Make Note of Paula Charles

Greetings, Noters!

It’s the end of January, and on a fun, personal note, that means it’s almost my birthday! Another year around the sun, as my grandmother always says. I’m grateful that I’ve gotten to spend so many years of my life pursuing my passion for writing and books. Although, I am looking forward to taking the day off to celebrate and enjoy some other hobbies.

With the first month of 2024 quickly coming to a close, I’m pleased with my progress so far. I finished my edits on Book Three in the Glenmyre Whim Mysteries, and the manuscript is with a trusted beta reader as we speak. Since things are moving along swimmingly on that front, I’m delighted to share the cover for Hazel and Poppy’s upcoming mystery. You can watch it here or click the button!

And now, with DM Me for Murder releasing February 13th, I find myself ready to tackle another project! For the first time in my writing career, I’m a bit stuck as to what to do. Do I begin writing Coco Cline Book 4? Book Blogger Mystery Book 3? Or do I finally finish the Court of Mystery series with Duchess Jax’s last adventure? I’d be curious as to what book YOU want to see from me next. Let me know in the comments!

My guest this week is celebrating the release of her first cozy mystery, so she’s also got a lot of exciting things going on.

Without further ado…

A Bit About the Author: When Paula Charles isn’t writing under the towering trees of the Pacific Northwest, she can be found in the garden with her hands in the dirt or sitting on her front porch with a good book and a glass of iced tea. She has a love for small towns, ghost stories, and pie. During her childhood, she grew up in a town suspiciously resembling the fictional Pine Bluff, Oregon where she trailed behind her grandmother in the family’s hardware store until her grandmother would get fed up and put her to work counting nails. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, and also writes cozy mysteries under the pen name of Janna Rollins. Paula lives on a small farm in Southwestern Washington with her husband and an entire menagerie of furry and feathered creatures. 

Paula, welcome to Noteworthy, and congratulations on your debut release! Welcome to #authorlife. I’m so happy we get to chat and my readers get to learn more about you. What book made you fall in love with reading?

Oh, gosh. That’s a hard one. I don’t ever remember not loving books. My mom read aloud to us from my earliest memories and continued even when we were teenagers. She read us all of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books, among many others. I guess the first books I remember reading over and over again myself was the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series by Betty MacDonald. I loved the scrapes the kids got into and the magic remedies Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle came up with. 

I loved the Little House books, as well. I remember doing a school project on Ms. Wilder and making a model of her little cabin in the woods. Such beautiful stories. So, how did your love of reading evolve into a love of writing? How did you begin your writing journey?

Being an author always seemed like a farfetched idea to me. I always thought I would love to write a book but honestly didn’t think I had enough words to actually do it. About five years ago, I took a workshop put on by a local genealogical society that was all about writing family stories. The goal of the workshop was to self-publish a small book by the end of the month-long course. I completed mine and it made me wonder if I actually could write a fiction novel. Turns out I did have enough words!

And look at you now! It just goes to show that if you put your mind to something, you can do anything! Hammers and Homicide is the first book in your Hometown Hardware Mystery series. Please introduce us to your protagonist, Dawna Carpenter (who has the perfect, punny last name, by the way).

Dawna was born from that workshop I took on writing family stories. I thought about my own grandmother, who had owned and operated the hardware store in my hometown, and imagined her as an amateur sleuth. Dawna Carpenter quickly became her own person and actually shares very little traits with my grandmother.

I like to describe her as a sassy, widowed shopkeeper who talks to ghosts. She’s 62, has been a widow for three years when the series opens, and has three adult kids, one of whom has recently moved back to town. She was devastated when her husband, Bob, suddenly passed away, but now she’s picked herself up, brushed herself off, and has gotten back to living. Dawna has lived in Pine Bluff, Oregon most of her life. It’s a small mountain town that she loves dearly. She has a group of incredibly supportive friends, a great relationship with her daughter, and keeps the fact that she thinks Bob is still hanging around the house a secret from them all.

When a land developer is killed in her hardware store and one of her best friends is accused of the crime, Dawna doesn’t think twice about jumping in feet first to find the real killer. She’s feisty, fun, a little clumsy, and completely capable of succeeding at whatever she tackles. I’m excited for everyone to meet her!

She sounds like a hoot, and I love that she’s modeled after your grandmother. It must make writing her even more special. What made you want to write a cozy mystery?

Cozies were always my go-to reads when I needed a palate cleanser, whether from heavy things going on in my life, the world, or after reading a book with heavy topics. When I was contemplating trying my hand at writing an actual book, a cozy seemed like a great place to start. I’m really glad it was the genre I chose. They’re fun to write and I think it fits my personality really well.

For fans who love cozies, what will they enjoy most about your book?

Since Hammers and Homicide started out character-driven, I hope readers will come to love April, J.T. (the Chief of Police), but especially Dawna. She holds a special place in my heart. I think cozy readers will enjoy the town of Pine Bluff, and the hint of the paranormal scattered throughout the book. 

Fun fact – this series was pitched as a paranormal, but my publishers asked me to back many of the ghosts out, (yes, there were more!), and portray it more as magical realism than paranormal. There is a ghost cat named Lilac that I left fully in as a ghost!

How fun, and a fascinating look at how books go from conception to reality! Let’s learn a little more about the writing side of your life. What does your workspace look like?

Don’t look! I’m lucky enough to have an office in our house, but it also holds all my crafting supplies, scads of genealogy files and photos, among other things. It tends to be a catch-all when we need to make room other places. When I finish a book, I do a good clean, but when I’m in the midst of drafting and editing, it has a tendency to look like a tornado hit!

Is there anything you need for a successful day of writing?

I’m one of those writers that needs absolute quiet. Thank goodness for the door on my office! I get distracted easily, so for a successful writing session, I require my laptop, a bottomless glass of water, a word document, internet access, and a closed office door!

I work much better in silence, too, although I’ve had to start listening to tranquil music to drown out the noise that comes from George when he works from home! For our final question, what book (other than your own 😊) have you been recommending to people lately? Are there any must-reads to share?

That’s another hard one! With Christmas recently over, I think I’ve probably recommended Christina Romeril’s latest, A Nutcracker Nightmare, more than anything else lately. For a traditional mystery, I am in love with Francine Mathews’ Merry Folger Nantucket series. So good!

Paula, it was delightful to learn more about you and your writing, and I can’t wait until we finally get to chat on The Bookish Hour at the end of February! Noters, learn more about Hammers and Homicide below, and pick up your copy today!

Hammers and Homicide: Recent sexagenarian widow Dawna Carpenter thought running her own hardware store after the death of her husband was hard enough. With her adult daughter, April, moving back into town, and Darlene, the annoying boutique owner next door to her shop poking around, Dawna has her hands full. But when she finds a dead man in the bathroom of her store, with a framing hammer by his side, she’s in way over her head.

The victim, Warren Highcastle, was a land developer who was looking to purchase the old theater in town to build a new hotel. Dawna and April, worried about the implications of the crime scene at the hardware store, put themselves on the case. They soon learn that Warren had made quite a few enemies in his short amount of time in town. As the suspect list starts growing, so too do the threats against Dawna and April. Can Dawna and April nail the killer before they strike again?

Website: Cozy Mystery Writer | Paula Charles Cozy Mystery Author

Facebook: Paula Charles & Janna Rollins, Author

Instagram:  paulacharles_jannarollins