4 Sleuths & A Barnstormer by Traci Andrighetti + Diana Orgain + Leslie Langtry + Arlene McFarlane
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Meet Traci Andrighetti, one of 4 authors of the Killer Foursome Mysteries which is uniquely written by 4 cozy mystery authors utilizing their already super popular cozy mystery characters
Buy Traci and Diana's new book: 4 Sleuths & A Barnstormer - released January 6, 2024 https://amzn.to/41THAWr
You can find them at
traciandrighetti.com
dianaorgain.com
lemonlit.com
Author Chat Questions
0:00 Intro
1:30 How did you all 4 meet
3:04 Tell us about your new book
7:18 How is this different from Books 1 & 2
9:52 Who among you loves glamping? 10:06 It’s a Girl Scouts outing with adults only?
11:27 Have either of you been to Iowa?
12:10 Are either of you former Girl Scouts?
15:30 Did you sell Girl Scout cookies door to door or did your parents sell yours for you?
16:09 Are there any Girl Scout Cookies being eaten in this book?
17:28 Do you still eat Girl Scout Cookies?
18:59 What’s your favorite flavor? 28:05 Is there a Barnstormer in this book?
31:36 Let’s talk about your main characters
38:34 How easy/difficult/fun was it to plot each of these books?
41:02 Who in the group is the best at plotting and who's the best at marketing for the books ?
43:37 What are your writing plans for 2024 for each of your own series + this one? 4
6:47 Where can readers find you both?
47:55 Book giveaway
Listen Now [Audio Only]
Read the Transcript
Meet Traci Andrighetti + Diana Orgain Authors of 4 Sleuths & A Barnstormer written with Leslie Langtry + Arlene McFarlane
Jan 16 2024
This transcript was generated automatically by Spotify. Its accuracy may vary.
0:02
Hi everyone, and welcome to another Tuesday Mystery Mingle.I say another.I'm so excited.This is our second one.And so today you are going to get the chance to meet Tracy Andrighetti and Diana Orgain. Am I saying that right?And Orgain.Yes.OK, yeah.
0:18
Why don't you go 1st and say hi and tell us a little about yourself?I'm Diana Orgain, USA TODAY best selling author of the Maternal Instincts mystery series.It's available on all the retailers and I Also co-author of really fun series for Sleuths and Awe.
0:35
We have three out now, Bachelorette, burlesque dancer and Barnstormer.And I co-author that with Tracy and Hergetti.Awesome.And I'm Tracy.I'm also United, a bestseller.That's my dog, Vic.You're a doggy mommy too.
0:52
Oh, you guys have so many dogs.Too many.And I write the Frankie Amotto mysteries.And yes, I am one of the authors in the Forest Soothe series, which has been a lot of fun.And I'm sorry.I'm in Austin, TX today and it's unusually cold.
1:09
I went to sleep and woke up feeling like I'm in Colorado.So yeah, lots of weirdness here today.And we're all worried the power will go out.So if I disappear, you know what happened.OK.I just want to mention we we co-authored this series with two other USA TODAY best selling authors, Leslie Langtree and Arlene McFarlane.
1:29
So.Shout out to them.Yeah, so that's kind of unique.I don't think there is any other book I've seen where 4 authors come together usually.Honestly, when I first saw it, I thought it was going to be, you know how they put those anthologies together?And then each author gets their own story?Yeah, so I didn't realize you guys had put it together.
1:45
So maybe talk about like how you met, whose idea this was, and how this all came together.Go for it, Tracy.It was Arlene Mcfarlane's idea.She had the idea to take 4 sleuths and you know who were who did not know one another and had never been in each other's worlds at all and put them together so the first one force leaves in a Bachelorette.
2:13
The idea was all of us were invited to the same woman's Bachelorette party where of course a murder happens.And so that's how they met.And then it was because of the murder and they decide it was like such a disastrous like party that they wanted to meet up again and have like a proper vacation because The Bachelorette party was out of town.
2:36
They all flew in and you know, their vacations just keep getting crashed by a murderer.It's it's very Jessica Fletchery in the sense that that just keeps happening to these poor women and all I want to do is have some some fun.
2:54
All right, so these are just four girls, four women, girls coming together.They all happen to be sluice in their own series, right?So they're existing characters.And then so do readers have to know or have read any of the other series in order to, like, enjoy this series?
3:13
No.No, OK.No, and in fact, that was one of the things that drew me into the project.I can't speak for Diana, but I thought, what a great way for Frankie to be introduced to three other authors readers and see if she's, you know, a fit.
3:31
And I've heard from so many wonderful readers, actually, since the project started that e-mail me and say, you know, I read Diana or I read Leslie or Arlene, but I hadn't read you.And what fun it was discovering your books.
3:46
And so I know we've all had similar experiences and it's been really a a super fun part of the process for us.Nice.So why don't you tell us about this book, the one that just came out this month, The Force Loose and a barnstormer.Diana.
4:03
OK.So the flight's camping, you guys.So I like.Breaking is so fun in this one.Yeah, because because there's no mirrors at camp and it's get back to nature.So they they meet up because they they they first met at The Bachelorette party.
4:22
Then they tried to have a party in New Orleans and things went a little wonky.And so now they're they're going to have a nice girlfriend's retreat glamping.But of course, you know, things aren't always as smooth as as planned and a dead body shows up ironically or, you know, mysteriously.
