Recently I completed a fun cozy mystery called AT Witt’s End.  Author Beth Solheim is a fellow Minnesotan and the creator of Reading Minnesota, an online publication where Minnesota authors connect.   I am excited to chat with her today about her book and what’s coming next.  Please welcome, Beth Solheim.

Hi Beth!  It’s wonderful to have you here!  How do you take your coffee?

Beth:  I’m actually a die-hard tea drinker and dip a tea bag or two with my coffee friends. Earl Grey, green teas, or once in a while a good caffeine-kick tea are what I prefer.

Good to know!  I like tea as well.  Beth, you and I first started chatting over an article for Reading Minnesota.  This is a pretty cool blog that I frequent often.  Please share a little about what this blog is and what your role is in it.

Beth:  My Reading Minnesota Blog http://readingminnesota.blogspot.com came about when I picked up a Seattle newspaper and read an article on a blog that featured Washington authors in various genres.  That led to developing my Reading Minnesota Blog. I also thought it would be important to feature other venues in the literary process. I started with Minnesota authors and then added publishers, interviewers, illustrators, and bookstores. In the near future I’d like to add Minnesota libraries that are hosting special events. I maintain this blog on my own with contributions from lots of talented Minnesota folks.

The response has been wonderful. The Minneapolis Star Tribune added my blog as a link on their website in the Entertainment/book section – Literary Links.

I really enjoy Reading Minnesota and have connected with several authors there.  Growing up did you have any authors or books that really spoke to you?

Beth:  My interest was in mysteries. As most young girls, I was hooked on the Nancy Drew series. Fascinated with puzzles of any kind, trying to solve the crime before Nancy did was always my goal. Most often, Nancy outsmarted me, but I learned plotting, character development and found that I went back for a second read to make notes.

When I read Witt’s End, I remember you described it to me as being a little like Janet Evanovich and I picked up on that right away.  How did you come about writing a funny, witty, tale of a Minnesota resort combined with an outrageously larger than life woman, Sadie Witt, who helps guests move on in the afterlife?

Beth:  The love of the elderly with their flamboyant nature and ability to get away with things because of their age led to several story ideas. After working for years in a nursing home, one particular eighty-year-old resident tickled me and kept revisiting my memory. Her hilarious quirks were perfect for a character in a book. I developed a storyline around her and then made her a bit younger (sixty-four years old) so she would be physically capable of crime-solving escapades.

Because I live in northern Minnesota, I wanted to draw on what I knew best. I named my character Sadie Witt and made her a co-owner of the Witt’s End resort based in fictitious Pinecone Landing in northern Minnesota. Sadie is hilarious, outlandish, spunky, sassy, and sees the dead. In fact, she’s a death coach—but not for the living, for the dead. And boy, oh boy, she manages to land in one predicament after another, including solving a murder.

In 2011, we will have the opportunity to venture into the second of this series, Outwitted.  Can you hint a little about what we can expect from Sadie and the gang?

Beth:  Sadie Witt continues her adventures counseling guests from Cabin 14 on their final journey.  To add to her quandary, she assumes the role of funeral director’s assistant after the untimely murder of the previous assistant. Unexpected mayhem abounds when Sadie’s resort manager unwittingly rents Cabin 12 to the funeral director’s ex-husband, Clay, a raucous character who causes one outrageous funeral mishap after another. Sadie attempts to resurrect the respectability demanded by the profession, but only adds to the chaos caused by Clay’s high jinks. When uninvited guests arrive at Cabin 14, they will be shocked to learn the flamboyant Sadie is their conduit to the hereafter.

After one of her guests discovers skeletal remains under Cabin 12, Sadie and her sister set out to solve an infant abduction and reveal the secret that ties a prominent community member to a notorious crime operation.

Do you know how many books are planned for this series?

Beth:  I’ll continue with the series as long as readers enjoy Sadie’s antics. The third book is written and I’ll begin editing this fall. I hope it will be released in early 2012. I’m open to unique title suggestions—it must have some form of witt in the title to follow At Witt’s End and Outwitted.

What is currently happening in your life?

