Olivia Redmond sits down for a question-and-answer session with dru’s book musings so that we can learn more about her. Are you ready? Let’s get to know Olivia.

What is your full name? How old are you?
My full name is Olivia Harper Denis Redmond, which includes my maiden name and the surname of my first and second husbands. I was widowed in my mid-twenties when Reggie Denis was murdered. I’m now thirty.

What is your profession?
Before my baby was born, I was a newspaperwoman on a London daily newspaper. I was also loaned out on occasion to Britain’s spymaster, so I was a part time spy. Women with babies don’t work, even in WWII when the rest of the country is mobilized. The spymaster hadn’t called on me once he found out I was pregnant, but my newspaper editor had me working in the office, if not going out after stories.

Do you have a significant other? What is their name and profession?
I’m married to Adam Redmond. He was already a British army officer, working in counterespionage, when we first met before the war. Now that WWII is on, he works in training as well as behind a desk in counterespionage because both of his legs were severely damaged in the rout in France in 1940. He’ll never heal up enough to serve on the front lines again.

Do you have any children?
We have one child, Stephen, who is a baby.

Do you have any siblings? Are your parents nearby?
I have no siblings, because my father was gone during WWI and then my mother died in the influenza epidemic after the war. My father is still alive and living in London in the house I grew up in.

Who is your best friend?
My best friend since boarding school is Esther Benton Powell. She convinced her father, Sir Henry, to hire me after my first husband was murdered and I didn’t want to move home to live with my father, and her father has been my editor ever since. Sir Henry bought a large house in the countryside just before the war for Esther and her two small children to live in away from London. This turned out to be a brilliant decision when the Blitz started and so much of London became rubble.

What town do you live in? What type of dwelling do you own or rent?
I’ve lived in London all my life. At the end of the Blitz, in May 1941, my block of flats suffered a direct hit from German bombs and I had to move home with my father. My father, Sir Ronald, means well, but he hates noise and small talk. Then Adam got leave and I got pregnant. Once the baby was born, it made noise and my father couldn’t stand it. Esther and her father made arrangements for the baby and me to move to Esther’s house in the countryside. For the first time, I live in a large Victorian vicarage in a village in Oxfordshire.

What is your favorite meal and dessert?
My favorite meal and dessert? Anything pre-war. There’s little or no meat, butter, sugar, tea, or coffee, and what we do have now is inferior to what we could easily get before the war. Since I’m a lousy cook, any meal I enjoy, then or now, is in a restaurant where they get better rations.

Do you have any hobbies?
I enjoy sketching and photography, but I have little time for hobbies. I take photos of Stevie to send to his father and have now taken to snapping other children in the village for photos to send to their fathers who are away with the military.

Do you have cats, dogs, or other pets?
No cats, dogs, or other pets.

What is your idea of a really fun time?
My idea of the best time of all is Adam being home on leave. Then we can spend all our time together, playing with Stevie, and making plans for a future after the war. A really fun time is spending it with the people you love.

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
I’m considered an amateur sleuth even when I’m working for the spymaster, since I’m working undercover as a newspaperwoman. In Deadly Village, I bring my experience to the service of the village bobby while he investigates his first murders. The only really professional help is in the form of a detective inspector who is loaned to the bobby on a part time basis, since the police force has lost so many members to the war effort.

What is a typical day in your life like?
A typical day in my life involves working in the garden, planting, weeding, harvesting, cleaning out bugs. Fruits and vegetables are the staples of our diet. Stevie quickly learned to eat mushy vegetables, and well-seasoned potatoes the way Esther’s cook fixes them are a treat. We have to grow our own in our own gardens because there isn’t nearly enough food in the shops.

Are you a morning or night person?
With a young baby, I can’t afford to be an evening or morning person. I just try to catch whatever sleep I can.

Deadly Village – A Deadly Mystery, Book 13
Genre: Historical Mystery
Release: August 2025
Format: Digital, Print
Purchase Link

In a village steeped in secrets, one woman’s past is the key to solving a murder.

Olivia Redmond thought she’d left danger behind in blitzed-out London. But the quiet Cotswold village of Chipping Ford offers little refuge–especially when a local gossip turns up dead. With a baby to care for and the villagers turning frosty, Olivia’s only ally is a young bobby overwhelmed by his first murder case.

As a former newspaper reporter and covert asset for Britain’s intelligence chief, Olivia knows how to uncover the truth. The deeper she digs, the uglier it gets: blackmail, betrayal, and decades of whispered sins. And as the village closes ranks, Olivia must choose–keep the peace or expose the secrets that could shatter everything.

Perfect for readers of historical mysteries with sharp heroines and tangled moral landscapes, Deadly Village is the exciting thirteenth book in the World War II mystery Deadly Series. If you like research based history and clean reads, then you’ll love USA Today Bestselling Author Kate Parker’s page-turning mystery.

About the author
Kate Parker is the USA Today bestselling author of the Deadly Series of World War II cozy mysteries. When she’s not enjoying hot tea while typing on her computer in air conditioning while it’s in the 90s outside, she enjoys traveling to the sites of her stories all over Europe.