Interview with Lena Gregory, author of 'Death at First Sight'


Lena Gregory lives in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island with her husband and three children.

When she was growing up, she spent many lazy afternoons on the beach, in the yard, anywhere she could find to curl up with a good book. She loves reading as much now as she did then, but she now enjoys the added pleasure of creating her own stories.

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About the Book:

Title: Death at First Sight
Author: Lena Gregory
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 304
Genre: Cozy Mystery
It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that something’s not right on Bay Island...

Since she left her psychiatric practice in New York City to open up a psychic shop in her hometown on Bay Island, Cass Donovan has given her fair share of readings to conflicted customers. But what she sees in Ellie Callahan’s future doesn’t bode well.

When Ellie’s mother, Marge, publicly confronts Cass about the reading, the embarrassment makes her want to curl up and die. And when she later stumbles across Marge’s body—and is a suspect in her murder—Cass is suddenly the star of Bay Island’s rumor mill.

Cass is determined to prove her innocence and save Ellie from meeting the fate in her unfortunate vision. But even with the help of her friends Bee and Stephanie, Cass will have to channel some serious sleuthing instincts to find the real killer...

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Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life!  Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more about the process.  Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning?  Where did you come up with the idea to write your book? 

The idea for Death at First Sight actually originated from a recurring argument with my husband. I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of communicating with those who have passed on, and I do believe in ghosts. I even visited a psychic medium who was very good and gave me a surprisingly accurate reading. My husband disagrees. That argument carries over into Death at First Sight. Years of psychiatric training give Cass the ability to read people with a remarkable degree of accuracy, yet she doesn’t believe she’s psychic. One of her best friends, Stephanie, believes whole-heartedly that Cass can communicate with the dead. Her other best friend, Bee, doesn’t believe in anything otherworldly, yet he will go to great lengths to avoid any encounters with the paranormal.

Q: How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers? 

In the past, I was always a panster. I would just sit down and write whatever came to mind. Unfortunately, that didn’t work as well for me in writing a mystery. I spent the first half of the book going along doing my thing, then found I had to tie it all up and figure out who the killer was going to be. I found that, in order to wrap up all of the loose ends, I had to actually plan the remainder of the story out. When I wrote the second two books, I did a general outline before I started.

Q: Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?

Death at First Sight is published by Berkley Prime Crime. I started out writing romance, then my agent, Dawn Dowdle, suggested I try cozy mysteries. As soon as I read my first one, I was hooked. When I finished writing my first cozy, I sent it to Dawn, and she submitted it to Berkley. I was standing in the middle of The Magic Kingdom in Disney World with my husband and kids when Dawn called to say they wanted to contract my book. That was an amazing vacation!

Q: Is there anything that surprised you about getting your first book published?

I was surprised at how long it takes. It was exactly two years from the time I signed my contract to the release of the first book in my series.

Q: What other books (if any) are you working on and when will they be published?

Books two and three in the Bay Island Psychic Mystery series are written and due to release in April and October of 2017. I am currently working on my second cozy mystery series, The All Day Breakfast Café, which is due to release in 2018.

Q: What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

I think people will be surprised to realize Cass is not really psychic even though she owns a psychic shop and makes a living reading people, or at least, she doesn’t think she is. As the series progresses, she’s forced to reconsider that opinion.

Q: Finally, what message (if any) are you trying to get across with your book?

I wouldn’t say there’s a message as much as a debate. Are ghosts real? And if they are, can we communicate with them?
  
Q: Thank you again for this interview!  Do you have any final words?

Thank you so much for having me! And a very big thank you to everyone who reads Death at First Sight! I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it. And don’t forget to look for Occult and Battery coming in April.


1 comment:

  1. Thank you so much for having me and for sharing the release of Death at First Sight! ~ Lena Gregory

    ReplyDelete

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