Three Questions and a Cover — a short interview with one of my favorite authors, along with one of the author’s covers.
Leigh Perry takes the old adage “Write what you know” to its illogical extreme. Having been born with a skeleton, and with most of her bones still intact, she was inspired to create Sid and write the Family Skeleton Mysteries. The Skeleton Stuffs a Stocking is the sixth in the series. As Toni L.P. Kelner, she’s published eleven novels and a number of short stories and coedited seven anthologies with New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris. She’s won an Agatha Award and an RT Booklovers Career Achievement Award and has been nominated for the Anthony, the Macavity, and the Derringer awards. Leigh lives north of Boston with her husband, fellow author Stephen P. Kelner. They have two daughters, a guinea pig, and an ever-increasing number of books. You can visit Leigh online at LeighPerryAuthor.com or Toni at www.tonilpkelner.com.
1. Tell us something about Skeleton Stuffs a Stocking that you’ve never shared before.
Any writer can tell you how research leads you don’t some strange corridors, and it’s never the stuff you expect to surprise you.
One of the characters in The Skeleton Stuffs a Stocking is an artist who specializes in painting carnival rides, especially carousels. As a carousel fan myself, I knew a little about what goes into their restoration, and the internet led me to interesting stuff about fairground art—good and bad—and articles about companies that specialize in designing rides. I just wasn’t finding out anything about who actually paints maintains the rides, giving them fresh paint and changing a dark ride’s style from “haunted cemetery” to “haunted hospital” to “walking zombies” as styles change. So I figured I’d go to the source, and sent an email to an actual carnival. This is where it got odd.
I got an response from somebody at the show, and that person agreed to answer my questions but only if I agreed to never mention the name of the show in my book. Since the person was doing me a favor, I didn’t question it, but I do wonder why it was such a big secret.
One of my more unusual research stories…
2. Do you have unfinished manuscripts stuck in a drawer, or do you tend to complete everything you start?
So many unfinished manuscripts, and even one completed novel. At least, I thought it was complete many years ago—if I were ever to pull it out, I would do a major overhaul.
But I never say never. My Family Skeletons series originated with maybe five pages of text and notes and sat on my computer for a decade before I submitted and sold it. And last year, I reworked a short story that had been stuffed in a drawer for at least that long and sold it to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. (It’s in the May-June 2020 issue.)
3. What turned out to be the most useful piece of advice given to you before your first book was published?
You know, it’s hard to remember that far back, in those days of self-addressed stamped envelopes, and even earlier, carbon copies with actual carbon paper. But I remember being advised not to put all my eggs in one basket. While you’re trying to sell one manuscript, go ahead and work on the next. If the first one sells, great, but if not, you’re ready to move on.