I was recently interviewed by Armand Rosamilia, author and contributor to the Hot Tub Crime Machine blog, as part of his Eight Quick Questions segment. Here are some of the highlights, but for the full interview, head on over to the Hot Tub.
Tell us...
Something unique about [The Upstaged Coroner].
The character-driven mystery series stars a thirtyish biracial woman named Fenway Stevenson. This book explores in the inner workings of a university Shakespeare group. Other books may have a murder in the theater as the core of the mystery, but this theater group is unique—and it was based on my own experience as a student actor at UC Santa Barbara twenty-six years ago.
If it’s a series, do you know how many books it will ultimately be?
I’ve mapped out the course through Book Six, and I’m in the middle of writing Book Five now. I have character arcs mapped out for another three books after that, and I think it will be a total of either nine or twelve books.
A few of the secondary characters are interesting enough to give them their own series, too, so the world of Fenway Stevenson may be continuing for a while.
Your biggest inspirations in writing.
In college, I had this idea that I would write grand literary fiction that would win the Pulitzer and the PEN/Faulkner (and I was a big fan of Siri Hustvedt, Paul Auster, and Marguerite Duras). But I realized just a few years ago that mystery was where my heart lies.
Excerpt from "Eight Quick Questions with Paul Austin Ardoin," September 30, 2019
Read the full interview at https://hottubcrimemachine.blogspot.com/2019/09/eight-quick-questions-with-paul-austin.html.