4:42
And so then they start to engage and try to figure out what's happened.But a lot of this one's a lot of fun.They're well, they're all fun but this one's this was really fun and.The IT was.It was particularly fun.I think so.Leslie Langtry has actually done this glamping trip and it's I I can't remember how.
5:03
So Leslie in real life is, was or is a Girl Scout troop leader.I don't know if she still does it.And, you know, she writes the Mary Wrath mysteries that are all about the CIXCIA agent turned Girl Scout troop leader.
5:20
And they're hilarious.And so this was set in her world, but she had gone to this camp, So she had pictures for us.She was able to, you know, show us the layout of the building, tell us drinks they had that were like Girl Scout themed drinks.
5:35
Like what were they like, meant, cookie, some martini or, I don't know, you know, stuff like that.And so it was super funny and in a weird sort of way, I almost felt like I was getting to do it a little bit.
5:51
Like, I don't know, it felt very real when we were riding this one it which was strange.Right, because we took different events, you know, like the the horseback riding and archery lessons and setting up a, you know, campfire skit thing.
6:06
So we did different activities that they do at camp and that was really fun coming up with those.Did it make you wanna do?Ropes or?Did it make you wanna take a real glamping trip together with the four of you?Yeah, I had a really bad camping experience when I was young.
6:26
There were these two redneck twins that were like just drinking beer, like near our camp.And they didn't have shirts on.They didn't have shoes on and they'd had way too much beer and they had them.This was when I was in my 20s, guy.This was a long time ago, but they had a fog hat, a track tape that they were playing on their car like over and over again.
6:49
And their names are Ron and Don, I will never ever forget.And they had mullets like they were just they instead of like attracting like bears and raccoons.I I wrote this today in a newsletter.We attracted them and they just we couldn't shake them.
7:05
So I was like that's the end of my camping I will never do it again.I So.Ron and Dawn.Yeah, Ron and Dawn.No, I wonder what happened to those boys.So this one is slamping.Why don't you just catch everyone up to speed and just tell them tell us what book one and two are about?
7:25
So book one is The Bachelorette party where they they meet accidentally because they they all know this woman from previous parts of their life and they they meet each other.Book two they they decide they need a proper vacation because they're Bachelorette party had gone wrong.
7:42
So they meet up in New Orleans and that it is basically what we try to do now is is bring it into the sleuths hometown.So that was Tracy LED that project because it's Frankie's stomping grounds and just like Leslie's stomping grounds for her Girl Scouts.So, Tracy, tell us more about Book 2.
8:01
Book two has to do with Frankie's ex stripper landlady and a house that she owned.And there was a pool in the back and they like Frankie excitedly.
8:17
Well, wait a minute.No, I think, Diana, I think your character rented it.Yes.Yeah.Your character contacted Frankie's Extra for Landlady, who owns a bunch of rundown properties in New Orleans, and rented the place unbeknownst to Frankie.
8:34
And then I think, didn't you surprise us with the news or something?And I was like, or I Frankie was like, it's not good.And sure enough, it wasn't because there was a old burlesque dancer turns up dead at the house in the pool, in the back.
8:50
And so they have to solve that mystery.And so it does have a burlesque dancer theme.There's a whole burlesque thing in New Orleans that there's a community that's very active and some really well known local personalities are burlesque dancers.And so that's why we I wanted to do that.
9:08
All right, so where will Book 4 be set?San Francisco that my main character is in San Francisco, so it that one's mine.So details to be to be determined.OK.All right.So is it still?
9:24
Going to maybe be for sleuth and a babysitter.Do we know?I yeah, I think so.We've been talking that idea at work.But tell them why there would be a babysitter.Oh well, because my sleuth is pregnant with twins in the in this series.
9:40
In my series, she's already had the baby, but because the timing got a little wonky there.But yeah, they'll they'll be visiting after now up to date with the the the baby's being born so.So back to Girl Scout glamping in Iowa.
9:55
It's Iowa, right where they are.All right, so I keep.Staying in Illinois and Leslie would have to correct me.They're like the same thing.So this is adults only, right?There's no actually, like Girl Scouts there, like little girls.
10:11
There are, There are.It is an adult only trip, but two Girl Scouts have infiltrated, so the two characters from Leslie's book have come and want to see what's going on and they help.Us.Their names are Betty and Lauren and they're extremely precocious 12 year olds, so they were jealous and curious about the adults only glamping trip.
10:35
So they show up and and get involved.They help us.So they're actually tweets.So is this book like, could it be good for YA readers?Would they enjoy it?There's drinking.I think I can't.
10:52
I mean, I think so.I don't know.I don't remember if we said anything that might be a little inappropriate.It's possible, I don't think.I mean, I think it's clean, but I don't know if they would be interested in it's.It doesn't cover team topics at all.
11:08
It's just.Yeah, and there might have been some.I think there was some adult humor, but I I can't really remember.But it is a clean.I mean, all the books are clean.There's no swearing.There's no, you know, we don't have any of that.But there might have been, you know, a joke or something that was a little off, you know?
11:27
This is an Iowa, so I know she brought like pictures, 'cause she'd actually gone in that.Have either of you actually been to Iowa?Like, lived there, vacation there, drove through there.No.However, however, my husband and son have been there because his family had a family reunion.
