Today, we are visiting with Radine Trees Nehring, a talented, multi-award winning writer who specializes in mysteries set in popular tourist destinations in Arkansas. Welcome, Radine, to The Author’s Blog.

Jim:  You started out in journalism, writing features. How did those help you once you started writing books?

Radine:  Writing features for newspapers and magazines helped me learn to write quickly and smoothly. Writers often have a “learning curve” as they perfect their ability to use language. My early writing guided me through this. Working on my news program put me in contact with both the county sheriff and the police chief in the town nearest our home, as well as with their deputies and officers. Since I write crime novels, these associations remain a tremendous help. I also learned to be relaxed and comfortable when asking law officers and other officials of many types–national to local–for needed information.

Jim:  You first book was the non-fiction book Dear Earth: A Love Letter from Spring Hollow. Give us just a brief glimpse into this environmentalist memoir.

Radine:  Dear Earth is the story of my husband’s and my transition from career-oriented city dwellers to happy “country bumpkins.” During summer vacations we always chose natural areas as destinations. We stayed in a cabin in Maine, camped in national parks in the USA and Canada, and fell in love with the world outside of cities. After several years of this we were able to buy land in the Arkansas Ozarks, and Spring Hollow was born. This place was so important to me that I had a compelling urge to share my love with everyone by writing about it for newspapers and magazines. Dear Earth is largely a collection of that writing. It’s a love story dedicated to learning about and preserving nature as we find it, in as large a piece as we can. About ten years after we bought Spring Hollow and built a cabin in the woods where we could spend weekends, we gave up city jobs, sold our Tulsa home, and came home to our hills and hollows in Arkansas.

Jim:  That book garnered some good press. But it was seven years before your first fiction book, A Valley to Die For, came out. Is there a story behind that?

Radine:  Dear Earth was released in 1995. After it came out, and initial promotion work was done, I decided I’d like to try writing a mystery novel, since mysteries had provided my favorite reading since Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys days. I found my characters and the story inside my head, and began writing when I could steal time from work on the larger home we were then building. I completed A Valley to Die For in 1998, but it took me several years to connect with a publisher who loved the story as much as I did. The novel sold well, went into a second printing, and my publisher ended up releasing five more To Die For novels featuring Carrie McCrite, Henry King, and their friends in the Ozarks.

Jim:  Of course, that launched a seven (so far) cozy mystery series and a number of awards leading up to being inducted into the Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame. Tell us which award made the biggest impression on you, or which one you liked the best.

Radine:  Oh, I do remember . . . way back when . . . In 1992, Dear Earth, as yet unsold to a publisher, earned an Honorable Mention for a nonfiction book in a contest sponsored by Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, Inc. I don’t think it was even a First Honorable Mention–probably about third. But, when I walked to the front of the room at that convention to receive my certificate, I felt like a queen gliding forward to accept my crown. I can still remember the thrill of that first award. None has meant so much since, not even the first place awards other books have received. However, being chosen as the 2011 inductee into the Arkansas Writers’ Hall of Fame is probably a close second.

Jim:  Your 2010 book, A Journey to Die For won the 2010 Silver Falchion Award at Killer Nashville. Did you and your husband take a journey that inspired this mystery?

Radine:  Yes. I do detailed research for my novels since they are all set at popular tourist destinations in Arkansas. This novel opens on the (real) Arkansas and Missouri Railroad Passenger Excursion Train going from Springdale to Van Buren, Arkansas. My husband and I took that trip several times, and spent a lot of time in the historic downtown area of Van Buren. History always feeds my stories, though they are set present day, and Van Buren is loaded with history. It’s an Arkansas River town founded in 1809 to sell wood to steamboats traveling up river to bring supplies to river towns, and especially to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. Imagine: A steamboat loaded with valuable goods sinking into river mud during the Civil War, and . . . !

Jim:  Okay, you’ve got us hooked on that book.  How has your background in journalism and broadcast helped you market your books.

Radine:  You’re right in guessing it’s been a tremendous help. First, I have a high respect for people in those professions, and an understanding of how they work–both the difficulties and triumphs. Several writers and broadcasters have given me support, doing newspaper and magazine features about my writing, and interviewing me for radio programs. They have supported me in other ways, including listing and announcing book events. Good friends, all.

Jim:   A Fair to Die For is the seventh in the series. What do Carrie and Henry face this time?

Radine:  Ahh, what could possibly go wrong at the most popular and largest Ozarks Craft Fair, a truly happy occasion? The story is largely set at the War Eagle Fair, a real craft fair in steady existence since 1954, and currently drawing almost two hundred thousand attendees over its four days in October. This novel gave me a great opportunity to, once more, feature Carrie’s best friend, Shirley Booth, whose baby quilts and “Cuddlies” have been chosen for sale at the fair. (Shirley is tremendously popular with my readers.) Carrie and Henry will be helping her with sales. But, a mysterious cousin Carrie knew nothing about appears, and she admits a connection to drug dealers. She needs to find a former DEA agent who’ll be exhibiting his wooden toys at the fair, and can possibly tell her what happened to her missing father, Carrie’s mysterious uncle. I’m sure you have already guessed that drug dealing is the major crime here, as well as murder. Several people aren’t what they seem to be, and peculiar family relations are popping up in more than one place. Oh, how I enjoyed writing about all this and, of course, spending time at the fabulous War Eagle Fair, plus War Eagle Mill and nearby Hobbs State Park. All these appear as settings in the story.

Jim:  You switched to Oak Tree Press for this seventh book. Do you care to tell us why?

Radine:  Not at all, and this is something that happens to many writers. My first publisher closed their mystery imprint after publishing my fifth series novel, a tough blow for me. However, knowing my publishing record, other publishers were interested in “adopting” me, and I chose a small press with goals and ideals that matched mine. However, after they released Journey to Die For, they, too, decided not to continue in the royalty publishing business. I had heard positive things about mid-sized Oak Tree Press, and have a friend who is one of their authors. Fortuitously, the publisher at Oak Tree and I met at two major Writers’ Conventions in 2011, and connected like old friends comfortable with each other. That eventually led to my decision to apply to them. My seventh “To Die For” novel was accepted by Oak Tree Press in late 2011, and released in 2012.

Jim:  Will there be another “To Die For” book?

Radine:  Oh my, I hope so. One difficult thing right now is that many Arkansans have favorite locations they want me to use for a novel location. I am currently “interviewing” sites to see which one says “STORY!” to me the loudest.

Jim:  How about a one minute bit of advice for the writers who have not gained the success you have.

Radine:  Setting a goal and persisting until you get there is more likely than enormous writing talent to put your own book into your hands! (And this includes e-books.) Keep perfecting your craft, and NEVER GIVE UP!

Thanks for this very interesting conversation. It’s made me think about my life as a writer, and has been a lot of fun!

You can find out more about Radine at her website:  www.radinesbooks.com

And her books are on Amazon at:  http://amzn.to/YKdBw7

Both Radine and I would be pleased if you took just a minute to leave a comment.  Thanks.