Beth:  I continue to work full time at a great job in human resources at the hospital. This summer is busy with book edits and a cover decision for Outwitted, promoting, library and book fair appearances, writer’s conferences, etc., as well as two high-school reunions and two birthday-milestone family celebrations. I keep a tight schedule and reward myself with favorite TV programs and Dove caramel filled candy only if I complete tasks on my daily to-do list. A stern talking to is sometimes in order, but I most often am able to stay on task.
Do you have any current authors/books that you really are drawn to?

Beth:  Harlan Coben and Karen Slaughter. I’m currently reading Undone by Karen Slaughter. It’s riveting. Karen has a way with intrigue that prevents me from putting her books down!

I really like Harlan Coben too.  It is tradition that I ask every author I chat with to share a little known fact about themselves.

Beth:  Probably two things:

1. 1. Flying over the Grand Canyon in a helicopter on my 43 wedding anniversary. Tummy rolling, but absolutely breathtaking. The beauty from above the canyon is indescribable.
2. 2. I feed a female gray fox who frequents my patio daily. Living in a wooded, rural setting in northern Minnesota provides the luxury of wildlife roaming our property (deer, bear, raccoon, fox). Three years ago Foxy Lu scavenged under my bird feeder licking up fallen sunflower seeds. I tossed a bread crust scrap under the feeder and when she came to get it, I talked softly to her. At first, she was skittish. As she gradually got used to my voice and didn’t run away anymore, I inched bread scraps closer to my patio door. Eventually, we agreed that eight inches was an enjoyable distance and for the past three years, she’s feasted on day-old bread from the bread store (actually six-day-old, non-salable bread jammed into a brown bag for a buck). I can almost reach out and pet her. Almost!

Foxy Lu has introduced three batches of her new kits before chasing them out of her territory. She’s a busy gal and we’ve watched her teach them to hunt. Gray foxes mate for life and we’ve also met her kinky-tailed mate. He has an odd kink in his tale. I thought it was from a dreadful encounter, but two of this year’s kits have the same kinky tail. Genetics are strong in all realms!

Thank you, Sheila, for including me in your coffee chat. Sadie Witt has taken me on a grand journey and I hope it continues for years.

Thank you Beth!  I  appreciate the time  you took to join me at Book Journey!  I am hopeful that all your book dreams come true.

Readers, if you would like to learn more about Beth – you can catch her at her home page:  Beth Solheim, her blog Mysteries and Chit Chat as well as at Reading Minnesota.

Earlier today I posted my review of Born Under A Million Shadows.  The book had a positive impact on me and I am now delighted to bring in author Andrea Busfield, to share with us a little about this book.  Andrea had first experienced Afghanistan when she was dispatched there to cover “a war on terror”.  As Andrea says in the article she wrote for New Statesman, her parents were horrified.  In this article Andrea speaks of how she was right in the midst of the war, sleeping on dirt floors, washing out of a bucket, and even shot at!  The Afghans who took it upon themselves to protect her during this time were largely Pashtuns from the east who wielded heavy guns and old-school charisma with devastating effect.

It touches my heart when she says “I was humbled by the hospitality of those who have nothing.”

I know that feeling from my time in Honduras and knew that I wanted to know more about Andrea’s story.

Please give a warm welcome to Andrea Busfield.

Welcome Andrea!  Am I right to understand that I am currently chatting with you from Austria?  What is your weather like?

Andrea:  Hello Sheila! Yes, as we speak I’m in a lovely little spa town called Bad Ischl in Upper Austria. And, surprisingly, the weather is hot! It took a while for the summer to kick in but for the past week it’s been sweltering.

I love warm weather!  My absolute favorite time of year is now.  Before we get into books, how do you take your coffee?

Andrea:  The journalists’ way – strong, black, no sugar.

Oh yes, that’s the way I take mine as well – I knew I was born to write – ha ha!  Are you a reader as well as a writer?

Andrea:  Yes, I do read – sometimes for research, sometimes for pleasure – and the authors who consistently make me smile as I race to turn the page are; Louis de Bernières, Isabel Allende and John Irving.
As you may have guessed, I like intelligent, imaginative story-tellers! I’m also rather partial to books billed as ‘darkly comic’. In short, I like to enjoy my reading time. I like to be entertained.  But I think that’s the same with everyone. I can’t imagine anyone picks up a book hoping they won’t like it, but literature – like music and art – is subjective. Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t. It doesn’t make the book good or bad, simply different to what you, personally, were looking for.

Is there any one book that really sticks with you?

