Escape With A Writer: Kassandra Lamb talks about One Flew Over the Chow-Chow's Nest

Sunday, September 5, 2021

Kassandra Lamb talks about One Flew Over the Chow-Chow's Nest

Welcome to mystery author, Kassandra Lamb!

In her youth, Kassandra Lamb had two great passions—psychology and writing. Advised that writers need day jobs—and being partial to eating—she studied psychology. Her career as a psychotherapist and college professor taught her much about the dark side of human nature, but also much about resilience, perseverance, and the healing power of laughter. Now retired, she spends most of her time in an alternate universe populated by her fictional characters. The portal to this universe (aka her computer) is located in North Central Florida where her husband and dog catch occasional glimpses of her.

WEBSITE: https://kassandralamb.com

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/KassandraLamb

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/kassandralambauthor

PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com/kassandralamb/

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/kasslamb/

BOOKBUB PROFILE: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kassandra-lamb

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: http://www.amazon.com/Kassandra-Lamb/e/B006NB5WAI/

Do your characters come before or after your plot?

Definitely before. I’m a panster, as in I write by the seat of my pants. So I start with a main character. Maybe I have a sidekick and/or a love interest in mind, and a few major plot points. Then I start writing and watch the story unfold.

How do you choose a villain and how do you make them human?

Narcissists and psychopaths make the best villains normally, and greedy people. I don’t tend to dig real, real deep into my villains’ character in most of my stories. But sometimes I do, with a fairly complicated back story. Making them human is the hardest part for me, especially making them not too obvious. They need to look like nice people, until you realize they’re not.

Do your reading choices reflect your writing choices?

More the other way around. Many years ago, I stopped reading anything but mysteries. In my younger years, I’d read romance and family sagas and historical fiction as well. But at some point, I got hooked on the puzzles in mysteries. And in a good mystery, the challenges of the situation bring out the main character’s flaws and strengths and force them to grow.

So when I started writing, there was no doubt that I would write mysteries. I’ve tried my hand some with romantic suspense (under the pen name of Jessica Dale), but I find the romance much harder to write than the suspense.

Which type of characters are your favorite to write?

Strong, independent women with trust issues. The events that have made them strong and independent have also left some emotional scar tissue.

In my Marcia Banks and Buddy cozy mystery series, the main character trains service dogs for military veterans with PTSD. She has moved to Florida for a fresh start after the end of a disastrous marriage, and when she finds herself attracted to the local sheriff, it scares the bejeesus out of her. During the course of the series, she struggles with her anxiety about commitment and her ambivalence about having children.

What are you working on now?

I’ve got two projects going at the moment. One is Book 12, the next-to-the-last story in the Marcia Banks and Buddy series. I’m having so much fun writing that series that it’s really hard to let it go, but it’s almost time.

The other project is Book 1 in a police procedural series. The main character, Judith Anderson, was a secondary character, a police detective, in my first series, the Kate Huntington Mysteries. I’m moving her to Florida and making her the Chief of Police in a small fictitious city.

What sort of research do you do for your work?

There are so many little things to check on as one writes a story. In mysteries, in particular, you need to make sure the murder methods are accurate. God bless the Internet! I’ve learned more than I really wanted to know about guns and poisons and such.

But I’ve researched some other crazy things as well, like how to get out of a straightjacket and how to build a secret room in an existing house (both for Book 7 in my Kate series, Fatal Forty-Eight). And for the last Marcia and Buddy book, One Flew Over the Chow-Chow’s Nest, I had to explore the workings of small private airports, which was great fun. I actually went to a local small airport.

ONE FLEW OVER THE CHOW-CHOW'S NEST

The latest release in the Marcia Banks and Buddy series, Book 11

The world moves toward normal, but Marcia’s life is rarely “normal”…

Newly vaccinated, Marcia Banks can finally schedule the human phase of training with her Air Force pilot client—the soon-to-be owner of a Chow-Husky service dog named Bear. But when she calls to set things up, she’s informed that the veteran has been in a private psychiatric hospital for months, with no one allowed to visit due to Covid.

Marcia puts out feelers to find out what is going on, and suddenly he is discharged…only to have his private plane crash in a fiery ball two days later. Convinced this is no coincidence, Marcia attempts to find out how her veteran client became the target of a murderer.

What she uncovers looks suspiciously like a scheme to defraud the Veterans’ Administration. But who’s behind it, and did they sabotage her client’s plane? Or did the saboteur have a more personal motive?

And just how determined are they to silence Marcia?

(Note: This story occurs during the end of the pandemic, but it focuses on the optimism and relief of the spring of 2021 in the U.S.)

LANDING PAGE on website (with all links and preview): https://kassandralamb.com/books/6893/

BUY LINKS:

AMAZON US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094SWRH25

APPLE US: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1567284573

AMAZON: smarturl.it/ChowChowNest

APPLE: smarturl.it/AppleChowChow

KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/one-flew-over-the-chow-chow-s-nest

NOOK: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/one-flew-over-the-chow-chows-nest-kassandra-lamb/1139454878

GOOGLE PLAY: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=1RYuEAAAQBAJ