Interview With Cozy Mystery Author, Amanda Flower

Amanda Flower, a national bestselling and Agatha Award winning mystery author, started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. She also writes mysteries as USA Today bestselling author Isabella Alan. In addition to being an author, Amanda is librarian in Northeast Ohio.

Interview: If you had to describe yourself in one sentence, what would you say?  

I’ve wanted to be an author my entire life and now I’m living my dream with God’s grace.

What do you do when you’re not writing? Any interesting hobbies?

I like to spend as much of my free time as I can with my friends and family, especially my niece and nephew, who I love like they are my own children.

What was your favorite book as a teen or child?

Charlotte Web

Tell us three things about yourself that might surprise your readers.

1) I’m a vegetarian.

2) I like to cross country… even though I’m not very good at it.

3) I’ve always wanted a pet goat.

What genre did you start out writing? Have you changed course? Why or why not?

Mystery. I’m always wanted to write mystery. I would never say never, but I can’t imagine writing anything else.

What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?

The toughest criticism was from my creative writing teacher in college who thought my writing was trivial. I took that on as a challenge to prove her wrong. She was an adjunct professor, and I don’t even remember her name but I remember what she said, and I’m grateful to her to put the fire in me to get published.

The best compliment was from a friend who said she loved my book so much that she forgot that I was one the who wrote it because she was so wrapped up in the story.

Any other genres you’d like to try? If yes, what and why?

I like to read some Urban Fantasy and Sweet Romance.

If you could go back in time and do something differently at the start of your career, what would it be?

I’d be a librarian like I am. I am a fulltime librarian and a fulltime author.

What is the most important piece of advice you’d like to give to unpublished authors?

Keep trying. Don’t give up. Success in publishing is more dependent on determination and a strong will than natural talent.

Can you tell us something about your latest novel,  Crime and Poetry, first in the new Magical Bookshop Mystery series.

Rushing home to sit by her ailing grandmother’s bedside, Violet Waverly is shocked to find Grandma Daisy the picture of perfect health. Violet doesn’t need to read between the lines: her grandma wants Violet back home and working in her magical store, Charming Books. It’s where the perfect book tends to fly off the shelf and pick you...

Violet has every intention to hightail it back to Chicago, but then a dead man is discovered clutching a volume of Emily Dickinson’s poems from Grandma Daisy’s shop. The victim is Benedict Raisin, who recently put Grandma Daisy in his will, making her a prime suspect. Now, with the help of a tuxedo cat named Emerson, Violet will have to find a killer to keep Grandma from getting booked for good...

Please leave a comment for Amanda, along with your email address, for a chance to win a copy of Crime and Poetry. US residents only.