I have the pleasure to interview author Christine Desmet today. Christine will tell us about her writing process, the development of her protagonist, Ava Oosterling, and her new delicious new book in her Fudge Shop Mystery Series, Holly Jolly Fudge Folly.

  1. It’s time to get your protagonist out of their comfort zone. You want to present her with a challenge, and you’ve given her the following choices: climb Mount Everest; run a Marathon; trek across the Sierra Desert with a tribe of nomads; or sail around the world alone. Which would she choose?

My protagonist Ava Oosterling (30s) would climb Mount Everest with her Grandpa Gil because they are inseparable and Grandpa would also insist on besting his buddies back home in Fishers’ Harbor, Wisconsin. Ava inherited Grandpa’s impulsive nature, and both love the outdoors.

  1. If your protagonist could live in another era, which would she choose and why?

Ava would choose the 1940s because she’d love the way women took on jobs that men once did, but she’d also be the kind to volunteer to help in the war effort in other ways. She really cares about her community, so I see her making sure everybody got enough food and help during wartime.

  1. What do you and your protagonist have in common?

We both have a certain amount of tenacity when it comes to taking on and finishing tasks, and we both like to reach out and help others, and we both have a Belgian heritage—the latter a big deal in real life in Door County, Wisconsin, where my mysteries take place.

  1. How long have you been writing? What was the motivating factor that got you started?

I’ve been writing since high school and then earned two journalism degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before I began writing novels and screenplays. I’ve been writing for over 40 years, and it still feels new every time I sit down to write something.

  1. What do you want most for your readers to come away with after they read your books?

The feeling that family, friends, and community matter a lot. My mysteries put a priority on those three things. Every murder mystery of mine unearths a new truth that stitches those things together.

6. What is the last book you’ve read purely for pleasure?

I just read two great books:  the 2023 Pulitzer winner TRUST by Hernan Diaz, set in the 1920s and about wealth and how it affected people, and REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES, by Shelby Van Pelt, a beautiful mystery about a community and a family, and with scenes from an octopus’s point of view. The writing in both books is exquisite for different reasons.

  1. What was the oddest job you ever had?

When I was in high school, I earned money for college by cleaning the desks in my grade school one summer. Yup, there was gum. I also washed hallway walls and lockers. I’m a farm kid, so being inside a cool school on some hot days instead of out in the sun on a hay wagon actually felt good.

  1. Tell us about your latest book.

HOLLY JOLLY FUDGE FOLLY will be out this fall around November 1. It’s the sixth book in the Fudge Shop Mystery Series set in Door County, Wisconsin—known as the Cape Cod of the Midwest. In this book, Grandpa is all set to play Santa Claus in the annual holiday parade, but he messes things up beforehand when it appears he may have tried to cover up a murder by plowing snow over a car with a dead man inside. That’s just Chapter One! With the holiday parade and town extravaganza coming in days, as well as the wedding of Ava’s best friend Pauline—in which Grandpa is supposed to walk Pauline down the aisle—events begin to collide worse than Grandpa steering Santa’s sleigh on Main Street. This book brings about many changes in the characters’ lives, but it’s also filled with Christmas elves (including those tricky Belgian skriteks), and Belgian food and wedding traditions.

  1. How many books do you read in a typical month? Do you read in your genre while you are writing?

I usually read about four books a month, and those will be wide-ranging selections from every genre such as women’s fiction, historical, thrillers, Pulitzer winners, and mysteries of course, and anything that is reviewed well. I also like to read books written by my fellow authors in the Blackbird Writers Group. I don’t tend to read in my genre while writing because I want my books to be totally original. I never want to take a chance of sounding like another author in my genre.

  1. What themes do you regularly employ in your writing?

While I focus on developing stories around the characters’ families, friends, and the feeling of what makes a good community, I often touch on the theme of loyalty. Ava Oosterling is very loyal to her family, of course, particularly her beloved Grandpa Gil who understands her. But Ava is loyal to her best friend who is like a sister, because they were practically raised together. These themes are also important threads in my novella series, Mischief in Moonstone. That series is set in the small village of Moonstone on the shores of Lake Superior, just east of Superior, Wisconsin. As a reader who enjoys those books starting with WHEN RUDOLPH WAS KIDNAPPED, some of the characters flow from book to book because I want to build the feeling of a community welcoming in new people and benefiting from the new friendships that develop.

  1. Name three writers from whom you have drawn inspiration and tell us why.

Certainly, author William Kent Krueger inspires me because of his fine writing presenting Midwest people in an honest way and because of the author’s own kindness toward readers, libraries, and fellow authors. I love James Lee Burke’s suspense books because of the way he digs so deep into the psyche of not just his characters but also the environment or setting for his books. I was mesmerized by the incredible words and sentences that created the character and his journey of survival from a kid to adulthood in DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver, a 2023 Pulitzer winner.

  1. What was the best writing advice you ever received, and why was it valuable?

The best advice I received was from a colleague at my university, Professor Marshall J. Cook. I was a little fearful about attempting my first novel manuscript—a romantic suspense. I was cognizant at the time that some people looked down on romance novels as not a legitimate or worthy writing endeavor. Marshall said just to write what I want to and don’t worry about judgment by others. That manuscript won a national prize! So my advice these days is summed up in a motto I created for myself long ago:  “Write with joy and finish with finesse!”

Bio

Christine DeSmet is a writing coach, award-winning author, and scriptwriter. She is the 2023 fiction judge in the annual Jade Ring Contest sponsored by Wisconsin Writers Association, celebrating 75 years at its Oct. 6-7 conference where Christine will be among the instructors. For many years she helmed the Writers’ Institute and the Write-by-the-Lake Writer’s Retreat as well as online writing courses at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she was a Distinguished Faculty Associate of Writing. She writes the Fudge Shop Mystery series—celebrating its 10-year anniversary in 2023, and the Mischief in Moonstone novella series. She is a member of Blackbird Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Writers Guild of America East, Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, and Wisconsin Writers Association. Christine shares writer education and news posts regularly on Facebook and through her website’s “Quick Fixes” column.

Undercover Fudge

Being asked to go undercover at a friend’s wedding is just the beginning of Ava Oosterling’s sweet troubles. It’s summer, the height of tourism season in the Cape Cod of the Midwest famous for its cherry orchards, wineries, and beautiful lighthouses—and Ava’s Fairy-Tale Fudge. Ava is thrilled to create the fudge lighthouse tabletop treats for the wedding reception organized by her best friend Pauline. Then murderous matrimonial mischief unfolds involving a dog and goat on the loose, an antique pistol, and the body of a prominent person—with prime suspects including Ava’s own amour Dillon Rivers, her Grandpa Gil, and Pauline’s mother. Going undercover becomes not so sweet for Ava and Pauline. Unexpected high-action danger may be great for movies and fairy tales, but it could cost these best friends everything including their lives as the climax unfolds.

Links

https://christinedesmet.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/christine.desmet.357

Christine DeSmet’s books are available in paperback and ebook at Amazon, including Undercover Fudge:

https://www.amazon.com/Fudge-Shop-Mystery-Undercover/dp/B097541PT2

They are also available at Mystery to Me Bookstore or your local independent bookstore via Bookshop.org, https://bookshop.org/