.) We write blog posts (which are often essays), articles on writing, book reviews, interviews for fellow writers, answer interview questions, write blurbs, flap copy, bios, letters to editors and letters to agents to name a few. Some, like Nancy Cohen, write books on writing and cook books. And I'm not even mentioning all of the support we give one another on Facebook, Messaging, via email and other electronic devices.

Regardless of the type or genre, we sure spend a lot of time writing!