Mary Daheim

1 - What's your latest?

Mary Daheim: My latest book in the B&B series from HarperCollins/Morrow is LOCO MOTIVE, due to be released September 7.

2 - Assuming I haven't read it, why should I?

Mary Daheim: You should read it because innkeeper Judith McMonigle Flynn and her sometimes pain-in-the-neck cousin, Renie, are, as Carolyn Hart puts it, "Sleuths to treasure." (Some might say Renie should be a BURIED treasure, but that's because the character is based on the author.) You should, of course, read all the books in the series because they have humor, mystery (the kind that a sharp-eyed reader can solve), and feature two middle-aged women who are all too human.

3 - What can you tell us about your main character that you hadn't realized until you answered the question?

Mary Daheim: I can’t tell you much--unless you're referring to last night's phone call to Coz Judy (the real Judith) I should add that neither Judith nor Renie are exact replicas of the real deals. But they're very near the mark.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Mary Daheim: My favorite scene is ... this is tough ... early on when Renie gets the switch from daylight saving time screwed up and they almost miss the train OR a scene toward the end involving mistaken identity of the cousins (and I won’t say how or why, as that would spoil it). The latter scene was the last of the wonderful ideas Dave, my late husband, gave me for the book before he died in early February. Since retirement, he had edited each book chapter by chapter. The really favorite scene might have been the one you--and I--will never see, because Dave didn’t get around to suggesting it to me before he died.

5 - What's next?

Mary Daheim: Next up is the new Alpine from Random House/Ballantine, THE ALPINE VENGEANCE, due out in late March 2011. The paperback version of the previous book in the series, THE ALPINE UPROAR, will be released in February 2011. ALPINE VENGEANCE is based on the homicide in THE ALPINE FURY and regular readers of Emma Lord might want to at least skim a copy of that one. I had to read the whole thing word for word to remember it after 15+ years had gone by since I wrote it. I always encourage ALPINE fans to read the books in order as they are more character-driven and a bit more serious than the B&Bs. After finishing the manuscript of ALPINE VENGEANCE, I took time to run through all the ALPINES and realized that what happens to Emma in the new book had been there from the start in THE ALPINE ADVOCATE. I'm currently working on the next B&B for 2011--ALL THE PRETTY HEARSES.