Contest Give Away
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Bio
Amy Corwin is a charter
member of the Romance Writers of America and recently joined Mystery Writers of
America. She has been writing for the last ten years. She writes romance, historical and cozy mysteries.
To be truthful, most of her books include a bit of murder and mayhem since she
discovered that killing off at least one character is a highly effective way to
make the remaining ones toe the plot line.
Amy’s books include the three
Regency romantic mysteries, I BID ONE AMERICAN, THE BRICKLAYER’S HELPER, and
THE NECKLACE; Regency mysteries, THE VITAL PRINCIPLE, and A ROSE BEFORE DYING; and
her first cozy mystery, WHACKED!, will come in in 2012 from Five Star.
Join her and discover that
every good romance has a touch of mystery.
The
Vital Principle
An
inquiry agent seeks to expose a spiritualist as a fraud only to uncover a
murder.
In 1815, inquiry
agent, Knighton Gaunt, is asked by Lord Crowley to attend a séance with the
express purpose of revealing the spiritualist as a fraud. When the séance ends
abruptly, an unseen killer poisons Lord Crowley, leaving Gaunt to investigate
not fraud, but murder.
Suspicion turns first
to the spiritualist, Miss Prudence Barnard. But as Gaunt digs deeper into the
twisted history of the guests at Rosecrest, he discovers a series of deadly
secrets. Long-time friends soon turn against one another as the tension mounts,
and Gaunt is challenged to separate fact from fiction before another death at
Rosecrest.
The Vital Principle is
the first mystery in the Second Sons
Inquiry Agency series and features coolly intellectual Mr. Knighton Gaunt,
the agency’s founder. This witty, historical whodunit in the tradition of Bruce
Alexander’s Blind Justice will keep
you guessing until the unexpected end.
“Murder, mystery, and
a dash of romance combined with witty dialogue and unforgettable characters
make The Vital Principle a book that
will definitely go on my keeper shelf!” —Lilly Gayle, author of Into the Darkness and Slightly Tarnished.
1.What or who inspired you to
start writing?
I wrote my first book when right before I turned
7, but I think it was a combination of reading The Swiss Family Robinson and my
father’s love of books. He used to read to us at bedtime, until he got halfway
through The Swiss Family Robinson. He stopped at a really exciting part—I
believe pirates were involved—and said, “If you want to know what happens,
you’ll have to read the rest, yourself.” ARGH! Needless to say, I read the rest
and not to be outdone, I wrote my own story.
Ever since then, I’ve wanted to write, it just
took me a while to dig deep enough to find the discipline to do so. However,
more recent inspiration came from re-reading favorites including Barbara
Michaels fabulous paranormals and Georgette Heyer’s mysteries.
2.How did you come up with ideas
for your books?
Honestly, I have no clue. Generally, though, I’m
doing something else and I think of a character with a particular trait or
background. The character grows and eventually demands his or her story to be
told.
That’s how my books start. With a character. Then
I work very hard to come up with a plot worthy of that character.
3.Have you ever written a regency
before? Is this part of a series?
Yes, I’ve written several Regencies, and my first
book published was a traditional Regency romance (Smuggled Rose) and my book, I
Bid One American, actually hooked me two agents and publication with The Wild
Rose Press.
Knighton Gaunt, the hero in The Vital Principle,
had actually been demanding his own story for a long time. In fact, he was so
insistent, I gave him a minor role in I Bid One American, first, with promises
to him that I’d devote at least one story to him in the near future. He was a
very troublesome bloke because not only did he want a story, he founded in Inquiry
Agency and insisted that it be featured in all of my Regency mysteries. Then he
said The Vital Principle was insufficient to tell his story, particularly as it
related to Pru Barnard, so I had to write an additional one (Hidden Aspects)
which is currently in the editing phase.
In between, I wrote several other books where
Knighton, or another of his inquiry agents, were featured, so he’s bullied me
into complying with his demands. So far.
4.What expertise did you bring to
your writing?
