Elaine Faber, Guest Author

This week my guest is Elaine Faber who talks about her latest book, which sounds like a lot of fun to me. (I've got to find out more about the romantic cat, Thumper.) I think you'll be entertained by what she has to say. Welcome, Elaine!

Marja: Let’s start with a basic question. What led you to start writing mysteries?

Elaine:   I’ve written short stories for yarns and yarns, but Black Cat’s Legacy was the first mystery. It started as a short story, but once the cat took over, it evolved into a mystery. Of course BCL required a sequel, so Black Cat and the Lethal Lawyer came next and the final book of the series, Black Cat the Accidental Angel will be published next spring. 

Marja: What makes your mysteries different from the stories of other mystery writers?

Elaine: I write cozy mysteries, meaning no extreme violence, no graphic sex or explicit profanity. But all cozy mysteries do the same.. Our characters are folks you wished lived next door. The reader suffers their pain, and rejoices in their victories, but again, many writers create the same responses with their books. So I guess my cat(s) make the difference. Though they are limited as cats (not magic, no walking through walls), they have human personalities and the reader soon identifies with the cat, which is hard to explain but it’s what I hear my readers say. We turn ‘dog people’ into ‘cat lovers.’ Go figure.   

Marja: Do you place any part of yourself in your characters or the character of a cat?

Elaine: Meow! Oh, I mean, yes, I guess I do .I can’t explain just how, but  I’m told that I write my best when I’m in the cat’s POV sections. I guess that must be the real ‘me’ coming out.

Marja: I got quite a kick out of the romantic scene in Black Cat and the Lethal Lawyer involving Thumper and a female feline that you put up on your website. What inspired you to write romance for a kitty?

Elaine: Because I have ‘humanized’ my cats, it’s natural that Thumper should experience the shyness and thrill and anxiety of first love, the dedication to keep his family safe and eventually the sorrow when he realizes he has to leave his lady love in Texas.

Marja: What made you decide to call the cat in your stories Thumper?

Elaine: When I put fingers to the keyboard, the characters take me places I have no idea I’ll go when I sit down to write. The little girl names  him Thumper, like in her Bambi book, because he “thumped on the door and I letted him in.” The name stuck, much to Thumper’s dismay when he meets his soul-mate in Lethal Lawyer. (See my website at www.mindcandymysteries.com). He’d prefer to be Butch or Spike but has to go through life as Thumper, like the rabbit.  In the next book, he reverts to the name “Black Cat’ which all his ancestors at the lodge were called before Kimberlee arrived.

Marja: Do you find any difficulties when giving your animal characters personalities? Thumper seems quite unique to me, but I’m a dog person so I’m not too familiar with cats. I think I’d enjoy this one though.

Elaine: Thumper is unique. Don’t forget, he has his ancestors’ memories, which enables him to help Kimberlee solve the mysteries. He is also the little recognized but driving force in the story. The main characters, Kimberlee, Brett and Dorian are drawn into the embezzling, greed, lies and deceit at the core of the plot, but it’s Thumper who faces the killer not once, but twice!

Marja: You’ve told us about Thumper. Please tell us a bit about Kimberlee, the protagonist. (Sorry I got so involved with Thumper.)

Elaine: Kimberlee’s grandmother entices the family to Texas with the promise of a fun family reunion, but in reality her motives are much more sinister. Newly, remarried Kimberlee is a woman who struggles to regain her sense of purpose and self-esteem following a devastating marriage and divorce. It takes all her strength to deal with the drama, deceit and trauma at the ranch. As bad turns to worse, and then to tragedy, their ‘vacation’ spirals downward and her family is trapped by circumstances they cannot escape until her grandmother’s problems are resolved.  In her darkest hour, many readers will identify with her desire to run away from what she cannot control.

Marja: What should readers expect when they pick up an Elaine Faber book? Inspire a few readers here.

Elaine: A compelling plot, delightful characters who struggle to deal with events they cannot control and the strength to see it through, a few thrills with lots of chuckles,  the ability to see the black and white world, through Thumper’s  eyes (with a touch of fantasy, of course). Lastly, a chance to escape the reality of our own troubles and for a few hours, visit a place where good finally triumphs over evil.

Now please give us an overview of Black Cat and the Lethal Lawyer. I have a feeling I’ll really enjoy this one.

