A Holland Reads: Beeline to Murder by Meera Lester

October 9, 2015

Beeline to Murder by Meera Lester - Spotlight and Interview

Published: September 29, 2015

Number of pages: 288

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Series: Henny Penny Farmette Mystery

Synopsis:

From peacekeeper to beekeeper…

After an injury forced her to leave the police department, Abigail Mackenzie started a second career as a farmer. Raising chickens, harvesting honey from her bee colony, and growing heirloom vegetables on her farmette in the beautiful Bay Area town of Las Flores, Abby has embraced all the benefits of a peaceful life.

But when she attempts to deliver her trademark honey to local pastry chef Jean-Louis Bonheur and finds him dead in his shop, her old investigative instincts kick in. After the coroner rules the death a suicide, the chef’s handsome French-Canadian brother insists on hiring Abby to find out who really killed Jean-Louis.

With the patience of a farmer and the industriousness of a bee, Abby sorts through a swarm of suspects, including the chef’s landlord, his protégé, an eccentric homeless woman, loan sharks, and a brawny biker. But as she closes in on the truth, she’ll need more than her beekeeper suit to protect her from a killer’s sting…

Includes farming tips and delicious recipes!

About the author:

Meera Lester is the author of nearly two dozen nonfiction books and the proprietress of the real Henny Penny Farmette, located in the San Francisco Bay area in Concord, California. Meera co-founded Writers Connection, a Bay Area organization of writers and publishing professional. Readers can visit her blog athennypennyfarmette.com.

http://meeralester.com/mlls/

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24388455-a-beeline-to-murder

Interview:

1. Who or what inspired you to start writing?
Farmers inspire me. They are hard-working people the world over. My grandparents had two farms that provided food, shelter, and a their livelihood. By the time I hit my early twenties, I took off to India and stayed with farmers in Gujarat. Inspired by E.M. Forster's Passage to India and A Room with a View, I wanted to see where Mohandas Gandhi began to rouse the masses to fight for independence. While there, I stayed with farmers and felt right at home. After returning from India, I began working on a novel about a nurse stationed there in WWII, like my husband's aunt. It was a novel never to be published, but it started me writing.

2. What do you do to help you get over writer's block?

Reading. I read widely and in lots of disciplines.I also devour newspapers for obituaries for tidbits to spark ideas.

3. Do you have scheduled writing time or a certain amount of words you write each day?
I write from about 7:30 or 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 or 6:00 p.m. I take breaks to eat, do farmette chores, and cook. If I'm on a writing roll, I'll write until midnight.

4. Where do you get your ideas for your books?
My cozies all necessarily involve murder. I find stories everywhere. I listen to family stories (one of my family members is with a local city's police department. My family friends are are cops, firemen, and medics)--there is never a lack of stories and shop talk.

5. When you are not writing what do you like to do?
Cook, garden, paint, and play my violin. I also love to travel--probably because I love to eat good food and see exotic places.

6. What one piece of advice would you like to give to aspiring writers?
Write every day

7. Who is your favorite author or book that you would like to recommend to your readers?

For cozies, I love Joanne Fluke--The Blackberry Pie Murder is an excellent work of fiction with engaging characters.

8. If you could meet any famous person dead or alive who would it be and why?

I've would have loved to have met Dame Agatha Christie. Dame Agatha, because she was really the queen of cozies, but also wrote six romances under a pseudonym. I love cozies. I enjoy reading romances. And I love cozies that have a romantic thread woven through them.

9. Five interesting facts about yourself
I paint in oils and have sold some.

In high school, I was awarded a four-year scholarship to the U of Kansas to study art.

I'm married to a Dominican architect and cook Caribbean foods.
I've travel to 29 countries and four continents.
My favorite rose is Abbaye de Cluny.
I used to direct screenwriting conferences in Los Angeles and for my work received a letter of commendation (for contributions to the film industry) from Senator Dianne Feinstein.

GREAT QUESTIONS!
Meera Lester
Locate my books at: www.amazon.com/author/meeralester
Track me on Twitter. Find me on Facebook. Locate me on LinkedIn.
www.meeralester.com, www.mysacredworld.com, and www.hennypennyfarmette.com

What you can do or dream you can, begin it; boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.--Goethe

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