11:43
But I couldn't go, so I almost went to Iowa.Almost.OK.And you've never met Diana.And I could almost there again.I do not believe that I have been in Iowa.I don't know.I drove cross country and I could have driven through it, but I don't.
12:01
So maybe on accident you were there and just blocked it out of your memory.We drove through, but I don't remember any specific stops.OK, so I was a Girl Scout.Were you guys Girl Scouts as well when you were kids?No.That's right.Not your experience as a Girl Scout?
12:18
Not me, Tracy.You.No.Yes, I was.AI was a brownie and a Girl Scout, and I was too little to really remember much about the brownies.I do remember, man, I was all about those badges, like I.
12:34
And what's funny is when I talk to Leslie, I'm always trying to like, include badges.And she's like, you know, no, we don't.They don't have those.Or, you know, I'll make one up and she'll be like, no, that.But yeah, I have some badge obsession, but that's totally my personality.
12:49
Like if there's some kind of you.Yeah.You know what?I'm not, I'm not super high on that Gallup Strength Finders thing.Competition is not super high for me.But man, it's it's almost no an obsession, though.So it's like, oh, there's something I can collect.
13:05
I can earn those.I can get those and then I and then you have to sew them on my little sash.And then I, you know, and then I'm like one of the rows is uneven on the sash, like I need another one right now.So the row will be even and I'll have three across and you know it.It's a weird, it's a weirdness thing for me.
13:22
It's not like a normal, I think.That's just how it is.Like every meeting that we had, the whole goal was to get a badge.So now we're all gonna earn our badge for this, and we're all gonna earn our badge for that, right?Like that was the only point of the meetings.OK, yes, but our badges were you guys, our badges were for stuff like sewing and cooking and what?
13:43
And I was looking at them recently and it's like coding, robotics.I mean like auto mechanics.I was like, I wouldn't have made it like I would have had to drop out.I guess you could just watch a bunch of YouTube videos to get your Girl Scout badges now.
14:03
I don't know.Yeah, I don't know how they do it, but I mean coding, robotics, like come on, I, I, I honestly quit Girl Scouts though.So at the time, my family lived in West TX, specifically Odessa, TX and pretty barren landscape.
14:24
You know, some cactus, some tumbleweeds, Truly.And there was one tree I remember in the neighborhood and it was three blocks over and all of us kids would walk down to the tree to climb it like it was that barren.And so there was this the the last straw for me.
14:41
And my mom sent me to this summer Girl Scout kind of big Jamboree sort of thing.And it was a day camp or something.And I mean it was just like at a Kalichi pit kind of thing.It was just and we were like hanging out in concrete, you know, and just there was no, it wasn't like the woods.
15:03
It wasn't like anything like we're describing in four space in a barnstormer.It was just, it was just barren and terrible.And I called her and I was like, come get me.I'm not standing here.Also, the girls remain.These were not friendly, happy Girl Scouts.
15:19
I guess they were tired of sewing and cooking for their badges, but I I made her come get me.And then that was the last.That was the end of Girl Scouts.That was the end of Girl Scouts.All right.How was your Girl Scout cookie sales?OK, well.
15:35
My dad would just go, I'll take 250 boxes, please.And I would go Done, I mean.So you weren't You didn't even do door to door?No, no.Why did you?Want resell them or what was did he want 250?
15:52
What did he do with the 250 boxes?He would give them to people like and we would eat ridiculous amounts of them.I I it's probably yeah, it it's not good.When I think back on how many Girl Scout cookies I probably ate, my life looks like.Not good.
16:09
I mean, do they actually eat any Girl Scout cookies in this book?I think Kate must right?Well, she's asking for them all the time, but they don't have any there.Remember like I did that I was I I in one of my chapters I have Kate asking So that's the other thing.
16:27
So if you haven't read any of these books, the way it works is that we each take a chapter.So there's 20 chapters and there's four of us.So we each write 5 chapters and so one chapter will be titled Frankie, then it'll be Kate, then I'll be, you know, Mary, Arlene, whatever order, the order varies, but you get the idea and we have to write each other's characters in our chapters.
16:53
So Frankie's, you know, doing all the narrating in my in my chapter, but I'm having to write Kate having to write Valentine, which is Arlene Mcfarlane's character, Valentine Beaumont, and then Mary Rath, Leslie's character.
17:09
And so I kept having, since Kate is pregnant, I kept having Diana's character, like asking for the Girl Scout cookies and wondering where they were.And you know, and she's always never argued.Great.So she's pregnant with twins and she's just like, whatever I can eat, Yeah.
17:25
Yeah, and so do either of you eat Girl Scout cookies today still?No.And I don't want to get sued for this.I'm sorry, Girl Scouts of America, but there's a lot of chemicals in those cookies.There's a.Lot of.
17:42
Preservatives like, yeah, I'm not making it up.I mean, just look at the back of a box.And that's why I say, like, in retrospect, I was eating these cookies in the 70s, so I have no idea what was in the back, man.But there's a lot of not good things in them right now, which is a shame.
17:58
I mean, I really think, you know, it's a great organization.Like, I really think they should make, like offer, you know, a healthier kind of option perhaps.Yeah, I.Remember, just like they got rid of the hydrogenated whatever oils one year and then everyone was super upset because they didn't taste as good.
