Liv 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?
Livia Spyers, but everyone calls me Liv!

How old are you?
28, an excellent age to live in New York City and follow your dreams.

What is your profession?
I am the proprietor of Liv Spyers Photography in the West Village. The studio serves as headquarters for my portrait photography business. I also freelance for Regina Montague Studios, the city’s premier events photography company. A girl has to take the jobs that come her way and I never take my work for granted.

Do you have a significant other? What is their name and profession?
I do!! It’s official. I’ve been dating Harry Fellowes, the uptown man to my downtown life. He’s tall, dark and handsome with a smile that will light your day. He works as an insurance appraiser in the high-end art world, but he also has a few mysteries of his own. What I love most about Harry is how we help each other solve life’s mysteries, big and small. That’s what bought us together and keeps life fun. My best friend, Maria, has accused me of with the L(-o-v-e) word lately, but I’m taking things as they come. I’ve got a lot on my plate.

Do you have any children?
Nope, but I’m a real family gal. I live below my grandparents in their “well-loved” brownstone in the West Village that they bought decades ago. We feel we’ve hit the jackpot. Amidst the neighborhood’s now-polished homes and chic stores, I’ve thrown my hat into the ring to make in in NYC while my aged grandparents can call me anytime to help with Carrera Locksmiths (their key store above my studio), or change a lightbulb, or take out the trash.

Do you have any siblings? Are your parents nearby?
I was an only child until I was in college when my parents welcomed my adorable little sister, Eliza. She’s growing up in the room I did in our small town in New Jersey. She’s probably playing with my old Barbie dolls as we speak. I’ve worked a few jobs in some spectacular buildings in NYC, some with views as far as New Jersey. I like to think I can see our two-bedroom house in my neighborhood where Christmas lights remain up all year and everyone gathers in the summer for bar-b-ques around above ground pools. No matter how glitzy the worlds I see as a photographer, there’s no place like home.

Who is your best friend?
Maria Ricci! We’ve been best friends and neighbors our whole lives. These days she lives in Brooklyn so we still see each other a lot. She works as a para-legal and hopes to be a lawyer one day. She has to dress much more conservatively than when we were kids, but she’ll never give up her high heels. She wears them every day at works, and every night on the town (with a dash of red lipstick and some Big Lash mascara, the best).

Do you have cats, dogs, or other pets?
Not these days. I had a plant, but it died.

What town do you live in? What type of dwelling do you own or rent?
I live in the former Carrera Locksmith, my grandparents’ old key store, a two-steps-down space below their West Village brownstone in New York City. When I arrived a couple of years ago from Jersey in my UHaul with Maria, the space hadn’t been updated since they’d bought the building back when the Village’s real estate was unimaginably affordable. Their former stockroom is now my private residence, consisting of a single bed, two jam-packed closets of clothes, and a bathroom you pretty much need to climb over the bed to reach. It also has a window with iron bars across it, so I can safely see daylight when I wake up.

Like everyone who works from home these days, my morning commute is an easy one. With only a step across the threshold of my tiny bedroom’s door, I leave home-sweet-home and arrive at Liv Spyers Photography, my small portrait photography studio. All that divides my private life and my business is a silky red privacy curtain that I pull across my storefront’s window when the workday is done. But I don’t mind living like a size ten foot in a size five shoe. Due to my studio’s street-level window display, I’m able to attract clients for family portraits, yearbook photos, holiday cards, baby photos, you name it!

What is your favorite spot in your home?
In front of my tripod, looking through my lens as I photograph a client!

What is your favorite meal and dessert?
My grandmother is the best cook I’ve ever met, hands down. It truly wasn’t until my first childhood sleep over with Maria that I realized waking up to a family member reeling off breakfast options is unusual, but this is what we do. The occasional forfeiture of privacy in exchange for good food is a solid family tradition. I often wake to a knock on my door from Granny and a plate of freshly baked muffins; or come home at night to find a warm chicken parmesan waiting for me on my pullman kitchen counter.

Do you have any hobbies?
I’ve had a camera in my hands since the day my dad gave me a used Nikon for my tenth birthday, so my hobby is similar to my work: taking photos! The images I photograph when I’m off-duty, however, are of people I observe, both day and night, living their lives. I like to think of them as spontaneous portraits in contrast to the more structured work I do with clients. I love the story a photo can tell, and NYC is full of stories. I never know where the city will take me, but I love sharing the moments along the way on my IG.

