A Conversation with Nancy Lynn Jarvis

Ancient floorboards creak and groan with every step you take as you make your way along corridors lined with magical journeys not yet taken, fascinating characters not yet met and exciting adventures not yet experienced. The soft glow of a reading lamp and the low murmur of amiable voices let you know you’re nearing your destination. Emerging from between the rows of books you sense the warmth of kindred spirits. You take the only empty chair left in the circle and all of life’s stress seems to simply dissolve.

A hush falls over the room as a well modulated baritone voice begins, “Welcome to Meet the Author, my friends. We’re glad you could join our conversation.

Our guest today has worn many hats. Her philosophy is, life should reflect your working history; that is to say, people should try something different every few years. After graduating from San Jose State University with her BA in behavioural science she has worn many hats. She has life experience in advertising executive, librarian, theatre for the performing arts business manager, photo archivist, twenty years as a real estate agent, and currently a cozy mystery author and publisher at Good Read Mysteries Publishing.

The murders are invented, but Nancy Lynn Jarvis uses real events and anecdotes from her rich and varied life experience.

Nancy is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Santa Cruz Women of Mystery.

Thank you kindly, my friend, for taking the time to talk with us.

James: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

Nancy: I didn’t become a writer on purpose. I was a successful Realtor with my own company when the market tanked in 2008. Since my husband and I owned the company, we decided to take a time-out and pretend we were retired until the market normalized. With not much to do, I got bored within three weeks and decided to try writing a book as a time-filling game.

James: That is definitely one of the most unique and interesting rationales for becoming a writer I’ve come across, Nancy Lynn.

Do you want each book to stand alone or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?

Nancy: In both the Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries and PIP Inc. Mysteries series I’ve written there are recurring characters. All can be read as stand-alone books, but the PIP Inc. Mysteries series is best read in order because of the romantic relationship that progresses in it and because Pat gets her next assignment at the end of each book. I did write one complete stand alone, “Mags and the AARP Gang” in addition to the mysteries.

James: What do you like to do when you're not writing?

Nancy: I did continue working as a Realtor for the first five years of writing. Then I nailed some jello to a tree i.e. put together two edited books, “Cozy Food: 128 Cozy Mystery Writers Share Their Favorite Recipes” and an anthology, “Santa Cruz Weird” which featured seventeen writers. I hosted AIRBNB for three-and-a-half years after my husband died and spent a couple of years putting my house back together after it was heavily damaged in a California wildfire. Even though I don’t like beer, I badly needed to grow green things after the fire so I’m starting a new venture. I’m growing organic hops.

James: WOW! I’m gobsmacked, Nancy Lynn. You lead a very interesting life and are clearly a survivor.

Tell us three things about yourself that might surprise your readers.

Nancy: Because of a partially mummified body found in a wall anomaly in “Buying Murder,” I know way too much about the history of cat litter. I only write when I feel like it so I’ve never had writer’s block. Even though I do a psychological profile before I start writing my characters, sometimes tell me things about themselves I didn’t know.

James: A partially mummified body in a wall!? How very intriguing.

Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre?

Nancy: I love mysteries and writing them is like solving a complicated puzzle, so that’s why I chose them. I think readers should have all the information they need to solve the mystery, but not too soon. I write cozies because I can’t handle graphic violence which is implied, but off page.

James: What part of Dearly Beloved Departed did you have the hardest time writing?

Nancy: Setting up and undoing opportunities and alibis for two potential murderers.

James: Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?

Nancy: Oh gosh, I hope not.

James: What was the source of your inspiration for Dearly Beloved Departed?

Nancy: I hadn’t intended for private investigator Pat to fall in love so quickly, but she did. When a wedding was the next logical step in the series, I knew there had to be complications so I took the wedding phrase, Dearly Beloved and coupled it with what is commonly said about the deceased at a funeral, Dearly Departed an worked from there.

James: It always amazes me when my characters take on lives of their own and I end up following them.

Where do your characters come from?

Nancy: Almost all of my characters start out as someone I know, but I quickly change their names so they will do what I want them to do.

James: Do you feel you relate to your protagonist, Pat, and if so in what ways?

Nancy: Pat is not me at all, but she is a good friend of mine who was the Santa Cruz County Law Librarian and is an unlicensed private investigator. She informs me about how she works, does carry a Magnum 357, and keeps my PI research accurate. Her only requirement for helping me with the books was that Pat had to have green eyes because the real Pat always wished her eyes were green.

James: I too drawn on people around me for character inspiration.

If Dearly Beloved Departed was made into a movie which actors would you choose to play your characters?

Nancy: Pat would be played by Emma Stone and Tim would be played by Eddie Redmayne.

James: Interesting choices, Nancy Lynn.

What is the most important tip you can share with other writers?

Nancy: Even when you think your book is perfectly edited, always have another trained editor make another pass at it.

James: What was one challenge you had to overcome to become an author? How didyou overcome that challenge?

Nancy: Remember, when I started writing, it was a game. I never intended for anything I wrote to be published. That changed when a woman I knew who was a would-be author told me she was dying. She said, her one regret was that she had never finished anything because nothing she had written was perfect and, therefore, had never seen her name in print. I dedicated my first book to her so she could see her name in print before she died and added “worry less about being perfect than the consequences of putting off dreams.” I self-published before it was acceptable, but Charlotte didn’t have time for me to try the traditional route. I took my words to heart. My first book is by no means perfect, but I keep learning and improving.

James: A very poignant anecdote.

We all hope there will be another PIP Inc. Mystery can you share any hints about it?

Nancy: I’m already outlining it. A friend’s son paid for law school by being a sperm donor and twenty years later, his children are turning up in surprising numbers. That part is real, but for the next book, they are going to start being murdered. Why and by whose hand is going to be the mystery for “Donor 73101,” the next mystery Pat will have to solve.

James: WOW! I’m intrigued.

Pick an excerpt from Dearly Beloved Departed you would like to share with readers.

Nancy: Pat and Tim are in an ambulance with Zoe, who was about to marry them before she and Tim were wounded, are being rushed to the hospital.

Pat clutched Tim’s arm as he sat in the ambulance and had his vital signs checked. “How are you doing, Zoe?” she asked.

“They gave me a little morphine so I feel great.”

“Her vitals are strong and stable,” the second paramedic pronounced.

“Zoe, are you well enough to marry us?” Pat asked.

“Hey, I’m fine,” Tim protested. “You don’t have to marry me before I die.”

Pat ignored him. “What about it, Zoe?”

“I’ve married so many couples I know the drill. If I can just hit the important parts…yeah, I can do it. Has the groom had any drugs?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Well, then it should be fine. The bride and groom need to be sober, but there’s nothing in the law that says the officiant can’t be a little tipsy. Could you put a couple of pillows under my head so I can see them?” she asked one of the paramedics.

“Don’t you want a real wedding?” Tim asked, “with a flower girl and ring bearer and a walk down the aisle?”

“I believe we’ve been there and done that part,” Pat replied. “Besides, all that isn’t important. I just want to marry you.”

“You heard the bride,” Zoe proclaimed. “Let’s get this done before I fall asleep. You two paramedics,” she asked the men attending to her, “what are your names?”

“Calvin Johnson.”

“Jim Faraday.”

“Calvin and Jim, you’ve just been elected witnesses. Make sure you sign the marriage certificate when someone finds it. Here we go. Dearly Beloved we are gathered here today…in this ambulance…to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony. Does anyone have any objections to them being so united…other than the guy who tried to kill the groom?”

James: Thank you very kindly, Nancy Lynn, for sharing your thoughts and insights with us and we hope you’ll visit with us again.