Ali Brandon Interview
SC : Can you tell us a little bit about yourself ? I ’ m the author of 14 published novels and began my career as a romance author writing as Alexa Smart and Anna Gerard . About ten years ago , I transitioned to mystery writing , mostly because my historical romances tended to feature dead bodies , hidden treasure , and other secrets — sometimes to the detriment of the love story . My first published mysteries were the Leonardo da Vinci Mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime , which allowed me to continue indulging my love for historical novel writing . When that series ended , I switched over to contemporary cozies with the Black Cat Bookshop Mystery series . Book 6 in the series , TWICE TOLD TAIL , was released the first of November .
SC : Was there a certain time in your life you knew you wanted to write ? I wasn ’ t one of those prodigies who was scribbling stories while still in grade school , but I always did well in English composition . Thus , I decided to join my high school newspaper as a feature reporter , and went on to earn a degree in Journalism when I went to college . But I never worked for a newspaper – my course sequence was novel writing , and I stuck to it .
SC : What are you currently working on ? I ’ m working on proposals for several cozy mystery series , at least one of which will hopefully go to contract . And I will be selfpublishing a series of cat fantasy enovellas on Amazon in the next month or two .
SC : Of the books you ’ ve written , which one is your favorite and why ? One ’ s first born is always one ’ s favorite , don ’ t you think ? And so that would be MASQUERADE , a historical romance set in 1870s New Orleans and which was published back in the 1980s by Pinnacle Books under the name Alexa Smart . Someday I ’ ll republish it on Kindle – maybe !
SC : What books have most influenced you as a writer ? If you ’ re talking classics , Little Women , Anne of Green Gables , and Dracula were the books I read multiple times – which tells you a little about me ! When it came to popular fiction , as a teenager I devoured the gothic romances by such authors as Mary Stewart , Victoria Holt , and Dorothy Eden . But the biggest influence was the work of Barbara Michaels / Elizabeth Peters . She proved that one could write genre fiction that was highly literate as well as entertaining , and that had “ bite ”.
SC : What do you find to be the most challenging part of writing ? And the most rewarding ? Most challenging is finding the time ( I work fulltime in the “ real ” world ) and the discipline ( I ’ m a horrible procrastinator ). Most rewarding is hearing from readers who ’ ve been entertained or uplifted by my books .