Fearured Author: Billie Thomas

Another of the fantastic four authors from Cozy Mystery Book Tours is here today. Don't miss the details of how to enter at the bottom of this post. In April, the main character in Murder on the First Day of Christmas, Chloe Carstairs, was here, and I'm delighted to have her author, Billie Thomas, here today. I love Billie's book as well as her sense of humor. Meet Billie Thomas and her debut novel...

About the book:

Finding a severed hand at a client’s house might throw lesser decorators off their games. But Chloe Carstairs and her mother, Amanda, won’t let a little thing like murder keep them from decking the halls. With a body under the partridge’s pear tree and a dead Santa in a sleigh, they have to crack the case before the killer strikes again – this time much too close to home.

Filled with laugh-out-loud humor, romance and a delightfully difficult mother-daughter relationship, this new series from Billie Thomas offers a fast-paced caper as these two southern ladies try to keep their very merry Christmas from turning into the Noel from hell.

Interview with Billie Thomas:

Billie, how long have you been writing, and how did you start?

I’ve been a writer since before I could hold a pencil. In school, I would actually write the books I did book reports on. (I can’t believe my teachers let me do that.) It always came so naturally to me that it was – and still is – a joy.

Do you have another job outside of writing?

I’m an Associate Creative Director at an advertising agency, which means I get to make a living writing. I come up with ideas for television commercials, radio spots, print ads, and websites. If you’ve had a craving for a Little Debbie snack cake or a burning desire to bundle your services with AT&T, you might have me to thank.

That's so cool! You're like a real live Peggy Olsen. Okay, Mad Lady, give me a tweet about your book. (140 characters or less.)

He was making a list. Checking it twice. Till someone put Santa permanently on ice. http://tinyurl.com/cqa323b

What books have you read more than once or want to read again?

If books were boys, I’d be considered a stage-five clinger. I latch onto one and won’t let go. I read the same books over and over, loving the way my interpretation changes – or doesn’t change – with whatever’s going on in my life at the moment. Some of the ones I go back to time and again are The Shining, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, A Confederacy of Dunces, all the Harry Potter books, all the Sue Grafton and Lee Harris’s books...man, I really do have a problem.

Not a problem--just a passion! What do you do to market your book? 


I let my main character Chloe Carstairs do most of my marketing. Chloe has her own website, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter accounts. She’s got her own distinct voice and personality, so I let her live in the spotlight. I prefer to stay under the paparazzi’s radar.

Something tells me you have just a distinct voice and fun personality as Chloe. She's obviously one of your imaginary friends. Do you have others?

I have my muse. Or maybe I should say she has me. I call her Stella because of her fondness for Belgian beer. We brainstorm ideas together – whether it’s for a book, an ad campaign or a problem I’m wrestling with in real life. When I’m writing, I make a concerted effort not to control the narrative. To jump in with how I think the story should go or what I need my character to do. I find if I let Stella take the lead while I daydream and free-write in my journal I catch her flights of fancy like butterflies in a net, which helps me make intuitive leaps in my writing – and, often, in my life – that surprise and delight me.

I love that. Does Stella have a sister you could send my way? Are any of your characters inspired by real people? Who?

Several of my characters are inspired by real people in my life. The mother-daughter relationship is like a greatest-hits version of the one I had with my own mother. When my mom died unexpectedly of an aneurism at the end of 2011, I was so glad I had this book and that it was the first in a series. Working on it makes me feel close to her.

Are you and Chloe alike?

Chloe and I are more than I’d like to admit, especially since I’m older than her. It doesn’t bode well for her that I’m still trying to solve the mystery of my own love life.

Tell us about your favorite scene in the book.

I love the scene in which Chloe questions Lance, the smarmy Pilates instructor about his affair with one of the women she considers a suspect. Here’s an excerpt:

     Lance Martin was strutting in from the pool like an over-tanned god in his tiny Stars-and-Stripes Speedo. Apparently, he was the only one who hadn’t noticed that the unheated water had him flying at half-mast. Ignoring two girls giggling by the smoothie machine, I approached him, my eyes fixed squarely on his.

     “Hey, Chloe-Jo. Whattaya know?” He gave a satisfied nod, as if he had known this moment would come and I was right on schedule.

     “Not much. Just wanted to ask you a couple of quick questions.”

     He smiled indulgently. Questions. Yeah, that’s what they all say.

     “It’s about Nancy Browley. One of your clients?”

