Ann Sutton joins us for this week’s The Cozy 52 interview. Read on to find out more about Ann’s books, how she got into writing cozy mysteries, and how she stays involved in the cozy mystery community!
Who or What is The Cozy 52? Each week I will be sharing an interview with someone involved with Cozy Mysteries – an author, blogger, Facebook Group host, podcaster, cover designer – so that we can showcase this amazing community! I hope you’ll discover some new authors, plus learn more about what goes on behind the scenes with the people who write, publish and promote cozy mysteries!
Introducing Ann Sutton
NAME: Ann Sutton
LIST ALL YOUR COZY MYSTERY SERIES:
- The Dodo Dorchester Mysteries (8 books so far)
- The Percy Pontefract Mysteries (1 book so far)
HOW ARE YOUR COZY MYSTERIES PUBLISHED? All my cozy titles are self-published.
The Q&A
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF
Ann Sutton was born and raised in Greater London, England. She attended the University of Exeter and met her husband while teaching English in France during a year abroad. She and her husband moved to the United Sates and raised a large family.
When the youngest were in high school she tried her hand at writing a middle grade WWII fiction book loosely based on an incident in her grandmother’s life. When it won 3rd place in a local contest it gave her confidence that she could actually write things people might like to read.
She turned her hand to writing Regency Romance (under a different name) and published two books through a small publisher.
Indie publishing the first two historical books taught her so much – mostly from her mistakes. She joined several writing FB groups, researched better ways to market and when Covid struck decided to try her hand at cozy mysteries – after all it was Agatha Christie’s books that made her a reader at age ten. She wrote three books during lock down and using the knowledge she had learned from the generosity of others sharing their wisdom, she released three books rapidly which became hits. She has now sold over 120 000 units.
LIST THREE FUN FACTS ABOUT YOURSELF THAT WE WOULDN’T READ IN YOUR ‘OFFICIAL’ BIO.
- I taught tap dance for seven years.
- I was the narrator for my two regency audio books.
- I have cut my family’s hair for…a very long time.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START WRITING? WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO WRITE COZY MYSTERIES?
I had dabbled in writing throughout my years as a stay-at-home mother but when my youngest children were in school full-time, I really became serious. A bomb had struck my grandmother’s street in 1941 during the Blitz, missing her home by feet. The occupants of the house it struck were killed. My grandmother was pregnant with my father at the time of the bombing, and around age fourteen, I realized that if the bomb had dropped a few feet closer, I would not exist. This became the genesis for my first book about children living in London whose school is bombed. Their mother decides to evacuate them to the country to live with an aunt, but the war follows them.
At this point, writing was still a hobby but I found I really loved it. Then a friend invited me to attend a writing conference. Not feeling like a ‘real’ writer I reluctantly attended…and was inspired. At the conference the next year, I pitched a Regency Romance book to two publishers, and both requested a full manuscript. Long story short, a publisher agreed to publish my first book and then my second. Unfortunately, the second book was to launch right as Covid shut everything down and paper books were the publisher’s bread and butter. With brick and mortar stores shuttered, my publisher did not have a great command of the ebook world and expected me as the author to do a lot of the promoting. This catapulted me into learning indie marketing.
With this newfound knowledge and time on my hands from the shutdown, I started my full-time career as an indie writer and have not looked back.
As a ten-year-old I read every Agatha Christie I could get my hands on and other mystery books for children. It is and has remained my favorite genre, though I do love the classics. So, it seemed natural to try my hand at my own mystery.
WHAT SUBGENRE(S) OR THEMES OF COZY MYSTERIES DO YOU WRITE?
My subgenre is British historical cozies set in the 1920s.
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR COZY MYSTERY SERIES. WHAT INSPIRES YOUR SERIES?
Dodo Dorchester Mysteries
Lady Dorothea Dorchester is coming of age as the world is recovering from WWI and the old rules that have governed society for so long are changing. An ugly duckling turned swan, she is approached by a young French designer to be a ‘fashion ambassador’ for her fledgling fashion house. If Dodo wears her clothes, she knows they will feature in all the society magazines. Thus begins a mutually beneficial working relationship.
But Dodo isn’t just a pretty face – she also has a knack for solving crimes and proves her worth to more than one police detective. Of course, her good looks lead to several romances which intertwine with tracking the killers.
I have always been drawn to the fashions and beautiful cars of the roaring 20s so it was natural to set my series in that time period. Plus, Downton Abbey had put the decade back on the map. And I wanted to write an intelligent character who was living through a time of societal change.
Percy Pontefract Mysteries
My fans and I love Dodo but I wanted to begin a new series with a character who was an anti-Dodo. We can escape and live out our fantasies through the adventures of a filthy rich, British socialite, but what about writing a character who is more relatable? Thus, Persephone Pontefract was born. A middle class, middle-aged mother of two boys who is taller than average and very clumsy. She is a reluctant heroine who literally falls into her first murder investigation in the Book 1.
Set in 1928, her husband is a civil servant who is always traveling and her two boys are away at boarding school (a tradition she finds barbaric). She also has an overbearing mother whom she tries to avoid as much as possible. With time on her hands, Percy’s friendly cook encourages her to hone her sleuthing skills.
WHY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE LOVE TO READ COZY MYSTERIES?
I recently watched the PBS series Magpie Murders and loved it! The editor in the show sums up people’s addiction to cozy mysteries perfectly; to paraphrase, in a world gone crazy, people love to escape into a mystery that is solved in a nice, neat package by the end of the book. Predictability in a world that is so terribly unpredictable. And life is edgy enough. It is comforting to read a book that isn’t designed to shock.
ASIDE FROM BEING AN AUTHOR, ARE YOU INVOLVED IN THE COZY COMMUNITY IN ANY OTHER WAY?
I follow several FB author groups for cozies, and swap newsletters with a couple of other English historical cozy authors.
However as an author in general, I am now on the committee for the conference I attended all those years ago, I am a mentor to a fledgling writer, I run a writer’s group where we critique each other’s work and I teach them how to indie market. I also design my own covers and help other authors with theirs.
This year I will be teaching a class on beginning Indie marketing at the conference in my home state which is very exciting.
WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE WRITERS?
Honestly, since becoming a fulltime writer and helping edits other’s work, there is little time left for recreational reading! But I do enjoy T. E. Kinsey, Verity Bright and Sam Bond.
IF YOU WERE MAROONED ON A DESERTED ISLAND, WHAT 3 BOOKS WOULD YOU WANT WITH YOU?
- Scripture
- Pride and Prejudice
- The complete works of Agatha Christie
DO YOU HAVE ANY PROJECTS COMING UP THAT YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE WITH US?
I am hard at work on Book 9 of the Dodo series and Book 2 of the Percy series. (Yes, I write them at the same time!)
The Quickie 5
- FAVOURITE FOOD: authentic Italian pizza
- BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: hot chocolate
- MOST PRIZED POSSESSION: decorative, blown, glass ink pen from Murano, near Venice, Italy.
- SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer!!!!!!!
- FAVOURITE VACATION SPOT? London, Hawaii, Paris
To keep up to date with Ann Sutton online, you can connect with her on:
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK
