Jill sits down for a question-and-answer session with dru’s book musings so that we can get to know her better.

What is your full name?
Jill Adele Madison

How old are you?
30

What is your profession?
Oil painter and Executive Director of the Adele Marsden Art Center

Do you have a significant other?
Not currently, but I’ve just started dating a doctor, Sam Finch, and things are going well. I’m hopeful.

Do you have any children?
No

Do you have siblings?
My older brother Tom, ringtone “The Theme from Law and Order,” is the only detective in our town of Apple Grove. He’s the John Wayne of my life–always there and always able to fix things. He’s also over-protective of me. My younger brother Andy, ringtone “Welcome to the Jungle,” is a polar opposite to Tom. He went to college and majored in parties. He runs a gift shop in town with his partner, Lance Hughes. When we were teenagers, my parents thought I was a perfect angel after raising Andy.

Are your parents nearby?
Unfortunately, my parents, Howard and Adele, were killed in a car accident six years earlier. A drunk driver hit them. Our family is still reeling from that blow, and my recent decision to return to Apple Grove from the Chicago art scene is kind of strange. No generation above the three of us. My mother was a famous sculptor, and her death, as well as that of our father, leaves a huge hole in our lives. I’m hoping the three of us sibs can find a comfortable new relationship.

Who is your best friend?
That’s easy. Angie Emerson, my BFF throughout my life since kindergarten. We have so many secrets our parents will never know (well, unless they have that ability in heaven–I hope not.) And, even now, when we’ve done some investigating on our own, we’ve skirted the edge of breaking and entering, and Tom is not pleased. We’d leave his investigations alone, but he’s so slow.

Do you have cats, dogs, or other pets?
No. I’ve just returned from Chicago, and my life is quite a whirl getting the new art center organized. No time for that yet.

What town do you live in?
Apple Grove, Illinois, a small town of 15,000 surrounded by corn and bean fields in downstate Illinois.

What type of dwelling do you own or rent?
Right now I’m living in the house we all grew up in. Andy and Lance moved out, I removed their basketball hoop from the dining room, and I’m settled in for a while. Of course, it isn’t the same without Mom and Dad.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
Well, this isn’t exactly in the house, but a brick sidewalk my dad built leads to my mother’s sculpture studio in the backyard. Now, I’ve converted it to a studio for my painting. I can still feel her presence there. It’s comforting.

What is your favorite meal and dessert?
My favorite meal is anything with chicken and herbs, and my favorite dessert is anything with chocolate.

Do you have hobbies?
Not really. I don’t consider my oil painting a hobby; it’s very serious. After my parents died, I couldn’t paint. My emotions are too tied up with my creativity. I thought coming home might help me resurrect that passion, and it has.

What music do you listen to?
My brother Andy has a band, and my friend, Angie Emerson, and her husband, Wiley, own an upscale bar where Andy’s band often plays. I love much of the 80s music, but I also like country, and currently my fav is Jason Aldean.

What is your favorite color?
Aghhhhh. This is an impossible question. I’m a painter, and I see all the colors of the world through my eyes. I can’t pick just one.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
Our parents took us to Mackinac Island when we were kids. I’ve never forgotten that trip back in time, and I’d love to go there again. Maybe if I ever marry we’ll go there on our honeymoon.

Are you a morning or a night person?
Definitely a night person. I drag in the morning.

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
“I Hope My Parents Don’t Know This“

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
I’m an amateur, and my brother, Tom, who is a professional, wishes Angie and I would keep out of his way. Recently, we solved a murder, and he was not pleased.

What is a typical day in your life like?
Another tough question. I go in many directions in my job at the art center, and I now have three white boards to keep me organized. The president of our board, Ivan F. Truelove III, is my nemesis, and he spends his days texting me suggestions, which I push into eternity across my phone screen. I’m curating and/or installing exhibits, setting up classes, and finding creative speakers for programs. I’m moving a weaver’s guild into our facility. The upstairs is now being transformed into a set of classrooms and space to rehearse theatre productions. We’re also forming a new senior’s group. We recently had our first local exhibit, and now we’re working on a national, juried exhibit. It’s all so exciting, and I’m busy from morning to night. Oh, and sometimes I find dead bodies. Strangely, it’s getting to be a habit.

Death in a Bygone Hue, An Art Center Mystery Book #2
Genre: Cozy
Release: June 2023
Format: Digital, Print
Purchase Link

When Jill Madison returns to her hometown to become executive director of a new art center, she never would have dreamed unexpected secrets from the past would put her life in danger. When her parents’ old friend, and Jill’s mentor, Judge Ron Spivey, is murdered, he leaves behind more than a few secrets. His baffling will makes Jill a rich woman, if she can survive the six-month probate period.

She finds a target on her back when the judge’s estranged children return and form an unholy alliance with a local muckraking journalist who specializes in making up news. According to the judge’s will, if Jill dies, the family inherits.

Jill and her best friend launch their own investigation, determined to find the judge’s killer. In the meantime, Jill must run her first national juried exhibit, launch a new seniors’ group, and move the weavers’ guild into the art center. Her arch nemesis and art center board president, Ivan Truelove III, watches her every move, determined to remove her if she makes a mistake. And, in between finding dead bodies, Jill may also discover a bit of romance with a newly arrived doctor in town, if she can live to enjoy it.

About the author
Susan Van Kirk is the president of the Guppy Chapter, the online chapter of Sisters in Crime, and a writer of cozy mysteries. She lives at the center of the universe—the Midwest—and writes during the ridiculously cold and icy winters. Why leave the house and break something? Van Kirk taught forty-four years in high school and college and raised three children. Miraculously, she has low blood pressure.

All comments are welcomed.