Andrea:  To be honest, there are too many to mention. I remember being floored by Catch 22 when I was a teenager; moved to tears by A Kestrel for a Knave; laughing until I cried reading The Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime; and being horrified, educated and upset by Possessing the Secret of Joy. I know there are many more great books I have read that have had a massive impact on me, but if I try and go through them all our coffee chat will roll into lunch and then dinner… and probably breakfast tomorrow. (That’s not a pick-up line, by the way!)

You mention wonderful books here.  As you know, I just recently finished your book, born under a million shadows.    You had so many experiences while in Afghanistan, your book could have been about anything really. What made you decide to write this book?

Andrea:  I love Afghanistan, I cannot stress that enough, and like anything you love you want others to appreciate it too. There is so much negativity surrounding Afghanistan, be it in the headlines, film or literature, and I simply wanted to correct the balance. Afghanistan is an amazing country and ordinary Afghans are a truly wonderful, hospitable, warm, generous and funny people. In the nine years I have been traveling to Afghanistan – and the two-and-a-half years I lived there – I don’t think I’ve ever smiled so much.  Therefore, in an effort to convey that side of the country I decided to write a story about love and friendship, which are the greatest gifts I took away from Afghanistan.  Actually, I also came away with a boyfriend and a dog, so I did quite well all told.

Fawad is a funny character.  At first I found that surprising and then I found, I really liked it.  Why did you decide to go with a character with such a great wit despite his circumstances?

Andrea:  I know some readers prefer their misery untouched by laughter, but sometimes it’s the only way to claw your way through the horrors of life. Most of the Afghans I know have a particularly dry sense of humor, and a shocking (to us) acceptance of death. When I was writing Born Under… I knew I couldn’t ignore the darker side of Afghan life because poverty, abuse and violence are a daily reality, but not unlike the Afghans themselves, I didn’t want to dwell on it. I didn’t want to pull the reader down, I wanted to show the bad with the good, the loss with the hope – Fawad seemed to be the perfect tool to do that because the character is young enough to be innocent, but old enough to question. Incidentally, some of the scrapes he gets into I stole from the childhood stories of my Afghan friends.

Why did you decide to take a lighter take on a book such as this?

Andrea:  So people would come away with a feeling of warmth in their heart for a people and a country that deserves our continued support.

You had one child that really caught your heart during your time in Afghanistan.  I know from my experiences in Honduras how that one child can really stick with you.  Could you share here a little about this child?

Andrea:  From the very first word I wrote, I had the face of one little boy in my mind, a very real little boy called… Fawad.

Real Fawad is a little younger than Fictional Fawad, but he shares the same charm and sense of fun as my character. I first met him in 2005 in the tourist hub (yes, Kabul does have one) of Chicken Street. He was eight years old and he insisted on carrying my bags as I walked from shop to shop. He explained, in perfect English, that he would be my bodyguard for the day. Obviously, he wasn’t only after my company, he was after my money, but from that day on we became friends.  Then, when I thought about writing a book about Afghanistan I decided I wanted my hero to be as brilliant and clever and funny and beautiful as real life Fawad and seeing as he was my inspiration I saw no reason to change his name.

Is Fawad’s story done at the end of this book or might we see him again some day?

Andrea:  Some people have asked me whether there will be a Born Under II, but I don’t think so. At the moment my characters are living in a happy ending – and that’s the way I want them to stay!

I heard that you are writing a second book.  Can you share a little about this?

Andrea:  Actually, my second novel is now published in the UK, hopefully you will get to see it sometime in America! The book is called Aphrodite’s War and it is a love story set in Cyprus between 1955 and 1974. I chose to write about this island because it is another country I have lived in, and loved, and the history is tragic. Cyprus is an island that was divided by war and politics, and which remains divided through politics and hurt. It’s a very sad situation that not too many people know about and I wanted to explore that.

It is tradition to the Author Chats that each person I chat with shares a little known fact about themselves.

Andrea:  Hmm, what to reveal. I can play Greensleeves on the recorder very fast; I can do the Rubiks Cube a little slower; and I was once charmingly told by an Afghan host that the meat I was eating was ‘sheep’s bum’.  Other than that, I nurse a life-long crush on Clint Eastwood.

Thank you Andrea – I am so thankful for you to taking the time to chat with me!

Andrea:  My pleasure, Sheila. Thanks for the opportunity.