Make Note of Kathleen Marple Kalb
Hello, dear Noters!
Happy April! We’re inching our way closer to warmer weather in my neck of the woods. I hope the same is true where you live. I’m eager to begin working outside on my porch. What I’ll be working on, though, is a bit up in the air. Originally, I planned to dedicate April to revising Too Much to Candle, but due to some exciting movement on my Book Blogger Mysteries, I have shifted focus to Book #2 in the series. It might seem funny to talk about Book #2 before Book #1 has been published, but with the time it takes to write and polish a manuscript, it’s full steam ahead for me!
My featured author this week knows a thing or two about series writing, and I couldn’t be more delighted to have her stop by.
Without further ado…
A Bit About the Author: Kathleen Marple Kalb likes to describe herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. She’s the author of the Ella Shane historical mystery series for Kensington Books, including A FATAL OVERTURE, and A FATAL FIRST NIGHT, named to Aunt Agatha’s Best Of: History Mystery 2021 list. She grew up in front of a microphone and a keyboard, working as an overnight DJ as a teenager in her hometown of Brookville, Pennsylvania…and writing her first (thankfully unpublished) historical novel at sixteen. After a news career with stops in Pittsburgh, Vermont and Connecticut, she’s now a weekend morning anchor at 1010 WINS Radio in New York City. As Nikki Knight, she’s also the author of the contemporary Vermont Radio Mystery, LIVE, LOCAL AND DEAD, out now from Crooked Lane. Her story “Bad Apples” was an Honorable Mention in the 2021 Black Orchid Novella Contest. She, her husband, and son live in Connecticut, in a house owned by their cat.
Kathleen, thank you so much for stopping by Noteworthy. I am so thrilled we got connected through our local Sisters in Crime chapter, as I’ve long been an admirer of your work. I absolutely love historical mysteries, especially ones featuring amateur sleuths. It’s fascinating to have such an intimate glimpse into a previous era. Tell us, what did you set out to accomplish when you first began writing your Ella Shane Mysteries?
The Ella Shane Mysteries are first and foremost a fun read, but they always deal with big social issues in Gilded Age New York. The plot of A FATAL OVERTURE is driven by some of the defining issues in women’s lives at the time, including marriage, working outside the home, and particularly the abuse of young women in domestic service. Ella and her beloved Duke are trying to work out a marriage contract that allows her to continue her singing career, when his mother and aunts find a body in the bathtub at their hotel. It turns out to be the predatory son of the hotel owners. Then, Ella’s reporter friend Hetty, who was working undercover as a maid, confesses to the crime. So the issues of what women can, could, and should be doing, as well as how their men can protect, and hopefully support, them are woven into the story. No spoilers, but both of the big plot twists turn on what Victorians think women can do, versus what they actually will do if they must.
I can only imagine the research you have to do to bring Ella’s world to life, especially the setting. How did the setting of the series first come to you?
Ella’s world is Washington Square. The idea for the series came to me while I was walking through Washington Square Park on my way to work at 1010 WINS in New York, and I still walk the area when I’m looking for ideas or inspiration. The townhouses and the area look much as they did in the 1890s. I was thinking about what kind of person might live there and what adventures they’d have when Ella and her cousin Tommy pretty much appeared to me. From the time I was able to read, I’ve been a history buff, and the Victorian Era is one of my favorites, so I had a good background in the period – which helped me find more specific areas to research. But a lot of it is just walking the Square and thinking about my characters.
Walking does wonders for a writer. I swear I do some of my best plotting when I’m outside just walking the dog. There’s something about the change of scene that helps me work through plot issues. I also like to get into my character’s heads while I’m walking. You know, try to figure out their motivations and struggles? What would you say is Ella’s biggest strength as a leading lady? Biggest flaw?
Ella Shane, the opera star, is a Gilded Age success story: a poor orphan girl made good as a diva celebrated for singing male soprano, “trouser,” roles. She fights her own battles (literally, as a trained stage fencer!) co-owns her opera company, and lives in a beautiful Washington Square townhouse with her cousin. But she’s also Ellen O’Shaughnessy, child of an Irish father and Jewish mother, who grew up desperately poor in the Lower East Side tenements. All of that makes her strong, determined and loyal…but she sometimes misses things that are unimportant to her – and very important to others. She also has a lot of carefully hidden damage from her traumatic childhood, including occasional “upsets,” which a modern reader would recognize as flashbacks.
