Author Peggy Webb shares 7 fun facts about herself with her readers
Peggy Webb
I grew up in the King’s hometown—the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Elvis Presley.
I live in a country cottage three miles from the farm where I was born and ten miles from Elvis’ birthplace in Tupelo, Mississippi. His mother, Gladys “Love” Smith, was born on farmland her family rented from my grandfather’s family in Lee County. After Elvis was born, Gladys worked for Grace Reed, and would put her infant son in the crib with Grace’s son, Arthur Roy Reed--my brother-in-law. AR loved making people laugh by saying he slept with Elvis.
I was once a princess.
During my college years, I was asked to serve as Lee County’s Dairy Princess because I grew up on a farm that had dairy cows. I agreed, never dreaming I would have to enter a state pageant. Or that I would win and become Mississippi’s Dairy Princess, complete with robe and crown. I did several tours throughout the state that year, speaking on behalf of the dairy industry.
I am an actress.
I love theater and film, and have written two screenplays based on my novels, Where Dolphins Go and Driving Me Crazy. Tupelo Community Theater owns the old Lyric Theater building, which was originally an opera house then later became a movie theater. I’ve played several dramatic roles there, including M’Lynn (the Sally Field role) in Steel Magnolias; Chick in Crimes of the Heart; and The White Witch in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. For the record, my third role was not typecasting.
I sing first soprano in my church’s choir and have been in the chorus of these musicals: Hello Dolly, Oklahoma, and Show Boat. I was assistant director of music for The King and I.
By the way, the theater is haunted by a ghost from its opera house days.
I’m a pianist and a composer
A song is a story told in three minutes, and a book is a story told in three hundred pages. My love of music impacts every novel I write. I hear the music of words and view the completed novel as a symphony complete with slow, stately adagios and loud, crashing crescendos interspersed with “a tempo,” the natural rhythm of a song or a story.
I’ve played church piano since I was eight years old. Back then I knew only two songs, played with a two-note chord with both hands. Now I tackle the concert arrangements played by Dino Kartsonakis and Mark Hayes. I post music videos, mostly blues gospel, on my Facebook page and will soon have them on YouTube.
Using the name Li’l Rosie, I compose blues lyrics. The list includes Why Ain’t You Dead Yet; No Use Cryin,’ Baby (lyrics and melody); Lonesome Road Blues; Solo Livin’ Blues; and Don’t Mess With Me. I only compose for pleasure, so you won’t find these songs anywhere except on a recording at my little writer’s cottage.
Often my novels include a character who sings or plays harmonica, guitar, or piano. Li’l Rosie makes an appearance in my latest thriller, Black Crow Cabin. I made the protagonist’s mother, Delilah Broussard, a jazz singer from New Orleans who composed my blues lyrics using my composer pen name.
I am a Master Gardener.
After several gardening mistakes such as planting shade-loving plants in full sun, I took a course to become as Master Gardener. I designed and planted the flower gardens around my house. A few brutal summers of drought and several unexpected ice storms (in the Deep South!) have created havoc, but I always enjoy springtime when I can stroll through the garden centers and select new plants.
I own a farm.
I inherited one-third of the farmland where I grew up. It’s a working farm with pasture for cattle, fields that alternately grow soy beans and cotton, and two lakes that overlook forested sections. My cousin, who farms seven thousand acres, rents the land and does all the farm work.
When I was a child, I would climb into Daddy’s hayloft at the barn or into a muscadine tree overlooking the lakes and dream of being a writer. Although I’ve written nearly one hundred books, I sometimes have to pinch myself to believe that I’m living my dream.
Author Bio
Peggy Webb is the USA Today Bestselling author of more than 100 novels in numerous genres, including the reader favorite crime thriller, Snow Brides, and the acclaimed literary fiction novel The Sweetest Hallelujah - written under her pen name Elaine Hussey and compared to Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Her current crime thrillers combine the addictive quality of Snow Brides with the lyrical writing of her literary works the late, great Pat Conroy called "astonishing." Peggy is a former adjunct instructor of writing at Mississippi Sate University and has won numerous awards, including a prestigious Pioneer Award for creating the sub-genre of romantic comedy, numerous Reviewers Choice Awards, multiple WordWeaving Awards for Excellence, and a submission for the Pulitzer.
With more than three million books in print in numerous languages and countries, Peggy's love of writing goes back to her roots in northeast Mississippi where she grew up on a farm and fell in love with words by reading everything she could get her hands on while sitting in her daddy's hayloft. Peggy is an accomplished pianist and singer, and has starred in numerous roles in her local community theater, including M'Lynn (the Sally Field role) from Steel Magnolias, and The White Witch from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Her love of theater and music shine through her novels .She is known for her chilling, filmic scenes, and her latest crime thriller features blues lyrics she composed and credited to one of her characters. She has co-written screenplays for two of her novels, and is active with the Film Festival in her hometown of Tupelo, Mississippi, which is also the birthplace of Elvis.
Peggy's love of both writing and music is so strong, she says, "I hear the music of words in every novel I write." You can hear her discuss the link between the two arts in her music videos on Facebook and visit her at her website.
The Book
Rachel wakes up, gasping for breath, and immediately knows her children are in danger. The scent of magnolias is heavy in the air, which means the Collector is coming…
Schoolteacher Rachel Logan is living an ordinary life in a small community at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. As a single mother still reeling from the sudden death of her husband, she refuses to allow her life to be shaken by whispers of a local thief called the Collector. But when a little boy and girl are taken, everything changes.
On her isolated ranch on the edge of the forest, Rachel feels someone is watching her. The scent of magnolias clings to her bedsheets each morning, which her family’s gift tells her is a bad omen. And when a photograph is stolen from her house with a tarot card left in its place—the Collector’s twisted signature—she knows her children will be his next victims.
Terrified, Rachel is relieved when her husband’s best friend Hank offers to move in to protect her family. Especially because she can feel something dark stirring in the woods just beyond her ranch. But it soon becomes clear that the Collector isn’t after her children, and has instead set his sights on Rachel…
Can Rachel outwit an unimaginable evil before time runs out for two innocent children? And even if she does manage to save their lives, can a monster like the Collector ever be stopped?
The first book in the thrilling Logan Sisters series, this utterly gripping small-town thriller is perfect for fans of Rachel Caine, Melinda Leigh and Mary Kubica, and anyone looking for a page-turner packed with unguessable, gripping twists.
Amazon buy link: https://geni.us/B0CTKGB7QKsocial