Emmeline Duncan joins us for this week’s The Cozy 52 interview. Read on to find out more about her books, her favourite authors, and how Halloweentown inspired her new series.
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 Emmeline Duncan
NAME: Emmeline Duncan
LIST ALL YOUR COZY MYSTERY SERIES:
- Ground Rules Mystery Series
- Fresh Brewed Murder
- Double Shot Death
- Flat White Fatality
- Death Unfiltered (comes out in 2024)
- Halloween Bookshop Mystery Series
- Chaos at the Lazy Bones Bookshop (comes out in 2024)
HOW ARE YOUR COZY MYSTERIES PUBLISHED? Traditional. Both of my series are published by Kensington.
The Q&A
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF
I’m an author based in Portland, Oregon. I hang out with my Great Pyrenees, Waylon, and cat Arabella. I should note the cat doesn’t join us in adventures around town because she’s indoors only. I read prolifically. I like to hike and snowshoe. I was born in Oregon, which is almost unusual here, as the state has grown with people moving here from all over. And that can be funny, like when two friends were discussing whether it’s more local to say “filbert” or “hazelnut,” and I said, as the one person in the discussion born and raised in Oregon, that I use them interchangeably. Oh, and I like quirky local history.
LIST THREE FUN FACTS ABOUT YOURSELF THAT WE WOULDN’T READ IN YOUR ‘OFFICIAL’ BIO.
- I spent a year in Finland as an exchange student as a teen.
- I keep talking about buying a stand-up paddleboard and/or moving to a place where I could easily SUP (stand-up paddleboard).
- The recipes in my Ground Rules are written to be dairy-free since I’m allergic to milk.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START WRITING? WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO WRITE COZY MYSTERIES?
I’ve always been a writer, even before I knew how to read. I’d draw photos with elaborate backstories. So it wasn’t surprising when I studied Creative Writing and Political Science as an undergrad. My first couple of finished manuscripts were YA. I eventually decided to write a cozy mystery and realized it fit my writerly voice. Plus, I’ve always loved cozies, so writing one felt natural.
WHAT SUBGENRE(S) OR THEMES OF COZY MYSTERIES DO YOU WRITE?
Coffee (culinary) and a bookshop series with a Halloween focus.
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR COZY MYSTERY SERIES. WHAT INSPIRES YOUR SERIES?
Portland, Oregon, is known for its coffee and food cart scene. So, a coffee cart-themed mystery series made a lot of sense.
Once upon a time, there was a food cart pod about three-quarters of a mile from my house. This was a popular walking destination for me and my then-black lab because there was a coffee cart with dog treats. I’d get a coffee, and my dog would get a biscuit. As I got to know the owner and the other carts in the food cart pod, I realized they were a small community within the larger city. Which is an excellent setting for a cozy mystery.
My second series, which will launch in 2024, is based on a highly fictionalized version of St Helens, Oregon, and its annual Halloweentown Festival. The town was the filming site for the Halloweentown movies and has a month-long Halloween festival each year that keeps growing. In general, I’ve always found the idea of towns known for movies filmed there interesting. For example, Goonies fans still visit Astoria, Oregon, and Twilight fans visit Forks, Washington (also where the book was set).
So, writing a book about a Halloween-themed bookstore in a Halloween-themed town because of its history as a filming site felt like a fun project since I got to play with multiple concepts I enjoy.
WHY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE LOVE TO READ COZY MYSTERIES?
Reading a new book in a cozy series is like meeting up with friends you haven’t seen for a while, with the added bonus of having a puzzle (aka murder) to solve.
One thing about cozies is that they also tend to show women taking a leap and living their best lives. Always dreamed about owning a bookshop in a charming seaside town? Or turning a love of knitting into a yarn store? Starting a bakery to showcase the skills you learned from your great aunt before she passed away and left you her gothic mansion in a quirky small town? There’s probably a cozy mystery that explores that life goal. So the wish fulfillment aspect (with murder!) makes cozies fun.
ASIDE FROM BEING AN AUTHOR, ARE YOU INVOLVED IN THE COZY COMMUNITY IN ANY OTHER WAY?
I’m the programming chair for the Columbia River chapter of Sisters in Crime, based in the Pacific Northwest but entirely virtual and open to members anywhere. I also co-organize a lecture series for a Portland, Oregon-based non-profit, Friends of Mystery. Both of these organizations focus on mysteries rather than specifically on cozies.
I’ve also taught regularly for regional organizations like Willamette Writers.
In 2023, I was one of the authors at the inaugural Ashland Mystery Fest. It was a fantastic weekend focused on cozy mystery readers. Attendees could solve a mystery, attend free panels and pop-ups with the authors, sign up for mystery dinners, and attend plays (like a Hercule Poirot-themed cabaret). It was phenomenal, and I can’t wait for the 2024 festival.
WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE WRITERS?
On the cozy mystery side, I always check out new releases by Donna Andrews, Sofie Kelly, Clara McKenna’s Stella & Lyndy series, Elizabeth Penney’s Cambridge Bookshop series, Alyssa Maxwell’s Gilded Newport series, Ashley Weaver’s Amore Ames series, and Bailey Cate’s Magic Bakeshop series. I also like to randomly check out cozy mysteries from my library’s collection.
I also recently read my first Charlotte MacLeod mysteries and loved them. The books I read were all written/set in the late 1970s and 1980s, maybe 1990s. They’ve held up very well.
On the not-cozy mystery side, I frequently recommend Jane Casey, Sherry Thomas, Deanna Raybourn, and Ilona Andrews.
I’m part of a Discord book club that reads cozy books, and it’s been a great way to discuss and discover new-to-me books.
IF YOU WERE MAROONED ON A DESERTED ISLAND, WHAT 3 BOOKS WOULD YOU WANT WITH YOU?
Maybe the Sherlock Holmes Omnibus, one of the How to Survive on a Desert Island survival guides, and IQ84 since it’s enormous, and I’d finally have time to sit down with it.
DO YOU HAVE ANY PROJECTS COMING UP THAT YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE WITH US?
The fourth novel in my Ground Rules Mystery Series, Death Unfiltered, comes out on March 26, 2024. The first novel in my new Halloween Bookshop series, Chaos at the Lazy Bones Bookshop, comes out on July 23, 2024. Both of these will be audiobooks in addition to being available as print and ebooks.
The Quickie 5
- FAVOURITE FOOD: Potato anything
- BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: pourover coffee
- MOST PRIZED POSSESSION: Maybe my Moomin coffee cup I brought home from my exchange year in Finland. But I like to focus on experiences instead of things.
- FAVOURITE SEASON? Autumn!
- FAVOURITE VACATION SPOT? maybe Joseph, Oregon, but I like to explore and check out new places.
To keep up to date with Emmeline Duncan online, you can connect with her on:
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | TIKTOK
Excellent Cozy 52 QnA! It was nice to “meet” Emmaline!
I didn’t realize she had a new series coming out. That will be a fabulous setting for a cozy mystery!
It was good to meet you at B n N Thursday. (I’m a reader, not as clever with the turn of a word.) Keep nurturing your creative side! M