Deborah Donnelly: What I meant was, I don't tend to read mysteries while I'm writing, though I do enjoy the work of other mystery writers, Libby and Roberta included. When I'm deep in writing mode, I'm too easily influenced, and anyway my powers of concentration drain completely into my own project, so my attention span is shot. At times like that I just flip through cooking and gardening magazines. And wedding magazines, of course!

Crescent Blues: One Interesting aspect of your tour was discussion of midlife job changes for the three authors. Is your midlife job change all that you had hoped for? What's the next goal you plan to achieve?

Deborah Donnelly: I love being a mystery writer -- and being a published mystery writer is even more fun. Right now my biggest goal is writing the best Carnegie Kincaid book that I possibly can. Beyond that, as I said, I'm playing with a second series.

The main challenge for me, in this change of careers, is working at home alone instead of with a team of colleagues. I sometimes think I have the talent to be a writer, but not the temperament for solitude. That's why touring with other authors -- and attending conventions -- is such a bonus.

Crescent Blues: You chose a rather exotic coffee roasting plant for a major setting in your latest novel. How did your fictional plant compare to the one you actually visited?

Deborah Donnelly: It's quite similar, actually. The real Seattle's Best Coffee plant would be a terrific place for a party -- or a murder!

The funny thing was, I explained myself as a mystery writer when I made the tour request, but apparently no one told the gentleman who actually showed me around. As he dutifully described the specialized equipment and quoted statistics about roasting temperatures, etc., I kept asking questions like, "If one of those bags of coffee beans fell on you, would it kill you?" and "If this place burned down, would the coffee smell really good?" He kept edging farther and farther away from me... but eventually he learned the truth about my oddball occupation.

Crescent Blues: What are the benefits and hazards of setting your novels in Seattle, your old stomping grounds?

Deborah Donnelly: Mostly it's benefits. I know the city pretty well, so I can mentally move around in it along with Carnegie. And I love exploring places like the Aquarium or the Experience Music Project to get the specific details that can bring a scene to life.

Crescent Blues: Is there really a houseboat like Carnegie's? Do Seattle-ites feel that you've depicted their town accurately?

Deborah Donnelly: Remember my friend who got married the same time I did? Well, she lived on a houseboat for a year, and I spent a lot of time there. Now Carnegie lives on just about the same houseboat, on the east shore of Lake Union. I've heard from a number of current and former Seattleites, and I'm happy to say that the verdict has been unanimous: they tell me I've captured the flavor of the city quite well. I'm proud of that.

Crescent Blues: What was it like growing up Seattle?

Deborah Donnelly: I grew up on the East Coast -- that's why Aaron Gold is from Boston -- but I spent many years in Seattle and watched it evolve from a self-consciously second-tier city to a world-class metropolis. A little too world-class by now; the traffic is notoriously bad. But it's a beautiful, exciting place.

Crescent Blues: Now that you live in Boise, Idaho, will you be taking Carnegie on a road trip to your new digs?

Deborah Donnelly: You guessed it. When my husband and I decided to move to Idaho, I decided on Boise as Carnegie's hometown. So in Death Takes a Honeymoon, she attends an old friend's wedding in Sun Valley, which isn't far away. Boise itself is a charming town, but not well known, and Sun Valley was a more plausible setting for an over-the-top wedding. Carnegie will always be a Seattle girl, though. She loves that houseboat.

Crescent Blues: What experience or training best prepared you for mystery writing?

Deborah Donnelly: The experience that best prepared me for mystery writing was listening to my father, who can spin an interesting yarn about almost anything - he's a natural storyteller, and I love to tell stories.

Crescent Blues: Who are the writers who inspire you?

Deborah Donnelly: Back in junior high, I was inspired by Mary Stewart's romantic suspense novels, like The Moonspinners and Nine Coaches Waiting. Self-possessed young women in exotic settings, romance and adventure, resourceful solutions to dangerous situations - I ate them up. Carnegie is a direct descendant of Mary Stewart's heroines.

Among contemporary mystery writers, I was knocked out by Orchestrated Death, the first Bill Slider mystery by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. I've read the whole series now -- Slider is a detective inspector with the London police -- and I really admire Cynthia's skill in characterization as well as plotting.

Crescent Blues: What do you read for fun?

