Question: When did you know you wanted to start writing mysteries?

[Beth]

Scott and Lisa asked: "When did you know you wanted to start writing mysteries?"

I didn't know at first what genre I wanted to write, because I read and enjoyed many genres, including science fiction, romance, women's fiction, literary, and mystery. When I started writing fiction again as an adult after a long hiatus, I first wrote and published mainstream short stories. My first novel-length manuscript was a futuristic romantic suspense. That was my practice novel that never sold.

Then I wrote a science fiction novella, which I finally found a publisher for many years later. Titled The Epsilon Eridani Alternative, it was released last November by Virtual Tales in ebook and trade paperback. But I decided that science fiction required too much difficult research into complex subjects like time travel and the effect of aging on the human body.

Once I wrote A Real Basket Case, however, I knew mysteries were for me. It was a natural fit and I felt like I'd come home. I'm a puzzle person (crossword, Sudoku, jigsaw, you name it) and writing a mystery is designing a puzzle for your sleuth and the reader to solve.