Amanda Flower is the author of a dozen cozy mysteries including the Cat Rescue Mysteries, Amish Candy Shop Mysteries, Emily Dickinson Mysteries, and the upcoming First Ladies Murder Club. She graciously took the time to answer my questions about self-publishing, her new book, and more. Enjoy!
1. Who are some of your favorite mystery writers?
Vivien Chien, Anastasia Hastings, and Charles Todd, But there are so many more too!
2. What draws you to the genre?
I have loved mystery since I was a child. My mother was a big mystery reader, so there were always mysteries in the house.
3. What are the crucial elements that make up your mystery?
There is the plot, of course, meaning the murder and investigation. However, I focus a lot on the characters too. Great characters that readers care about are the most important part.
4. What pushed you to self publishing?
I have been traditionally published since 2010 and so grateful for that. I have one series, starting with Caturday Crime, that I self published because my husband and I have a cat sanctuary with 21 cats currently. We use all the money from my self publishing to support the cats. Many of them are special needs and have medications and high vet bills. We also have an Etsy shop that supports the cats at Amanda Flower Designs.
5. What are some of the pros and cons?
The pros of self publishing is I can control a lot more like the release date and the due date. However, the writing is about the same. I treat all books equally. Since I have control of everything, the cons are I have to do everything from finding an editor and cover artist to publicity.
6. Is the process different since First Ladies Murder Club is being published by Kensington instead of self-published?
The writing is really no different, and Kensington is a great publisher with a great team behind the book. I’m grateful for them.
7. Why did you choose Frances Cleveland and Julia Grant as your protagonists compared to other (some more well known) First Ladies?
My interest in American History in 19th century, and I have always had a particular interest in Ulysses S. Grant. So by researching him, I learned his wife moved back to Washington DC after his death. It sort of fell into place once I knew that.
8. Did your research bring up any interesting new information about these historical figures?
I learned so much about each person. However, the catalyst for the novel was learning Nellie Grant was granted a divorce from her British nobleman husband and brought her three teenage children to Washington to live with her mother.
9. Can you describe the dynamics between Frances, and Julia and Nellie Grant?
When Nellie married her husband and moved to England, she was just a teenager, so now that she is back almost twenty years later. She and her mother Julia are starting to get to know each other again. There is definitely a lot of tension there, but beneath it all they love each other.
10. Any upcoming news you can share?
I have three novels coming out in the next few months, and I’m excited about each one of them. They are The First Ladies’ Guide to Murder, which you mentioned, in November, Apple Cornered, the first novel in the Amish Country Cafe Mysteries ( a spinoff of the Amish Candy Shop Mysteries) in January, and Strawberry Scam, the 11th and last novel in the Amish Candy Shop Mysteries as Amish Country Cafe will tell the story of Harvest, Ohio from that point on, in March.
You can learn more about Amanda Flower and her books on her website: http://www.amandaflower.com/home.html
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