Make Note of Tina deBellegarde

Greetings, Noters!

The holiday season is in full swing in my neck of the woods, what with the upcoming RELEASE of Dearly Deleted, Book 2 in the Book Blogger Mysteries. Yes, you read that right. Winnie Lark’s next mystery is here and will be hitting bookshelves on December 19, 2023.

With the story taking place at Christmastime, there’s not a more perfect time to get this in the hands of readers. I’ve been working like a madwoman to finalize everything, but we’re in the home stretch. What’s more, I have links! You can preorder Dearly Deleted on Amazon Kindle AND other eBook platforms. For the first time, I’m going wide with one of my indie releases. I’m very excited about exploring this new frontier in the hopes of introducing Winnie to more readers.

My guest this week knows the excitement that comes from sharing our work. Without further ado…

A Bit About the Author: Tina deBellegarde is a two-time Agatha Award nominee for her Batavia-on-Hudson Mysteries. “Tokyo Stranger” appeared in the 2021 MWA anthology and was nominated for a Derringer. Tina co-chairs the annual Murderous March conference. She is a member of sleuthsandsidekicks.com, a team of authors who blog, tour virtually, and teach writing workshops. She visits Japan regularly to see her son and do research. She is a member of Writers in Kyoto and reviews books for BooksOnAsia.net.

Tina, it’s delightful to have you here on Noteworthy. I’ve so enjoyed our past chats at conferences and such, so I’m really excited to learn more about you and your writing. Tell us, What book made you fall in love with reading?

I can’t remember not loving reading, but my all-time favorite and inspiring book as a child was The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene DuBios. It had everything I could possibly want—great writing, adventure, an exotic island setting, a clever premise, and hot-air balloons! My love of hot-air ballooning originated with this book. In fact, in my forties, my husband and I crewed on one and took some piloting lessons. We came very close to buying our own. The power of books!

The power of books, indeed! How did your love of reading evolve into a love of writing? How did you begin your writing journey?

I always journaled, ever since I was a young person. I considered it safe. No one is supposed to read your private diary, so that was fine by me. I was not one of those authors who will tell you they were inventing fiction for others since they could pick up a pencil. I was too shy for that. The closest I came was a list of story ideas. I didn’t pen much fiction until I was well into adulthood. Winter Witness, my first novel, came about after I turned fifty. I had finally decided to muster up the courage and do the writing I always wanted to do. Then I had to be more courageous still in order to let other people read it. For new writers—don’t worry, it gets easier.

It does get easier! Dead Man’s Leap is the second book in your Batavia-on-Hudson Mystery series. What is your protagonist, Bianca St. Denis, up to in her second mystery outing?

This time Bianca and her neighbors are scouring their attics for donations to the charity rummage sale, and, as you can imagine, they unearth secrets while doing so.
Meanwhile, a storm forces the villagers of Batavia-on-Hudson to seek shelter in the local community center. When the floods wash up a corpse and a priceless Japanese artifact, Bianca once again finds herself teaming up with Sheriff Riley to solve a mystery… or maybe two.

This story leads directly into my upcoming book, Autumn Embers, when Bianca will be returning the artifact to Japan and visiting with her son in Kyoto. On her first jetlagged night, at her welcome party, she thinks she witnesses a struggle in the darkest corner of the garden. And the game is afoot…

Tell us a bit about Batavia-on-Hudson—any connection to Batavia, New York?

Batavia-on-Hudson is my own creation. There is no connection to Batavia. My village is also in New York, but, of course, set in the Hudson River Valley. It is a composite of all my favorite villages and hamlets in this area. I took pieces of the Village of Catskill, Germantown, Red Hook, Tivoli etc. I appropriated all the quaintest and loveliest aspects of each to create the town I wanted to spend time in as I was writing.

What challenges did you face writing Book Two? Were there any moments that were easier than Book One?

In Dead Man’s Leap I knew my characters and their backstories, and I knew the village. What a great advantage when writing a series. What I found more challenging was that I used a very different structure. Not only did I write a current mystery, but I also unearthed an older village mystery with a complicated back story for Bianca and the sheriff to untangle.

Can you tell us a bit about Sleuths and Sidekicks?

Lida Sideris, Carol Pouliot, Jen Collins Moore and I are the founding members of sleuthsandsidekicks.com. We blog together, tour virtually, and teach writing workshops online.

We came together around our love for mysteries. We all have different taste, so it's been fun to create lists of books to read (for each other and for our readers), a book club where we share our different perspectives on books, and Musings about how we approach our craft. Our regular features include Carol’s Picture a Mystery which highlights an image she has captured in her travels and its connection to a book. Back Cover Copy is inspired by photo prompts that Jen and I use to percolate ideas to be developed at a later date, and Lida has been the mainstay in our Musings. We also have Inside Scoop Interviews and our Live Book Club where we showcase authors we fan-girl over. We hope folks who love mysteries as much as we do will sign up for our newsletter and website and enjoy the variety we have to offer.

What a wonderful and helpful collaboration! Tina, what does your workspace look like? Is there anything you need for a successful day of writing?

I must say that I am very lucky. My husband and his brother built me a writing cottage years ago. At the time, it was the first she-shed I had ever seen. It’s the perfect writing space. It sits behind the house with a wonderful view of the meadow (and the hen-house!) The cottage is delightful, but the only thing I really need to write is coffee and music. I have a playlist for each novel—my head is immediately in the book as soon as I turn the music on. I wrote Winter Witness to Cannnonball Adderley’s “Somethin Else” album, Dead Man’s Leap to “Workin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet,” and Autumn Embers to Paul Desmond’s “Bossa Antigua.”

What book have you been recommending to people lately? Any must-reads to share?

Oh, yes! I recently read the first book in Karen Odden’s Inspector Corravan Mysteries, Down a Dark River. It was so atmospheric and engrossing—I can’t wait to get to the next installment.

I also recently read Carol Goodman’s The Bones of the Story. It’s a boarding school mystery set here in the Hudson Valley. I can never get enough of stories set in boarding schools.

Great reads all around! I am a huge fan of Karen Odden’s writing, as well. Tina, thank you so much for spending time with me here today on Noteworthy. Noters, Dead Man’s Leap is available now—read more about it below!

Dead Man’s Leap: As Bianca St. Denis and her neighbors scour their attics for donations to the charity rummage sale, they unearth secrets as well as prized possessions. Leonard Marshall’s historic inn hosts the sale each year, but it is his basement that houses the key to his past. When an enigmatic antiques dealer arrives in town, he upends Leonard’s carefully reconstructed life with an impossible choice that harkens back to the past.

Meanwhile, when a storm forces the villagers of Batavia-on-Hudson to seek shelter, the river rises and so do tempers. Close quarters fuel simmering disputes, and Sheriff Mike Riley has his work cut out for him. When the floods wash up a corpse, Bianca once again finds herself teaming up with Sheriff Riley to solve a mystery. Are they investigating an accidental drowning or something more nefarious?

Dead Man’s Leap explores the burden of secrets, the relief of renunciation, and the danger of believing we can outpace our past.