Elaine: Thumper travels with his family to a Texas horse ranch, expecting a family vacation with hay rides, BBQs, and wild horses. What they find is Grandmother’s attorney, furious that she is changing her will from his Children’s Charity to one of her granddaughters. The stable master is suspected of having created a false identity and may be the man who killed Kimberlee’s father 25 years ago. When Thumper overhears a murder plot, he and his soul-mate declare, that this time they will fight tooth and claw to prevent another murder.

Website: www.mindcandymysteries.com

Blog: www.mindcandymysteries.com

Buy books: Website, Amazon, Barnes and Noble.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com

If you like audio books, give A Well-Kept Family Secret – A Sandi Webster Mystery a try.

Elaine Faber, Guest Author

This week Elaine Faber is my guest author. I’ve always said that a blog is a good showcase for an author’s writing style. Such is the case this week. I think you’ll enjoy reading what Elaine has to say. Welcome, Elaine!

Why Do Writers Write?

I’ll bet if 100 people were queried, at least 75% of them would claim that someday they plan to write a book, most likely a memoir. The remaining 25% likely would admit, humbly, that even though they may never get around to it, and the world will be the lesser for it, deprived of reading about their fascinating lives, they could if they wanted to. The thousands of hours required to write, edit and format a book for publication never enters into the equation. Yet a frightening number of us do spend the time and energy, and a zillion books DO get published every year. Most of them get posted up for sale on Amazon where they are buried as deep as a sticker in a cow plop among the other millions of Amazon books for sale. Occasionally, one actually sells!

Now, instead of becoming a writer, where was I when someone got the bright idea of creating a website where anybody could sell his book, and the website would earn more on the sale of the book than the publisher and the author combined. What a concept! I was probably standing behind the same door when someone said, ‘Do you want to invest in this driving-sleeping thingy we’re calling Winnebago? 

Now, I’ve become one of those people who decided there was a book in me that the world would be the lesser for, did they not delve into its pages. After about a skillion hours of writing, rewriting, editing, mentoring, and more rewriting, my novel was finally completed, formatted, published and made available for sale to the millions of folks clamoring to be amused, entertained, charmed and delighted by my scintillating characters. I called this cozy mystery-romance Black Cat’s Legacy. 

In this yet to become a New York Times Best Seller, there is even a nonplused cat who knows where the bodies are buried. He wants desperately to share his knowledge with the inferior humans who are either too busy running afoul of the antagonist, or preoccupied with trying to solve a 25 year old murder without sullying anyone’s good name…good luck with that… Well, it’s quite a ride involving jealousy, greed, unrequited love, a smattering of downright stinkerisms and a cat that is appalled that these no-good-niks can’t understand a clue when he puts it right under their inferior noses. And yes, it’s available on Amazon in e-book for only $3.99. 

So, why do I write when the hours are long, the glory is nonexistent and the financial rewards are few and far between? 

I guess I write, because these characters are in me, screaming to get out and even if I don’t have a Best-Seller, many of those good folks who have read Black Cat’s Legacy come back and tell me about their reading experience. For just a little while, they could leave their own troubles behind, travel to a little resort town and experience my make-believe world where the good guy wins. For a few hours, they frolicked through the pages with a cat determined to help Kimberlee solve her father’s cold case murder. Then they tell me how much they loved it and ask, “When is the sequel coming out?” 

That’s when I know. That’s why I write. That’s why it’s all worth it.

 

Bio:

Elaine Faber is a member of Sisters In Crime, California Cat Writers, and Inspire Christian Writers where she volunteers as an editor for their annual anthology. Her stories have appeared in multiple magazines and anthologies.

Elaine enjoys talking about her debut novel, Black Cat’s Legacy, on mystery panels and at book signing events. The sequel, Black Cat and the Lethal Lawyer, featuring Thumper, a cat that plays ‘cat and mouse with murder’ will be published in the fall.

Elaine is currently putting the finishing touches on a WWII novel, where Ms. Agnes Odboddy, an eccentric widow woman fights the war from the home front. She gets involved with a missing fortune from Hawaii, a casket company, six roosters and an old lover from her past.

Find more of Elaine’s stories on Facebook and at  www.mindcandymysteries.com

CLICK HERE to find Elaine’s books

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com