Caught in the Snare: A Chautauqua Murder Mystery received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Deb Pines.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Caught in the Snare: A Chautauqua Murder Mystery. Published July 1, 2024.
What’s the book’s first line?
Three nights before Velma White was killed, Mimi had noticed her at the symphony.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
When Velma White, a tyrannical landlady, now 74 and shaky on her feet, is found dead at the bottom of her Chautauqua home’s steep and slippery stairs, it looks like an accident. But was it? Only digging by reporter and relentless snoop Mimi Goldman — into Velma’s men, money and murky past — can solve this extra-tricky whodunit.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
To keep my one-a-year, now-11-book, mystery series going. One plot twist (minor spoiler alert) was inspired by a true crime: the 1977 murder of Marjorie Jackson, an eccentric millionaire, killed by robbers seeking the millions of dollars in cash she kept in her Indianapolis home — in closets, toolboxes, drawers, garbage cans, vacuum cleaner bags.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
For a fun, escapist summer read with a tricky puzzle, charming setting (Chautauqua, N.Y.), two silver-haired sleuths — and, this time, a dog.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
My hero Mimi Goldman is a modern-day Miss Marple — almost as wise, relentless and pessimistic about humanity (I hope) — with maybe a tad more humor and worldly entanglements. Mimi has a husband, son and job as a small-town reporter.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I’m a part-time copy editor for the New York Post where a few headlines I’ve written have won prizes and earned their own 15 minutes of fame.
My 2019 headline (about a feud between Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and The National Enquirer’s David Pecker), for instance, had a cameo on Saturday Night Live.
My 2018 headline about a JetBlue pilot who had a midair mental breakdown was once a clue on Jeopardy!
More recently, my headlines about a morning TV sex scandal (GOOD MOANING AMERICA) and President Joe Biden’s diminishing abilities (MEANDER IN CHIEF) have gone viral.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
I most admire “The Queen of Mystery,” Agatha Christie. She was amazingly prolific (66 novels and 14 short story collections). She was crazy-popular, selling billions of books and inspiring dozens of movies. And, most of all, Christie was unbelievably clever, devising one impossibly tricky (and satisfying) mystery after another. Her work is more impressive to me as I struggle each year to plot yet another mystery.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
I enjoy writing and finding an increasingly large audience. But fame and fortune? Still on my wish list.