Nanci Rathbun's sassy, spunky writing style is sure to tickle your funny-bone, pull you in and keep your attention until the mystery is solved. She knows what she wants to say and makes no bones about it. Now, lets celebrate Author Nanci Rathbun and her wonderful mystery, Truth Kills.
Nanci, was
there someone, something or an event in your life that set you on the road to
being an author?
I’ve always been a voracious
reader and was fascinated as a child with the Nancy Drew mysteries. In my teens, I read Mary Stewart and other
romantic suspense writers. In adulthood,
I moved into the mystery genre: Dorothy L. Sayers, Elizabeth Peters, Caleb Carr
and Charlaine Harris are among my favorites.
As you can see, I’m an eclectic reader!
I’ve also read a lot of average and just plain bad fiction. No need to mention those by name, but I
always thought, when reading a clunker: This could be good if … I always itched to try it myself.
But I was a single mom and
full-time employee, falling asleep with a book on my chest at night. There was no time or energy for writing. After my kids were grown, with high anxiety
but a real inner sense of determination, I registered for a writing class at
the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha. It
was led by a woman who later became my writing coach, mentor and friend –
Kathie Giorgio. Without Kathie and her
studio, AllWriters’ Workplace and Workshop, I’d probably still be reading
others’ work and thinking, I could do that!
What
do you like about writing and what bugs you about it?
I love
the way that a world comes alive in my imagination and moves onto a page where
others can read it and share it. But I
have to be honest – it’s hard work!
There are days when the words flow and days when it takes me two hours
to write ten sentences. Sometimes the
characters take on a life of their own and do things I didn’t imagine, and
sometimes I sit and stare and think: what’s next? what’s Angie gonna do now? The process is a lot like pregnancy and
birth: there’s pain and dedication needed to bring a manuscript to the point of
delivery. But when you hold it in your
hands and send it out into the world, it’s just an amazing sense of
accomplishment and joy.
I get
frustrated with writers who don’t discipline themselves to learn the tools of
their trade: grammar, punctuation, spelling, plot and character development –
these are not optional! Too many writers
rush to self-publish without adequate editing.
It’s very hard for me to read a story – even a good story – when it’s
riddled with mistakes.
Please tell us how
long have you been writing books and what other writing you do?
I took
classes at AllWriters’ for almost a decade and started my recently published
mystery novel, Truth Kills, about
seven years ago. (The date is a bit
nebulous, because every time I get a new computer, it changes all the file
dates.) I had a very short one-page
romance published in Woman’s World
magazine some years ago. While my novel
has a romance undertone, straight romance is really not my genre.
Nanci, tell
us about your protagonist. Is she a lot like you, other than your beautiful white hair? What are her assets
and weaknesses?
Private
investigator Angie Bonaparte (boe-nah-par-tay, please – she’s Sicilian-American
and doesn’t appreciate the Napoleonic pronunciation) lives and works in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She’s a fifty-something woman, divorced, fit, stylish and
a bit of a hottie – under her professional outfits, she’s wearing sexy
lingerie. Angie has a degree in library
science and loves to dig for the facts.
She’s not very trusting, due to her philandering ex-husband’s
betrayals. Her son and daughter are
grown, with kids of their own. Almost
every Sunday, the whole family gathers at Angie’s papa’s house for a meal. Papa had Mafia connections, which makes
Angie’s new relationship with an MPD homicide detective a bit problematic. Angie is a bulldog when it comes to ferreting
out the truth.
She and I
do have things in common, but no one would ever accuse me of being a
clotheshorse or stylish, nor am I as dedicated to fitness as Angie. As for the underwear … no comment. We both broke away from careers to follow
another dream. Angie went from librarian
to private investigator. I went from IT
project manager to seminary and am an ordained minister who writes mysteries. Angie is ambivalent about religion; I had
that same experience as a young woman in my thirties. There are moments in Truth Kills when Angie or others make spiritual observations, but the
novel is not Christian fiction. Friends
who’ve read the novel tell me that my voice comes through in Angie. I guess we’re both a bit sassy. I like to think we’re both compassionate.
What
do you like to do when you are not writing?
I moved
from Wisconsin to Tennessee in January of 2013, to be closer to my
granddaughters, Lydia and Lucy – oh, and my son Matt and his wife Sarah, too! I love spending time with the girls, reading
to Lydia, who is almost two, and cuddling Lucy who is almost five months.
I also
love the interaction of working with other writers. The Murfreesboro Writers Group is a source of
good critical interchange, fun and laughter.
I’m not currently serving as a pastor in Tennessee, but I enjoy worship
and engaging in church activities with others at Murfreesboro’s Central
Christian Church (CCDC), which stretches my theological thinking as we grapple
with current trends and writers together.
I sometimes go back to Wisconsin to visit family and friends, and there
I have the joy of preaching at Fox River Congregational Church in Pewaukee.
Please tell us where we can find your books---and anything else you would like to say--such as a
website or blog.
Truth Kills is
currently available in both paperback and Kindle formats on Amazon. It will be on Barnes and Noble starting in
November, and other venues such as GoodReads as soon as I find the time to
build my profile.
The
second Angie mystery, Cash Kills,
will be out in 2014. I’m nearly finished
with the first draft and hope to finalize it by next April.
My
website is nancirathbun.com. Readers can
find the latest on my books and appearances there. They can also send me email from the web
site. I’m on Facebook – look for “author
nanci rathbun.” I tweet very
irregularly, but feel free to follow me at @nancirathbun.
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