Book Summary
Author Interview
1. Tell us a bit about your background.
I worked as a paralegal for 30 years, but always had a love of writing. I wrote for paralegal magazines for a long time, including a regular column for The National Paralegal Reporter magazine.
2. What made you decide to write novels and why did you choose the mystery genre?
Writing a novel has been one of my goals for as long as I can remember. I love to read cozy mysteries. Joanne Fluke and M.C. Beaton are two of my favorites. An idea came to me to center a mystery around a dinner club, so I got up at five each morning and wrote for two hours before leaving for work. I wrote on weekends. Evenings have never been a high-energy time for me, so I didn’t write at night. I wrote Everything Bundt the Truth in about six months. That was my first published novel and it came out in 2016.
3. I love the way you make your characters come to life and Delaney in particular is delightful. What is your secret?
I’m glad you like Delaney. I like her, too. The law firm where I worked represented tow truck companies. These car haulers are an under-appreciated, crazy breed, with interesting stories to tell and characters bigger than life. People I will never forget. That all of the tow truck drivers I met were men made me wonder…women in the industry would need to be tough to compete in a man’s world. But what if a woman owned her own towing business? What if the woman was young and inexperienced? What if she wore high heels to set herself apart from the all-male car haulers in town? Oooh, sounds fun, amiright? Delaney is a female version of those characters, but she comes up with her own stories.
4. Do you know the outcome of your book when you start writing or do you create the story as you go?
A little bit of both. I do love plotting, and I come up with thirty scenes as recommended by the books on the craft. But in between those scenes, I let the pantser in me take over—that means writing by the seat of your pants.
5. What would you like your readers to come away with from Booty in the Backseat?
The tow truck business dropped into Delaney’s lap (and dead bodies have a way of turning up, too) and she encounters many oppositions, from learning the business to customers who prefer a male tow truck driver. But she makes a proactive decision to master the process, overcome the prejudice, and become the best high-heeled tow truck driver around. The tow truck business may have been a twist of fate, but she’s in charge of her own path now.
More Reviews of Karen Whalen Books
- Book Review - Toes on the Dash
- Book Review - Friends Come to Call
- Book Review-Stiletto to the Pedal
- Reviewing Murder at Sea Oaks Beach