What music do you listen to?
Well, there’s no escaping the music that echoes down into my bedroom from my grandparents’ kitchen above. Granny requests Alexa play hits from the old Rat Pack. Dean, Sammy, Frank. As a woman of Italian descent on my mother’s side, those songs are in my blood. I belted out Old Blue Eyes’ “New York, New York” when Maria and I drove our U-Haul over the bridge to New York.

I’m also a huge fan, like everyone, of Bisa. I was recently so thrilled to work at the highly anticipated, three-day extravaganza hosted by the Grammy-winning, superstar, diva-extraordinaire. There were some hitches, however. While Bisa Mania swept through NYC for the opening of her first major film, All About Love, I witnessed the murder of Bisa’s sister, Anna.

What is your favorite color?
I wouldn’t say I have a favorite color because I’m most interested photographing the intersection of colors, light and dark, lit or in shadow, whether they clash or create harmony in my subjects.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
Due to my busy life, I’m more of a vacation-aspirer. My boyfriend, Harry, was recently in Japan for work and I would definitely put it on my list of places to go from the stories he shared. Since I work so much, I like to escape with a cozy mystery every now and then. Through those books, I can travel to fun places from London, to the Colorado mountains, to the small island of Nantucket.

Are you a morning or night person? What is a typical day in your life like?
Day or night, I am a ‘get up, hustle, repeat’ sort of girl!

What is your idea of a really fun time?
I’ve only ever missed it once and even that I regret, but my oldest friend, Maria Ricci, throws an annual Wild Turkey party to celebrate the holiday season. Strangely, the year I couldn’t attend was also the night I found billionaire Charlie Archibald murdered. If I were superstitious, I’d say it’s bad luck for miss her party.

Shortly after the case was solved, Maria also threw a New Year’s Eve ball-drop-watching party. Instead of the Times Square ball drop, Maria had a piñata disco ball filled with those little airplane-sized liquor bottles. We found mini vodkas under the sofa and behind the furniture for days after.

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
The Smiles I’ve Seen: A Photographer’s Insight into Human Nature and What’s Behind the Smile

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
I have become an amateur sleuth due to my work as a photographer. New York City is a magical place, but it’s also a dangerous town. I’ve come across two dead bodies since I’ve been here and both were while I was on the job. In both cases, I didn’t have the best luck with sharing my insights with the authorities, but my boyfriend, Harry, has some keen insights and experience that have been very helpful. Mostly, however, I use my keen eye and my photos to put together the story of what really happened during the moments leading up to murder. Please do not share this with my family. They would take up a collection to get me back to New Jersey before you could say Taxi!

Mugshots of Manhattan, A Snapshot of NYC Mystery Book #2
Genre: Cozy
Release: August 2023
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

Christin Brecher’s refreshingly fun Snapshot of NYC mysteries has rising star photographer Liv Spyers living the dream in New York City when she lands an assignment with an award-winning pop star–until a murder means Liv must focus her camera’s lens into sleuth mode…

Liv Spyers hits the big time when she lands a photography assignment with Grammy Award-winning pop star, the one and only Bisa. A huge fan, Liv is extra thrilled that her new boyfriend, Harry, will join her at the glamorous premiere of Bisa’s debut movie. But when the music icon’s estranged sister, Anna, threatens to turn photo ops into PR disasters during Bisa’s parties and pop-up concerts, Liv finds that the star-studded world she’s joined is filled with images she’d rather delete—especially when Anna winds up dead . . .

Bisa’s inner circle has secrets Liv must expose before she can bring the right mugshot to the police. And while Harry has a mystery of his own to solve, the two must navigate glossy stories that can be cancelled in a snap —before the killer strikes again . . .

About the author
Christin Brecher loves developing new characters and plot twists, spending days in writer-friendly cafes, and puzzling out stories and motives with fellow mystery buffs.

The publication of her first series, the Nantucket Candle Maker Mysteries, sprang from her life-long connection to Nantucket, a small, foggy island off the coast of Massachusetts, which is marked by its history in whaling and candle-making, its beautiful shingled houses and cobblestones, and its strong community. As for her newest rom-venture cozy mystery series, a Snapshot of NYC Mysteries, she was born, raised, and still reside in New York City, a perfect place to stir the imagination and celebrate life’s everyday stories. You never know what lies around the corner in this town.

She is a proud member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.

All comments are welcomed.