Elizabeth Ducie joins us for this week’s The Cozy 52 interview. Read on to find out more about her books, what inspired her to write cozy mysteries, where she once ate lamb, and what books she’d want with her on a deserted island (I love her choices!)
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 Elizabeth Ducie
NAME: Elizabeth Ducie
LIST ALL YOUR COZY MYSTERY SERIES:
- Cozy mysteries in the Coombesford Chronicles series
- Villainy at the Village Store (October 2022)
- Murder at Mountjoy Manor (October 2021)
- Companion series of short stories set in the same village
- Coombesford Calendar volume I (April 2022)
HOW ARE YOUR COZY MYSTERIES PUBLISHED? Self-published via my own imprint, Chudleigh Phoenix Publications
The Q&A
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF
I am a scientist by education and training but have always had a love of words. During my first career, I wrote millions of words in the form of textbooks, articles, reports, and training material. In my fifties, I decided I wanted to try something different and began creative writing. When I turned sixty, I gave up the day job in order to write ‘full-time’. A decade later, I’ve published six novels, four collections of short stories and a series of Business Manuals for authors. I’m trying to train myself to slow down and enjoy my semi-retirement’ but there’s always one more story to write, or one more marketing tool to play with.
LIST THREE FUN FACTS ABOUT YOURSELF THAT WE WOULDN’T READ IN YOUR ‘OFFICIAL’ BIO.
- I once ate barbequed lamb with a gangster in a cave half-way up a mountain in the pouring rain.
- When I was a child, I was a good hurdler, representing my school at regional competitions, and running in my bare feet long before Zola Budd made it trendy.
- I once travelled all the way to Vladivostok for a three-day assignment without ever meeting the client. The travelling took longer than the job.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START WRITING? WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO WRITE COZY MYSTERIES?
I had so many anecdotes after thirty years of international business travel, I wanted to start writing them down. But what I thought would be memoirs turned into the basis for my fiction. My first four novels were all set internationally. But then I decided I wanted to write about my home county of Devon. I’ve always loved Midsomer Murders and that inspired me to have a go at cozy mysteries.
WHAT SUBGENRE(S) OR THEMES OF COZY MYSTERIES DO YOU WRITE?
The first two have been fairly general: two amateur sleuths who run the village pub and solve crimes with a friend who is a former undercover cop. But there’s a character in the latest one who is going to play a much larger part in future books; and she’s a great cook who lives on a farm. So, I guess I’m heading down the culinary and pets routes.
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR COZY MYSTERY SERIES. WHAT INSPIRES YOUR SERIES?
I was born in a city and have always lived in cities or large towns; bit now I live in a semi-rural town in Devon. I wanted to write about my own area but didn’t want to upset people (there are some wonderful anecdotes to be found in a small community). So, I invented the village of Coombesford which is located a couple of miles up the road from my home town. It allows me to blend fact with fiction
WHY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE LOVE TO READ COZY MYSTERIES?
I think most people like solving puzzles. Can we spot the baddie before the author tells us who it is? But at a time when real life can be quite gritty enough, we don’t necessarily want to see the blood and gore. A cozy mystery ticks all the boxes in that way.
ASIDE FROM BEING AN AUTHOR, ARE YOU INVOLVED IN THE COZY COMMUNITY IN ANY OTHER WAY?
I run workshops on the business aspects of being a self-employed author and have a Facebook group on the same topic. But they are open to all authors, not just cozy writers.
WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE WRITERS?
I have quite a wide range of reading preferences: in the cozy world, I love anything by Francis Evesham or Debbie Young. I’m a recent convert to Lucinda Riley, especially her Seven Sisters series. I also devour the books of James Patterson, especially the Women’s Murder Club series, and M W Craven. And I also read fantasy, having discovered Tolkien at an early age. My latest find in that field is Charlie N Holmberg.
IF YOU WERE MAROONED ON A DESERTED ISLAND, WHAT 3 BOOKS WOULD YOU WANT WITH YOU?
I’d like big thick books with lots of details that I could reread, and probably fantasy: maybe The Lord of the Rings (three books in one); A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin; and harking back to my teenage years: The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy.
DO YOU HAVE ANY PROJECTS COMING UP THAT YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE WITH US?
Villainy at the Village Store is the second in the Coombesford Chronicles series. It was published on 18th October. Next month, during NaNoWriMo, I will be writing the draft of book 3, provisionally titled Calamity at Coombesford Church.
The Quickie 5
- FAVOURITE FOOD: cheese in any form, any variety, but especially Epoisses
- BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: anything with bubbles, the drier the better
- MOST PRIZED POSSESSION: my 45-year-old marriage
- SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer
- FAVOURITE VACATION SPOT? The tiny island of Kea, just of the coast of mainland Greece
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