Lee Barrett sits down for a Q&A with dru’s book musings responding to twenty or more questions so that we can learn more about her. Are you ready? Let’s get to know Lee.

What is your full name?
Maralee Kowalski Barrett. I go by Lee Barrett.

How old are you?
33

What is your profession?
I’m currently employed at Salem, Massachusetts WICH-TV as program director. I’ve been working in the TV industry, one way or another, since my graduation from Boston’s Emerson College. I’ve been a Miami home shopping channel host, an investigative reporter, a field reporter and a television production instructor. (I was even a late-show movie host briefly, but that didn’t work out very well.)

Do you have a significant other?
Sure do! He’s Detective Pete Mondello of the Salem Police Department.

Do you have any children?
No kids.

Do you have any siblings?
No sibs.

Are your parents nearby?
Parents deceased. I was raised by my Aunt Isobel Russell. I call her Aunt Ibby.

Who is your best friend?
River North. She is my best friend who also happens to be a tarot-reading witch.

Do you have any pets?
Aunt Ibby and I share O’Ryan, a very special gentleman cat.

Do you live in a small town or a big city?
We live in Salem, Massachusetts, a beautiful and historic Massachusetts city.

Type of dwelling and do you own or rent?
Aunt Ibby and I share the old family home on Winter Street in Salem. I have my own apartment on the third floor and share in the expenses of the house.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
I love my kitchen. I have a great 1970s Lucite kitchen set, a vintage Kit-Cat clock on the wall, a sunny window overlooking my aunts garden with a window sill where O’Ryan loves to sit.

Favorite meal and dessert?
My aunt is a fabulous cook. I am not. My favorite meal is whatever she offers. For dessert I like lots of chocolate, especially chocolate ice cream.

Do you have any hobbies?
I hadn’t thought of it as a hobby until Dru asked me, but I’m definitely a collector of vintage stuff—furniture, dishes, accessories.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
Wherever there’s an auto racetrack. My late husband, Johnny Barrett was a NASCAR driver and I learned to love fast cars. Pete calls me a gearhead!

What music do you listen to?
I like 70s and 80s tunes best and also enjoy some Pavarotti—both cranked up really loud on my Corvette Stingray radio. Pete loves country and western, so I humor him sometimes.

Do you have a favorite book?
Not just one. I lean toward history, but Aunt Ibby says my bookshelves look like “editorial indigestion.” No special topics. No special authors.

What is your idea of a really fun time?
It would definitely be with Pete and might involve a road trip.

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
Seeing Things.

Amateur or Professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
Definitely amateur sleuth—aided by an ability to see things in reflective surfaces. I’m known as a “scryer.” River North calls me a gazer and considers it a “gift.” I don’t think of it as a gift, but it often helps me find the answers when there’s a crime to be solved. (Sometimes I’m even able to help Pete in his work.)

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life?
Life in a TV station is never boring. As program director I’m involved in the casting, production, staging of several live broadcasts from WICH-TV. Sometimes I work with a Cowboy-and-Clown kid’s show, sometimes I’m producing a cooking show or maybe helping River with her late night movie show—plenty of variety there. At home, I have an aunt with senior citizen girl friends who think they’re Charlie’s Angels and somehow get involved with murder, along with a cat who has abilities far beyond those of the ordinary house cat.

What is a typical day when you’re on a case?
Pete thinks it’s funny when I say the word “case,” and compares me to that famous girl detective Nancy Drew! Pete knows about my scrying ability but doesn’t like to talk about it. In his position as a P.D. detective, he can’t share confidential police information with me so I have to dig for it. Aunt Ibby can be helpful because she is a reference librarian—claims she has a master’s degree in snooping. But somehow between the three of us—plus the “angels,” one clairvoyant cat and River’s tarot cards– we usually come up with the right answers.

See Something, A Witch City Mystery #11
Genre: Cozy
Release: May 2021
Purchase Link

Salem’s WICH-TV program director Lee Barrett is about to discover no good deed goes unpunished . . .

Lee has been promoted from field reporter to program director. Keeping track of all the shows and managing the local TV personalities—including a cowboy, a clown, and a performing dog—has her head spinning. Perhaps that’s what makes her take pity on the distraught woman she finds sitting alone on a bench on the Salem common. When she realizes that the poor woman doesn’t even know her own name, Lee takes her into the warmth of the home she shares with her Aunt Ibby and their clairvoyant gentleman cat, O’Ryan. Maybe Lee can use her own psychic gifts to divine the woman’s identity.

Lee’s detective beau Pete Mondello wants to talk to the “Jane Doe,” but before he can investigate, he’s called to a crime scene. A body has been found washed up in a narrow harbor cove. As harmless as her new houseguest seems, Lee can’t help but wonder if she may be harboring a killer . . .

About the author
Carol J. Perry was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on Halloween eve and that magical city serves as the background for her Witch City Mystery series. Her non-fiction articles on travel, antiques and collectibles often appear in regional and national publications. Carol lives in the Tampa Bay area of Florida with her husband Dan.

All comments are welcomed.