Persistence. I work as a computer
specialist during the day, in a tier 3/expert role. We’re the ones who get
pulled into resolving issues that no one else (tier 1 & 2) can solve. The
trick is that in many cases, the reason the problem is intractable is because
the definition of the problem is incorrect or even nonexistent.
The ability to step back and analyze an
issue to find and resolve it, as well as my programming experience, has been
enormously beneficial. I truly believe many of the same skills are in play with
both professions.
5.What would you want your
readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?
Gosh, I feel like my life’s pretty much an
open book what with Facebook and all. J
Perhaps, that I was a late bloomer and even later bride. I didn’t get married
until my late thirties, but I’m glad I waited long enough to find the right
man. And that led me to learn one lesson I think a lot of us don’t know or
forget: no matter how smart you are, you can never really predict what the
future holds for you, so you should never give up hope.
6.As far as your writing goes,
what are your future plans?
I’ve got characters bugging the heck out of
me in the Second Sons series, so there’ll be at least two or three more books
there. And I have the first cozy contemporary mystery coming out in 2012, with
an idea for about 5 more in that series. So I think my future plans are to keep
on writing until these characters stop pestering me.
7.If you could be one of the
characters from any of your books, who would it be and why?
I love them all, so it’s hard to decide,
but perhaps either Pru Barnard from The Vital Principle, or Sarah “Sam”
Sanderson from The Bricklayer’s Helper. Pru is smart and has much better self
control than I have, something I’ve wanted to acquire all of my life. Sarah
never lets things get her down and she loves nothing more than an adventure. I
wish I were more adventurous.
In many respects, my characters exhibit
traits I wish I had, myself, although they are not perfect, either.
8.Do you belong to a critique
group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?
I’ve belonged to several critique groups. I
doubt I’d be published without them. I often write something and think it is
perfectly understandable, only to find when a critter reads it, that they take
away something totally different—and that’s different in a bad way, not a good
way.
There is no way you can write without
others input, including first readers, editors, and/or critters. It’s critical
to get that input.
9.When did you first decide to
submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big
step?
I wrote to submit it to an agent, so the
thing that encouraged me was the completion of the manuscript. Although
(thankfully) my crit group convinced me not to sub the first three manuscripts
I wrote, so I had plenty of practice before I wrote my first novel. J
10.
What is the best and worst advice you ever
received? (regarding writing or publishing)
The best advice is the same advice everyone
gives you: just write.
The worst advice has been in the form of
“rules” that are patently misleading if now downright false. Particularly
grammatical rules which are inaccurate. They really annoy me. My recommendation
is to not listen to a thing others say, particularly about passive voice. Buy a
grammar book and use it.
11.
Do you outline your books or just start writing?
I have to outline. If I don’t know what I’m
trying to accomplish in a chapter, then I can’t write that chapters. I have to
have a goal so what I create can fulfill that goal and move the story along.
Without it, I get what others call writer’s block.
12.
Do you have any hobbies and does the knowledge
you've gained from these carry over into your characters or the plot of your
books?
My hobbies have carried over into my books.
I started growing old garden roses several years before I started writing in
earnest. Roses and the history of rose hybridization has found it way into a
number of my books. I’m also a bird watcher, and I obsess over the bird life
and other natural elements in my books.
I’m always torn about the names of these
things. If I use the Latin name, it may put off some readers and would seem
unnatural for most o the characters to throw around a Latin name for a bird in
general conversation. Even birders don’t do that.
But once you sink to common names, you’ve
got a problem. They change over the years or from locality to locality. If I
use the common name from the period and locality, today’s reader may believe
I’ve got the bird “wrong” or not know which bird I’m referencing at all. Or the
name may actually belong to a different bird today.
Okay, sorry. I’m obsessed.
13.
Do you have an all time favorite book?
This is going to strike people as weird, but yes, The Haunting of Hill House.
14.
Have you started your next project? If so, can you
share a little bit about your book?