18:19
Well, and that that it's like a corn oil, isn't it?And it's, it's addictive like they've proven it's really bad.So it makes you want to keep keep eating and they put it in, I know it's an ice cream and other things.I don't know that it's in those cookies, but I mean, it's in a lot of food we eat and if you kind of can't seem to stop eating it, it's quite possibly it's partially hydrogenated corn oil, I believe.
18:43
That was it.Yeah.Thank you.Look at look at Tracy coming up with the chemicals.I have no idea how I did that.Or if it's right, but it sounds good, no?It sounds good.It's believable.No, I think it sounds it.Sounds right.
18:59
Did you have a favorite flavor though when you were eating it before you knew it had chemicals?Yeah.The mint?Yeah, the mint chocolate.I still love anything mint chocolate I can get my hands on.Like ice cream, whatever.I don't know.There's something about that combo that is magic to me, by the way.
19:16
I am wearing like a New Orleans Mardi Gras necklace so in case anybody's wondering, and I have like king cake babies on these.Ears.I was literally just looking at that cause.Fat Tuesday's early this year, right?It's.It's literally in a.Couple of weeks.Oh, it's in January.I thought it was in February.No.It's in February, but it's early it's.
19:34
Like, yeah.February 15th or 14th?OK, who opened my door?I think it's.I know your door is mysteriously open.Yeah, it's right around Valentine's Day, I think.Yeah, that was like really early.Yeah, you know what's funny?I wanted to say give give this crew a shout out.
19:51
I'm gonna tell them that I did this.So there is a new a a women's group that does a sort of a walking Mardi Gras crew in New Orleans and they're they're called the Mary Antoinettes.And I have all these, like, fun Mardi Gras wigs, and I decided to sell one of them on eBay.
20:09
And a Marie Antoinette bought it yesterday and she told me that that's what she was gonna wear it for.And I was so excited.It was like, I don't know, it was like some awesome celebrity bought my wig.And so now we've been talking back and forth and I was like, you know, I mentioned your crew and my Frankie books.
20:26
And so they're now all over that.And I'm kind of excited, like hoping I get to go hang out with them.They wear Marie Antoinette clothes and wigs that they spend like all year, you know, working on and getting perfect.
20:41
And it's just, but they're called the Marie Antoinettes and you know how Marie Antoinette said let them?Allegedly.Allegedly.Cake.Let them be cake.Well, because you throw things at Mardi Gras, they say let them throw cake.And they do actually sometimes throw like little pieces of cake.
21:01
So yeah, very exciting time for me.I I really should have gone.I should go to Mardi Gras this year, but I don't know that I'll get my act together and do it.I usually go.Oh yeah, I've been to like 6 Mardi Gras.Yeah, they're like once you start.
21:17
Yeah.Are.You located Lisa.What's that?Where are you located?I'm in San Diego, but my best friend from college got into Tulane for medical school, and so every year we just go to Mardi Gras.That was just 'cause we had a free place to.
21:33
Say yeah.I'm in California too.I'm in Norcal.Yeah, OK.Yeah, yeah.Nobody really gets excited about Mardi Gras outside of New Orleans.It's so weird because when you're in New Orleans, it's like it's the the event and then when you leave, it's like people just kind of forget it happens or it's a thing.
21:52
Yeah, no, it's and it really is so much fun and it, you know, it has AI think it has something of a bad reputation a little bit.Not with everybody but a lot of people think of it as you know, like really body.And I mean, I go all the time, and I don't see anything inappropriate like these parades.
22:12
A lot of these parades are actually for kids as much as they are adults.And yes, there's drinking around children, but it's more like, you know, throws for kids.And there's just tons and tons of kids.And I always just think it's really, really fun and a nice time.
22:29
And what people don't understand is it goes on for weeks.So you can have a favorite crew that you want to go see.And they all have different themes.And you know, every year their theme changes.But like, you know, I know somebody that loves the crew of Iris and somebody that loves a crew of Bacchus and you know, the.
22:49
And so you go to like see your favorite.Mine is the crew of Muses.I love them.They throw bedazzled shoes which like high heels, which are stunning.Some of them truly are works of art and are in like museums and things.
23:06
So it's really a fun, it's really a fun experience.It's not I I don't think.I don't think it has.I don't think people understand that it's actually very family, family friendly and really, really fun.And then one other thing I would like to say is at Halloween they do sort of a mini Mardi Gras that it's called the crew of Boo Boo and it's it's like all of the you know, sort of Halloween themed stuff.
23:35
And there's tons of them.But I can't think of the name of the women that I really like now.But there's women who, and I will think of it, they have like auto motorized claw foot bathtubs and they, their bathtubs spin and they drive like cars and they have you know like fun, like you know, little shower caps on and they might have like a little loofah and it's adorable.
24:01
It is adorable.And so there's stuff like that that's just the rolling Elvi Elvis's on like mopeds wearing capes like you.It's just so much fun.I really, really recommend it to everybody.That's what.What is it, Tracy?It's on Halloween.No that that those crews that I just mentioned will ride regular Mardi Gras season as well as often in the crew of Boo.
24:26
But the crew of Boo is the haul, the Halloween event and there's a lot, a lot of the organizations that March or parade in regular Mardi Gras do a do a Halloween version.
24:42
So for example, there's a crew, a really cute crew of women called the Mufulatas, like after the Mufuletta sandwich.And they for one crew of Boo the Halloween version, they made their like super cute.
