We’re back with Judy Alter, a woman with more writing credits than I have room to list.  Last week, we covered her extensive career in western writing and all the accolades she got in that.  Today, we’ll get into her mysteries.  Let’s start.

Jim:   Okay, time for the mysteries.  How did you break away from western themes and get into mysteries?

Judy:  Actually, the western market left me behind and that’s why I was writing for children’s libraries. But I’ve been a dedicated mystery reader all my life, and I really wanted to do one. Finally I realized there are good ones and not-so-good ones out there, and if other writers could do it, so could I. I wrote one which an agent never could sell (wrong agent, I think) but have recently reworked it after ten years and hope to get it to the publishable point soon. It’s called The Perfect Coed.

 But then I had an idea for a novel that came from two sources—a dead space in my own kitchen (two deep cabinets flanking a shallow one) and a house I saw in a nearby neighborhood. I looked at it and for no reason thought, “There’s a skeleton in a dead space in that house.” Thus was born the first Kelly O’Connell Mystery, Skeleton in a Dead Space. The fourth Kelly O’Connell Mystery came out last month (July). The others are No Neighborhood for Old Women, Trouble in a Big Box, and the new one, Danger Comes Home. And I’ve begun work on a fifth and can foresee a sixth in the series.

Mysteries are really making retirement fun.

Jim:  When did you publish that first mystery, and give us a little sales pitch on it?

Judy:  Skeleton in a Dead Space was published in September 2011. It follows Kelly O’Connell, a real estate business woman who stumbles over a skeleton in an old house she was transforming into a modern home. She runs into teen-age gangs, a manipulative ex-husband, a needy, single pregnant friend, a cod-blooded murderer, and a policeman who wants to be more than her protector.  One of my daughters says it’s a highly autobiographical novel, and parts of it really are. My kids all saw that.

Jim:  And your latest mystery is, I believe, Murder at the Blue Plate Café.  I know you do recipes, even have a website featuring recipes.  Tell us a little about this mystery.

Judy:  In February the first of this new series was issued as an e-book and is now available in print. Murder at the Blue Plate Café is the first in the Blue Plate Café Mysteries. The second, Murder at Tremont House, will appear in February 2014.

Jim:  I’m guess this is a new series.

Judy:  Yes, it’s the beginning of a series. It’s set in a café in a small East Texas town and is based on a café I visited often over the years. My kids and I have fond memories of it. But the murder and mayhem in the town are strictly from my imagination.

Jim: Any words of advice for those readers who are less experienced and published than you?

Judy:  Join writers’ groups. I have learned so much from Sisters in Crime and particularly from the sub-group, Guppies (Going to be Published). Before that, for many years, Western Writers of America was hugely important to me. Most writers are so willing to support and help newcomers and share knowledge. It’s not as competitive a world as some might think.

Jim:  Thanks, Judy, for another interesting interview.  I know the readers will want to leave you a comment (I certainly hope you do, readers).  Again, you can find more about Judy Alter and her books at:

http://www.judyalter.com