SUITE: Please tell me a little about your two series, and why you chose to write these particular characters
JOAN: When my agent suggested I take a shot at a mystery series, I naturally decided to set it in a college town not unlike Fayetteville, AR. I utilized landmarks that are familiar to local residents because, well, it was easier. In the first novel, Claire Malloy was approximately my age. I gave her a bookstore because one of my fantasies involves owning one. I made her a widow, although at the time I supposedly was happily married. I chose Caron, her daughter, as a counterfoil because I'd come across very few teenagers in mystery fiction. After I'd written two in that series, my editor suggested a rural Arkansas background. I roamed the county, interviewing cops and talking to people until Maggody took form. Having discovered how tricky it can be to involve an amateur sleuth in official police investigations, I gave Arly the job of chief of police. I wanted her to have an outsider's view of the peculiar dynamics of a small town, so she's lived elsewhere, including Manhattan, and sees things with a somewhat jaded eye.
SUITE: When did you first start writing? First start publishing?(short stories, books,etc)
JOAN: I began writing in the early 1980s, when a friend persuaded me to try to write romance novels. I discovered that I loved writing fiction. However, since I pretty much refused to actually read romance novels, I had what might be considered a rather limited grasp of the genre. After cranking out ten unpublishable novels, I tried mystery fiction and never looked back. The first Claire Malloy, replete with a murdered romance writer, was published in 1986 (a few months prior to the divorce, coincidentally). My first short story, which sold to Ellery Queen Magazine around 1988, was written as a lark (as well it should have been, since I was paid something in the range of $110) to take another cheap shot at a successful romance writer.
SUITE: Why do you write? Why mysteries?
JOAN: I wish I could claim some lofty reason for writing, such as a spiritual compulsion to be a teller of myths or something, but I write because I enjoy the process. If I didn't get paid, I probably wouldn't write any more novels and instead indulge myself with oddball short stories.
