...by Olivia Kelly
Hello everyone! I'm so pleased to announce that Darynda Jones, NYT best selling author, Rita and Golden Heart winner, is here today!
I just happened to be browsing my local library's shelves earlier this year and stumbled across Darynda's third novel in her Charley Davidson series, Third Grave Dead Ahead. I had never read any of the series before, and didn't even realize it was a series, so I brought it home.
One of the best decisions I've ever made.
I'm being serious. I love when I discover a new (to me) author and quickly become attached to the characters in her/his stories. I devoured Third Grave, then went back and got First Grave on the Right and Second Grave on the Left, and swallowed them whole. Then I embarked on an aggressive conversion campaign that encouraged (rabidly) everyone I know, including my mailman, to read them.
That's how I roll.
So when Ms. Jones agreed to blog with us today, I was so excited I silently screamed for, like, five minutes. Okay, maybe not so silently. ANYWAY, she has a new book in the series coming out on October 30th (more kinda silent screams) called Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet.
Since she was doing a round-robin of blogs, Darynda was nice enough to add us to her list. So, I sent her a bunch of questions (Olivia's Infamous Interview Queries!), which she answered with a minimum of eyerolling. I assume. I mean, I didn't actually see her answering them, but...
Okay! On to the interview!
Hi Darynda! Thanks for dropping by Lady Scribes. We are thrilled you are here! Can you give us a quick rundown on Charley and her unusual
life for our readers who haven't read your series yet?
Absolutely! Charley Davidson is a
female PI who was born the grim reaper. As a result, she sees dead people. And
it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead
people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e. murder), sometimes
they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters is her
intensely hot love interest and Charley learns that dodging bullets isn’t
nearly as dangerous as falling in love.
Now that you have four Charley Davidson books under your
belt, can you tell us which was your favorite to write? Which was the hardest?
You know, I’d have to say First
Grave on the Right was probably the hardest, but that’s really due to the fact
that I tried to mess with my ‘process.’ I learned a huge lesson. Don’t fix what
ain’t broke. I am a plotter and I write a certain way. I messed with that and
it took me way longer to finish that book than it should have. I actually don’t
have a favorite book out of the four. I do, however, have a favorite scene.
There is a rather explicit torture scene at the end of Third Grave. I am
immensely proud of it, because I didn’t know if I’d be able to pull it off. I
think it worked beautifully, and for some reason, it’s still my favorite scene
even though Fourth has a couple of scenes that rival it.
The idea of Charley as the Grim Reaper is such a fun idea.
Was it something you mulled over or did she just pop up one day, demanding her
fair share of a page?
Both, in a way. Charley herself
popped into my head one day, literally. She was just there in all her demanding
glory. However, at first she wasn’t the grim reaper. She was more like a snarky
version of the Ghost Whisperer. But the story needed more oomph, and the grim
reaper was born.
You recently branched out to Young Adult with the Darklight
series (which looks really cool and is near the very top of my TBR pile), but
stuck with the Grime Reaper theme, sort of. Can you tell us a little
about Lorelei and her world?
Certainly. Death and the Girl Next
Door is about sophomore Lorelei MacAlister. Ten years ago, Lorelei's parents
disappeared without a trace. Raised by her grandparents and leaningon the
support of her best friends, Lorelei is finally beginning to accept the fact
thather parents are never coming home. Life goes on and is as normal as can be
until a new guy—terrifying, tough, sexy Jared Kovach—comes to school and he
seems to have a specific interest in Lorelei, something that never happens. To
complicate matters even further, the school's designated loner, Cameron Lusk,
begins to stalk her, turning up where she least expects it, standing outside her
house in the dark, night after night. Jared and Cameron instantly despise each
other and Lorelei seems to be the reason for their animosity. What does Jared
know about her parents? Why does Cameron tell Jared he can't have Lorelei? And
what will any of them do when Death comes knocking for real?
I know I can't be the only Charley and Reyes (Omg. *dies*)
fan out there waiting oh-so-patiently for your next book. When will that be?
And please say there will be more Charley books!
Thank you! With the release of
Fourth Grave Beneath my Feet October 30th, we will definitely get
more of Charley and Reyes. Their rocky relationship develops nicely in this
book, though the rocks get sharper. And Fifth Grave Past the Light will drop in
July 2013. But the series is open-ended, so who knows how many there will be
when the dust settles? I am hoping quite a few. I even have a spin-off in mind.
OH THANK GOD. More Reyes! I mean...wonderful! I look forward to reading them. Would you being willing to share an excerpt of Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet with us?
