FEATURED AUTHOR: JOANNE SYDNEY LESSNER

ABOUT THE BOOK

There’s one role you don’t want a callback for: Prime Suspect.

Aspiring actress Isobel Spice lands her first regional theater job, playing a supporting role and understudying the lead in Sousacal: The Life and Times of John Philip Sousa. A series of minor backstage accidents culminates in the suspicious death of the leading lady on opening night. When Isobel takes over the role, her mastery of the material makes her more suspect than savior, and she realizes the only way to clear her name is to discover the identity of the murderer—before he or she strikes again.

INTERVIEW WITH JOANNE SYDNEY LESSNER

Joanne, what's your favorite thing about the writing process?
I’ve learned to lay the groundwork and then let my subconscious take over. When I’m really in the zone, my characters will do things I would never have consciously thought of. Sometimes new characters appear and I’m not even sure where they came from, but they prove within a few minutes why they’re important. My subconscious is a better plotter than I am, and when I give it free rein, it’s very liberating, especially since I have a tendency to be a bit of a control freak!

What’s more important – characters or plot?
I'm going to steal the motto from the youth writing group Writopia: “Plot builds character.” So plot it is. Especially when it comes to mystery fiction.

What is your writing style?
One of my friends described it as breezy/intellectual. The latter is more applicable to my music journalism than my fiction, but it’s a pretty accurate description of my sensibility.


What do you love about where you live?
New York City is big, loud, fast, messy, and inclusive. There’s an energy here that’s not like anywhere else. And of course, it’s the theater capital of the world.


Name one thing you’re really good at and one thing you’re really bad at.
I’m really good with foreign accents. I’ve studied Italian, French, and German, and I’m often mistaken for a native speaker—and believe me, it’s not because of my grammar or vocabulary! On the flip side, I have the world’s worst sense of direction. It’s so reliably wrong that if I’m absolutely positive I should turn left, I’ve learned to turn right.


What do you wish you could do?
Protect the people I love from anything bad happening to them.


Would you rather be a movie star, sports star, or rock star?
Until last summer, I would have said movie star. But I just played Rosie in a production of Mamma Mia! and discovered a secret, untapped desire to be a rock star.


Do you give your characters any of your bad traits?
Isobel is a chatterbox who sometimes talks so much about herself that she doesn’t listen to other people. I may or may not resemble that remark.

Do you procrastinate?
Can I answer that one tomorrow?

What’s one thing that drives you crazy?
People who race onto the subway car and stop right in the doorway as if there weren’t five other people behind them trying to do the same. These are the same people who walk in a phalanx on the sidewalk and wield their dog leashes like tripwires.

What is the most daring thing you've done (besides walking behind someone walking their dog)?
My husband and I swam in the Blue Grotto in Capri after hours, which is totally illegal. That didn’t stop there from being a whole line of people waiting to jump in. We did it at the urging of our B&B owner, and it was a harder swim than I anticipated. As a result, I didn’t really get to enjoy the view inside the grotto, and that late in the day the famous blue was only visible in patches. But it was exhilarating and totally outside my comfort zone.

What’s one thing that very few people know about you?
When I go down a long flight of stairs, I have to silently say “left, right” to myself so I don’t trip over my own feet.


How do you like your pizza?
Folded in half, like any self-respecting New Yorker.

What is your favorite movie?
This is a tie, but it will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about me: A Room With a View and Airplane.


Ah, yes, I see. Do you have a favorite book?
Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men. I’ve read it several times, and it may be time to revisit it.


