Today’s featured author is Christa Bakker, whose debut cozy mystery series, the Saint-Maurice Mysteries, kicks off with Death By Naked Ladies. Read on for my interview with Christa, in which we chat French villages, writing and publishing cozy mysteries, and more.
Connect with Christa on Instagram, Facebook, and her website. And don’t forget to subscribe to her newsletter for a free short story. Grab a copy of Death by Naked Ladies here.
Hi Christa, thanks for joining! Your debut cozy mystery series, the Saint-Maurice Mysteries, is set in a rural French village. Book one, Death by Naked Ladies, introduces a photographer sleuth whose assistant seems to prompt poison pen letters—and murder. What makes a small village in France a great setting for a cozy mystery? What inspired you to pick this location and theme?
Hi Manon! Thank you for letting me talk about my favourite subject! My stories are set in France simply because I used to live there. I spent two years living in Lyon and three years in a village about an hour outside of Lyon, in the Beaujolais countryside. That village is what I modelled Saint-Maurice on, meaning it has a similar lay-out in my head and a similar size, though I added some features like a bakery and an abandoned hotel.
The vineyards, the food, the people . . . It all screamed to be written about. So, I threw some unsavoury characters into the mix, et voilá! One woman sleuth who takes vintage style pin-up photos, one sexy assistant who refuses to just be man-candy, and a bunch of baffling murders later, the Saint-Maurice Mysteries were born.
Like many cozy mysteries, the book is a clean read, but promises a hint of romance. In your opinion, what makes romance work in a cozy mystery? What do you like or dislike about including romance in cozy mysteries?
I love a bit of kissing. In books too! It’s an easy and fun way of introducing some extra tension, but it should never distract from the mystery. If the romance starts taking over as the main theme, then the book is no longer a cozy mystery, and to me, the puzzle is the best part. I try very hard to make the killer a surprise, so it would be a shame if all the reader can think about is the romance.
As a new cozy author, is there anything you’ve learned during the writing and publishing process that has surprised you? What tips and strategies regarding writing, publishing, and marketing have you found the most helpful?
That’s a difficult question. Since this is my first cozy mystery, I don’t know yet if any of it is going to work. But I’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback from early readers, so at least the most important part, the story, is good!
The most helpful thing I can say to writers is probably to keep going. Keep writing, keep learning, but also keep finishing. It’ll never be perfect, but it will be good enough. And I think that’s what surprised me the most, how excited people get when they read a story they like. As a reader, I already knew that, of course, but it’s really fun when people get that excited about your own story.
You’ve also written a Victorian fantasy novel, The Jet Jewel. How does writing a cozy mystery compare to fantasy? Are the two genres as separate as they seem, or did you find some similarities in writing them?
To me, they are worlds apart. Of course my style is mostly the same, but The Jet Jewel is the first story I ever finished. I learned a huge deal from writing it, both about story structure and pacing, but also about the publishing process and the fact that a book absolutely will not sell if it doesn’t fit into a specific genre and you don’t promote it.
I’m still proud of the book as an accomplishment and as a story, but if I ever write the sequel (this one ends on a downer; who needs that?), I’ll probably do a thorough rewrite. Cozy mysteries fit my voice and style much better, so that’s the genre I’m focusing on for now.
Lastly, when can we expect more books in the Saint-Maurice Mystery series? Are you working on any other projects that you’d like to share?
I’ve already written the first 3 stories in this series. Death by Naked Ladies will be out on April 28, Beaujolais Blood is coming a month later, on May 26, and on June 30, I’m publishing The Cold Case: a Vintage Murder. For now, they’re only available on Amazon, but I plan to take them to other stores in about six months. In total, there will be six books set in France, but since I’ve moved to the UK, my next series will be about a British sleuth, Mrs Yety (yes, that’s an anagram). Until then, though, I also have a free Christmas story about my French sleuth for anyone who signs up to my newsletter.
Thanks so much to Christa for the interview. Sleuths, I hope you enjoyed it! If you aren’t already subscribed, please be sure to sign up for the Cluesletter and get author features like this alongside other mystery goodies, delivered to your inbox every other Tuesday.