An Interview with Shari Randall by E. B. Davis

Welcome back to the seaside village of Mystic Bay, where someone’s been found sleeping with the fishes. . .

Ballerina Allie Larkin is still back home, healing up from a broken ankle and lending a hand at her aunt’s Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack. But now that the famed restaurant is branching out into the world of catering, Allie’s help is needed more than ever—even on the lobster boat. The last thing she expects to find once she’s out on the bay, however, is the dead body of a beautiful young woman.

When days pass and not even the police can ID the corpse, Allie takes it upon herself to learn the truth about what happened. Her investigation leads her all the way from the local piers to the secluded estates of Mystic Bay’s posh elite. But how can she crack this case when everyone seems dead-set on keeping their secrets beneath the surface?

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My mind churned with memories of last night, a night that had begun

so magically, champagne and music and a nighttime glide across the bay to

a multimillion-dollar yacht with a star and a handsome musician.

And ended with my sister smeared with her boyfriend’s blood.

Shari Randall, Against The Claw (Kindle Loc. 2102)

Against The Claw, the second book in Shari Randall’s Lobster Shack Mystery series, will be released by St. Martin’s Press on July 31. I interviewed Shari when her first in the series was released, Curses, Boiled Again, which was a wonderful read. But so often an author spends years developing the first book. It’s the second book, written under time constraints, that is critical to the success of a series. I’m pleased to report that I liked Against The Claw perhaps even more than Curses, Boiled Again.

Why? It’s the authenticity. In cozies, the main character inevitably finds a body. Shari builds scenarios that smack of realism. When main character Allie Larkin innocently finds victims in the course of her life, there is no stretch to believe the contrived. Readers are just as shocked as Allie. It’s the author’s gift and a blessing to readers who are jaded and immune to another body find. There is an emotional connection on the visceral level that enables this authenticity. As a writer, I’m reading and studying.

There’s also a lot of fun reading. Shari must have anticipated the first question I was going to ask because at the very end of the book she supplied the recipe of Aunt Gully’s Love Sauce, which surprised me due to it also being a bisque.

I have no need to welcome Shari to WWK, old-timer here that she is—so just drop by and give Shari a high five and a virtual champagne toast.                                                                                     E. B. Davis

Thank you for inviting me for an interview, EB. Champagne and lobster rolls for everyone!

Miranda, the mother of Allie and Lorel, died giving birth to Allie. How does Allie feel about that?

Allie doesn’t miss her mother the way she would if she’d known her. She does have a sense of longing, a sense that there is a missing piece in her life, but it’s wistful, not painful. Her Aunt Gully, who stepped into the mother role for Allie and her sister, Lorel, has been too much fun and too big a presence in Allie’s life for her to feel a sense of loss.

Does Lorel resent Allie?

We would have a field day if we could get Lorel to a therapist! On some level, I think she does but it’s expressed mainly as exasperation. Allie and Lorel are opposites - Allie is intuitive and artistic, Lorel is businesslike and all about the numbers. Oil and water. Plus, Lorel is the older sister and can be bossy. That’s why their relationship is so much fun to write – they are two characters who want the same things but go about them in different, usually opposing, ways.

Is Allie and Lorel’s difference in perspective due to their mother’s death?

I’ll leave that up to the armchair psychologists among our readers.

Bertha Betancourt plays a pivotal role in Against The Claw. Does Bertha play Bruce Springsteen on her boat?

I love to picture Bertha blasting “Born to Run” while she’s out on the lobster boat with the wind in her hair!

           

How did Bertha become Mystic Bay’s Lobster Lady?

Bertha’s family has been lobstering in the Mystic Bay area practically since the town was founded in the 1600s. Some folks whisper that the Betancourts were also pirates and Bertha loves playing that up. In my research I’ve discovered many women who captain their own lobster boats, so Bertha is part of a fine tradition.

Why did she offer housekeeping services to those owning homes on islands in Mystic Bay?

Lobstering is a difficult profession and it’s seasonal. Bertha, like many lobstermen and women, often has to take other jobs to make ends meet. Mystic Bay has plenty of wealthy residents who need their stunning vacation homes cleaned.

Is the Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack open for dinner or is it a lunch place?