I bet all her experiences, good and bad, fuel her performances. Let’s chat about your own experiences as a writer. How did your writing journey begin? When did you first feel like an author?
Honestly, I don’t remember when I started writing. Definitely by middle school. When I was sixteen, I wrote a full-length historical novel – and tried to sell it! Fortunately, while a few editors read it, no one bought it, and I went on to college and my news career. I didn’t return to fiction until my son was in kindergarten. It took a year to write my first mystery, and two more to get an agent and a publisher for an entirely different one, the first Ella Shane. As for feeling like an author, it wasn’t until I got my copies of the second Ella Shane book, A FATAL FIRST NIGHT and saw: “Also by Kathleen Marple Kalb: A FATAL FINALE,” on the inside page that it really hit me!
Isn’t it a bit surreal when someone asks, “What’s the name of your book,” and you can go, “Well, I’ve actually written…” before listing off your repertoire? And even more so, it’s wild to think that our books might be someone’s favorite series to read. What book or series made you first fall in love with reading?
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES. My mother bought me one of the books in the series when I was still in elementary school, and I eventually devoured them all. L.M. Montgomery created this amazing little world on Prince Edward Island, and these wonderful people -- and I wanted to visit whenever I could. I still read them sometimes!
Annes of Green Gables is a staple in my family. Such a beautiful story and such a great source of inspiration. I always say that writers are readers, first and foremost, and it’s amazing how one’s love of reading stories inspires us to create some of our own. When you’re writing, what are three things that are always on your desk or nearby?
Afghan. TV on low to cut the silence. Merritt T. Kalb, Queen of Cats – she has final editorial approval!
Before the pandemic, I could not write in anything other than absolute silence. But once my partner began working from home, I had to adapt and listen to tranquil music to cut the sound of him talking during his Zoom meetings. My go-to is a “study mix” on YouTube, and I can’t write without it now. What is your favorite, can’t-live-without writing tool?
Sugarless chewing gum! I’ve always chewed gum when I write in the newsroom, and I do it at home too…it helps me concentrate. I like old-school Trident, Spearmint, or Cinnamon, but you do you: https://www.tridentgum.com/
I used to be a huge fan of chewing gum, mostly because I loved blowing bubbles. I even won a bubblegum blowing contest as a kid—but then the unthinkable happened. It popped all over my glasses and it took hours to get all the gum off. And since I have to write with “computer glasses” (to filter the monitor light), I’m forever worried about getting gum all over them LOL
I like to sign off with a fun (although, it might be fun to only mystery writers) question: You stumble across a dead body. What literary character are you alerting first? Why?
Since I can’t have Lennie Briscoe from LAW & ORDER, I’ll take Lord Peter Wimsey. I know they seem like entirely different characters, but they’re both unflappable and as smart as they come. And I promise, Harriet Vane, I won’t even look at His Lordship…though I might think about it!
Haha! You can have Lennie Briscoe if you want. I’ll allow it. Kathleen, it’s been an honor to have you here on Noteworthy. I cannot recommend your books enough to my readers. A Fatal Overture is available now wherever books are sold!
A FATAL OVERTURE finds trouser diva Ella Shane facing her biggest challenges yet: murder, marriage – and her potential mother-in-law. The mother and aunts of her swain, Gilbert Saint Aubyn, Duke of Leith, show up at her townhouse demanding to know when she plans to marry him…only to find a body in their hotel bathtub. As Ella and Gil try to work out their marriage contract, Ella’s newspaper reporter pal Hetty gets mixed up in the murder…and an old friend of Ella’s informs her that someone is trying to take out a contract on Gil. They may be able to work out a happy ending – but it won’t be safe, or easy!
Readers, if you could visit another time period for a week, what era would you choose?
Let us know in the comments!
Authors, are you interested in appearing on Noteworthy? Send me an email at connect@saraheburr.com!