Get Lost in a Story readers, you can thank me later, but right now
I’d like you to meet an author
guaranteed to make you smile. Meet Nancy
G. West, author of the Aggie Mundeen mystery series. We're discussing the newest book in the series, Dang Near
Dead, and her recurring characters. Please welcome Nancy G. West.
About Dang Near Dead:
Aggie vacations at a dude ranch with
Detective Sam (traveling incognito) and friend Meredith. When suspicious
deaths, unlikely accidents and wranglers with shady pasts prod Aggie to dig for
the truth, her creative sleuthing methods strain her dicey relationship with
Sam. When she causes chaos at the corral and scatters a hornet's next of
cowboys, more than one hombre in the
bunch would like to slit her throat. Sam is not happy with her, either.
Now Let's meet Nancy G. West!
DONNELL: Hi,
Nancy: Thank you for joining us
today. I remember sitting at the
audience at Left Coast Crime in Monterey, California, and listening to you on a
panel. A Lefty Nominee for best humorous
novel, you’re soft spoken, intelligent, and dang everything, funny! So here’s question number one. Do you mean to be funny, or is this something
intrinsic to your personality?
NANCY: Thank you, Donnell. I showed
my husband what you said about my being “soft spoken.” I like to think I'm a thoughtful
person, but I do see humor in situations that some people don't find funny:
like when my husband stepped in gasoline filling up our rental car before we
arrived at the airport to board a flight. The airline authorities, smelling fumes, wouldn't let us near the aircraft
until he stripped. He had to board the plane wearing a jacket over long pajama
bottoms and socks. He did not find that humorous. I walked way behind him
trying to keep a straight face. Even
more weird, nobody seemed to notice his attire.
DONNELL: I read that
in a novel, Nine Days to Evil, you intended to make the book serious,
but then Aggie “Agatha” Mundeen showed up.
How far were you into the book at the time? Did you have writer’s block?
I’m curious how someone so three dimensional appeared and just took over?
NANCY: Nine Days to Evil is
Meredith Laughlin's story. At age twenty-three, she is studying Abnormal
Psychology and Shakespeare in graduate school. When she finds herself in a
life-threatening dilemma, she uses what she's learned in class to try to
escape. Meredith is serious, a bit naive and desperate. I think Aggie appeared
to lighten Meredith up and put things in perspective. Meredith was pooped from
being serious, and so was I. We both needed
Aggie. I'd write down something Aggie said or did and start
laughing. My husband, sitting across the
room at his own computer, thought I'd flipped.
Aggie told me she wouldn't let me
finish Meredith's story until I promised to write a series about her.
DONNELL: Meredith,
the character you intended to be your protagonist, is still in your
series. Did she feel slighted when Aggie
took the lead?
NANCY: Nope. She's grateful. Meredith is thoughtful, deliberate and
studious. Aggie is impulsive, creative and
fearless (except that she's pushing forty and terrified of aging.) They balance
each other.
DONNELL: And now we
have a detective named Sam. I read some
of your reviews. Reader s like Sam. Do we get to see him in future books?
NANCY: You bet. Aggie's sleuthing methods drive Detective Sam
crazy, and his lack of appreciation for her creative approach make Aggie doubt
they can ever get together. Despite these obstacles, they become closer with
each book. A friend told me she wanted to marry Sam. It's too late. Aggie has
him in her sites.
DONNELL: Are you more
like Meredith or Aggie, and why?
NANCY: I'm a combination: I'm
basically serious, but I get tired of that. I'm always seeing people and
situations that make me laugh. We're a funny species in a crazy world.
DONNELL: Your series
takes place in Texas. Is that home?
NANCY: We've lived in St. Louis,
Kansas and Florida and have traveled to many other places, but Texas is home. I
just wish somebody would air-condition it.
DONNELL: Correct me
if I’m wrong, but didn’t you self-publish your first novel, and then Henery
Press picked it up. I’m a huge fan of
Henery Press and love their authors.
Whatever the case, congratulations, and tell us what comes next in the
series.
NANCY: I had sent Nine Days to Sara Ann Freed, award-winning
editor at Mysterious Press and Warner Books, editor for Marcia Muller, Margaret
Maron, James Patterson and many others. Sara Ann died in June 2003 at age
fifty-seven, having been under treatment for leukemia. She had kept Nine
Days for months and finally wrote me: “If this book were not so good, I
would not have kept it for so long.” Mysterious Press turned it down. Buoyed by
Sara's enthusiasm, saddened by her death and tired of waiting, I published the
book.
The first Aggie Mundeen mystery, Fit
to Be Dead, was named one of three finalists in a California publisher's
mystery writing contest. They had financial reverses, and the book was
published under a different title by a Texas publisher. I acquired rights to
the book, edited it and published the sequel, Dang Near Dead. Henery
Press acquired these two Aggie Mundeen mysteries and contracted for two more
books in the series. Smart, But Dead comes out in 2015.
