Laurie Cass

[00:00:00]

Laura: I'm Lauri, welcome What to Read Next Podcast.

Laurie Cass: Thank you very much, Laura. I appreciate taking the time to, to interview me.

Laura: I am very excited to chat with you, so tell us a little about yourself.

I'm a basically a lifelong Michigander. I I lived in Connecticut for a very short while, but basically I lived in Michigan all my life. And these books are bookmobile cat books are kind of set in Northwest, lower Michigan, which is where I live now.

Laurie Cass: So it's definitely a. Yeah. place that I'm familiar with. I grew up in the eighties or went to college in the eighties got a degree in geology because I wanted to work outside. And now I've had an office job for, it was actually 40 years this year that I had, it's like, I looked around and it's like, ah, crap, I've had an office job for 40 years.

Laurie Cass: So much for that geology degree. But no, things have basically worked out for me and I started writing seriously. In 1998, I think I decided I was going to try and write a book. I remember exactly [00:01:00] the moment I decided I was actually going to do it. I was terrified. It's like, oh my God, how do I do this?

Laurie Cass: I don't know how to do this. My husband looks at me and he said well, just start writing. Oh, well, that's actually pretty good advice. So he's not a reader. So I write them faster than he reads them, but he he, he keeps me fed and watered while I write. So it all kind of works out.

Laurie Cass: So yeah, I started writing seriously in 1998. I think it was, my first one was awful. I think it was a romance or something. Then I wrote kind of a mystery, which made sense because I mostly read mysteries or certainly did at the time. And then six and a third books later in 11 years, I got my first publishing contract.

Laurie Cass: So,

Laura: Oh my gosh, that's awesome.

Laurie Cass: Yeah, so I'm a light bloomer and a slow learner, but but I got there. So, and that was my first series was PTA Mystery Series. Laura Alden was my pen name for that. And That was a five book series and then kind of in the middle there I came up with a bookmobile series and yeah, it's been running.

Laurie Cass: 12th book will be out next week and 13th will be out next year. So it's been

Laura: [00:02:00] along, giving you and Minnie a room for her money and her amateur SL So talk to us, a ville ville series. Talk about what to expect, what can we expect from the series about the amateur sleuth characters setting. You mentioned a little bit about the said in Michigan, Northern Michigan, but what other things we should expect as a bookmobile, which is actually a brilliant idea.

Laurie Cass: Yeah, I mean, it being in the cozy genre, it's see, nothing horrible happens to to small children. Nothing horrible happens to pets, of course. Typically only the bad people get killed, although not always. But there's, typically no, no bad language. They're very comforting reads.

Laurie Cass: The world comes to rights in the end. And particular books are, this is Northwest Lower Michigan. So on the mitten, it's up by your tip of your pinky kind of a thing, although it's not. Real it's kind of made up of a bunch of different parts of northwest lower Michigan. It kind of floats around kind of Brigadoon like I never really pinned it down.

Laurie Cass: I realized at 1. [00:03:00] 2. I never don't think I've really said where it is. Well, that works out good. So it's a kind of an amalgam of a bunch of different bits in different counties, but I do refer to real places, and I try to make it obvious when I do but yeah, the the actual physical library that I describe in this series is the actual library in Charlevoix, Michigan, which is a gorgeous library, and I actually did a A talk there a couple of years ago.

Laurie Cass: One of my, one of my books came out and I think it was crime that binds actually has that library on the cover. So they thought that was really cool that they got their library and the cover of a real book. So it was kind of fun, but yeah. So a lot of my, in my day job, I'm I work in the public sector.

Laurie Cass: So, and my. Previous to that, when I worked in the private sector, I was in the civil engineering and surveying field. So a lot of those kinds of jobs and knowledge make it into my books because that's what I happen to know. But it's yeah, they're just a lot of fun to write. And the, the cat stuff is always entertaining.

Laurie Cass: Eddie the cat, the main cat in the book, he's [00:04:00] the he's based on a real cat that, that we had for many years. He's gone out to his reward now, but he was, and I kind of leave it up to the reader to decide whether or not Eddie's actually helping solve the mysteries. Minnie doesn't think he, Minnie has no clue.

Laurie Cass: My main character, she has no idea that Eddie's trying to help her. If he is, I leave it up to the reader. So it's it's kind of a fun little thing.

Laura: I love this. And so we're actually, I was watching some little kayaking, but I know you love to row. So talk to us about this because we're in the Olympics, so we might as well just be like a big sport. That's a big.

