Brody Norris first appeared in Inside Dumont and is now the main character in the Mister Puss mystery series. One of the best ways to learn about a person is by asking questions, so let’s get to know Brody.
What is your name?
Brody Norris.
How old are you?
I’m 38.
What is your profession?
I am an architect at Miles & Norris, Architects, LLC, in Dumont, Wisconsin.
Do you have a significant other?
Yes, my husband. Ours has been one of very few same-sex marriages in Dumont.
What is his name and profession?
His name is Marson Miles. Like me, he’s an architect, and we are partners in the Miles & Norris firm.
Any children?
We have no children. Miles is 24 years my senior; he recently turned 62. He had been married to my aunt, Prucilla Miles (née Norris), for more than 30 years, but they had no kids. When I moved from California to join Marson’s practice about three years ago, it felt like destiny fulfilled. Our mutual attraction was instant and profound. I was still recovering from a failed marriage to another older, creative man in Los Angeles. As for Marson, he knew that the decades of loveless marriage to my aunt had come to an end. It was quite the small-town scandal. Fortunately, when the divorce became final, when Marson ceased to be Prucilla’s husband, he also ceased to be my uncle. (Uncle by marriage, that is. Even so, it’s still a bit tricky to wrap your head around that.) Moving forward, Marson and I would probably have been open to parenting, but in light of our significant age difference, we never seriously considered it.
Do you have any sibling(s)?
I have a sister, Allison Harper, who is nine years older. We are largely estranged. It’s complicated. Though we grew up together, we were raised by different parents, and we didn’t learn of our own brother/sister relationship until well into adulthood. As I said—it’s complicated.
Do your parents live near you?
I was raised by my proudly single mother, Inez Norris, a lesbian feminist who gave me the Norris surname. Now in her sixties, she continues to “fight the good fight” in California as a community organizer and editorialist. I didn’t know the identity of my father until I needed that information for the marriage license with my first husband. It turns out, I had grown up in constant proximity to my father, but had always thought of him as a close family friend—sort of an honorary uncle. When I finally learned the whole story, he had already died. He was Gordon Harper, an astrophysicist. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because he won a Nobel Prize.
Who is your best friend?
My husband, Marson, of course (and I’m reasonably sure he would answer likewise). If forced to name someone else, that would be Glee Savage. She’s a reporter for our local paper, the Dumont Daily Register. She has a bold sense of style and a wicked sense of humor. Like Marson, Glee is quite a bit older than I am; in fact, she grew up in Dumont with my mother. Some people have described me as an “old soul,” and there might be something to that.
Cats, dogs or other pets?
Cats, absolutely. To be more precise, one cat, an Abyssinian named Mister Puss. He’s not “ours,” actually. He belongs Mary Questman, an old friend of Marson’s and an important client of our firm. In later life, Mary has recently rediscovered the joys of travel, and Mister Puss is frequently left in our care, so Marson and I have become accustomed to the patter of little feet, despite the lack of children in our household. (One teensy other detail deserves mention here: Mary seems to think Mister Puss talks to her. While I originally dismissed this as a symptom of Mary’s advancing years, I have since had cause to revise my thinking.)
House or building complex? Own or Rent?
Because both Marson and I are architects, we attach inordinate significance to our home environment. When we met, when he left Prucilla to be with me, we needed somewhere to live, a place to call our own, so we did a quick rehab of a vacant haberdashery in downtown Dumont, not far from our offices, converting it into a rather sleek and minimalist loft space. From the outset, we knew that it would not be our “forever” home; it served our immediate needs. Meanwhile, Marson acquired a lovely parcel of land on the outskirts of town and challenged me to design “the perfect house.” It is now under construction.
What is your favorite spot in your house?
This doesn’t sound trendy, but my favorite spot in our downtown loft is the living room. It’s highly theatrical, with a twenty-foot ceiling. Windows look out onto First Avenue, Dumont’s main drag, which gives the space a deceptively urban feel. (Our sleeping area is on the mezzanine, above the kitchen, connected by spiral metal stairs.)
Favorite color?
Red—as an accent. By and large, I prefer a neutral palette, which probably stems from my architectural training. But a splash of red always perks things up. Conversely, my least favorite color is blue. Don’t get me wrong: blue is dandy in the sky, or in the sea, or even in a pair of jeans, but I never, ever decorate with it.