25:00
It's a super cute diner outfit actually.And they have a tray and they have the sandwiches and you know but for Halloween they did like a moldy sandwich version and their and their like their costumes were sort of zombie like diner waitress.
25:16
I mean it was adorable.I just, I just so so much creativity honestly.So like I said, I think it gets a bad rap and people think that it's very sexualized or something.And there is one crew that's kind of known for that, like, but it's it's very tongue in cheek.
25:37
But the vast majority of them have they're nothing, they're nothing about that.They're really fun, really cool, very tasteful.Yeah.What I don't understand is, so if you're listening to this and you're a reader, Tracy doesn't actually live in New Orleans.
25:55
I thought, like, her books and everything she talks about, she like, knows everything about New Orleans.And I was like, oh, so what's it like there?She's like, I don't live there.So OK, I really fast.I have a PhD and I'm obsessed with researching things.But I think from the time that I was 12 years old, my dad was taking me to New Orleans with my mom because he's Italian and we were living in West TX.
26:21
You could.This was like pre Internet, pre like fancy grocery stores, pre delis even really.So he couldn't get like certain Italian food that he wanted.But you could get it in New Orleans and it was like a you know, 5 hour drive.
26:36
And so we would load up the car with coolers and we would go to New Orleans to Central grocery, which is in my books.I mention it in most of them and it just became this thing that we did and this place that I was fascinated by because being in West TX, we're really at, like I said, tumbleweeds, cactus.
26:58
Nothing was going on.You would we would drive through the French Quarter where this Italian grocery store is and I was like what what is going on?And this is, I mean you, you can't help it.It is fascinating, the look and the the sounds, the smells.
27:15
And so it just became something I was obsessed with and I went a lot with my family just to again really just to go shopping in a weird way.And and then and then I started going, you know, with friends in college because people wanted to go to Mardi Gras and and then I just was like, you know, there's really something special about that place.
27:38
It gets a bad rap so often and for so many different reasons.And so that's the obsession.Is is real.And I research the heck out of it and I go to the places and I'm there a couple times a year, sometimes 3 * a year.
27:55
It's a great place.Cool.So back to Iowa.We're none of us have.Been sorry I so I've been dying to ask.So I looked up what a barnstormer is.So if you haven't looked it up on Webster, a barnstormer is a pilot who travels around the country giving exhibits of stunt flying and parachuting.
28:15
What kind of barnstormer do we have in this book?Diana Yeah, I don't.Think she does stunts?I think she just does the crop dusting.Yeah.Yeah.So there is a barnstormer in this book.
28:31
It is a.Barnstormer.Yeah, OK.But she's like a traditional She's hired to crop dust.Got it.All right.And is she a major character in this book?No, she dies in act one.Yeah, she's she's hardly in it.
28:50
She's hardly.It's just a.Blurb I don't think I gave anything away.Right.OK, that's in.The blurb All right, so what's?So Leslie is from that part of the world and she, you know, she was like, we have to have a barnstormer.And I was like, OK, I don't know what that is.
29:08
And.Right.Like most people.Yeah.So.I did the same thing you did.I looked it up.I asked her about it and I was like, huh, You know, I guess they've all heard of that.And you know what's funny is the people I've heard from that have read it like nobody's really questioned that.
29:25
And so it made me think, you know, did I just not know what this was like?You know?I don't know.Well, I think Lisa had another question, but I'm going to jump in there.This is fascinating to me because when we we co-author, everybody writes their own chapter and then you know we read through and then build on it, right.
29:43
Even though we do have a plot, we're still you know, free in our chapters to kind of maneuver.And Arlene will will say, and I don't know if it's because she's from Canada, but many times she'll say, I don't know what this word is or I don't know what this other thing is.
29:58
And we'll say, oh, that's common in the States or not.And sometimes I'm it's interesting because I'm OK with putting something in that readers don't know because one of the reasons I read is to learn new things.So I'm like, if they don't know this word, they can look it up like I'm not.
30:16
Like I I enjoy that when I find a new word in a book that I'm like, I I didn't know this, right.But it's interesting, like different perspectives, because I think some people may not like that.I don't know.How do you feel about that, ladies?Yeah, I mean, that's why I used to read as a kid.
30:35
I thought it would make me smarter.Yeah, yeah, no, I like it.I do it in my books on purpose.I mean, I even use some Italian, I use Sicilian, and I try to make it clear from the context what it is.I I think people, you know, it's good to expose people to new things.
30:54
And I haven't had any complaints to me about it.It's possible that people haven't liked that and they've stopped reading, and that's fine.But, you know, I think it's important to to be true to who you are and to your characters and include those things if they make sense for you to include them.
31:17
Yeah, I like it.And learn something.Yeah, well, I've learned from you, Tracy.I'm like, I don't know what that is.And I'll go look it up.And I like that though.Yeah, no, same.So it's it's a personal preference, I guess, you know.
31:35
Yeah, so let's talk about your main characters.You can talk a little bit about the other authors, but mainly for yours.Like, what are their personalities?What are they like?How old are they?Are they married?They have kids?Like who?Who are these women?Yeah, well, so Kate is my main character, Kate Connolly.
31:55
She's from San Francisco, and my series starts with she becomes a new mom and she doesn't want to go back to the corporate world, 'cause she wants to be with her baby.And of course she gets caught up in a mystery accidental, a little accidentally, but it involves some people that she knows.