If you had to choose a cliché about life, what would it be?
I don’t know if it’s a cliché, but it’s my favorite aphorism, courtesy of Erma Bombeck: “Think of all the women on the Titanic who passed up the dessert tray.” The best illustration of carpe diem I’ve ever heard.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Writer, singer, and actor Joanne Sydney Lessner draws on her own experiences pursuing a performing career in New York City for her acclaimed Isobel Spice Mysteries: The Temporary Detective, Bad Publicity, And Justice for Some, and Offed Stage Left. With humor and a bit of romance, Isobel juggles auditions and temp jobs, solving murders along the way, while Joanne’s inside knowledge provides a window into the realities of breaking into show business (as well as a forum to share every humiliating audition experience she and her friends ever had). Joanne’s debut novel, Pandora’s Bottle, was inspired by the true story of the world's most expensive bottle of wine and was named one of the top five books of 2010 by Paperback Dolls. With her husband, composer/conductor Joshua Rosenblum, she has co-authored several musicals, including the cult hit Fermat’s Last Tango and Einstein’s Dreams, based on the celebrated novel by Alan Lightman. Her play, Critical Mass, received its Off Broadway premiere in October 2010. Joanne is also a regular contributor to Opera News and a graduate of Yale University.


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Featured Author: Joanne Lessner

Cozy Mystery Book Tours brings Joanne Lessner here today to talk about her novel, Bad Publicity. Hopefully, we'll give her some good publicity! And if you're lucky, she might give you something too. Cozy Mystery Book Tours is giving away three Kindle copies of the book to three random readers who leave a comment. So don't forget to comment!

About the book:

In the world of PR, there's only one crime worse than killing a deal--killing a client.

Aspiring actress and office temp Isobel Spice finds a warm welcome at Dove & Flight Public Relations, thanks to her old school friend Katrina Campbell. However, the atmosphere chills considerably when Isobel unwittingly serves an important client a deadly dose of poisoned coffee. Her stalwart temp agent, James Cooke, rushes to her aid, but balks when he learns that the victim was the fraternity brother who got him expelled from college. News that Dove & Flight is being acquired by an international conglomerate quickly supplants the murder as the hot topic of office gossip, but Isobel is convinced the two events are related. When all roads of inquiry lead back to Katrina, Isobel is forced to consider the possibility that her friend's killer instincts go beyond public relations.

Interview with Joanne Lessner:

Joanne, Bad Publicity is your third novel. How long have you been writing, and how did you start?

It started when I had to type a term paper for English my junior year in high school. My dad brought home an electric typewriter (yeah, I’m dating myself), and I was having so much fun typing that I kept going—and a novel came out!

Do you have another job outside of writing?

I work in corporate and financial public relations, which is one reason Bad Publicity was so much fun to write. I also review recordings and performances for Opera News. See? There is something practical you can do with a B.A. in Music!

Good to know--my son plans to major in music! How would you describe your book in a tweet? (140 characters or less.)

Jason Whiteley never should have had that second cup of coffee. Isobel Spice never should have served it. http://tinyurl.com/a8v5nxz

Did you have any say in your cover art? What do you think of it?

Yes, I worked very closely with my designer, Linda Pierro. She’s one of the publishers at Flint Mine Press, the niche imprint that put out my first (non-mystery) novel, Pandora’s Bottle. I loved that cover so much that when I needed one for The Temporary Detective, I went directly to Linda. She always reads the entire book, which I think many designers don’t take the time to do. For The Temporary Detective, we talked a lot about creating a look we could carry through the series, and because there’s something just the tiniest bit retro about it, she wanted a hint of “girl detective.” My favorite thing is the Isobel icon. At first I wasn’t sure about going monochromatic, but as I add more books, I think it’s really going to pay off. I hope to have a whole rainbow of Isobel Spice novels!

That would be cool. What books have you read more than once or want to read again?

I re-read Elizabeth Jane Howard’s four Cazalet books every five years or so. I just love them. I’ve read the Harry Potter books multiple times, including out loud to my kids. Even after they were old enough to read for themselves, they still preferred the one-woman show. And except for a few that really stick in my mind, I’ve forgotten all the perpetrators in Agatha Christie, so I think I can safely revisit her.

Tell us a book you’re an evangelist for.