     He nodded, fixing me with an intense look that probably made dozens of bored housewives slide the passenger seat of their SUV’s into the recline position. “I hear you,” the look said, “and I think what you’re saying is important.”

     Trying not to be completely grossed out as Lance toweled off his sinewy muscles in a suggestive manner, I pushed on. “It’s just that some people are saying you and she have more than a client-trainer relationship.”

     His intense gaze never wavered as he nodded thoughtfully.

     “I mean, I don’t care if it’s true. I’m certainly not some big stickler for the rules. I was just wondering if, you know, it was.” He was really weirding me out with that stare.

     “Was what?” he asked finally.

     “Was true.”

     “What’s true?”

     “That you and Nancy have a relationship.”

     “Nancy who?”

     I managed to hide my frustration, but really. That Speedo must’ve been tighter than it looked.

     “Nancy Browley. Are you guys...um...dating?”

     He smiled broadly, his towel now covered in the bronzer that enhanced his golden tan. God, I hate being single.

That is a great scene. What do you like to do when you’re not writing or interviewing smarmy Pilates instructors?


I love cooking, hiking with my Rhodesian Ridgeback, Kamali, and traveling. Every chance I get, I take off for somewhere exotic: Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Peru, and Costa Rico just to name a few.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on the second in the Chloe Carstairs Mysteries series, Murder in a Two-Seater. After helping transform an old – and supposedly haunted – castle into a bed-and-breakfast, Chloe and Amanda find themselves embroiled in another investigation when the wife of their client winds up dead in a classic car.

I'm looking forward to reading it and having you back here to talk about it!

Hey, y'all, I told you Billie has a great sense of humor, and here's evidence in her tweets. They're always entertaining. Check it:

Recent Chloe Carstairs tweets:

• When I said add a splash of color, I meant throw pillows. Not blood splatter.

• Shift into neutral this season. Soothing earth tones make yellow crime scene tape pop.

• A cold draft, shadowy corners and creaky floorboards transform any room into a panic room!

• Color on the ceiling draws the eye upward. As will that body hanging from the rafters.

• A real wood fire adds instant ambiance. And quickly burns the will you’re left out of.

• Opt for heavy fabrics in light colors so your wingback chair won’t feel as cold and stiff as the body slumped in it.
  
  

About the author:

Billie Thomas works at an advertising agency, which might explain why she's constantly thinking up ways to kill people without getting caught. She lives in Birmingham, has a really cute boyfriend and an even cuter dog. She is a founding member of the writing collective, IndieVisible. Murder on the First Day of Christmas is her first novel. Other publications include Bar Code: Your Personal Pocket Decoder to the Modern Dating Scene.




Connect with Billie Thomas and her protagonist Chloe Carstairs:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Links to books
Amazon | Barnes & Noble 

The Fantastic 4 Cozy Mystery Book Tour Giveaway

There will be four prize packages:

Prize 1 (US/Canada only)
* a Kindle Touch
* a $15 Amazon.com giftcard

Prize 2 (International)
* a Kindle copy of Topped Chef and Bowled Over
* a $15 Book Depository giftcard

Prize 3 (International)
* a Kindle copy of Murder on the First Day of Christmas & Game Drive
* a $15 Amazon.com giftcard

Prize 4 (US/Canada)
* your choice of a cozy mystery paperback (up to $25 in value)

To enter:
1. Fill in the form here.
2. There is no requirement to follow any of the blogs participating, but we hope you will support these amazing blogs by following them. They do a great job, many of whom host for us every month.
3. Giveaway ends on May 15, 2013 at midnight and the winners will be contacted via email.

Featured Character: Billie Thomas's Chloe Carstairs

Author Billie Thomas and I have a lot in common. We've both written a cozy mystery, both of our books feature women sleuths, both are the first in a series, both are peppered with humor, and both are set in the South. So I am thrilled to have Billie's main character, Chloe Carstairs, from Murder on the First Day of Christmas here today. Darlin's, sit yourself down and be prepared to be charmed by Chloe.

About the book:

Finding a severed hand at a client’s house might throw lesser decorators off their games. But Chloe Carstairs and her mother, Amanda, won’t let a little thing like murder keep them from decking the halls. With a body under the partridge’s pear tree and a dead Santa in a sleigh, they have to crack the case before the killer strikes again – this time much too close to home.

Filled with laugh-out-loud humor, romance and a delightfully difficult mother-daughter relationship, this new series from Billie Thomas offers a fast-paced caper as these two southern ladies try to keep their very merry Christmas from turning into the Noel from hell.