Since you asked nicely...
With renewed energy, I pulled
back onto Academy— after hitting a
drive- through for a mocha
latte— and had just started for home when
my phone rang.
“Yes?” I said, illegally talking
on the phone while driving within the
city limits. Scoping for cops, I
waited for Uncle Bob to stop talking to
whomever he was talking to and
get back to me.
My uncle Bob, or Ubie as I most
often referred to him, was a detective
for APD, and I helped him on
cases from time to time. He knew I
could see the departed and used
that to his advantage. Not that I could
blame him.
“Get that to her, then call the
ME ay- sap.”
“Okay,” I said, “but I’m not
sure what calling the medical examiner
ay- sap is going to accomplish.
I’m pretty sure his name is George.”
“Oh, hey, Charley.”
“Hey, Uncle Bob. What’s up?”
“Are you driving?”
“No.”
“Have you heard anything?”
Our conversations often went
like this. Uncle Bob with his random
questions. Me with my trying to
come up with answers just as random.
Not that I had to try very hard.
“I heard that Tiff any Gorham, a girl I
knew in grade school, still
stuffs her bra. But that’s just a rumor.”
“About the case,” he said
through clenched teeth. I could tell his teeth
were clenched because his words
were suddenly forced. That meant he
was frustrated. Too bad I had no
idea what he was talking about.
“I wasn’t aware that we had a
case.”
“Oh, didn’t Cookie call you?”
“She called me a doody-head
once.”
“About the case.” His teeth were
totally clenched again.
“We have a case?”
But I’d lost him. He was talking
to another officer. Or a detective. Or
a hooker, depending on his
location and accessibility to cash. Though I
doubted he would tell a hooker
to check the status of the DOA’s autopsy
report. Unless he was way
kinkier than I’d ever given him credit for.
I found his calling me only to
talk to other people very challenging.
“I’ll call you right back,” he
said. No idea to whom.
The call disconnected as I sat
at a light, wondering what guacamole
would look like if avocados were
orange.
I finally shifted my attention
to the dead kid in my backseat. He had
shoulder-length blond hair and
bright blue eyes and looked somewhere
between fifteen and seventeen.
“You come here often?” I asked
him, but my phone rang before he
could say anything. That was
okay. He had a vacant stare, so I doubted
he would have answered me
anyway.
“Sorry about that,” Uncle Bob
said. “Do you want to discuss the
case?”
“We have a case?” I said again,
perking up.
“How are you?”
He asked me that every time he
called now. “Peachy. Am I the case? If
so, I can solve this puppy in
about three seconds. I’m heading down San
Mateo toward Central in a cherry
red Jeep Wrangler with a questionable
exhaust system.”
“Charley.”
“Hurry, before I get away!”
How many days again until the 30th? Too many!
But, now comes my favorite part of the blog where I
torture...umm...nicely ask our guest author to answer a few questions. *Evil
laugh*
1) Plane, train, automobile or boat? Love trains!
2) Dark chocolate or milk? (Please, please don't say white.
That isn't chocolate.) White??? Ick. Dark all the way,
baby.
3) Cat, Dog, Fish, Snake or Bird? Pet, I mean. Not dinner. LOL, dogs and more dogs.
4) Place you would most want to vacation in. Place you would
least want to vacation in. Most: Great Britain; Least:
Saturn, because it is a frozen ball of ice with winds up to 2000 mph. I’m just
not that fond of wind.
5) If you had a choice, would you rather time travel to
Renaissance Italy or the Roaring Twenties in Chicago? Or somewhere else
entirely? I would have to toss a coin on that one.
While I love the Renaissance, I am fascinated with the twenties and thirties
and even have a YA series set in that time period.
6) Would you rather explore the ocean's bottom like Jacques
or space jump, a la Felix? I am utterly enthralled
with Felix right now! I have to admit, if I could, I would totally skydive,
albeit he actually space dives. So utterly cool! However, given the choice
between the two, I think I’d have to explore the ocean’s bottom. I grew up
watching Jacques and wanted to be a marine biologist for years because that’s
what he was. Then I found out it requires lots of science.
Thank you so much for dropping by and hanging out with us
today!
Thank you so much for having me!
 |
| That's me! Stalking...er...meeting Darynda at RWA this summer! ;D |
Have you read the Charley Davidson series, and if not, have you seen a doctor for that? And what would you rather do- space jump, dive-sea dive or shop Best Buy on Black Friday?
