Meow! My guest today is author and blogger Debbie DeLouise!
Debbie De Louise is an
award-winning author and a reference librarian at a public library on Long
Island. She is a member of Sisters-in-Crime, International Thriller Writers,
the Long Island Authors Group, and the Cat Writers’ Association. Her novels
include the five books and three stories of the Cobble Cove cozy mystery
series, a comedy novella, When Jack Trumps Ace, a paranormal romance, Cloudy
Rainbow, and the standalone mysteries; Reason to Die, Sea Scope, and
Memory Makers. Her latest book, Pet Posts: The Cat Chats is a
non-fiction pet book. She lives on Long Island with her husband, daughter, and
three cats.
Debbie’s stories and
poetry also appear in the Red Penguin Collections, What Lies Beyond, 'Tis
the Season, and Standout:The Best of the Red Penguin Collection, Volume I.
Her poems are also featured in the Nassau County Voices In Verse 2020
anthology and the 2020 Bards Annual.
Welcome Debbie!
- It seems I’ve always been interested in
writing. As a child, I loved to read and also make up stories. When I
learned to write, my teachers told my parents they saw talent in my
writing.
R: Tell us about your
latest release
- My latest release is Pet Posts: The Cat Chats.
It’s my first non-fiction book featuring feline health, behavior, and other
topics told from 4 of my cats’ points of view. It’s also the first book I’ve
self published. My other books, including my Cobble Cove cozy mystery
series and several standalone mysteries are published by two Indie publishers.
R: What do you hope readers will most take away from your
writing?
- I hope that readers will relate
to my characters and enjoy reading the mysteries in which they are
involved. I hope that they are slightly surprised by the endings to my
books but not shocked. I hope they find entertainment and enjoyable
escapism from daily life within the pages of my novels.
R: What
genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?
4.
I write mostly
mysteries, both cozies and traditional ones, but I’ve dabbled in several other
genres – romance, science fiction, horror, fantasy, and now non-fiction.
R: What have
you had published to-date? Do you have a favourite of your books or characters?
5.
I’ve published 10
full-length books, 5 of them are part of my Cobble Cove cozy mystery series,
and a dozen or so short eBooks along with short stories in anthologies, and pet
articles for online and print magazines. All my published works are listed on
my website: https://debbiedelouise.com.
Most of them are available as paperbacks and eBooks. The eBooks are free on
Kindle Unlimited and only available through Amazon.com. I also have two books
in audio, large type, and hardcover. My award-winning psychological mystery, Sea
Scope, is also translated in Spanish.
R: What are
you working on at the moment / next?
6.
I’ve just signed a
contract with Next Chapter Publishing for a time-travel thriller called Time’s
Relative that should be released this spring. KittyKai’s
Easter Mystery, another short Cobble Cove cozy mystery eBook for Solstice
Publishing that has an Easter theme, will be released March 5th.
R: Are you
a plotter or a pantser?
7. I’m mostly a pantster, but I try to plot a little.
When I do, I tend to deviate from any outlines I create as my characters take
over and lead the way.
R: What do
you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies or party tricks? :)
8.
No party tricks unless
you call pulling my cats out of boxes – lol. I have been exercising to walking
videos regularly and outdoors when the weather permits. I love to read, but I
don’t have much time to do it while I’m writing. I also enjoy playing with my
cats.
R: Where
can we find out more about you and your work?
9.
I listed my website earlier.
It’s https://debbiedelouise.com. I’m in
the process of redesigning it. It also features my blog and newsletter sign up.
My cat
character, Sneaky, from my Cobble Cove mysteries also has his own blog where he
interviews pet characters from other mysteries and also hosts a column by my
two real life cats. His blog can be found here: Sneaky the Library
Cat’s blog: https://Sneakylibrarycat.wordpress.com
My other social
media links are:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debbie.delouise.author/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Deblibrarian
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2750133.Debbie_De_Louise
Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/2bIHdaQ
All Author: https://allauthor.com/author/debbiedelouise/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbie_writer/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbiedelouise/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/debbie-de-louise
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/debbiedelouise
Debbie’s Character’s Chat Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/748912598599469/
R: You have also
written several other books—tell us a bit about those. –
- My Cobble Cove cozy mystery series began
with A Stone’s Throw that introduced the main character, Alicia,
who is a librarian like me. In the first book, her husband has been killed
in a strange hit-and-run accident. She travels to his childhood hometown of
Cobble Cove (a fictional, upstate New York town) to seek out people who may
have known him and accepts a job there as a librarian. She then discovers a
secret about her husband that reveals his death wasn’t an accident. As the
series continues, Alicia becomes involved in other mysteries along with
Sneaky, the Cobble Cove library cat.
In my latest book
of the series, No Gravestone Unturned, published in October, Sneaky is
aided by two other cats in helping Alicia solve a murder in the Cobble Cove
graveyard. While Sneaky has been a silent cat in previous books and only leading
Alicia to clues and helping her like a regular cat, in the two eBook stories
following the 4th full-length book, Sneaky’s Christmas Mystery
(the Cat Writers’ Association’s MUSE medallion winner) and Sneaky’s Summer
Mystery, the readers became aware of Sneaky’s thoughts and that of the
other pet characters in the series.
This past summer, I
also published a medical thriller, Memory Makers, about a woman who
volunteers for a clinical trial of a new memory drug hoping to recall the face
of the man who kidnapped her and her sister as children and murdered her
sister.
All my books usually
include cats, if not in big roles, then in subplots. I sometimes feature other
pets, too. There are two dogs in my Cobble Cove series, and I even feature a
parrot in my thriller, Reason to Die, about the murders of handicapped
people in a small town in Connecticut.
Giveaway time!
Debbie will acknowledge one lucky commenter in one of her next
books and send that commenter a free copy of that book in eBook form
when it’s published this spring.
To enter, leave your e-mail address along with a comment with your full name and choose one of
the below titles that you would most like to read:
KittyKai’s Easter Mystery: A Cobble Cove Story (cozy mystery)
or Time’s Relative (a time-travel thriller).
Entries without email will be disqualified. Contest ends midnight EST , Sunday February 28th.