I recently discovered Kate Ross. She was a Boston-based trial lawyer who wrote four mysteries before she died of cancer at a forty-one. Her books feature Regency dandy Julian Kestrel. They’re all wonderful, but the best one is the last, The Devil in Music. I think it’s an exceptionally well-crafted mystery and there’s such depth and detail that it really transcends the genre in the best way. I even made my husband read it, and he’s not really into either traditional mysteries or historical fiction. I was very smug when he sat up late several nights in a row, unable to put it down.

What do you do to market your book?

All the usual stuff: Facebook, Twitter. I don’t have my own blog, although I know it’s recommended. But I love contributing guest posts! With Pandora’s Bottle, I sold a lot of books at wine festivals, since it’s about what happens to a man who buys a half-million-dollar bottle of Bordeaux once owned by Thomas Jefferson. I suppose I could hang around the Equity building and try to sell my Isobel books to actors, but they tend not to have as much discretionary cash.

Are any of your characters inspired by real people?

Delphi is based on my friend Kate, who was, indeed, the first actor friend I made after moving to New York. She’s a very gifted actress and director who really shines in Shakespeare. Sunil was inspired by a friend’s ex-boyfriend who was an Indian Jew. I didn’t even know they existed! Physically, James is modeled on the temp agent who took a chance on me when I first moved to New York, but the similarity ends there. And, um, my victims were inspired by certain irritating people I was forced to work with over the years.

I love doing that! Are you like any of your characters?

Isobel is an idealized version of me at twenty-three. She’s a lot quicker on her feet and more resourceful than I was. But I’m letting her make the same rookie mistakes I did. Oh, and neither of us knows when to shut up.

With which of your characters would you most like to be stuck on a deserted island?

Oh, my God, I think they’d all drive me crazy.


What real people would you most like to be stuck on an island with?

My husband and kids. They would also drive me crazy, but somehow it’s different.

Tell us about your favorite scene in the book.

I love the scene where Isobel and Hugh are on their way out to dinner and they run into James. It’s awkward enough, but then this annoying gym rat who’s been stalking James shows up, and suddenly it’s Isobel’s turn to be jealous. It’s wonderfully squirmy all around, especially since the girl from the gym is sort of Isobel times ten. It’s primarily a backstory scene, but I think it’s my favorite.

Which author would you most like to invite to dinner, and what would you fix her?

J.K. Rowling. I am in awe of her. I like to think we have something in common since we share the same name and were born the same year, but she’s really in a class by herself. I’d make my husband cook. He’s the one with the entertaining gene. Besides, I’d probably be so nervous I’d burn everything.

Where’s home for you?

I’ve been proud to call myself a New Yorker for twenty-five years.

If you could only keep one book, what would it be?

The Complete Works of Shakespeare. They say there are only nine plots and Shakespeare invented them all, so I think I’d be pretty well covered.

Would you rather work in a library or a bookstore?

I worked in a bookstore when I was in graduate school, and I was allowed to use it as my own private library. I could borrow books and return them, provided they were still pristine, so that’s the best of both worlds.

You can be any fictional character for one day. Who would you be?

Elizabeth Bennet.

She's my pick too! What’s one of your favorite quotes?

From James Thurber: “Don’t get it right, get it written.”

Love it. Thank you, Joanna!

About the author:

Joanne Sydney Lessner is the author of BloodWrites Award-Winner The Temporary Detective, which introduces Isobel Spice, aspiring actress and resourceful office temp turned amateur sleuth. Isobel’s adventures continue in Bad Publicity. Joanne’s debut novel Pandora’s Bottle (Flint Mine Press) was named one of the top five books of 2010 by Paperback Dolls, and all three books are Awesome Indies Selections. No stranger to the theatrical world, Joanne enjoys an active performing career, and with her husband, composer/conductor Joshua Rosenblum, has co-authored several musicals, including the cult hit Fermat’s Last Tango and Einstein’s Dreams, based on the celebrated novel by Alan Lightman. Her play, Critical Mass, received its Off Broadway premiere in October 2010 as the winner of the 2009 Heiress Productions Playwriting Competition.

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