Books-n-Kisses is pleased to welcome Larissa Reinhart to the blog today

Larissa, can you please share with us a little about yourself.

Thanks so much for having me on Books-n-Kisses! What an adorable blog!

I’m a stay-at-home mom who took 20 years off from writing and found it again after my daughters went to school full time. Before we adopted my girls, I taught high school history in Georgia and Missouri and taught English in Japan.

Have you always wanted to be an author?

I did as a young girl and even sold my self-made books and magazines to neighbors. I won a national writing contest in fourth or fifth grade and by high school had a column on our local newspaper. Although I loved my creative writing class in college, I felt really intimidated by what I couldn’t write, so gave up and went into teaching.

Can you share with us your typical writing day.  Is there anything you have to have while writing?

During the school year, I write while my daughters are in school and try to get more writing in while they’re doing homework or at their activities. In the summer, my schedule is really thrown off. I still haven’t gotten my writing groove and probably won’t until they go back to school. My editor lets me set my deadlines, so I purposefully set them just before breaks start.

Most challenging or rewarding part of writing?

Getting into that groove when the words flow fast and loose!

Can you please tell us about your latest book?

Cherry Tucker’s in a stew. Art commissions dried up after her nemesis became president of the County Arts Council. Desperate and broke, Cherry and her friend, Eloise, spend a sultry summer weekend hawking their art at the Sidewinder Annual Brunswick Stew Cook-Off. When a bad case of food poisoning breaks out and Eloise dies, the police brush off her death as accidental. However, Cherry suspects someone spiked the stew and killed her friend. As Cherry calls on cook-off competitors, bitter rivals, and crooked judges, her cop boyfriend get steamed while the killer prepares to cook Cherry’s goose.

How did you come with the idea for this story?

The second time we lived in Japan, there was a huge news story about a poisoning at a festival. That story really stayed with me and as soon as I started writing the Cherry Tucker Mystery series, I knew I wanted to do a story about a festival poisoning.

Can you share with us your current work in progress?

I’ve got two Cherry Tucker Mysteries coming out this fall that are currently in red-line edit mode. HIJACK IN ABSTRACT releases November fifth. When Cherry’s Uncle Will, the county sheriff, calls her in to sketch a composite of a hijacker, she finds herself involved in a related murder while trying to save her local reputation after the town labels her a “pervert artist” for some classical nudes bought by a Buckhead lawyer.

On December ninth, “Quick Sketch,” a novella in the mystery anthology THE HEARTACHE MOTEL, comes out. QUICK SKETCH is a prequel to PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY with Todd and Cherry on their way to Vegas where we know the ill-fated wedding occurs. They stop at the Heartache Motel, a sleazy dump filled with Elvis kitsch and drag queens, in order to help Todd’s cousin who’s fallen victim to a poker scam.

I’m also working on a story set in Japan with Aggie, a young woman from Georgia, whose roommate has disappeared with all Aggie’s money. Aggie gets involved with a host of quirky characters to solve the disappearance. I’m enjoying revisiting Japan through my imagination!

Who are some of your favorite authors?

Carl Hiaasen, Jasper Fforde, Meg Cabot, Jennifer Crusie, Sharyn McCrumb, and P.G. Wodehouse. Actually there’s about one hundred more I could name. Listing your favorite authors is like trying to name your favorite child.

Do you feel that any of your favorite authors have inspired your writing style?

I think reading a variety of authors and genres for more than twenty years has had a melting pot influence on my writing style.

Open your book to a random page and tell us what’s happening.

I flipped to page 30.

“Of course they want you to look into it. You like to stand up for people like the Parkers. You got a talent for telling the big folks how the cow eats the cabbage.”

A trickle of sweat dripped off his chest and smeared my face. I rubbed the wetness from my cheeks and pulled my head away. Looking up, I saw Todd’s eyes darken. A familiar feeling washed over me. A feeling I once had in Vegas. Just before Todd snookered me into marrying him for a couple of hours.

Hindsight has taught me it’s wiser, as well as cheaper, to avoid those particular feelings.

I hopped back, but Todd’s hands lingered on my shoulders before sliding down my arms.

“Are you all right, Cherry?”

I swallowed the tightness in my throat and folded my arms across my chest. “Of course I am.” I scanned Todd before returning my gaze to the pony rides. “Since we’re done here, would it suit you to walk around for a minute? I want to check out those cook-off booths, especially where Eloise ate.”

“Sure.” He made two long strides toward the food booths be- fore glancing over his shoulder. “You coming?”

That’s what I always liked about Todd. He’s so agreeable. And loyal. Like I said, the Labrador of ex-boyfriends.

“You think you want to make yourself decent first?” I asked.

He glanced down at his bared chest. Leaning over into his favorite muscleman pose, he brought his fists together and flexed his shoulders and arms. He continued with a series of poses, ending with an upraised arm bicep flex. The evening sun streaked his glistening body in gold and amber. Stick Todd in the English countryside instead of rural Georgia, and John Constable would have loved to catch that light effect in one of his landscape paintings (if Constable had considered Guns of Steel at Sunset a worthy subject).

“You don’t think the concessions want to see my pipes?” He grinned, striking another pose.

“I think,” I swallowed and folded my arms over my thumping chest, “they’ve got enough distractions today.”

 What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?

I love Darynda Jones’s Charley Davidson series. I’ve only read the first three books, so I’m dying to read number four and waiting for number five.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Thanks so much for having me on Books-n-Kisses! It’s been such a pleasure!

Website | Facebook page | Goodreads author page | Twitter

*****

Still Life in Brunswick Stew

A Cherry Tucker Mystery #2

TOUR GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

Larissa is giving away a $20 Visa card and an e-book of Portrait of a Dead Guy (the first in the series) to one lucky winner at the end of the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Larissa Reinhart’s STILL LIFE Blog Tour Schedule

June 10-23

 6/10- Mad Hatter Reads (interview and review): http://madhatterreads.blogspot.com/

 6/11- United by Books (interview): http://unitedbybooks.blogspot.com/

 6/12- The Jeep Diva  (interview): http://thejeepdiva.com/

 6/13- Literal Addiction  (spotlight or guest post): http://www.literaladdiction.com/

 6/14- Books-n-Kisses  (interview): https://books-n-kisses.com

 6/16 – My Book Addiction  (interview): http://mybookaddiction.com/

 6/17- The Reading Cafe (evening review of Book 1): http://thereadingcafe.com/

 6/18- The Reading Cafe – Series Spotlight & review):http://thereadingcafe.com/

 6/19- Book Monster Reviews: http://www.bookmonsterreviews.com/

 6/20- Froggarita’s Bookcase  (interview): http://www.froggaritasbookcase.com/

6/21- Bianca2b : http://bianca2b.wordpress.com/

6/23- Love In A Book: http://www.loveinabook.com/