I'm excited this month to be able to share an interview I did with my friend and author Kimila Kay. We met years ago when she moved to my area and was looking for another writer to talk shop with. Then she moved away but we've kept in touch over the years and see each other often and book events put on by a group we both belong to. NIWA (Northwest Independent Writers Association).
Her cross-cultural series, Mexico Mayhem, includes “Peril in Paradise”, “Malice in Mazatlán” and “Vanished in Vallarta.” Still planned for the series are “Chaos in Cabo” (Fall/2024), “Lost in Loreto” and “Fiasco in Peñasco.”
The Stoneybrook
Mysteries series includes “Redneck Ranch”, “Five Golden Rings”, “Whispering
Willows”, and “Willow’s Woods”. “Rattlesnake Ravine will be available in spring
of 2025 and “Fatal Falls” is planned for summer of 2025.
Paty: Why do you write Romantic Suspense?
Kimila: Because my creative brain is dark and twisty. Also, I may watch too many true crime shows. Realty is definitely stranger than fiction!
Paty: That is true about reality being stranger than fiction! let's talk about the romance in your books. Your Stoneybrook Mystery series has an ongoing romance between the sheriff and Harley Harper. When you began this series, did you plan on the romance being a thread throughout the series?
Kimila: Yes. I actually dreamed the scene where Harley is thrown from her horse and Wyatt, the sheriff finds her stranded after her horse runs off. My novel, “Redneck Ranch” is my first attempt at an ongoing romance thread. I’ve always thought I was better at writing chance encounters between my characters. Writing Wyatt and Harley’s love story so far has been a wonderful experience.
Paty: Of course, the first book, Redneck Ranch, introduces us to Wyatt, Harley, and the secondary characters and animals. How did you come up with the fictional town of Stoneybrook?
Kimila: Every summer my husband, Randy, and I attend a country music festival in Sweet Home, Oregon. One year during the festival some of my young friends referred to us as “The Stoneybrooks”. When I questioned them about the moniker, they explained that there was a retirement center in the area called Stoneybrook. I decided to combine the fun moniker, my love for Sweet Home, and the fact that I grew up in a small town on a dairy farm to create the town of Stoneybrook.
Paty: I love how you draw so much from your life and use it in your books. Having read your books in this series, I noticed you keep more than one thread of ongoing plots. Was that something that you purposefully wrote or just a lucky coincidence?
Kimila: Having two or more threads was intentional. I hoped solving one crime would give my readers a sense of satisfaction and that introducing a new crime to carry over to the next book would keep them reading!
Paty: I think that's a clever idea to keep the readers coming back to your books. Willow's Woods, how did the plot idea for this book come to you?
Kimila: As I mentioned before, I like true crime shows and keep a notebook of ideas from some of the shows I’ve seen. The plot for this book came from asking the question … “How would a small-town sheriff handle the return of a serial killer?” The second crime in “Redneck Ranch” is actually from a story I wrote twenty years ago when I first started writing.
Paty: Notebooks full of thoughts and ideas are a writer's best friend. I a have a few of those. Do you have a favorite recurring character in the Stoneybrook mysteries?
Kimila: My son, Derrick, who was autistic, died suddenly seven years ago. Derrick always wanted to be in law enforcement or in the military, so I decided to create an autistic deputy sheriff who always solves the crime. Keeping Derrick’s memory alive in the Stoneybrook series brings me peace and joy.
Paty: I think it's wonderful you can bring your son into your stories and keep him in your life. Who are some of the authors you read who write this subgenre of romance?
Kimila: I love James Patterson and his “Women’s Murder Club” series. I also loved the Richard Castle books, who were actually written by screenwriter, Tom Straw. And I want to give a shoutout to my friend, Phillip Margolin, a Portland author who might be as dark and twisty as me. I’ve read almost all his books.
Paty: I'll have to admit, I have not read the Castle books, but I've watched the TV show three times. I have it on dvd. Just for fun – Tell us what is your favorite thing to do besides writing and reading, because we know that’s a given.
Kimila: I love going to Mexico and discovering as much as I can about the country, the people, and their culture. I love music, especially country music! Every chance we get, Randy and I attend country music festivals and concerts. I also love camping and going to our fishing cabin, which of course has a special place to write, on the Siletz River near the Oregon coast.
Paty: That sounds wonderful. I've been trying to get my hubby out camping more now that we have a used camper. You can learn more about Kimila through her blog
posts on her website - KimilaKay.com, Ladies of Mystery - ladiesofmystery.com,
and Windtree Press - windtreepress.com.
Harley Harper finds her leisurely lifestyle disrupted when her beloved creatures are threatened by illness and an outside predator. And Harley learns the cougar stalking her ranch isn’t the only predator she has to deal with when Wyatt’s ex makes a surprise appearance in Stoneybrook. While she struggles to understand what Ava’s return might mean for herself and Wyatt, Harley is blindsided with a new admirer.
3 comments:
Nic interview, Kimila and Paty! Sounds like your series is a great way to tour Mexico virtually!
Love this interview, Kimila and Paty. Fun story about "Stoneybrook" becoming your series name, Kimila. I may be weird but I think I'd rather be stalked by a cougar than a serial killer! However, my first preference would be "none of the above".
It's always, not only fun, but educational to hear how an author comes up with a story and what in their life adds that personal touch to a character from the author's experience. Very interesting!
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