Interview with mystery author Christine Duncan

Our guest author this week is Christine Duncan, author of the mystery Safe Beginnings, which involving a battered women’s shelter.

SUITE: Tell me a little about your book. What Genre?

CHRISTINE: My book Safe Beginnings is an e-mystery set in a battered woman's shelter. The fire alarm goes off in the middle of the night, and the counselor, Kaye Berreano, rushes to evacuate her residents. But it’s already too late. MaryEllen, the newest resident is dead and then the mystery begins. Of course, the fire investigators come out. And one of them, Farrell, is sure that Kaye knows more than she is telling. The shelter has to be evacuated not only for the investigation but for the safety of the residents. And Kaye is devastated. She knows nothing about who set the fire, but she's broke and in the middle of a divorce and now her job is disappearing under her and she's more than a little mad about the questions being raised. What did Farrell mean when he asked if Mary Ellen start the fire? What if it's the husband of one of the residents? What if it's the minister who took MaryEllen to the safe house? He's a real fanatic who really disapproved of a wife leaving her husband. Kaye is compelled to find out.

SUITE: When did you first start writing?

CHRISTINE: I first started writing when I was about eight, hiding out in the woods behind our house, instead of playing with the kids across the street, the way my little brother did. I wrote poems, anguished diary entries, and short stories. I don't know how good any of it was but I know for sure it expressed all of the hundreds of emotions that kids run through. My mother knew I was writing and she was not unsupportive but she made it clear she wanted me to find a job that paid. Just that in itself was enough for me to take my writing underground. The message was clear. Real people got jobs. I didn't publish a thing until years later, when I went to work for a Christian publisher of Sunday School papers. They gave me a chance to write a little in between other duties and I finally admitted to myself that was what I really wanted to do.

SUITE: Do you have a day job?

CHRISTINE: Yes, of course. I'm a real person. I work for my husband as a bookkeeper for his steel detailing business.

Go To Page: 1 2 3 4