Spring isn’t typically seen as a season of mystery—I’d have to credit autumn for that—but that’s no excuse to slow down your mystery consumption. There are so many great books slated for release within the next few months, so I hope your shelves are ready!
One such upcoming release is A Fatal Overture by Kathleen Marple Kalb, the Cluesletter featured author for March 22, 2022. This is book three in the Ella Shane historical mystery series, and follows the titular character, an opera singer, as she hunts down another murderer in Gilded Age Manhattan.
As an opera lover myself, I’m thrilled to interview Kathleen about this release. Some of you sleuths might also know her as Nikki Knight, author of Live, Local, and Dead (2022, Crooked Lane Books).
Connect with Kathleen on her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; and with “Nikki” on Facebook and Twitter.
Preorder A Fatal Overture ahead of its 3/29 release, and grab Live, Local, and Dead today.
Hi, Kathleen! Thanks so much for joining me. Your Ella Shane mystery series stars spunky opera singer Ella in New York City during the Gilded Age. Where did you get the inspiration for this “unconventional diva?”
Thank you for asking me—I’m thrilled to be here! Ella, an opera singer famous for playing male roles, draws a bit from my own career as a radio news anchor. In the early days of the business, the men who ran things didn’t think a woman sounded credible enough to open an hour. An older colleague once joked about me doing the “boy shift,” and I remembered that when I read about a mezzo soprano who sings trouser roles. I loved the idea of a woman who plays men onstage while remaining a perfect lady in real life.
Ella, an Irish-Jewish orphan made good, is a little bit like singer/actress Lillian Russell, who owned her own theatre company. But Lillian Russell’s personal life was much different: four marriages and a high-profile affair with Diamond Jim Brady. Ella would not approve!
The historical setting of the series—Manhattan in 1899—and the opera theme makes for a fascinating backdrop to a mystery. Do you do research while writing, either for the historical time period or the opera setting? (Also, just to satisfy my own curiosity, do you have a favorite opera, or even a favorite aria?)
I do a lot of research, actually. My background is in history; I was a history major and I’ve always been a major history buff. But there’s always something to nail down: what kind of charm bracelet Ella would wear, what was the big story that week in 1899, were the streetlights at Washington Square gas or electric? Plus a good bit of opera research—I’m not an opera expert.
Favorite opera? Because it has Ella’s favorite role, Romeo, Vincenzo Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi. Aria? Anything by Beverly Sills. I’ve been a fan since I read her memoir when I was a kid, and Ella’s combination of brilliant talent and down-to-earth personality comes straight from Sills.
I’d also like to ask about Live, Local, and Dead: released under your pen name, Nikki Knight, this first installment the new Vermont Radio Mystery series came out last month (congrats!). How did writing this mystery differ from the Ella Shane series?
Thanks! This one’s a lot more personal. I worked in Vermont early in my radio career, and I loved the place and the people, if not the snow! I’d been working on some version of a Vermont radio mystery for at least seven years, but it was only after moving on to Ella, helping my husband through a health crisis, and getting signed for the Ella series that I returned to Vermont. This time, I brought everything I’d learned as a person and a writer to my “happy place,” and it worked. Not to mention the fun of writing a maple-candy eating, flatulent moose!
I love that you’re active with your blog, mailing list, and social media. Where do you spend the most marketing energy? Do you have marketing tips for other authors?
Thanks! I was a lockdown debut, so social media was the only thing I had. Maintaining a daily presence for both “author brands” probably takes about an hour a day, and it’s the biggest single thing. But it’s also one of the most effective—I’m always out there. I do two weekly blog posts: historical “fun facts” on Goodreads and writers’ life advice on my website, and they’re both good ways to bring in readers with content.
I’m also an admin on the Cozy Mystery Village Facebook page, and I really recommend getting involved with a genre page if you can. You learn a lot about readers and their expectations and make a lot of good reader and writer connections—and friends!
What can your readers expect in the future? Do you have plans for future Ella Shane books, or perhaps another Vermont Radio mystery in the works?
Both the next Ella and the next Vermont Radio story are on my computer, ready to go. I’ve taken to writing short stories during the pandemic, so I’m always looking for new ideas. And, I’m working on several other ideas…so I have plenty to keep me busy!
Thanks so much to Kathleen 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.
Good service