Welcome to Canadian mystery writer, Samara Yew! I'm so excited to find out more about her and her books!
Samara Yew is the author of the Rose Shore Mysteries (under
the name Holly Yew) and the California Bookshop Mysteries. A full-time mom,
full-time dog servant, and part-time writer, Samara lives in British Columbia,
Canada, where she can often be found watching Psych reruns.
Samara loves to travel, especially visiting her husband’s home country of
Singapore or donning Mickey ears in Disneyland. She’s a member of Sisters in
Crime and International Thriller Writers.
Websites and Socials:
samarayew.com
hollyyew.com
Facebook: @samara.yew.books
Instagram: @samara.yew.author
Newsletter: hollyyew.com/newsletter
What would you say are
your strengths as an author?
Well, my strengths are apparently not answering interview
questions because I’ve been staring at this question for a long time now.
I would say a strength of mine is creating well-rounded and
interesting characters in my novels, especially writing about strong
friendships and women supporting one another.
How
often do you write, and do you write using a strict routine?
I’m a mom to a two-year-old, so I write
when the baby writes. Isn’t that how the saying goes?
I get up to write an hour before my kiddo
typically gets up, and then I write during his nap in the afternoons (which
seems to be getting shorter and shorter each day.) I sometimes write in the
evenings, usually only when I’m on a deadline, but I try to avoid doing so too
often to evade burnout. Besides, when else would I watch Downton Abbey for the 47th time if I didn’t have my
evenings?
Five years from now,
where do you see yourself as a writer?
I would love to see both the Rose Shore
Mysteries and the California Bookshop Mysteries continue to grow, but I would
also like to step outside the cozy mystery genre. I’ve had something historical
floating around in the back of my mind for a while now. Maybe in five years,
I’ll actually have made some headway with that.
If you could offer one
piece of advice to a novice writer, what would it be?
To make connections with other authors because they are the best
cheerleaders for writing a book! Social media and writing groups are great ways
to do this. I’m a member of the writing organization Sisters in Crime, and not
only is it a wonderful place to discover other mystery authors, but it also has
a lot of educational benefits such as their free webinars. These webinars offer
tips on everything from craft to marketing.
What would you consider
to be the best compliment a reader could give your book?
If a reader shared my books with a fellow bookworm and said, “hey,
I think you’d love this book,” that would be an amazing compliment. But I think
my favorite praise from a Netgalley reviewer for Murder by the Seashore is “OHHHH. The twists kept coming and I
couldn’t put it down!” I love this because I worked very hard to include all
those twists, and I love that readers are enjoying them!
What are you working on
now?
I am currently waiting for Book 2 of the Rose Shore Mysteries to
be edited with my publisher, and while I wait, I’m typing in the final touches
for Book 3 as well as working on Book 2 of the California Bookshop Mysteries.
PAINT ME A CRIME
Art curator Jessamine Rhodes has left behind her gig at a
prominent gallery in the city to open her own community art center in the small
town of Rose Shore. She’s all set to host an extravagant opening watercolors
class and has even booked a famous artist to teach it. Gabriella Everhart
brings along her priceless painting Tranquil to showcase as the centerpiece of
the event.
The opening class is just wrapping up when suddenly Tranquil
disappears before Jessamine’s eyes. Next, the lights of the art center flicker
out and leave the crowd in complete darkness as a scream pierces the air. To
her horror, Jessamine’s flashlight reveals that prestigious art collector Victor
Carlisle has been murdered, and now her dreams are as shattered as the champagne
glass found near the scene.
Determined to save her now teetering reputation, Jessamine sets
out to search for answers and the missing painting on her own. She has invested
everything into her art center and is too anxious to step back and do nothing.
Along the way, she teams up with a handsome paramedic who seems to have his own
reasons for wanting justice for Victor’s tragedy.
Buy links: www.amazon.com/dp/B0BWPVHLSB (US)
www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BWPVHLSB (Canada)
MURDER BY THE SEASHORE
Southern California is where dreams come true—or so Scarlett
Gardner thought. When she moved there and opened the Palm Trees and Page
Turners bookshop, she thought her boyfriend and business partner would be part
of the story. When he leaves her for a better job, Scarlett finds herself
struggling to keep her new business afloat. That’s not the only thing she has
to worry about—she discovers something underneath the pier by her bookshop that
she didn’t outline for her life’s story: the dead body of a book-buying
customer.
After Scarlett gives a statement to the police, she thinks her
life can go back to business as usual. But when a lawyer, representing someone
named Lorelai Knight, tells Scarlett that she now stands to inherit a small
fortune, she’s left with more questions than answers. Before she can make sense
of any of it, the police bring her in for questioning; the body she found was
Lorelai Knight. And the evidence they have against Scarlett doesn’t look good.
Business is booming as Scarlett returns to Palm Trees and Page Turners, but for
all the wrong reasons – curious tourists don’t want books, they want a glimpse
of the Bookshop Killer.
Who could really be behind all of this? And why frame Scarlett? To
clear her name, she’s going to have get creative—and hope she can remain one
page ahead of the killer.
Buy links: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/729839/murder-by-the-seashore-by-samara-yew/ (US)
www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/729839/murder-by-the-seashore-by-samara-yew/9781639104932 (Canada)
Thank you for joining me! Happy Sales!
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