FRANKIE
BOW AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Like
my protagonist, I actually am a professor in a business school. But I did not
model Professor Molly after me. I’m kind of a risk-averse person who lives a
sensible life, and I wanted my character to be a little more out there. So I
thought, let’s start with a normal person and then dial up the neuroticism,
obsessiveness, impulsiveness, and social awkwardness. So of course now everyone
thinks she is me.
Was there a certain time in your life you knew you wanted to write?
It
started with reading. I love murder mysteries. Especially cozy mysteries. So
one day I was reading a pretty well-known cozy while I was exercising on the
elliptical machine. So as I'm reading, there's some pun in the narrative and
the author said something like “and everybody laughed and laughed” and I
thought, this isn’t very funny and I could do better. So that was it, it was
how it started. I thought, “I could do better than this. I could write my own
murder mystery and it would be funnier.”
What are you currently working on?
Right
now I'm finishing up my latest novella in the Miss Fortune world, Bayou
Busybody.
Of the books you’ve written, which one is your favorite and why?
Maybe
The Black Thumb, because of a funny plot element centered around Molly trying
to make an important decision. I can't say more than that without spoiling
it.
What books have most influenced you as a writer?
If
I had to pick, I'd say E.G. Benson's Mapp and Lucia stories. What's brilliant
about them is that there's all of this plotting and scheming over really
trivial stakes. It's a great model for writing about academia.
What do you find to
be the most challenging part of writing? And the most rewarding?
The
hardest part is taking the outline and building it into the first draft. The
most satisfying is doing the final polish. The most painful is having to excise
big chunks of perfectly lovely writing that you worked really hard on, because
it slows down the action.
What book is on your nightstand?
The
Sybil in her Grave, by Sarah Caudwell. I've read all four of her mysteries
several times. They're beautifully written and still fun to read even when you
already know who the murderer is.
What can we look forward to seeing from you in the future?
I'm
thinking of writing another Professor Molly mystery, tentatively titled
"The Bundle of Joy," but in the short term I'll be working on the
sequel to Bayou Busybody.
Is there anything you’d like to share with your readers?
Thanks for hosting me and spreading the word about our cozy mystery box
set!
AUTHOR LINKS
Twitter – https://twitter.com/Frankie_Bow
AUTHOR BIO
Frankie Bow teaches at a public university and writes the Professor Molly Mysteries. Unlike Professor Molly, she is blessed with delightful students, sane colleagues, and a perfectly nice office chair. She believes if life isn't fair, at least it can be entertaining. In addition to writing fiction, she publishes in scholarly journals under her real name. Her experience with academic publishing has taught her to take nothing personally.
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