"End of the Road" is a cozy mystery, with a touch of humour and romance. It's set in fictional Bonney County, in the mountains of south central New Mexico. The main character is Corrie Black, the owner of the Black Horse Campground. She's looking forward to a successful summer season when the murder of a long-time guest, Marvin Landry, occurs. At first, when it's discovered that $25,000 in cash is missing from the RV, it appears that robbery is the motive. But is it? Marvin's handicapped wife, Betty, seems to be afraid of something and his stepson, Walter Dodson, doesn't seem to be the least bit sorry that Marvin is dead. Complicating matters is the mysterious and dangerously attractive J. D. Wilder who arrives just before Marvin's murder and has a few secrets of his own. Despite opposition from her long-time friend and old flame, Sheriff Rick Sutton, Corrie is determined to find out who murdered Marvin. But will it end up being the end of the road for Corrie?

End of the Road

End of the Road

It is the first book in the Black Horse Campground series, so can you give us some insight into the next installment?

The next installment is tentatively titled "No Lifeguard on Duty". That might give you a clue as to where and how the next murder is to take place!

How important is it for you to enjoy the experiences of the characters you are writing about?

It's not easy to experience everything your characters will, especially in a murder mystery (thank goodness!), but I do think it's important to know something about their lives and what they do. A good friend of ours insisted on teaching me to fire a gun since one of my main characters is a law enforcement officer. Already what I've learned has made a difference in a scene in the second book... and I really did enjoy learning how to handle a firearm! I always enjoy learning new things, so I look forward to seeing what else my characters will encourage me to learn in future books!

When you are not writing you are cake decorating, so tell us a bit about this area of your life.

I started decorating when I was 12 years old. I came home from school one afternoon and my mother had signed me up for cake decorating classes with a neighbour of ours. I don't remember ever asking for it or expressing interest in the art of cake decorating, but my mother always said I was very creative and it turned out that I enjoyed it and had a knack for it. It gave me a creative outlet and even if the cakes didn't look all that great in the beginning, they still tasted good and my family still liked them! I started making cakes for friends and family (I was the person they called when someone was getting married-I made quite a few impressive wedding cakes, including my own!) When I got married and moved to New Mexico, I found a job at a bakery and I've been decorating professionally for 25 years, 15 of those years with Walmart. It still gives me a good feeling when I see the delight on people's faces when I've made a cake for a special occasion.

You are married with a son, work and write, so how do you juggle it all?

Writing is something I've always loved doing, almost as much as reading. I home schooled my son, my niece, and my nephews, so in those years, the writing definitely took a backseat. Now that the kids are grown, I find more time for writing, but I really need a deadline to stay focused. When I heard about National Novel Writing Month (www.nanawrimo.org), I thought it would be an interesting challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I didn't make the word count, but I was hooked. And when my husband, Paul, read what I had written, he encouraged me to write even more. It's very important to have the support of family in any endeavour, but especially one like writing which is seldom taken seriously. Paul has always treated the writing like a "real" job, and that has helped me do the same. There's no such thing as "cake decorator's block", so there isn't "writer's block" either!

When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?

I think it was back when I learned to love reading. I was a huge fan of the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder and what intrigued me was how Laura was a real person who loved to write. Writing assignments were always my favorite and getting positive comments from my teachers and friends certainly encouraged me! I also had wonderful teachers, two of whom I acknowledged in my book (Patricia Quinn and Patricia Hollis) who were excellent English teachers who always prodded me to do my very best. I owe them both a lot.

What is your writing process?

I just write. I don't have a particular process. I like having some background noise, so my best writing comes out when my son and husband are in the TV room watching football or when I'm in a coffee shop with conversations and other sounds around me. It seems to ground me in my fictional world, helps bring it to life, and sometimes a stray word will suggest a story line to me. I don't know if I could ever quit a "regular" job, because it helps to interact with various people and personalities in bringing fictional characters to life. The only hard part is finding a spare moment to jot down an idea or two when they occur in the middle of a project or when talking to a customer!

Who are your favourite reads?

My all-time favourite writer is Mary Higgins Clark. I can still finish her books in one sitting! It was from her that I learned to interweave romance and mystery/suspense and still leave a lot to the imagination (she's never employed graphic violence or sex). I grew up reading Agatha Christie and, after reading more than 15 of her books in one summer, I developed a fascination for mysteries (my favourite Christie character? Mrs. Oliver, the mystery writer, of course!) I've also become a big fan of regional fiction, especially set in New Mexico: Mike Orenduff's "Pot Thief" mysteries (set in Old Town Albuquerque); Aimee and David Thurlo ("Ella Clah" and "Sister Agatha" mysteries, set in northern New Mexico, the Four Corners region, and the Navajo Nation); and Steven F. Havill's "Posada County" mysteries (set in the southern part of the state, along the Interstate 10 corridor.) I could list many others but I think I'll stop there!

What is next for you?

I hope to continue to bring more Black Horse Campground novels in the near future and perhaps another series later on down the road. I can't quite give up the "day jobs" yet (besides cake decorator at Walmart, I also work as a "vino-slinger" at Noisy Water, a local winery in Ruidoso, NM) but I certainly hope to have more time to write. In the meantime, I'm just enjoying the "writing life" and hope a lot of people enjoy what I write!


by for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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