32:11
Some things were left behind.And so she's kind of involved and she he deals with a Private Eye and sees that he sets his own hours and it seems like all he does is go around and ask people questions and she feels like I can ask questions.
32:27
So she embarks on becoming API in the series.So she in order to be APII think you need two I want to say 2000 hours of practical investigation work in order to get a license.So she becomes, he becomes her mentor and she works under him to to get this license so that she can have her independence and be a mom.
32:48
And then throughout the course of the series she gets pregnant again and this time it's twins.And so she's she really wants to be at home and be successful in her career.So, So that's where she's at.Well.Diana has such a nice, like, good answer.
33:04
Frankie is basically me when I was in my 30s.It's good.For me too.Going going through like New Orleans and you know, I find life, I find life and people very fascinating, New Orleans in particular.
33:19
But you know, I think it's true of any city.If you go through it, there's things that are just different and puzzling and unique, but especially in New Orleans, let's be honest.And so it's sort of her reacting to a very, very different style of life.
33:39
And yet she lives a very different style of life herself.She is API.She's single, but she she comes from a Sicilian American family.My family is not Sicilian American.A lot of people think it is it my dad's Canadian, I was born in Canada.
34:01
My mom is was born in New Mexico, My dad in Canada as well to Italian immigrant parents, and his father was from right outside of Venice and his mother a small town like in central Italy.
34:18
And so it's it's weird, but there are a lot of Sicilians that went through New Orleans and it it's really fascinating to me.It's not my particular culture, but I will say that aspects of my life are very, very similar in terms of, you know, like a Nona that worries about you, that, like wants you to be married, that wants you to, you know, be settled.
34:44
And you know, basically, I think all grandmothers ultimately want that, but maybe Italians are a little more, a little more.Punchy about it.I think Italians are more insistent about, yeah, so there's been, I've had a lot of hilarious things happen in my family that make their way into the books.
35:00
I've had a lot of weird, crazy, wild, hilarious experiences in New Orleans that make their way into the books.But I mean, New Orleans is a place where there is a community of people who live as vampires.I mean you you don't find that in a lot of cities like around the nation.
35:19
And so I I do kind of themed books.And so like my 4th book, Campari Crimson, was about the vampires and you know, Galliano gold is about a Steamboat.And I tried to actually feature different aspects of New Orleans and it's always Frankie kind of reacting to the uniqueness of the city.
35:40
And that's sort of the shtick, I guess, all.Right.Cool.And so do you guys ever, do you guys have how many books are in each series?I know there's a lot like in your own series.So I'm working on book 14 OK in my Maternal Instinct series.
35:59
I'm working on 9 and I know it's going to go to 10, maybe a little more.I don't.I don't know that I'll get to 14 like Diana, because I have a series set in Italy in my head that's been there for a really long time.And I might, I might move on to that for a while after book 10 and then kind of revisit Frankie periodically.
36:18
But it's gonna be connected to Frankie actually, though.It'll be somebody she knows.Speaking of Italy, I don't know if Lisa knows, but I did wanna mention it.Tracy and I Co host a writing retreat in Italy.So we've been to the Amalfi coast and had a fabulous riding retreat was so much fun and then a little bit hit and we had to cancel the the next one.
36:39
But we are on track this year to host again.So if people listening want to find out more information I think we're we're getting in the process of posting something but the website islemonlit.com so lemon lit lit.com and they can if there if there's nothing up yet when you check it just e-mail us with our contact information is there because we're figuring out the the details but it's it was a great first trip and we want to do it again so and the location Tracy we had some ideas for that do you want to talk about the.
37:12
Did we decide like or were we going to go to Matera or I think?We want to go to Matera, yeah.There's, yeah, there's this.You should look it up.It's a UNESCO heritage site.It is sort of a city built in or a town maybe.I don't know if I would call it a city.It's small, but it's built into rock.
37:29
So there are houses that, like the road is the roofs of the houses, for example, like a road Rd. overhead, which is so fascinating, but there are restaurants and things like and spas and, you know, really fabulously beautiful palaces and things carved into rock.
37:50
So it's a fascinating place.And that would be one of the one of the stops.We usually go to a couple of places at least actually sometimes more, but that one would be that's one of the places we would go.
38:06
Yeah.Cool.So do you guys.Sorry, back to your series.Do you guys mention your The for Sleuth series, or allude to that at all in your own book series?Like just got back from glamping with the Girl Scouts or something.I have, yes.
38:23
I mean it's it's small, but yes, I I absolutely do that.Same.OK.Yeah.And so I guess just overall whatever you wanted to share about like the writing process, the Co writing, I think someone even put a comment sausage maker asked what is the difficult most difficult thing about Co authoring a book.
38:49
Oh, I didn't even know that we had comments there.Oh yeah.Exactly right.I would honestly say the most difficult.My co-authors are lovely.I love them all.I think the most difficult thing is scheduling.So the way we write will will hook up and we'll kind of determine the next 4 chapters say well we have an overarching arc but when we get down to the writing so we'll figure out the next 4 chapters.
39:16
And sometimes scheduling that is really hard because if we give each other like a week or two weeks, then it's like the next week or two weeks and somebody might have a wedding for when their weeks were assigned or whatever.So we're always trying to kind of juggle real life and other deadlines into the into the project timeline.