About Chloe:

Chloe Carstairs is an interior decorator, amateur investigator, and serial dater. Together, she and her mother, Amanda Carstairs, solve mysteries. And try not to get each other killed in the process. Chloe is always looking for a clue, trying to catch a killer and a man. As she says on her blog, Chloe Gets A Clue, romance is the one mystery she can't seem to solve.

Interview with Chloe Carstairs:

Welcome, Chloe! I loved your book and am anxious to talk to you about it. In Murder On The First Day of Christmas, you and your mom team up to find a killer. How did that partnership come about?

Mom is actually a degreed interior designer who had a very successful business for years. She retired a couple of years ago and was only doing projects that really interested her, plus the Christmas houses. I could tell she was getting restless. I’ve been helping her on jobs since I was a teen, and after I got burned out on graphic design, I began taking on decorating jobs with her guidance. We had so much fun decorating and investigating, this past Christmas, we’ve decided to team up for more jobs. I think we were both surprised at how well we worked together. Our relationship’s always been a bit of a roller coaster.

I cannot imagine being partners with my mother. She would constantly play the mom card. How’s it been going since you teamed up with your mom?

Trust me, Amanda Carstairs whips out the mom card almost as fast as she whips out her Saks card. But I’ve learned to hold my own. I think she’s coming to respect me as a decorator, and the danger we got into during our first case somehow brought us closer. We still clash sometimes, but this is the best we’ve gotten along in years, so I’m trying not to jinx it.

How did an interior decorator end up being a sleuth?

Two clients were killed in houses we decorated and then a family friend was accused of the crime. My mom was furious. And, like we say in the South, when Mama ain’t happy, nobody’s happy. Turns out, our interior decorating skills come in handy when we’re investigating. We can profile a suspect by their décor better than any agent in the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. 

Chloe, how did you first meet your Billie?

I introduced myself at a coffee shop where she likes to hang out. We bonded over a mutual love of chai lattes and started spending a lot of time together during NaNo a few years ago.

Want to dish about her?

Always. Billie Thomas (not her real name) works at an advertising agency, which might explain why she’s constantly thinking up ways to kill people without getting caught. She lives in Birmingham, not far from me and has a really cute boyfriend (must be nice) and an even cuter dog.

Did you ever think your life would end up being in a book?

Not a mystery book, no. But then I never thought I’d find a severed hand or have two clients drop dead in homes I decorated.  Naturally, I blame Mom.

Natch. Tell us about your favorite scene in the book.

I loved when I was interrogating Robin Woodson, a woman suspected of killing two of her husbands. I felt like I was matching wits with a clever killer, but I was surprised to find I kind of liked her too. Like me, she loves chick flicks and going to movies by herself. A very cool girl. As homicidal maniacs go.

Well, don't hold that against her, bless her heart. Did you have a hard time convincing Billie to write any particular scenes for you?

No she pretty much does what she wants. If anything, I'd love her to delete the scenes where my mom shamelessly flirts with one of Birmingham’s most notorious criminals to extract information. I don’t know what was worse: watching her do it or seeing that it worked.

If you could rewrite anything in your book, what would it be?

That scene near the end where I have to tackle the killer and end up mooning half the Birmingham Police Department, including that cute Yankee cop, who’s never going to let me live it down. That was uncalled for, Billie. Uncalled for!

And to top it off, she made you wear polka dot panties that day. She could have at least put you into a hot little Victoria's Secret number. Okay, now tell the truth. What do you think of your fellow characters?

Well, most of them are family so I’m kind of stuck with them. My mom drives me crazy, but we’re getting along better these days. My dad, Alex, is wonderful, except for his habit of always taking my mom’s side. And my sister, Bridget is a little too much like my mom for my taste, but her habit of tangling up clichés (“I know this town like the back of my head”) is really endearing.

What impression do you make on people when they first meet you? Does that impression change after they've known you for a while?

I’ve been told I come off a little ditzy, but after people get to know me better they revise that to a lot ditzy.

Oh, honey, that's not true. Well, maybe a little bit. We'd best move on. Tell us about your best friend.

You think I’m romantically challenged? My best friend Dana is a mess. She caught her fiancé cheating and had to call off the wedding. Then a dating site only found one match for her in all of Birmingham. Her brother.

Ouch.

She said she was going to take a break from dating and just work on herself for a while, but the way she keeps going on and on about how hot her therapist is doesn’t bode well for that plan.  

What are you most afraid of?

Turning into my mother and being totally okay with that. Shudder.

