Olivia Matthews’s new book, Against the Currant, kicks off a brand new culinary cozy mystery series. The Spice Isle Bakery series promises good food, good company, and a heaping of murder. Olivia, who also writes romantic suspense as Patricia Sargeant and Regina Hart, joins the Cluesletter to chat about plotting cozy mysteries, mystery versus romance, and the craft of writing.
Connect with Olivia on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and her website. Subscribe to her newsletter here. Purchase Against the Currant here.
Hi Olivia! Thanks so much for joining. Against the Currant is the first book in the Spice Isle Bakery series, which stars Lyndsay Murray and her West Indian bakery. Culinary cozy mysteries are always popular—what do you like about this subgenre of cozy mystery? How does writing this series compare with your other cozy series, the Peach Coast Library and Sister Lou mysteries?
Hi, Manon! Thank you so very much for inviting me to visit with your community. I’m really excited to be here.
This is such an excellent question. Thank you for asking. I’d always wanted to write a fish-out-of-water protagonist. My Peach Coast Library Mystery series allows me to do that. Marvey’s a native New Yorker who’s transplanted to a small Southern town. My Sister Lou Mystery series features an older protagonist—she’s 63—whose secret weapon is being underestimated by the people she’s investigating.
Now, my Spice Isle Bakery Mystery series centers me in an intergenerational cast of characters and I’m loving it. There are three generations of the Murray-Bains family in the bakery, Lyndsay, her parents and her maternal grandmother.
In addition to cozy mystery, you also write romance as Patricia Sargeant and Regina Hart. What do you love about writing in these two genres? Can you compare cozy mysteries with romance, and/or speak to where they might intersect?
Another excellent question! Manon, you’re really keeping me on my toes. Ha!
I actually started my publishing career in the romantic suspense genre. The protagonists in my romantic suspense stories are ordinary people I’ve put in extraordinary circumstances. Their journey forces them to find their inner heroes. I absolutely LOVE doing that, which is one of the reasons I’m also drawn to cozy mysteries. My cozy mystery protagonists are amateur sleuths who’re forced into homicide investigations. That’s where my romance and mysteries intersect.
My contemporary romances feature a different type of villain. I refer to them as inner demons: self-doubt, distrust, fear. This forces my romance protagonists to turn in a different direction. They have to look inside themselves instead of outside. That’s where my romance and mysteries diverge.
With multiple mystery series under your belt, what does your writing process look like, particularly for mystery? Are you an outliner, or do you like to write and see how the mystery unfolds?
I’m a plotter. I have to outline my stories. It’s a self-defense tactic, I think. I’m afraid of the blank page. I outline my stories chapter by chapter and scene by scene. My outline for Against the Currant is forty-two pages long. This includes thumbnails on my cast of characters and research links/notes.
Now, this doesn’t mean things don’t change while I’m writing. As the characters become more three-dimensional, sometimes they take the story in a different direction. For example, in Mayhem & Mass, my first Sister Lou Mystery, one of my characters decided to quit their job. Imagine my surprise! But I always know who my villain is and why they committed their crime. This helps me with my foreshadowing.
You have also offered workshops, writers’ groups, and conferences to help writers craft their own stories. What do you love about teaching and presenting? If you’d like, can you offer any quick writing tips to Cluesletter subscribers?
LOL! I love, love, love, talking about the business and craft of writing. I really love it when my presentations become dialogues or exchanges.
As for a quick writing tip, I’d like to suggest that authors remember every scene has a Goal, Motivation and Conflict. The conflict doesn’t have to be an argument. And it doesn’t have to be between your protagonist and your antagonist. The scene could feature your protagonist and their friend or relative. So when you walk into your scene, ask yourself what is your Protagonist’s goal in this specific scene and why do they want it? What is your Protagonist’s Friend’s opposing goal in this specific scene and why do they want it?
To illustrate, perhaps your Protagonist’s goal is to interview a suspect at their home because they want the suspect to have a false sense of security. In contrast your Protagonist’s Partner’s goal is to interview the suspect at the police station because they think the suspect will provide more information in an unfamiliar setting. Your Protagonist and their Partner are in conflict in this scene and that tension gives the scene an engaging pace.
Book two of the Spice Isle Bakery series, Hard Dough Homicide, is slated for release this May. What can you tell us about this installment? Additionally, are there any other projects or upcoming releases you can share with us?
Thank you so very much for asking about Hard Dough Homicide, my second Spice Isle Bakery Mystery. You’re correct; its release date is May 23, 2023. Here’s the book description:
Someone in Brooklyn’s Little Caribbean neighborhood has an appetite for murder …
Spice Isle Bakery owner Lyndsay Murray’s always looking for new ways to grow her family’s business. But she already regrets agreeing to host the retirement dinner for local high school principal Emily Smith. The tyrant used to be her mother’s boss and they did not get along. Six guests arrive for the celebration, but only five survive. Emily starts convulsing—right after eating the curry chicken—and dies soon after. It’s not long before the police are knocking on Spice Isle’s door, bringing the Murray family back into the heart of another murder investigation—driving away customers in the process. Lyndsay can’t help but wonder if this is the end of the bakery, even though it’s just begun. She must put aside her reservations about investigating another crime, because the Murrays refuse to go down without a fight.
Thank you also for asking about my other projects. Down to the Wire is the first book in my Toure Security Group romantic suspense trilogy, which I’m writing as Patricia Sargeant. It’s scheduled for release in October 2023. I’m also wrapping up my Brooklyn Monarchs sports romance series in 2023. I’m writing that series as Patricia Sargeant, too.
Thanks so much to Olivia 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.