It’s open for lunch and dinner. Actually, if Aunt Gully is there before opening and thinks you look hungry, she’ll make you a lobster roll. She has an inner Italian mama in her that makes her want to feed everyone.

Lorel has an MBA, but it seems like she mostly does PR work. What is her Boston job?

Lorel’s just turned 30, but she’s flown up the ladder to vice president at her Boston-based social media company. In Book Three, I’ve given her a stunning office with floor to ceiling windows overlooking Boston Harbor.

Aunt Gully is asked by Stellene Lupo, the owner of a premier modeling agency, to cater her famous July 4^th party at her nearby estate. The Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack hasn’t ever catered before. What were the factors they considered when deciding whether or not to accept the job?

Mostly they considered the insane amount of money that Stellene would pay to get famous Lazy Mermaid lobster rolls for her party. But also everyone is dying to get behind the doors of one of the biggest, most secluded mansions in town to be part of this gala party for celebrities and other one percenters.

Stellene’s estate is called Harmony Harbor, but is there a cove or harbor in Mystic Bay that lends the estate its name?

Yes, Harmony Harbor (the estate) is on Harmony Harbor (the harbor). Sorry if it’s confusing! I dream of having a map in my books (are you listening, St. Martin’s?).

Why does Allie characterize Lorel as looking like “the cool blond heroine of a Hitchcock movie?”

Allie’s like me, she’s a fan of classic Hollywood movies. When I picture Lorel, I see an actress like Kim Novak or Grace Kelly, whose cool exterior masks a passionate interior life. As a side note, I’ve had male readers tell me that Lorel is “hot.”

Have tourists ever stolen Aunt Gully’s mermaidabilia that decorates the Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack?

Not yet. Great idea, EB!

Are a lobster’s claws sharp enough to cut off a human finger?

It depends on the size of the claw, but you should never, in the words of Hector the cook, get casual around a lobster.

There are times when you break past for present tense. Why?

I’m still figuring things out as a writer. When I’m having Allie go through a stressful or exciting experience, I want to get as much into her head as I can, so the reader can share that experience.

Is the stage a place where Allie can escape?

Absolutely. Since her injury, she’s struggled with her sense of self. She’s spent most of her life working toward a dance career. Here she is, just about to take on dream roles, when she’s injured. If she’s not a dancer, who is she? Luckily for Allie, she’s discovered a love of sleuthing.

After finding a body entangled in a lobster trap, Allie experiences trauma. What happens to her?

She comes very close to going into shock. I don’t want to give too much away, but though she’s affected greatly, Allie’s good in an emergency. When she’s faced with difficult situations, she’s able to kick into another gear to keep functioning.

Allie eats ice cream with her friend Bronwyn, who is in police training, in the morning and with another friend Verity, who owns a vintage clothing shop, at night on the same day. Does Allie have an ice cream problem?

This one hits close to home. One person’s problem is another person’s party.

I didn’t know that ballerinas coated their pointes with rosin. I also didn’t know it was sticky. I thought rosin was a powder. Does the stage get sticky and can that be dangerous?

I learned so much from my research with Boston Ballet. Some dance companies travel with their own floors, which are made of a nonslip material called marley. But sometimes on tour, dancers will work in a theater with a slippery floor – sometimes the custodians will wax a wooden floor so it’s nice and shiny – which is a disaster for ballet dancers. So they’ll step into a box of crushed rosin (same thing that violinists use on their bows) to make their shoes slightly sticky. There’s a whole art and science to dancers treating their footwear to work on different stages. But you’re right – too much rosin can be a problem, also.

Detective Rosato commands a Harbor Patrol boat to go after stolen evidence. When Allie leaps into the boat, does she reinjure her ankle? Will she have more time away from dance?

Can’t give away any spoilers, but there is a Book Three….

Allie makes a promise to stop interfering in police stuff. She lying, isn’t she?

Allie is an honorable woman, so she means what she says – at that moment in time. But there is a Book Three….

Will Aunt Gully get a new van?

I thought she would, but then things took an interesting turn. (sorry about the pun!)

Thank you again for the interview, EB. I love being a Writer Who Kills!

To celebrate Against the Claw, I’m doing a giveaway. Just say hello and let me know if you like lobster, and I’ll send a copy of ATC to one commenter. U.S. only, please!