Laurie Cass: Yeah, my husband and I, we live on we live on a lake a family property. We can't actually afford to live here because buying property like this is really expensive. So yeah, we're fortunate enough to live on a gorgeous lake and I try to get out rowing as much as I can.

Laurie Cass: It's being on the water, first thing in the morning when there's water, it's flat and sun's just come up and nobody else is out there. It's just, it's really nice. And it took me, I got my first skull, well, my only skull Eight years, 10 years ago now, something like [00:05:00] that.

Laurie Cass: And it took me like a full year being out in the water to figure out actually how to row straight. It's harder than you think.

Laura: I'm like, I am in awe. I'm like seriously in awe.

Laurie Cass: Oh, it's fun. It's like, I remember watching, you're probably too young to remember. There was a series called Kojak, I think Tully Savalas. And then there's a little bit on that, the intro, I don't know where he lived. I don't remember so long ago, Boston. Maybe? Anyway, and there's a scene at the very beginning of the intro to the TV show where he's rowing, and it's like That looks really fun.

Laurie Cass: So ever since then, I was probably 10 years old when I saw that. It's like, so I finally got the opportunity to try it. And it's like, yeah, that's just what I like to do. That's what I like to do. It's yeah, I never did it. I mean, it always looked fun. But it was when I went to college and. I guess I don't even know the school.

Laurie Cass: I went to Eastern Michigan. I don't know if they had a crew team or not. I wasn't, I guess that interested in it at that point. There probably was. But [00:06:00] I didn't get into it. So, so, yeah, it's late to it, but it's just that's pretty cool. And you can go really fast. Get going with rowing, it's the. Just the nature of the beast. It's they're faster than kayaks. Cause you could just that much more with a sliding seat, you can just go faster.

Laura: yeah. Oh my gosh. Thank you for indulging me in this conversation.

Laurie Cass: Oh yeah. It's

Laura: favorite sports kayak is the rapid kayaking in Olympic score where they have to go like this course and it goes back.

Laurie Cass: oh yeah.

Laura: It's a whole shebang. But I love watching crew, like watching the rowers, like, down the river and try to figure out, like, how they're going to make it to the end.

Laura: I'm like, this is fascinating. I know there's a lot of, especially when you're doing this team there's a whole lot of, like, you have to practice and understand you're all in the same place. Otherwise it messes up the whole thing, messes up,

Laurie Cass: Yeah. It's been, yeah. The eight man's the eights are, they're a thing of beauty to watch. I mean, they're so incredibly synchronized. [00:07:00] And when it clicks when they're all just moving in motion. Cause. Eight people doing the exact same thing, exact same time. That's a skill.

Laura: Good skill. So,

Laurie Cass: lot of practice to get that kind of the synchronicity going.

Laurie Cass: It's it's really cool to watch.

Laura: good job. All right. Let's talk about NoPod2StandOn, which is your release that's coming out next week. Talk to us about what can we expect, what's happening to Manny.

Laurie Cass: Oh, I actually have a copy of it right here. It's like, I gotta remember because I wrote this like a year and a half ago.

Laura: It's

Laurie Cass: Oh yeah, her her best friend runs a kind of fancy restaurant and she's got new babies, new twins. Her friend Kristen does, and there's a kind of an Poisoning at the restaurant.

Laurie Cass: And so the reputation is everything in restaurants. So Minnie decides she has to help Kristen because Kristen's kind of distracted with the infants. And so if someone's going to save the [00:08:00] restaurant, it's going to be Minnie. And then someone dies. Someone's poisoned the same way in a similar way as to the mild poisoning of the incident.

Laurie Cass: And so Minnie discovers that by. And she gets even deeper involved and yeah. And I believe this is the flip in here. Believe this is. Yes, this is the that many has been dating this man named Rafe for many books now. And this is the book where they actually get married.

Laura: Oh my God!

Laurie Cass: Yeah.

Laurie Cass: It's been coming for quite a

Laura: Yes.

Laurie Cass: And actually the first took a few books for her to get she, cause she's known Rafe since she was a little kid. And I remember the very first book I wrote, her love interest was someone else entirely. And my editor said, it's like, Oh, I bet she ends up with Rafe at the end.

Laurie Cass: I go, no, she won't.

Laura: Twelve books later,

Laurie Cass: I

Laura: and Mary.

Laurie Cass: yep. Editor. So it's like, no, that's not right. They're [00:09:00] just friends. It's like, nope.