What’s the best trait Billie has given you?  


My sense of humor is by far my best trait. It’s gotten me out of some pretty sticky situations, let me tell you.

Laugh or cry, that's what I say. What’s the worst trait she's given you?

I’d say the worst trait is my small-breastedness. Billie’d argue that the former contributes to the latter, but I’m not buying it.


What do you like best about your mother, Amanda? 

Okay, she’s not going to see this, right?

I can't say never, because you know mothers--they tend to find out everything, but chances are slim.

Because, while I admire her confidence, I don’t think she needs any more of it. But yeah, I like the way she just projects this air of self-assurance that other people –especially men – respond to. I could definitely use a little more of that.

What do you dislike about her?

My least favorite quality is the way she always has to be right. Followed closely by the way she usually is.

Oh, that can be annoying. But that's not as bad as having a mother who's frequently wrong but never uncertain. Know what I mean? I'm not naming names, I'm just sayin'. How do you feel about your life right now? What, if anything, would you like to change?
This uncertainty about my relationship with Jacob is taking its toll. I’m thirty now and a little surprised to find I’m ready to be married and start a family. I never thought I’d be “that girl.” I just wish I knew definitively if it were going to work out for us, so I could move forward or move on. Billie’s not one for spoilers though, which is really an annoying trait in a writer.

So you’re...romantically challenged and a serial dater? Are you a serial dater because you’re romantically challenged?

I’m afraid so. I’d rather be with just Jacob, but when I hinted that I could see us getting married, he got a little freaked out. And then called my bluff when I suggested we see other people. So yeah, I’ve been dating like crazy – and I use that term deliberately – because I can’t just sit around waiting for Jacob to come to his senses. 

Can you tell us a little about Jacob?

He’s a very cute architect with soccer player calves and commitment issues. Right up my alley. We’re working together on a project right now – turning an old castle into a bed-and-breakfast. I think collaborating is bringing us closer, but we’re still not officially back together.

Tell the truth—-were you attracted to that detective, or that cute DA—-you know, the one you called "Mr. Six Feet of Sex Appeal?"

The detective, Max McGowan was too infuriating to be attractive at first, but I admit, he grew on me. He’s not my type, really, but I can see the appeal. Maybe I’ll introduce him to my friend Dana. Jack Lassiter, on the other hand, is every girl’s type, and the perfect way to make a commitment-phobic boyfriend jealous. Appearances can be deceiving however. That guy had some major issues.

You just come on down to Goose Pimple Junction, Chloe. There are a few eligible men Tess could introduce you to. She or Louetta will fix you right up. But I wonder if Billie would let you go. What aspect of her writing style do you like best?

She really captures the humor and affection between my mom and myself. The reviews usually mention this, so I’m not alone in thinking she gets it right. I have the feeling she’s basing us on the real-life relationship she had with her mom, so it comes across as very genuine.

Yes it does. If your story were a movie, who would play you?


That’s a hard one. I’d definitely say a fifty-something Debbie Reynolds to play my mom, Amanda. She’s the perfect combination of sophistication and dry humor. As for me, Julia Louis-Dryfus at thirty, maybe. Or Mindy Kaling, though Billie would have to revise the plot quite a bit to accommodate Mindy’s ability to tan. 

Will you encourage Billie to write a sequel?

She’s already working on Murder in a Two-Seater.

Yay! Tell us about it.

Mom and I investigate a homicide at a spooky old castle during a classic car show. I’m not looking forward to it, to be honest. The castle is rumored to be haunted, and while I ain’t scared of no ghosts, I’m not about to go fooling around with the afterworld, especially when my dad’s being accused of murder in this one.

Oooh, that sounds so good. I can't wait to read it. And you better come back to tell us about it once it's out, or Tess will hunt you down and make you drink regular tea--sans the sweet or the lemon. Gasp!

Chloe, thanks for chatting with us. And thanks for talking with Tess on your blog about life in Goose Pimple Junction. She had a blast.

About the author:

Billie Thomas is the pseudonym of a Birmingham-based author. After the real Billie passed away unexpectedly at the end of 2011, getting Murder on the First Day of Christmas, the first of a series, revised and published was her daughter’s top priority as a way to honor the mom who had given her a lifelong love of books.

In her real life, Ms. Thomas writes within the advertising industry and is a founding member of the writing collective, IndieVisible.

Other publications include Bar Code: Your Personal Pocket Decoder to the Modern Dating Scene.

Connect with Billie:

Blog / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

Buy the book:
Amazon