Join me
in welcoming one of my favorite cozy mystery authors… KIRSTEN WEISS!
I've read several books
for Kirsten and more are still on my to-be-read list. Today, I'm featuring
Kirsten in an exclusive interview about her cozy mystery series At Wits' End,
plus we talk about more of Kirsten's writing, her books, her poetry, who does
she picture playing her characters if the series where to be shown on TV, NaNoWriMo,
and lots more.
First here's the blurb
for Close Encounters of the Curd Kind, book 3 in the Wits' End Series. It's
followed by the interview and a giveaway.
Close Encounters of the Curd Kind: A Doyle Cozy Mystery
(A Wits' End Cozy Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Publisher: Misterio Press
Publication Date: 5 September 2019
Print Length: 250 Pages
Digital ASIN: B07VVF9VDW
Blurb/Synopsis:
The truth is out there…
Way out there.
Susan Witsend, owner of the best little UFO-themed B&B
in the Sierras, is absolutely, positively, not going to get involved in another
murder case. Not with her small-town sheriff threatening jail time if she
interferes in one more investigation.
So when her neighbor is murdered, Susan exerts all her
willpower to stay out of the sheriff’s business. But her neighbor’s daughter,
Clare, needs Susan’s help. Clare’s been experiencing lost time, a sure sign of
alien abduction. Helping Clare is only neighborly… and totally not interfering.
Right?
Worse, Clare’s not the only one with UFO issues. Weird
lights in the sky, vanishing cows, and little green men are bringing the
mountain town of Doyle to the edge of a panic. Can Susan unearth the truth
before her town spirals into chaos?
If you like laugh-out-loud mysteries with complicated heroines (and breakfast
recipes), you’ll love Close Encounters of the Curd Kind, book 3 in the Wits’
End series of cozy mystery novels. Read this twisty cozy caper today!
Exclusive Interview with Nadaness In Motion
Part 1:
Wits' End Books
Q: Can you tell us a bit about the Wits' End Cozy
Mystery Series?
Kirsten Weiss: Wits’ End is an imaginary UFO-themed B&B set in
the Sierra foothills. It features B&B owner Susan Witsend, a heroine with a
complicated past and some anxiety issues. She deals with the latter by being
hyper-organized – she doesn’t try to control others, but she’s determined to
control her own life as much as she can. But when it comes to dealing with
authority figures like an irate sheriff, where she has no control, she falls into
to a bit of self-delusion and decides she’s an integral part to solving local
murders. The sheriff disagrees, but Susan just can’t see it. Fortunately for
Susan, her organizational skills make her a fairly decent detective.
Q: What first inspired this series?
Kirsten Weiss: I wanted a “straight” cozy mystery series set in the
same fictional California town as my witch cozy mystery series, The Witches of
Doyle. In my witch series, there are a lot of unexplained disappearances – at
least, unexplained to the townsfolk. So to cope, the townsfolk make up their
own explanation: aliens.
Q: The blurb mentions the book being 'a laugh out
loud' novel. How do you know if the funny scenes you've included are, well,
funny? (OR Humor is relative, do you include situations that made you laugh in
real life in the books. How do you include humor in?
Kirsten Weiss: That’s a really good question. I find myself laughing
when I edit the book, and I have editors and beta readers who give me feedback
on what’s funny and what’s not. So… I think it’s a funny product, but
you’re right. Everything is relative!
Q: Writing help experts always say that the main
character has to have a flaw, what is Susan's biggest flaw (if possible apart
from trying to solve mysteries)?
Kirsten Weiss: Anxiety. What she calls “the shadow” is almost always
there, waiting to dig in. She’s constantly battling to keep it at bay, and she
usually succeeds with the above-mentioned coping mechanisms.
Q: If this book series were turned into a movie or TV
series, who do you picture as playing the roles of Susan, her security
consultant, and the Sheriff?
Kirsten Weiss: I could see Jennifer Anniston as Susan, Ryan
McPartlin as Arsen, and Valerie Cruz as the sheriff (the latter isn’t blond
with the sheriff’s Shirley Temple curls, but I still think she’d be great in
the role).
Part 2: Other Books and Series
Q: Have you fully completed any book series? Or since
they have standalones so all series can have new books?
Kirsten Weiss: I feel like my Riga Hayworth paranormal mystery series
is complete, but I find myself still turning out short stories and the
occasional novella. I guess I’ll never say never to adding another book to a
series!
Q: What books are you currently working on?
Kirsten Weiss: I’m working on book 2 in my Tea and Tarot cozy mystery
series right now. Though Tarot is a running theme, it’s more of a “straight”
cozy mystery.
Q: You write cozy mysteries (including paranormal) and
steampunk novels, which have been the most fun to write (or research and
write?)
Kirsten Weiss:They’re all fun, but steampunk was the most
challenging to research. In order to make my steampunk world as “real” as
possible, I wanted to include as much correct historical detail as I could.
That meant getting the language right, the clothing, the geography, politics…
It’s a lot of research!
Reading and Writing
Q: What are you currently reading?
Kirsten Weiss: I
just finished a book on Norse religions as prep work for writing another book.
And because what we know about Norse religions is pretty interesting!
Q: NaNoWriMo is a month away, do you still take part
in it to get your books ready? If yes, (or if you have been), what tips can you
offer to newbies starting out with NaNo?
Kirsten Weiss: No. I’ve done NaNoWriMo, but right now I’m on a
different schedule, which includes editing another book, so I can’t devote an
entire month to just writing.
Q: I know you wrote a poetry collection or supplement
book, Tales of the Rose Rabbit, do you still write poetry? Are you planning to
publish another collection? Or was this an exception? (Coming from a fan of
Tales of the Rose Rabbit)
Kirsten Weiss: Thank you! I do still write poetry, though I don’t
have any plans right now to publish. Right now, it’s more of a spontaneous
thing, and I feel like to publish I need a theme that would give some cohesion
to the collection.
Q: If you could tell your readers one thing right now,
what would it be?
Kirsten Weiss: Please feel free to contact me and let me know what
you’d like me to write more of! You can contact me via my website at kirstenweiss.com.
About Kirsten Weiss
Kirsten Weiss
has never met a dessert she didn’t like, and her guilty pleasures are watching
Ghost Whisperer re-runs and drinking red wine. The latter gives her heartburn,
but she drinks it anyway.
Now based in San Mateo, CA, she writes genre-blending cozy
mystery, supernatural and steampunk suspense, mixing her experiences and
imagination to create vivid worlds of fun and enchantment.
If you like funny cozy mysteries, check out her Pie Town,
Paranormal Museum and Wits’ End books. If you’re looking for some magic with
your mystery, give the Witches of Doyle, Riga Hayworth, and Rocky Bridges books
a try. And if you like steampunk, the Sensibility Grey series might be for you.
Kirsten sends out original short stories of mystery and
magic to her mailing list. If you’d like to get them delivered straight to your
inbox, make sure to sign up for her newsletter at kirstenweiss.com
Though the book in narrated in third
person, the point of view character is Mark, who in the present day or in 1988,
is forced to leave his home because his parents have gotten jobs in a small
city in the middle of nowhere. There they live in a grand Victorian mansion,
where things aren't as they seem. 