Laura: Oh, I love this. You got friends who are lovers and the romance comes with tropes, so, I love this. Ah, so it's exciting as a payoff, but there are twelve books in the series. They can be mostly read as a standalone if

Laurie Cass: I try very hard. I mean the characters, I mean, you're not gonna know everything about the character, of course. But the plots absolutely stand alone. They don't hinge on anything. I kind of tell people it's like, yeah, you can read them from the beginning or you pick one up. It's it's getting to know a person.

Laurie Cass: You don't learn everything about them all at once. You learn it eventually. In each book, you learn a little bit more about, about the people. So, I tried very hard to make each book standalone.

Laura: All right. So I asked this question to most of my cozy mystery authors, and it is, what's a favorite way to kill a character? Because that's your business. You have to kill them in some way. You can poison them, you can bludgeon, you can actually, like, shoot them, or they can just die in an accident, or [00:10:00] whatever it is.

Laura: But what's your favorite way to kill a character?

Laurie Cass: It's kind of funny. Yeah I, I. Don't think too much about that. It kind of grows out of the, well, okay, when I'm writing my books, I start with the time of year,

Laura: Okay.

Laurie Cass: Because I'm in northwest lower Michigan. It's cold here a lot. And when it's summer, there's a lot of people around because of all the tourists or population.

Laurie Cass: At least triples in the summer, if not more, on the weekends. And and so a lot of what happens who gets killed and why they get killed matters a lot because of time of year. It's like one, for instance, one book I had, someone died during maple syrup season, which is in March and April. So that methodology would be way different.

Laurie Cass: I guess I don't even remember how that person died, come to think of it, because that was like, eight books ago. But so some, the methodology depends on time of year, who it is, what the situation is. I've, I think I've had multiple car accidents. I had the one [00:11:00] poisoning. Boy, I don't even remember. I think I had a drowning or two.

Laurie Cass: Yes, I had a couple of drownings. One was,

Laura: more methodical, you're more methodical about like, the scene of the crime, like what it said the scene, like, let's figure out, let's go backwards. So it's like, understand like where it's happening, what's happening to the character, who is it going to be killed, and then what makes that character

Laurie Cass: Yeah, it's more the less about the method, more the how and the why and the where I think I've had a couple of people being shot. My, the one I'm writing right now, she was the victim was actually shot with a bow and arrow because, well, it was bow season for for deer hunting. So was it an accident or was it a murder?

Laura: I don't know. It's

Laurie Cass: kind of, I mean, I guess I had that with a rifle a few number of books ago, but it was so long ago. I don't, it's like, I know some people get concerned. It's like, well, I already killed somebody that way. And it's like, yeah. And it's

Laura: that. You can do a little tweak around it.

Laurie Cass: yeah, it's, it was books ago and people get killed. I don't feel the [00:12:00] need to be creative, I guess, with my killing methodologies, because it's it's not, to me, it's not that much a part of the book. And for some people it is. The methodology can actually And it might lead a lot, add a lot to the plot itself, but my brain just doesn't work that way.

Laura: Awesome. So let's talk some word recommendations. Do you have any books to recommend or listen to or something about?

Laurie Cass: Lots of books. So many books. So many books. Looking around.

Laura: Well, you

Laurie Cass: I mean, I guess I think more in terms of authors than titles gets I know he was sticking with cozy's there's so many good ones, Krista Davis, a friend of mine. She, very popular the Diva series and the WAGs and

Laura: and the, it's the coloring.

Laurie Cass: Oh, yeah, and the color one too. Yeah, she's 100 percent full series and Daryl Wood Gerber, she's also great series Sophie Kelly lots of good stuff Laura Childs [00:13:00] so many so many good writers out there and but it's outside of cozy's stigma. There's so many what was I just reading?

Laurie Cass: Oh Karen Slaughter. Anything by her. Oh my gosh, she's so good. I saw a she gave a lecture in Traverse City Town

Laura: Yeah. Yeah.

Laurie Cass: A few years ago and talked and saw the lecture and got . It's like, okay, Karen, this question here, because I did a Q and a and I said, it's like, okay, I just picked up and I don't remember which book it was.

Laurie Cass: I think it was Cop Town. And. The very first scene, and I had no idea if it was going to be a recurring character or not, but the character was so, there was so much depth to the character that she conveys it in like , two paragraphs. I don't know how she does it. She's amazing. Just really knows her characters inside and out.

