We welcome Peg Cochran back to the Blog!

Peg grew up in a New Jersey suburb about 25 miles outside of New York City.  After her first husband died, she remarried and her new husband took a job in Grand Rapids, Michigan where they now live (on exile from NJ as she likes to joke).

She has three cozy mystery series from Berkley Prime Crime—the Gourmet De-Lite series, the Cranberry Cove Series and the Sweet Nothings Vintage Lingerie series, written as Meg London.  The Farmer’s Daughter series will debut in 2016.

Peg’s Lucille Series is published by Beyond the Page Publishing.  Confession Is Murder, Unholy Matrimony and Hit and Nun are available for all e-book readers.  She is currently working on the fourth book in the series.

You can read more about Peg and her books at www.pegcochran.com or catch up with her on Facebook—facebook.com/pegcochran. 

Welcome back to the blog, Peg!

Thanks Rocco (and Toni!)  I’m thrilled to be here again. 

R:  Last time you told us about your Cranberry Cove series.  Now you’ve also got a new series debuting this month.  Can you tell us about that?

The Farmer’s Daughter takes place on Love Blossom Farm in the fictional town of Lovett, Michigan.  Shelby McDonald runs the small farm, writes a popular cooking and lifestyle blog and is raising her two children after the death of her husband.  She’s leased the pasture next to the farm to Jake Taylor who looks more like a cowboy than a farmer and has his sights set on Shelby.  Jake has competition in Matt Hudson who owns and runs the general store in town.  Shelby insists she’s not interested in dating but the two men are determined to change her mind!  Of course murder intrudes and shakes things up!

R:  Do you enjoy writing more than one series at a time?

I do—it’s fun to enter different worlds with each series.  The trick is in remembering who is in which book!

R: Which of (your character)  adventures in either series was the most fun for you to write? Were any of them the least amount of fun?

Actually some of the most fun are the antics Lucille gets up to in my Lucille Mystery Series (available for all ebook platforms)—stealing a hearse, an ambulance, a fire truck, a UPS truck….  In the Farmer’s Daughter, I would say the exchanges between my main character Shelby and Bert, an old family friend who has a quick wit and quicker tongue!

R: What’s a must have for you when you are writing? What aids the creative process?

I don’t really have any “musts.”  I’ve trained myself to work wherever and whenever.  I write on my lunch hour at work and when I first started writing, I used to write longhand in a steno book while commuting to work on a bus.  That makes my laptop seem like a luxury!

R:  If a movie were to be made of one of your books, which one would you want it to be and who would you pick for the lead roles?

I’d have to say the first book in my Cranberry Cove series—Berried Secrets—because I think the visual of the body floating up in the flooded cranberry bog would be stunning!  Lead roles—tough question!

Monica Albertson:  Jennifer Garner

Jeff Albertson:  Liam Hemsworth

Gina Albertson:  Heather Locklear

Victim – Sam Culbert:  John Lithgow

R: What are you working on at the moment / next?

Right now I am working on book #5 (as yet untitled) in my Lucille Mystery Series as well as a proposal for my agent for a potential new series.

R: Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I’m somewhere in between.  I lay out plot points (end of Act One, Midpoint, etc.) but I don’t do an extensive scene by scene outline.  And no matter how much I plan, something always surprises me and that’s the exciting part.

R: If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing?

Well I wanted to be a ballerina when I was younger, but I think that ship has sailed!  Actually if I weren’t a writer with a day job, I’d be at the beach a lot more in the summer, doing more baking, spending more time with my family and reading more!

R: What do you hope readers will most take away from your writing?

A few hours of escape and enjoyment!

Just for Fun:

Night or Day?  .Day

Dog or Cat? (answer carefully)  Both!

Beach or Pool?   Beach

Steak or salad?  steak

Favorite Drink?  Water

Favorite Book?  A Christmas Carol

Favorite TV Series?  Downton Abbey

Favorite Movie?  Bridget Jones

Favorite Actor:  George Clooney

Favorite Actress:  Meryl Streep

Dirty Martini or Pina Colada?  Dirty martini

Hawaii or Alaska?  Hawaii

Finish this sentence:  If I could meet anyone in the world, past or present, it would be President John F. Kennedy-having grown up in the era of the Kennedy mystique, I think it would be interesting to meet him.

If I had just one wish, it would be a cure for :type 1 diabetes

If I could trade places with anyone in the world, it would be:I’m pretty happy being me but for a few days it would be fun to be J.K. Rowling and see my name on the best seller list!

Peg will give away a copy of No Farm, No Foul to one lucky commenter!

To enter, leave a comment on this blog post with your name and email address (entries without email will be disqualified). For extra entries, you can do any or all of the below:

* Follow my blog (+ 1 point)
* Follow me on Twitter (+ 1 point) (Link: https://twitter.com/RoccoBlogger)
* Tweet about the contest (+ 1 point)
* Friend me on Facebook (+ 1 point) (Link: https://www.facebook.com/ToniLotempio)#!/

* Mention the contest on Facebook (+ 1 point)
* Mention the contest on your blog (+ 1 point)

Winner will be chosen at random using random.org.  Don’t forget to mention all you’ve done in your comment. Good luck! Contest ends midnight Friday, Sept. 16!