Esme sits down for a question-and-answer session with dru’s book musings so that we can learn more about what makes her tick. Let’s see what Esme has to say.

What is your full name?
Esmeralda Lucia Castillo

How old are you?
28 years old

What is your profession?
Pastry chef

Do you have a significant other?
No one has the time in food service for long term relationships.

Do you have any children?
No.

Do you have any siblings?
No.

Are your parents nearby?
My mother lives nearby in a condo of her own. My father died when I was little. I live with my grandmother.

Who is your best friend?
My grandmother. When my father died, my mom and I moved back in with her. My mom started a night janitorial business, that she still owns, while my grandma worked in the elementary school kitchen where I was enrolled. My mom was always working or sleeping, so I spent more time with my grandma, but the three of us have dinner together every night – Grandma insisted – which she and I made together after she spent the whole day cooking. My grandma is my hero.

Do you have cats, dogs, or other pets?
My grandma has a little chihuahua that barks at everyone who comes into the house. She named him Fernando, after Fernando Lamas, who she has a huge crush on. I don’t get the attraction, but there you go.

What town do you live in?
In Redwood City. It’s a town in California between San Francisco and San Jose.

What type of dwelling do you own or rent?
I live with my grandma in the tiny Sears kit home she owns. Someone built in the 1920’s. It’s not much to look at from the outside: a little white house with a chain link fence. Before the drought, she had bright flowers in the bed right in front of the house surrounding a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe. My mother replaced the flowers with drought-tolerant shrubs, which is better anyway because Grandma is getting too old to garden.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
The kitchen.

What is your favorite meal and dessert?
My favorite meal is my grandma’s enchiladas. My favorite dessert is her dulce de leche.

Do you have any hobbies?
I bake. Fulltime bakery owners don’t have time for hobbies.

What music do you listen to?
Mariachi, acid rock, and showtunes.

What is your favorite color?
Red.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
I’ve never gone on a vacation. But if I did, I would like to visit Mexico City.

Are you a morning or night person?
Bakers are morning people.

What is your idea of a really fun time?
On Sundays, my mother, her sisters, their husbands, and all my cousins come to my grandmother’s house. Grandma and I cook and everyone brings food. We eat and laugh and tell stories all afternoon long. By the time they leave, everyone has pitched in and cleaned the house and kitchen so you wouldn’t know they’d been there.

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
Songs From My Abuela.

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
My aunt, Yolanda, works for an attorney named Maureen Gould. When Al Tanzini kicked me out of my own business, Maureen took over my case. She was helping me to get my business back when someone killed Tanzini. The cops thought it was me.

What is a typical day in your life like?
Back when I ran Esme’s Casa de Galletas, I’d get up every morning at 3 a.m. so I could be at the bakery by four, start the ovens, and the yeasted doughs. While the ovens warmed and the dough rose, I’d do my paperwork, like sorting the orders that needed to be delivered that morning, ordering supplies, paying bills. My bakers would arrive by 6 a.m. and they would get to work shaping, baking, and decorating. By 7 a.m., I would begin the first round of deliveries to cafes and coffee shops of buns and cookies that had been baked the day before.

At 10 a.m., I come back to the bakery and load the truck with breads and buns that were baked that morning, then go out to deliver those to specialty grocery stores. By noon, I’m back at the bakery to help the bakers with finishing up the bakes, cleaning the kitchen and washing dishes before they go home at 2 p.m. Then, I check my emails for the next day’s orders to make sure I have everything. On the way home to my grandmother’s house, I often need to stop off at a market and pick up some fruit or spices we may be low on. I always bring home a box of cookies for my grandma. She loves my cookies.

When I get home, my grandma is watching Spanish language soap operas with her little dog, Fernando. I make us both a cup of tea and we eat cookies and watch TV until I fall asleep in my chair – usually around 4:30 p.m. I wake up to the aroma of Grandma cooking dinner. We eat. I take a shower and go to bed by 8 p.m. so I can get up again at 3 a.m.

Giveaway: Keenan has generously offered to give away one print copy of The Pied Piper. To enter, please leave a comment below. One entry per person and the giveaway is limited to U.S. residents only. Giveaway ends January 29, 2025. Good luck everyone!

The Pied Piper: A Maureen Gould Legal Thriller, Book 3
Genre: Legal Thriller
Release: January 2025
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

Who killed the Pied Piper?
The butcher, the baker, or the melody maker?

When the man who swindled Esme Castillo out of her business is murdered, she is the prime suspect. Now, her attorney, Maureen Gould, must uncover the secrets and lies behind the conspiracies that targeted Esme. Who set up Esme to take the fall. And why?

About the author
Keenan Powell is a Lefty and Agatha nominated author. Although she was one of original Dungeons and Dragons illustrators, art seemed an impractical pursuit – not an heiress, wouldn’t marry well, hated teaching – so she went to law school. The day after graduation, she moved to Alaska where she has vowed to practice until she gets it right.

She is delighted that the debut in the Maureen Gould Legal Thrillers, Implied Consent, averaged 5-star reviews on Netgalley, received a Booklife Editor’s Pick Review and was an Ippy gold medal winner. Visit her at: keenanpowellauthor.com.