Laurie Cass: And so I kind of asked her, do you, does it just come to you? Do you do kind of character sketches? What do you do? She goes, I just, right. It's like, Okay, all right. You don't know how you do it. Perfect.[00:14:00]

Laura: Yeah. Yeah, I got to talk to Karen three or four years ago, like I think it was your pandemic, I was in a different apartment and she was like, it was a delight to talk to her, but like, not just like the amount of death that she does, but same time she, it's like, you can't, you can replicate that.

Laura: Like,

Laurie Cass: she's amazing. And Laurie King, I'll read anything by her. I think she's amazing too. There's so many, and it was the What was I reading recently? I think I said it in the thingy, the, oh Robin McKinley writes fantasy type stuff. And I reread that Spindle's End for the first time.

Laurie Cass: Advantage of getting older is I remembered hardly any of it. It's like, I mean, no, I read this cause I bought it. I remembered very little of it, but she's incredible world building. And it's like, I wish I could do that. I just don't do that description. It's like, I tend to. I, when I'm writing, it's almost like a movie playing in my head.

Laurie Cass: And so it's just kind of moving along with what the character does. I don't really stick in [00:15:00] one place very long to really, it's like, I have no idea what kind of car Minnie drives. It's a sedan. I don't think I've even ever said what color it was because part of that's intentional because that would mean I would have to write it down and remember it from book to book.

Laurie Cass: That's a problem for me. Some people are really good at doing that. Me, not so much. I had somebody, a reader, because every once in a while, Minnie goes and gets, pizza or a sub at the Fatboy's Sub Shop there. And apparently, I've said in multiple books what Minnie's favorite pizza was.

Laura: Oh,

Laurie Cass: And some reader called me out and said, it's like, well, this book, it was this kind, and this book, it was that

Laura: she has multiple, she's in

Laurie Cass: And that's what I said. It's like, well, maybe alternate her favorite kind. And she goes, well, no, but she goes back to the other kind of the next book. I'm just like, I don't know.

Laurie Cass: The author couldn't remember.

Laura: it's just a different kind of pie, like, different multitudes of bugs. It's all good. So,

Laurie Cass: it was funny. It was funny. It's like the, I don't know. The author just didn't remember. It's she didn't want to look. [00:16:00] He.

Laura: you're doing 12 bugs, like, it's a lot of details to keep

Laurie Cass: Yes, I have the manuscript I'm working on right now. It's due the end of August and luckily there's an automatic 3D extension because I'm not done yet. But where was I going with this? I don't remember.

Laura: It's all the details.

Laurie Cass: Yeah. Oh yeah. When I'm writing, it's like, I don't want to interrupt my, thank you for caught me there, the the flow of writing, I don't want to interrupt, because I only, I can write typically in like, I have like 10 minutes here, 20 minutes here, 10 minutes here, so I don't want to stop the kind of flow when I'm doing first draft stuff, so I just write XX.

Laurie Cass: For it's like XX, which means something I have to look up and so I'll just come back later and fill that in with something from another book or something for another part of the manuscript. I'll, I just have to check it out later. And I was looking at it the other day. Because I compile it all. And after doing the dailies, and it's like, [00:17:00] wow, this thing is just riddled with XXs is good.

Laura: It's gonna be, like, a

Laurie Cass: party, because I'm writing number 13 now, it's like, there's a lot of books to, so I sometimes I cheat and I intentionally write vague. It's like many, it's like, she'll wonder, it's like, was that bad or that? And that in, and that way, if I cheat. Writing like that. I don't have to look it up.

Laura: yeah.

Laurie Cass: So lazy. Yeah. Yes.

Laura: I think it gets you, it keeps it moving. It's not so bogged down by the detail. It's like, it's detailed, done, broken, then perfect. Like, you don't have to do perfectionism. You can just do it, just done. It keeps you going. It keeps the story moving forward. Because at the same time, people evolve, like, things change.

Laura: Like, I don't know about you, but I have hyperfixation about the most random shit. So, like, food is one of those. Like, I love something right now, and then I'm going to eat it so many times, that then I don't want to eat it ever again. [00:18:00] And I've been this way for 40 years. Like, it just changes. Like, what I liked, like, five books ago is very different from what I like now.

Laura: Like, so, so it is all good. It's just laid down. Like, your characters are long, it's done better than perfect. It's just getting you to where you need to go. That's the life. Yes. Lori, tell us where we can find you online. Okay.

Laurie Cass: are on Amazon. Barnes and Noble pretty much everywhere. I actually don't have a website right now, but I fairly active on Facebook. So the Lori Cass Facebook page,

Laura: Lori, thank you so much for being on the show.

Laurie Cass: Sure. Well, I appreciate the the insight.