39:34
So for me, that's the most difficult thing, scheduling.Gosh, to me it's gone kind of remarkably easy.I thought there would be a lot of sort of painful planning sessions where we just, you know, we're trying to hash it out and couldn't figure things out.
39:58
But it's been really fun to have four cozy mystery writers on the same zoom call, just throwing out ideas like.And then there's there's a fire and then there's glitter and then it it, you know, it's just weird.
40:18
It's like weird stuff kind of comes out that doesn't make any sense.And then somehow we're like, oh God, that's perfect.Like, it all works.And we we managed to, you know, I don't know it.It's hard to explain it, but it's been sort of more hilarious just listening to what's in everybody's heads and how they think you know that the the plot should go and it's just fun.
40:43
There's always a good answer.I know for one, like I'll I'll totally joke about something like, oh, they should blah blah blah and you guys all go, OK and I'm like, wait, I was just kidding.You're all like, I was kidding, but then it then it works and we're like, no, it hurts going with that.
41:02
Well, who in the group is the best at plotting and who's the best at marketing for the books for the series?Oh gosh.Or is everybody equal?I'm gonna take the plotting 'cause I think I'm the only one that plots in real life, I think.
41:21
I think I have a I have a rough.I have a rough plot, but because it's New Orleans like I have to, I have to, you know, give that I have to leave room for the for the craziness to to happen and that kind of I love the fighting.
41:39
I'm a plotter.I'm a plotter.And then you know, you all will say, well, we decided who the killer was, but let's change it.Yeah.But it wasn't Tracy.But someone on the team said that, which we did.
41:55
But I think it's so I.I propose changing it as well.Yeah, I think you did.Yeah.I was like, like, it's obvious now, like if we're kind of, you know, there wasn't, there was a book where we were kind of building up to this one person just too, kind of too early.
42:15
And I was like, no, like we we have to change it.It has to be more of a surprise marketing.I mean I'm going to be honest, we none of us have had the time that we would like to market these books.I'm that's just reality.
42:30
We're trying to write other series.We have lives and this has been a very fun thing for us.And in a way, I think, you know, we're just a lot of the time we're just kind of laughing on the Zoom calls.
42:45
And then we write our chapters individually, like, you know, nobody's collaborating on them.And then we post them.And then we have another Zoom call where we're sort of laughing and like, you know, talking about it.And then we post them.And so then we're done with the book and like, we're like, Oh my gosh, we've got to get back to our main book in our series We're behind.
43:06
And so.So yeah, that has happened.But Diana's a really good marketer too.She and I have both gone to many, many, many, many marketing conferences.We've got another one on the schedule.It's, I mean, we know all the information, but finding the time to actually implement it is really hard.
43:28
I think for any writer, regardless of whether you're collaborating or not, it's it's a tough business.OK.Well, let's talk about, so your own series and your writing, what's the plan for both of you for 2024?Like what books are you planning to release and what's your schedule like?
43:48
You go first, Diana.OK.I have a new release coming in May.I think I wanted to do it for Mother's Day of the Maternal Instinct series.And then I have a new genre book out with my agent actually.
44:04
So I might be switching the channel from Cozies to some different things.It's.Like a totally different genre.Yeah.Oh, wow.OK.So, so we'll see.It's 11 is out on submission right now.It's a a young adult, it's a YA thriller and another one is a psychological thriller for adults.
44:23
So we'll see which one we have more interest in and see what happens.Great Tracy, I am writing Frankie 9 Nochino Noir, which is a little confusing.
44:38
I did sort of a confusing thing.I I wrote it as a short story and then a lot of people said to me, I wish you hadn't and I gave it away.Tanya Capiz had a promotion that Diane and I both had short stories and it was Cozy Crimes and Twisty Tales.
44:57
I believe it was called and it ended this past October.And so I took the short story and a lot of people said you really should have turned that into a book.And so I'm in the process of doing that, which may or may not be a good idea.
45:14
Not because I don't like the book, but because I like I heard from somebody today who's a reader today who was like, wait, I'm going to pre-order this, but just checking, is this the one that you gave away for free, you know, as part of that promotion?And I'm like, no, no, no.It's a much longer, better, better version of it.
45:32
So we'll see how that.Director's Cut.Yeah, we'll we'll see how that starts out.I don't.You know.And then I think I don't know.At some point this year we have to talk about or start the 4th book for for sleuths.
45:49
And then I also am simultaneously plotting the first book in the Italian series, which I've never said the title, but because I love you, Lisa, I will say it here and if anybody can steal it from me, I will kill you.It's called Rome Ravioli and Revenge.
46:08
Nice.That's.Great.I don't.Want to get?Sat in Italy.What?Are you going to move it to be sat in Italy?Yeah, it's sat in Italy.Oh.Nice.It it's a, it's a different series.
46:25
I'm kind of I've I've kind of figured out who the characters are.Finally.That stopped me for a very long time.But it's sort of falling into place now and I have been plotting that book, Diana plotting.I'm plotting and, so give me.
46:40
A call here.So yeah.And where can readers find you if they want to hang out with you or see what you're doing every day?Do you guys post to social media or no?I'm so lazy.