DONNELL: When you’re
not writing, where will we find you?
NANCY: At Lake Placid on the Guadalupe River with family and
friends, traveling with them or seeking music and art venues in San Antonio.
Learning to play the guitar.
DONNELL: Authors have to do research, and I love to ask
what’ the most unusual or interesting thing you’ve learned while conducting it?
NANCY: Since Aggie gives advice on how to stay young in her column,
I knew she'd be interested in the Human Genome Project and how genes affect
aging. So I started writing Smart, But Dead, where Aggie returns to
college to learn about genetics. While doing research, I found that genetics is
a very difficult subject to explain in simple language, which has caused me to
do a lot of work. I'm interested in a zillion
things, which can get me in trouble.
The main thing I've learned is that once you have the general idea for the book's plot in hand, do the research BEFORE you start writing.
DONNELL: If you could
meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be, and why?
NANCY: I'd like to spend two weeks with William Shakespeare
accompanied by somebody who has read all his plays and can translate everything
he wrote and everything he says now from sixteenth-century English to
contemporary US English. Then I'd need another week with them to ask questions.
I'd also like to spend a day with
Goldie Hawn and a day with Sandra Bullock. I can see one of them depicting
Aggie's antics on screen.
NANCY WANTS TO KNOW: Although Aggie and Sam have issues
from the past that can keep them apart and are both bullheaded, they grow closer with each book – especially in Smart,
But Dead. Here's what I want to know from readers: Should they marry? Live
together? Live separately and travel together? Forget the whole “together”
thing and just work together
occasionally? Give the “why” for your answer and say how you think it will
affect their relationship and the series.
I'll be delighted to send a
paperback copy of Dang Near Dead to the person who Donnell and I agree
sends the best comment. Aggie and Sam's future could be in your hands.
REVIEWS:
Well-paced and written, there are bursts of humor in this
novel which had me roaring with laughter. A great read and highly recommended.
--Diana Hockley, Australian mystery writer and reviewer for NetGalley
I
love this character of Aggie Mundeen. Nancy West does such a good job of making
Aggie humorous, but with a brain. __Jennifer Gott, Houston
I
found Dang Near Dead to be suspenseful, engaging, funny, and unique. I love a
good mystery and a romance and this was both. You will fall in love with Nancy
G. West's writing just as I have. I rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars.
UniversalCreativityInc14
FIT TO BE DEAD Aggie
Mundeen Mystery #1 Lefty Award
Finalist Best Humorous Mystery http://tinyurl.com/bgl4zbc
DANG NEAR
DEAD Aggie Mundeen Mystery #2 Romantic Texas Hill Country mystery. “Must Read”- Southern Writers' Magazine. http://tinyurl.com/am975kk
SMART BUT DEAD Mystery #3
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNancy, welcome to Get Lost in a Story. Your books sound amazing, and I'm in need of a good laugh. Can't wait to pick them up! Best wishes with Dang Near Dead. Hmmm. I really like your question, I had an old boyfriend who said. Togetherness is like a lighted candle. Some can make that candle grow brighter and brighter, too much can blow it out. I think readers love to watch characters grow and get together; afterwards it could get a little stale. I think they prefer seeing if the couple will end up together. Yes, they should work together, but conflicts should arise that keep them from actually marrying????
ReplyDeleteHave them eventually get married, but travel separately because it causes problems. Show what those travel problems are in each book
ReplyDeletebn100candg at hotmail dot com
Donnell, Thanks for having me as a guest. I love your questions. I see what you mean about loving to watch Aggie and Sam grow and get together. I love the tension of "will they or won't they?" Will they ever understand each other well enough so they don't irritate each other?
DeleteIt's fun to watch the push and pull of attraction and frustration.
I guess if they get married, Sam could insist they travel separately after Aggie meddles in a case because he needs time to cool off. (:
DeleteHuge congrats, Nancy! (And hey, Donnell!) Honestly, Nancy, I don't know what to tell you on keeping Sam & Aggie together or apart. I know we'll all be interested to see how it works out! It's sure to be great fun, no matter which way you go.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Susan. It is fun having Aggie blithely intervene in Sam's investigations and knowing he's apt to blow his stack. I must be a troublemaker at heart; I love watching the fireworks.
ReplyDeleteIt depends on your story, Nancy, on whether or not Aggie and Sam get married. It sounds like a series I would enjoy. I'm struggling with that in my series, too. Catherine and John are in love and could have a compatible marriage, but then there's John's teenage son who lives with him. Can you see Catherine and John as a newly married couple with a teenage son in the next room?
ReplyDeleteThat would be really difficult. I think John's son has to have affection and respect for Catherine, and she has to care for the boy, for this family to work.
ReplyDeleteAggie and Sam's problems are created and depicted mostly for fun; your characters' problems sound more serious. Maybe Catherine and John could work on the relationship between the three of them before they marry?