Julia Henry is not only my friend and an ardent supporter of the arts – including her crime fiction peers – the tall, talented woman with the striking hair is an incredibly busy author in her own right. Not only does she pen the light-hearted, green-thumbed Garden Squad series, but as Julianne Holmes she writes clock-themed mysteries (Chime and Punishment), while under Julie Hennrikus (the name I know her as) she has penned wonderful mysteries that draw on her extensive knowledge of the fascinating world of theater (including With a Kiss I Die). Today we’re celebrating the release of Wreathing Havoc, the fourth in her garden series because the holiday season is fast approaching! (And don’t you love her titles?)
Clea, thank you for having me on the blog to celebrate the release of Wreathing Havoc, the fourth book in my Garden Squad series!
I love writing this series, and this book was the most fun because it mashes up so many things I love–gardening, theater, Thanksgiving, food, and friendship. Of course, leave it to me to take all that I love and kill someone at the same time.
One of my favorite parts of writing a mystery is figuring out the puzzle. I grew up reading mysteries, and always hated it when the solution and the pieces of the puzzle didn’t fit. I especially enjoyed the Golden Age mysteries, where there were fair play rules to mystery writing. As enjoyable were the mysteries that stretched the rules. Agatha Christie was particularly good at that –The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Murder on the Orient Express being cases in point.
The fair play “rules” include things like the reader must have equal opportunity with the detective for solving the mystery, all clues must be included, no mysterious poisons or last minute surprises. A well crafted mystery will surprise the reader, but the reader should be able to go back and find all the clues.
When I write, I try to abide by those rules. That said, in writing the first draft of Wreathing Havoc, the rules got in the way. The book was fun, but who did it was SO obvious I couldn’t imagine someone not throwing the book across the room. So I had to go back, rework the plot, add a couple of subplots and weave it all together. The final result was much more satisfying. And it still follows the rules.
Readers, do you enjoy figuring out the puzzle in cozies?
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Julia Henry writes the Garden Squad series for Kensington. Wreathing Havoc is the fourth book in the series. She blogs with the Wicked Authors. JHAuthors.com