Deborah Donnelly: I'm in two different book groups now, and they keep my To Be Read pile stacked up high. Recent favorites were Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, and Yanna Martel's Life of Pi. And magazines, always magazines. The New Yorker, Fine Gardening, Cooks Illustrated. I adore Cooks Illustrated. It's like the Consumer Reports of cooking. No hip attitude, no celebrity puff pieces, just serious information about sauté pans and the best way to roast chicken. It's very soothing.

Crescent Blues: How has the Carnegie series changed your life?

Deborah Donnelly: Well, it's prompted me to trade the steady, serious, well-paid corporate world for the solitary, underpaid rollercoaster of being a writer! I was a corporate librarian for a bank, and I also worked as a freelance writer, doing executive speeches and annual reports for companies like Immunex and Starbucks.

But I wouldn't trade this for anything. I have an elderly aunt who said recently that she's so glad I'm writing, "because when you're old you want to look back on the things you loved doing, not on the things you meant to do." Wise words.

Crescent Blues: Do you have any reservations writing about murder and violence?

Deborah Donnelly: I do, a bit. If there were a market for jewel theft mysteries instead of murder mysteries, I'd write those. But I don't celebrate violence, or dwell on it as an entertaining spectacle. To me, murder is the ultimate violation of the social contract, and my plots grow from the question of why someone would take this dreadful path.

Crescent Blues: Where did you find Carnegie? Is she modeled on a real person?

Deborah Donnelly: Physically, she's built like one particular friend of mine, but with the hair and complexion of another. Her voice is mine, though. She's a smart aleck, she's flippant and critical, but she cares about people. I find plotting hard, but writing Carnegie in first person comes easily.

Crescent Blues: Describe Deborah Donnelly.

Deborah Donnelly: Compared to Carnegie, I'm older and wiser -- lucky for me! She's physically braver than I am, she rushes in where I would fear to tread. I'd have sense enough to stay home and let the police do the investigating. Of course, then there would be no story to write.

Crescent Blues: What do you do when you aren't writing?

Deborah Donnelly: Agonize about not writing. It's my hobby, to wander around the house tearing my hair out because I'm not writing. I'm very good at it. But when I've actually gotten some work done, so I can safely take time off, I get outside.

I'm a natural born outdoors person, though not in an athletic or competitive way. No extreme sports or racing, just appreciating nature. Birdwatching, beach walking, hiking in the mountains. I also enjoy my garden, and I put in quite a bit of time doting on my Welsh corgis. That's actually my job, being chef and chauffeur to the corgis. My performance reviews are excellent, but the salary stinks.

Crescent Blues: When did you realize that you wanted to be writer?

Deborah Donnelly: I don't think I ever realized; I just did it. When my girlfriends were mooning around after movie stars, I wrote stories for them about how they would meet their idols, and how the famous actor would fall in love with the shy high school girl, and so forth. I've always made up stories. I can't help it.

Crescent Blues: Your books have been compared to Donna Andrew's Meg and Michael series (i.e. Murder with Peacocks). How do you feel about being compared to other writers?

Deborah Donnelly: Excellent! It's a great compliment to be compared with someone as talented as Donna. I can't wait for new writers to start being compared to me.

Crescent Blues: Any movie offers? TV series in the works?

Deborah Donnelly: There was an inquiry about the Carnegie series from a movie studio, but that's all so far. I'll believe it when I cash the check.

Crescent Blues: Who would you like to see play Carnegie and the rest of the gang?

Deborah Donnelly: That's a fun game. Allowing for some adjustment in ages, I can picture Geena Davis as Carnegie, John Cusack as Aaron, and maybe Halle Berry as Lily. John Rhys-Davies would make a great Boris. And as long as we're fantasizing, can't you just see Paul Newman as Eddie Breen?

Crescent Blues: Any final words? Any questions we missed? Soap boxes and white space offered free of charge.

Deborah Donnelly: I'll hop onto the soap box, for something unrelated to writing. Women, please, go get your mammograms! I had breast cancer some years ago, and though I'm OK now, it's just not something you want to fool with. I don't talk about it a lot -- it wasn't a movie-of-the-week tragedy, I just had a lumpectomy and radiation -- but if talking about it will get some women to pick up the phone and make that appointment, good enough. Life is too much fun to take risks with your health.

Related sites and stories:
Welcome to Deborah Donnelly's Wedding Planner Mysteries
Crescent Blues Review: Died to Match
Crescent Blues Review: Veiled Threats
Crescent Blues Review: May the Best Man Die

Dawn Goldsmith