I’m editing Escaping Notice, which features
Knighton Gaunt in a minor role. There are actually three main characters who
collide. Each one has a different purpose, mostly to escape notice while they
pursue something. The hero, Hugh Castle, Earl of Monmouth believes someone
tried to kill him by sabotaging his boat and accidentally killed his brother,
Lionel, instead. So Hugh goes undercover to investigate, and hires Gaunt to
explore additional avenues.
The heroine, Helen Archer, lost a valuable
but cursed necklace, at a ball given by the earl. She doesn’t want anyone to
know she was so irresponsible, so she hopes to find a way to retrieve it
without anyone knowing.
And the earl’s nephew, Edward, has run off
because he wants to join the navy. But he runs into Helen, who won’t let him
travel alone, and the two of them stumble into Hugh. The three then hatch a
plan to begin a masquerade as servants in the earl’s home, each keeping secret
his or her true purpose.
I’ve always been fascinated by
perceptions, and how easy it is to be mislead by our perceptions. Often, we see
what we want and expect to see. That fact is used in social engineering by
people trying to gain access to things (your house or your computer) they
shouldn’t. Again, you can see I’ve a mild obsession about perceptions, both
false and true.
15.
Your interview will be posted before spring break.
Is there a family tradition or recipe you would like to
share?
We used to have hot cross buns at Easter,
and I still crave them, although that desire isn’t limited to the spring. But
these days, I tend to have less time, so sugar-coated muffins fit the bill as a
fast substitute.
Sugar-Coated Muffins
2 c. flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
2-½ tsp. baking powder
(Sift the 3 preceding ingredients together)
3/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
3/4 c. milk
1/3 c. shortening
Mix together and bake at 350° for approximately20 minutes.
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ c. butter
Mix sugar and cinnamon in a sack or plastic bag. Melt butter
and drop muffins in melted butter and then shake in the sack of sugar &
cinnamon.
16.
What is your favorite reality show?
48 Hours
17.
Who is your favorite actor and actress?
I always feel weird saying this, but I
don’t following actresses and actors. Individuals are good in specific movies,
and I enjoy their work in movies. When the movie is over, that’s it. I don’t
even want to know their “real names” per se, and I definitely don’t follow
their private lives which are often simply messy and ridiculous.
18.
Can you tell us a little about the black moment in
your book?
In The Vital Principle, the black moment
comes when Knighton has been unable to flush out the murderer and because of
this, another person dies. It’s a terrible tragedy and one he feels should
never have happened.
I can’t really say more than that without
giving too much away about the mystery.
19.
Anything else you might want to add?
Thank you for this opportunity and your kindness
in interviewing me!
Excerpt
In this scene, Pru Barnard is accused of murdering
their host, Lord Crowley during the séance she conducted. Inquiry agent,
Knighton Gaunt, is not so sure, however, that she’s the guilty party, but he
does think she lied about being able to speak with the spirit world.
“So you lied—” Mr. Gaunt said.
Pru interrupted, shaking her head. “No, I merely—”
“It was not the truth!” His lips thinned and anger ignited a slow
burning fire in his eyes. “Her husband did not speak through you. Admit it.”
She tilted her head to one side, examining him. “Do you believe
her husband did not love her?”
“I have no idea. That’s not the point.”
“Then you don’t know if
it was the truth or not.” She offered, instinctively knowing the men would tear
her apart like a pack of hungry dogs if she reacted emotionally. Her mind raced
ahead, abnormally clear, encased in the fragile ice of logic that could shatter
at any moment and leave her raging at their accusations. “And it eased the
dowager’s mind. So I fail to see I did anything wrong.”
Mr. Gaunt said, “You mislead—”
“No. I told a desperately lonely woman what she needed to hear.
That’s the sum of it. There are many truths. You have yours. I have mine.”
“There is only one
truth.”
“Nonsense.” She folded her hands at her waist and turned
partially away, unable to bear the intense scrutiny of his hard eyes. Her
fingers felt stiff and icy with fear. “I refuse to discuss this any further.
It’s futile. You’ll believe what you wish. If you chose not to trust me, then
so be it. But regardless of what you think, I did not kill Lord Crowley.”
-------
Thank you--