46:56
I'm on Facebook sometimes, Tracy and Righetti.It's just like, I'm terrible about that.But you know, I don't have the emails.You have an amazing newsletter, so if people want to know what Tracy's up to, sign up for her newsletter.It's so fun.Your newsletter is.Go to her website.
47:11
And sign over there.Very kind, but yeah, so I guess go to my website tracyandrighetti.com and you can sign up for the newsletter there.And then again, like I said, I'm on Facebook, I send the newsletter out once a month because I don't want to bother anybody more than that.
47:32
But Diana, do you have?Yeah, same.I'm Diana orgain.com and they can follow me there and you can follow me on the regular places.I don't post much on Facebook, but I do send out regular emails with sales and updates and things like that, OK, because of my kids skiing, you know?
47:55
And I probably read the comments here.So we got a hi from Tasha Sausage Maker.All those means how you can say hi.Sausage maker sounds like an Italian my.Maybe.Yeah.Robin.Underground Karen's here.
48:12
Natalie's here.That voucher Con 2024 is in New is in New Orleans.I knew and forgot, but that's it.I knew that a long time ago and forgot that now I'm now I'm actually looking it up.Yeah, 'cause.
48:29
Yeah, it was here last year, so I think it's due to return there sauce or anything change, that's what your toilet.Never.I have never gone to voucher con.Oh wait, no, it says.Nashville, TN.Oh, it does.
48:45
Oh.Yeah, August 28th through September 1st, 2024.Nashville's a Nashville's a really fun town.Yes, it is.Oh, people are saying they like your title, the ravioli.I like that title.
49:05
Now I just have to write it.There's one last question if you want to answer, Karen.Is it tempting to throw a curveball for the other characters to deal with when you're writing your chapter?I think that I've done that unintentionally where there no, there were a couple of times I wrote chapters and people were like, wait, what?
49:31
And I had to, I had to make some little changes.But yeah, I think I've done it unintentionally.But yeah, now you've given me an idea.So great question.I have you done?That Diana.I try not to, but I do try to give them something to play on.
49:50
And I will say that there are some people that are more receptive to that than others.And this last one I was fortunate.Leslie is like, she is good with whatever you throw at her.So I always tried to give her a little like, oh, have fun with this, you know?
50:08
Yeah.And she really likes it, yeah.I would text you and say, like, if you don't like that, I'll go back and change it.But I was just trying to 'cause she's really good at.She used to be like a stand up comedian or something, right?Tracy Leslie's pretty good with improv the.Thing with the thing that I learned about Leslie writing this book, which laughed so hard.
50:31
So she she, like, tried to learn how to be a ventriloquist like.Oh, for this?Book like I thought, I always thought of that as like something from, you know, I don't know the 50s.
50:48
I I just didn't know anybody did it anymore and I think she like went to like a camp or something.Yeah, I didn't think that was the thing anymore, ventriloquist.I liked it either.I didn't either.But yes, when?America's Got Talent or whatever two or three years ago wasn't.
51:05
Or maybe it's a little longer.But there was. 1.Was it?Didn't she have an act with the Ventriloquist?Yeah, yeah.And it was really weird and crazy because to me, in my mind, there's probably like 5 people in the United States that are like trying to learn how to be.
51:24
A Ventriloquist I.Feel like in a few times it's one of them.Nobody's going to even know what ventriloquists are anymore.So they're going to read something new in our book.So the dummy, I mean, if if you know, you know the dummy that you're holding for anybody who doesn't know what one is, and you're like, you're going the dummies, 'cause you're talking for the dummies.
51:48
We have one in our in our books, so.Yeah, that was the best part.You didn't mention it in the book.Yeah, yeah.And that was my weird idea.And so that was, and I say that because I think that I was trying to kind of freak everybody out.
52:05
And Leslie was like, oh, I love that.Like I went to ventriloquist camp or whatever she said and I was.Like like yes, yes and yes.I know, I could tell you.You were like trying to to to jazz us up and we were like, yeah, go for it.
52:23
Yeah, yeah.I wanted.You'll see, like if you read it, you'll see what we did, but with the ventriloquist personality.But yeah, I thought, like, I was just trying to kind of creep everybody out and have some fun, and they really went for it.
52:40
And then the last thing I expected was that Leslie was trying to be a ventriloquist.Yeah, you have a real life ventriloquist, which.Yeah, so if I the next time I see her, we have all met in person.By the way, we went to the NINK conference in Florida, and if I ever see Leslie in person again, I'm gonna ask her to.
53:03
To her act, to a ventriloquist at.Oh yeah.Well, thank you ladies for coming on and sharing more info about your book and your process and everything else in your series.
53:22
So we're now at the time for the giveaway.So doesn't matter.Diana or Tracy pick a number between, let's say one and 10.You got it.No, tell me, tell me the number.Well, if I tell you the number, it's.
53:39
'Cause I'm gonna, I'll count back on the comments, OK?6.Six.OK, so 12345 Karen with her.Oh, I like it.So congratulations Karen.You won the free ebook for four sleuths and a barnstormer.
53:59
Oh, and I almost forgot.We have a second giveaway our last author offered.Tara Lush offered to give an audio book code for one of her books.So if you entered that contest the the winner is Ashley 9406.
54:16
So Ashley 9406, I will, I don't know if you're watching, I will send you an e-mail with the audiobook code.And yeah, so thank you everyone for showing up and we'll see everybody later.Thank you so much.