Favorite author?
Michael Craft, naturally. He has set eight of his novels in Dumont, bringing a good measure of attention to our sleepy little burg, and the city fathers have been toying with the idea of presenting him with an oversized ceremonial key—or at least a proclamation. My lesser favorites, all fiction writers, include Vladimir Nabokov, Virginia Woolf, T.C. Boyle, and Elizabeth Strout.
Favorite vacation spot?
Palm Springs and its adjacent resort cities in California. The desert valley, surrounded by mountains, is surreal, healing, and breathtakingly beautiful. Even the intense summer heat can feel therapeutic.
Favorite sports team?
Not into sports. Not a fan. Not at all.
Movies or Broadway?
I prefer plays to movies. However, one of my gay chromosomes must be out of whack, because I don’t care for musicals or opera. (I love theater and I love music, but not patched together.)
Are you a morning or a night person?
I’m a morning person, definitely. That’s when my energy level is highest. After dinner, I’m not good for much.
Amateur sleuth or professional?
I’m an architect. Therefore, any sleuthing I happen to get involved with is strictly amateur. I wouldn’t know a Glock from a Smith & Wesson.
Whom do you work with when sleuthing?
On several occasions, I have been asked by Dumont County’s sheriff, Thomas Simms, to step in and assist with investigations, usually when there seems to be a gay angle to the crime. Since Thomas is straight, he feels I can provide insights that are not so apparent to him. He also claims to be impressed with my problem-solving skills, which I consider to be the key component in any designer’s toolkit. Marson, my husband, likes to joke that I’ve become the sheriff’s sidekick. And maybe I have.
In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
1: Early to rise. 2: Newspapers (printed) and coffee. 3: Working with Marson at our Miles & Norris offices, doing our bit to make Dumont and the world beyond a more pleasing and visually disciplined environment. 4: Stumbling (occasionally) on a body, then pitching in to unscramble the puzzle of its untimely demise. 5: More frequently of late, acting as caretaker and servant to Mary Questman’s regal Abyssinian, Mister Puss. He’s quite a cat. If you listen carefully enough, he just might tell you so himself.
You can read more about Brody in ChoirMaster, the second book in the “Mister Puss” cozy mystery series, released October 10, 2019.
A marriage of convenience . . .
a crisis of faith . . . a talking cat.
What could possibly go wrong?
In idyllic little Dumont, Wisconsin, the historic but financially troubled St. Alban’s Episcopal Church has a new rector who plans to turn things around, a woman named Joyce Hibbard. Local architect Marson Miles puts two and two together and figures out that Mother Hibbard’s husband is none other than his long-ago college friend, Curtis Hibbard, who is now a prominent New York attorney. And unless Marson is mistaken, Curtis and Joyce must have a marriage of convenience.
Mother Hibbard wants to build a fabulous new church to replace the crumbling St. Alban’s. Local philanthropist Mary Questman wants her friend Marson to design it. And Mother Hibbard’s husband really wants the hunky young choir director, David Lovell. But then, in a god-awful development, someone turns up dead.
It was murder, all right, and suspects abound. Once again, Marson’s dashing husband, Brody Norris, steps into the role of amateur sleuth and sidekick to Sheriff Thomas Simms. And once again, Brody himself gets a bit of help–from Mary Questman’s exotic cat, a chatty Abyssinian named Mister Puss.
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Meet the author
Michael Craft is the author of sixteen novels, including the acclaimed Mark Manning mystery series, which ran from 1997 to 2004. His current series of 
Mister Puss mysteries features a quirky twist—a cat who seems to communicate with the gay protagonist, architect Brody Norris; the second and most recent installment is titled ChoirMaster. In addition, Michael is the author of two produced plays, and his prize-winning short fiction has appeared in British as well as American literary journals.
Michael grew up in Illinois and spent his middle years in Wisconsin, which inspired the fictitious setting of many of his books. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles, and now lives in Rancho Mirage, California. In 2017, his professional archives were acquired by the Special Collections Department of the Rivera Library at the University of California, Riverside.
Visit the author’s website at michaelcraft.com. Friend or follow Michael on Facebook
All comments are welcomed.