Karen Rose Smith is at the top of her game. In Hollywood terms, she’s a hyphenate. She’s a USA Today best-selling mystery novelist, the author of 112 books, and a writer whose romance novel was adapted for a movie on the UPTV network called A Very Country Christmas.
Recently, I sat down with Karen to find out more about her writing life, her plans for the future and the secret to her amazing energy. If I were Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally, I’d say, “I want what she’s having!”
Q: I remember you had a book signing at a tea shop and you went from table to table, chatting with the guests, which sounds lovely. I want to go to the next one! How did this come about?
A: When Kensington offered me a contract for my Daisy’s Tea Garden series, I sent letters to all the tea service shops around me. I knew some had gift shops who could stock the books. I was familiar with tea shops who served tea because I’d participated in their tea services. TranquilaTEA in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania asked me to come for tea service and a book signing. I could also do a talk. The talk developed into chatting with each table in different rooms in between courses. The readers who bought tickets for the tea also received a copy of my latest cozy.
Q: I read the first book MURDER WITH LEMON TEA CAKES, from Daisy's Tea Garden Mysteries, and was hooked. The series has since snowballed into ten books and, a spin-off The Tomes and Tea Mysteries, is currently three books. In MURDER MARKS THE PAGE, book one, Jazzi Swanson, Daisy's daughter, has opened her own book and tea shop in a rural New York town.
Q: What are the challenges of writing a long running series? How do you keep the plots flowing and come up with new situations?
A; The challenge for writing a spin-off is mainly keeping it fresh with the sparkle of the first series. My editor advised not using continuing characters. That’s one reason I moved Jazzi to an entirely new location. It isn’t until book three, IF BOOKS COULD KILL, that we see her mom Daisy again when she comes to visit. When Jazzi opened the bookstore and tea bar in Belltower Landing, she felt she needed separation from her family and the notoriety of her mother solving ten mysteries, to begin her independent life and mature. But in each book, along with the mystery she solves, she realizes how important her family is, especially her mom. In a mystery series, I also try to keep the murder weapon, the victim, and the place the killing occurs, different from what I used before.
Q: Why is a tea shop the perfect setting for a mystery?
A: In Daisy’s Tea Garden, I felt a teahouse was perfect for mysteries and mystery solving. Daisy runs the tea garden with her aunt Iris (all the women in her family have flower names) who is a tea aficionado. The tea garden is a quaint gathering place for anyone who likes to gossip, enjoy baked goods and soups, or simply connect. In this first book Daisy connects with a romantic interest, Jonas Groft, a former homicide detective who now does wood working and owns a store down the street. He aids Jazzi in her search to find her biological mother and that forms a bond between them.
Q: What are the challenges of writing a spin-off?.
A: The challenge for writing a spin-off is mainly keeping it fresh with the sparkle of the first series. My editor advised not using continuing characters. That’s one reason I moved Jazzi to an entirely new location. It isn’t until book three, IF BOOKS COULD KILL, that we see her mom Daisy again when she comes to visit. When Jazzi opened the bookstore and tea bar in Belltower Landing, she felt she needed separation from her family and the notoriety of her mother solving ten mysteries, to begin her independent life and mature.
Q: Where do you get your ideas?
A: My ideas come from everywhere. My background, news stories, social media, and conversations I might hear at a fast food restaurant or in airports. Anything can spark an idea. Then I take the idea and try to let it organically develop into a detailed synopsis that I can write from no matter how I’m feeling (arthritis and fibromyalgia) or what is happening around me. I delve into my fictional world and try to stay there (I have four inside cats who believe petting comes before writing) until I finish my quota of pages for the day.
Q: You've written over 100 books which is an amazing accomplishment. At times does it seem unreal? It seems magical to me.
A: I am working on novel 113. It does seem impossible some days. And actually when I’m working on a story, sometimes I don’t know where the writing comes from. The same with editing. The English teacher in me just takes over then and I simply see what has to be added or changed. I’m blessed to have that gift.
Q: Where can readers catch up with you? Any conferences or tea-tastings planned? Where can we find you online?
A: Readers can catch up with me on my websites or follow me on Facebook. Tiktok, Instagram, Bookbub, and Goodreads. In fact, I’ll be Zooming with the Cozy Mystery Party group on Facebook on Monday, June 8 at 7:30 ET. You must join the Cozy Mystery Party group to be able to chat. I’d love to see you there.
Karen Rose Smith was born in Pennsylvania in the Susquehanna Valley. As a teenager, music became as important to her as reading. The Beatles were her favorite group. She and her cousin took their first sojourn into writing by collaborating on a script for the MONKEES television program. They sent that script to every concert venue where the group appeared that summer! In college, Karen began writing poetry and also met her husband to be. They both started married life as teachers, but when their son was born, Karen decided to try her hand at a home decorating business. She returned to teaching for a while but changes in her life led her to writing romance fiction. Now she writes full time. Her first romance was published in 1992; her 70th novel will be published in 2010 with Silhouette Special Edition. A winner of New Jersey's Golden Leaf Award in Short Contemporary Romance, Colorado Romance Writers Award Of Excellence for short contemporary, as well as the Phoenix Desert Rose Chapter's Golden Quill for Traditional Romance, she has also been honored with Cataromance.com's award for Best Special Edition. Her romances have made both the USA TODAY list and the Waldenbooks Bestseller list for Series Romance. Married to her college sweetheart, believing in the power of love and commitment, she envisions herself writing relationship novels for a long time to come!
Mary Kennedy is a licensed psychologist and the author of the Talk Radio Mysteries and the Dream Club Mysteries. She’s written nearly fifty novels and has four million copies in print. Her first thirty-five books were young adult novels published by Scholastic nationwide and in several countries. She lives in the northeast with an eccentric cat. She’s tried unsuccessfully to psychoanalyze him but she remains optimistic.
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