Guest Author Interview - Liz Fielding

Thanks Liz Fielding for stopping by today for an interview. Your new books looks great and I can't wait to add it to my TBR pile!
1. What is your favorite thing to do when you are not writing?
Favourite pastimes include cooking, knitting for my granddaughter and tiffling in the garden, although I confess to being a fair-weather rather than an all weathers, up to my knees in mud gardener. I also love to curl up and watch old movies on the television. Something with Cary Grant or Doris Day (definitely need to watch To Catch a Thief and the Pajama Game again very soon).
2. What books are sitting in your TBR pile right now? What book are you currently reading?
I've just read Busted in Bollywood by Nicola Marsh – exotic India, Sex in City New York and some seriously great men!
I'm now reading Giles and Florence by John Harding, which is rather strange but deeply engrossing.
On the pile I have The Dress by Sophie Nicholl, White Lies and Custard Creams by Susan Alison, the latest Kate Hardy and a Donna Leon that I picked up at the library. I also have the new Barbara O'Neal pre-ordered.
3. Please, share something you found most interesting or fun that you did to research for a book.
Research is one of my favourite things. I learned a lot about plant breeding for The Five Year Baby Secret from the Fuchsia Society. I'm still up to eyes in ice cream and vintage ice cream vans for the second of my books about the Amery sisters — the wip. I especially love researching department stores where I've set several books; shopping as research — could anything be more fun! And then there was Italy. Rome. The Appenines. All of it absolutely vital in writing Flirting With Italian, you understand. We're already planning another trip to Italy so that I can set another book there.
4. How did you come up with names and setting for Flirting with With Italian?
For Flirting With Italian I needed an Italian hero with an appropriate name, so I searched the web for names and places in Lazio where the book is set. (I'd already used the name of a friend who lives there in another story!) I based the hero's Roman palazzo on the hotel where we stayed at in Rome – an old palazzo with Roman mosaics in situ. For the village of Serrone, I used the area where we've stayed with friends who live south of Rome in the foothills of the Appenines. There is nothing like feeling the heat coming out of the stones, the smell of a place to make it real.
5. Action adventure or romantic comedy? What is your favorite movie lately?
Neither. The best movie I've seen in a long time was The King's Speech. Quiet, tender, moving. Loved it. And I'm getting really excited about watching My Week With Marilyn right now.
Be sure to leave a comment or question, I will be giving away a copy of Flirting with Italian to one lucky winner.
Thanks Lucy for the invitation, it was a great interview!