We all had a merry time on this week’s Corks & Conversation with Shawn Reilly Simmons episode! She shared so much fun and insightful information! Have a listen …
We are ending 2021 on a high note with this episode! Shawn Reilly Simmons is the award-winning author of Murder on a Silver Platter, book one of seven (so far) in her Red Carpet Catering Mystery series. We loved these mysteries that take place on movie sets! This gives a variety of locations and characters for each book. Shawn explains how from her experience, this is such a great idea for a series.
“A film set is like a community… I would just observe people walking around and there are actors and famous people but there are also accountants and carpenters and guys that are moving the stuff around and hairdressers, like any number of people that would be in a community.”
We sipped on a glass of Bogle Cabernet while we talked about how much we enjoyed Murder on a Silver Platter and are looking forward to reading the rest of the series! Get her book here for a yummy diversion! (indie bookshop.org or Amazon.com).
Cozy mysteries seem to be going strong during the pandemic and Shawn gave us an interesting theory as to why.
“It’s sort of reminiscent of the golden age of mystery writing, back in the 30’s between the two wars, where there was this huge resurgence of Agatha Christie and people like that, because people wanted comfort and justice. And that’s why I think the phenomenon is still in play”
In addition to writing novels, Shawn helps run a mystery writer conference, Malice Domestic, and has her own podcast, 5 Compelling Questions with Shawn! She also writes short stories, a lot of them! She describes her love of short story writing as follows…
“The short stories for me were a place to get a little weird, get a little darker, stretch, try to write a thriller, you know different little scenarios. So that was where, for me, it was really fun. So I used to refer to them as a palette cleanser.”
All in all, we could have talked for hours! We were so glad that Shawn Reilly Simmons was able to find time in her busy schedule to give us such insight and laughs!
We hope you enjoy this episode as a little Christmas gift to yourself and an end of year treat!
Here are some highlights from the episode:
4:20 Shawn knows her wine!
8:28 She worked at her sister’s movie catering company in real life!
11:20 Golden age of traditional mystery
13:10 A first for the Question in a Bottle series; we called foul on the question!
15:31 “I love Rock ‘n Roll” is her intro music
17:06 Malice Domestic
21:00 Her new podcast!
24:24 What she’s working on now
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