Author Interview: Lauren Carr

Today’s featured author is multi-genre mystery writer Lauren Carr. Lauren wears many hats: when she’s not writing mysteries, she is working with other authors, setting up interviews and blog tours through her company, iRead Book Tours.

In the interview below, Lauren and I discuss her new cozy mystery release, the other genres she writes in, and her entrepreneurial endeavors in publishing and reviewing.

Sleuths, connect with Lauren on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and her website. Check out iRead Book Tours here, and grab a copy of The Wrong Side of Murder here (yes, it’s in KU!).

Hi Lauren, thanks for joining! Your latest release, The Wrong Side of Murder, is the second installment in your Nikki Bryant Cozy Mystery series, in which intrepid investigative journalist Nikki finds herself embroiled in a twenty-year-old mystery. In your opinion, what makes a great cozy heroine? What qualities do you like to see in an amateur sleuth?

To me, the most important quality for a cozy mystery heroine, amateur sleuth, or any protagonist is likeability.  I can’t tell you how many books I have not finished because the protagonist is rude (I think the writer saw them as “strong”) and not likable.

Amateur sleuths are tricky. Writers of cozy mysteries have to navigate a double-edged sword. The premise for cozy mysteries and writing about amateur sleuths is that the protagonist is not a professional detective. That means they do not work in law enforcement. Yet, because you are writing a mystery, preferably a cozy mystery, your amateur sleuth has to keep tripping over dead bodies that have been murdered. Otherwise, you don’t have a mystery. So the struggle for the author is coming up with believable ways for the amateur sleuth to become involved in a regular stream of murder mysteries without stretching their fans’ suspension of disbelief too far. That can be a struggle. I cheated by making Nikki Bryant a tenacious investigative journalist with a boyfriend who runs the crime lab.

Besides cozy mystery, you also write suspense, crime fiction, and police procedurals. After writing so many series in various subgenres of mystery, what would you say is your favorite? Are there tropes and themes that you like to return to? What advice do you have for authors looking to branch out from their current genre(s)?

Police procedurals are my first love. I’ve just always been drawn to the men in uniform working the pieces of the puzzle of solving the mystery that I love the most. 

Cold case mysteries are a very common theme that I find myself turning to time and again. I think if you look at most of my recent novels you will find a cold case mystery lurking in the background. If not the main plot, the subplot. 

It is my affection for cold case mysteries that made me write ICE, the first installment in the Chris Matheson Cold Case Mysteries. I love heating up a case that has gone ice cold.

In addition to your writing and publishing, you also work with readers: your company, iRead Book Tours, pairs indie authors with book reviewers to schedule book tours, promotions, giveaways, and advance reviews. What have you learned while working with authors and readers? Are there any bits of wisdom you can share with authors, and/or perhaps some tips for readers hoping to get serious with their reviews?

I have learned in working with authors and readers that each person reads a book differently and takes away something different. Each reader approaches a book from a different place based on their own unique experiences, education, and background. As time and culture change, the words and intentions of the author who has written a book haven’t changed, but the way new readers and their new perspectives view that book may change.

Because of that, I tell new writers to write what you want to read. It is impossible to conclude what is going to please the majority of readers because each one is different. The only thing that you, dear writer, know for certain is what you want to read. And, if you are writing something that you would enjoy reading, then you can be certain that you will enjoy writing it.

I have found that writers who are writing for literary agents and publishers don’t enjoy the writing process. For them, it is a chore.

I’d love to pick your brain about work and scheduling—so many authors, especially indie authors, balance their writing time with a full-time job or business. Do you stick to a writing schedule, and/or how do you budget your time for each endeavor?

I have found I have to budget my time. I bought iRead Book Tours nine months before the pandemic hit. At the time, I was told that I would easily be able to balance running the company while writing in the evenings and weekends. Once the pandemic hit, I was hit with an avalanche of business from authors forced to cancel their in-person events. For a year and a half, I was working seven days a week. I couldn’t do any of my own writing for over a year!

Several months ago, for sanity, I had to set up boundaries. While I do check my emails every day for emergencies, I have to reserve my evenings and weekends for my own writing.

Lastly, what are you working on right now? Are you planning more cozies, another series, and/or anything else exciting that you can share?

I’m working in the latest Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery: Chris Crossed Muder. We will be looking for a release shortly after the first of the year: 

It most certainly proves to be a Christmas to remember when the Matheson family receives the horrendous news that Chris Matheson’s body has been found in the woods near an international airport. 

Everyone is stunned – especially Chris Matheson.

The mystery deepens when they discover that the victim has been living under Chris’ identity for years. Not only has the murder victim been identifying himself as a special investigator with the FBI, but he appears to have been investigating one of Chris’ old cases—that of a missing young woman, whose body was found soon after he was pulled off the case.

The Geezer Squad’s latest case is not only a whodunit but who-got-dun. Was the intended victim the phony Chris or was it a case of mistaken identity? 

With Chris and Helen’s wedding day fast approaching, join the Geezer Squad as they race to piece together the clues to their most complicated case yet.

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Thanks so much to Lauren 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.