MAID OF MURDER BLOG TOUR: AUTHOR INTERVIEW & GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED
MAID OF MURDER
An India Hayes Mystery
BY AMANDA FLOWER

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Humor and wit abound in a new cozy mystery called Maid of Murder from first-time author Amanda Flower. The book, set to be released June 16, 2010, by Five Star Mystery/Gale Cengage Publishing, follows the misadventures of India Hayes, a librarian at a small college in Northeast Ohio. When India’s best childhood friend is murdered a week before her wedding, India’s mathematician brother is arrested for the crime.

As she sets about to prove her brother’s innocence, India also finds herself dealing with her protest-happy hippie parents, an Irish-centric neighbor who fears India is dating an Englishman, and a checking account emptied to purchase the most hideous gold bridesmaid gown India’s ever seen. These are just some of the trials India Hayes faces in Maid of Murder, her debut as an amateur sleuth.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR...

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

1. Welcome please Amanda Flower, author of MAID OF MURDER, who has kindly agreed to answer a few questions some of the readers might be interested in. But first let’s learn a little about Amanda and how she got started writing.

BIOGRAPHY:

Author Amanda Flower, a native of Akron, Ohio, started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. Like her main character India Hayes, Amanda is an academic librarian for a small college near Cleveland. When she is not at the library or writing her next mystery, she is an avid traveler who has been to seventeen countries, forty-eight U.S. states, and counting. Maid of Murder is her debut novel and the first in a series featuring amateur sleuth India Hayes.
Amanda Flower’s website http://amandaflower.com/

2. Where did you get the inspiration or idea for this book?

The main character of Maid of Murder, India Hayes, inspired me to write her story. Nine years ago, I was sitting in a Blockbuster parking lot on the Fourth of July, and India’s mildly sarcastic voice popped into my head. Although it’s been revised many times since, the first paragraph of Maid of Murder is what India said to me that day. From her remarks a novel and series was born.

3. How did the title of your book come about?

Before the title Maid of Murder, I had another working title for the manuscript and my publisher asked me to change it. I thought of the new title while driving home from work one evening. I have a pretty long commute; it’s about an hour one way. During the drive, I played a word game, trying to merge the concept of wedding and mystery into a short and concise book title. By the time, I got home I had three contenders, but Maid of Murder was by the far the best.

4. Do you see yourself in your characters? Which characters are easiest or more difficult to write?

I see a lot of myself in several of my characters. I’m the closest to India, I suppose, because we are both academic librarians who work at small colleges. However, our personalities are pretty different. She’s much more phlegmatic than I am.

The easiest characters for me to write about are the humorous ones like India’s landlady, Ina Carroll. I also enjoy creating the not-so-nice characters. Not necessarily, the villains, but the jerks in the novel. You know who I’m talking about; it’s that person you work with who drives you nuts by tapping her pen over and over again or your fussy neighbor who plucks your flowers because they are encroaching on his lawn. These types of people crack me up in fiction. In real life, not so much. For me writing the less extreme, even-keel characters can be the most challenging. I don’t want any of my characters to be boring because even the most mild-mannered person in the world has a quirk about him or her. I like to expose those quirks in my fiction.

5. What books would you say have made the biggest impression on you, especially starting out? What are you currently reading?

I’m really inspired by novels with wit whether they are mysteries or not. For example, I love Gillian Roberts’s Amanda Pepper Mystery Series. I love how she included her main character’s dry humor into the series. I’m also inspired by authors like Meg Cabot, who write humorous series with a lot of heart. If a novel can make me chuckle with a turn of a phrase, I give it five stars.

6. What is the next or current book/project you are working on?

I am currently revising the sequel to Maid of Murder. In the second book, India, much to her chagrin, is taking part in a folk art festival. In addition, I am actively seeking a publisher from my middle grade mystery novel, The Mystery of the First Andora.

7. What is something about you that you would want people to know about you that we probably don’t know?

I want people to know how grateful I am to be a published author. I have been literally been chasing this dream since I was eleven-years-old, and sometimes, I still can’t believe it has come true. Even more so, I’m so thankful to the readers who have embraced the book and are looking forward to the second one. That means so much to me.

8. What is your best advice to anyone, including young people, who want to be writers?

My advice would be to write what you love to write. Don’t write for the market because you will spend your time chasing it and may never catch it. Good writing goes a long way in the publishing industry, and you will write your best work if you write the stories you love to tell, whatever they may be.

Maid of Murder on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Maid-Murder-Five-Star-Mystery/dp/1594148643/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279297412&sr=8-5

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO VERA AT LUXURY READING FOR
HAVING THIS TOUR, I HAVE ONE COPY OF
THIS EXCITING BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.



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GIVEAWAY ENDS AT
6 PM, EST, AUGUST 23!

Blog Tour Schedule:

Melissa's Bookshelf - http://www.melissas-bookshelf.com/ - August 9th

Bookin' with Bingo - http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com/ - August 11th (interview)

The Lit Witch - http://www.thelitwitch.com/ - August 12th

Just Short of Crazy - http://justshortofcrazy.blogspot.com/ - August 16th

Reading at the Beach - www.readingatthebeach.com - August 17th

Books and Needlepoint - http://booksandneedlepoint.blogspot.com/ - August 18th

Books By Their Cover - booksbytheircover.blogspot.com - August 19th

Luxury Reading - www.luxuryreading.com - August 20th