Sometimes the best way to know a person is by asking questions, where you can learn more about what makes them tick. Get to know Mattie with her answers below.

What is your name?
– –  Mattie Winston. It should be Mattie Hurley now that I’m married, but I haven’t changed it yet. It’s a hassle. My hubby isn’t happy about it since Winston was my ex’s last name.

How old are you?
– –  Late 30s.

What is your profession?
– –  I’m a medicolegal death investigator. But before that I was a nurse. Still am, I suppose, though I don’t currently practice as one. I spent a lot of time working in the ER and OR of the local hospital in the Wisconsin town where I live before going to work for the local medical examiner. Now I slice and dice bodies, investigate deaths, and help solve crimes.

Do you have a significant other?
– –  I have a husband. We’ve been married for almost two years now.

What is his name?
– –  Steve Hurley.

What is his profession?
– –  He’s a homicide detective.

Any children?
– –  We have a daughter, though actually it’s my stepdaughter. Her name is Emily and she’s now 17. Hurley didn’t know of her existence until three years ago. We also have a son named Matthew who is 2 ½ years old. He has his father’s dark hair, and my penchant for getting into trouble. Needless to say, having one child in her teens and another in his terrible twos keeps us plenty busy.

Cats, dogs or other pets?
– –  We have a dog named Hoover (a fitting name if you’ve ever seen him eat) and two cats, Rubbish and Tux. I rescued Rubbish as a kitten when I found him in a garbage Dumpster (hence his name). Tux I inherited because his owner was a murder victim and no one else wanted him. The animals all get along very well, but Hurley doesn’t like the cats much. He thinks cats are the devil’s spawn. The cats seem to sense that Hurley doesn’t like them and they do their best to torment him. Cats are like that, you know.

What town do you live in?
– –  Sorenson, Wisconsin. You won’t find it on any maps, but it’s located in the south central part of the state. It’s a small town by most people’s reckoning, but decent sized for that area of Wisconsin, which is largely rural.

Do you rent or own? House or building complex?
– –  We just built a house on a bluff outside of town. It overlooks the countryside and sits on five acres of land. It’s my sanctuary.

What is your favorite spot in your house?
– –  That’s a toss-up. I love my kitchen, even though I’m not very domestic when it comes to kitchen stuff. And I love to cozy up in our bedroom with my hubby, snug in bed, the fireplace alight.

Who is your best friend?
– –  Probably my boss, Izzy. He is the antithesis of me physically—short, dark, and swarthy, whereas I’m six feet tall, blond, and pale. We do have one thing in common though, a fondness for men. In addition to being my current boss, Izzy has also been my neighbor and my landlord.

– –  A close second for best friend is my sister, Desi. And my husband, of course.

Amateur sleuth or professional?
– –  Mostly professional. I’ve had to undergo some training for my current job since investigating the deaths Izzy and I deal with is a part of it. I find it a good fit since I’m basically a nosy person by nature.

Who do you work with when sleuthing?
– –  Izzy and I do autopsies in order to determine how someone died. But in addition to what we do, there is often an investigative portion of the job that I share with the local police. I work with my husband most of the time, but I also work with a detective named Bob Richmond. I shot Bob once, but thankfully he doesn’t hold it against me.

Favorite meal?
– –  Anything Italian, especially if it’s prepared by Dom, my boss’s life partner. Italian is my favorite food group.

Favorite dessert?
– –  Ice cream. Any flavor. Though cheesecake runs a close second. Cheesecake ice cream is nirvana.

Favorite hobby?
– –  Eating. Snooping comes in as a close second. I don’t have any other big interests (or spare time) at the moment outside of my job and my kids. And I have no real talent for anything, unless you count getting into trouble. I’ve become quite good at that lately.

Favorite vacation spot?
– –  Vacation? What’s that? I can’t remember the last time I took one of those. Probably back when I was still married to my ex, who was a doctor. I need to talk to Hurley about this. We should try to take a vacation sometime soon. In fact, we never had a honeymoon. We are way overdue.

Favorite color?
– –  Blue, like the color of my husband’s eyes.

Favorite author?
– –  I haven’t read anything other than professional journals for more than two years.

Favorite sports team?
– –  I’m not into sports much.

Movies or Broadway?
– –  Movies. I prefer to be at home, curled up on the couch, with a big bowl of popcorn and my family around me. Though to be honest, I’ve never been to a Broadway show. I suppose I should give it a try.

Are you a morning or a night person?
– –  I’m an all-hours person. I have to put in a lot of on-call time, so that means going out to work at all hours of the day and night. As long as I have a cup of coffee, I’m good to go at any hour.

In two to three sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
– –  Chaos, lots of chaos. Between the unpredictability of the calls related to my job, and the unpredictability of living with a teen and a toddler, I’ve learned to go with the flow. Pick an hour on any given day and I can go from a session of potty training to an autopsy, or from managing a toddler temper tantrum to managing the interview of a murder suspect, or from blissful sleep to waking nightmare. It’s a delicate balance, one I somehow manage to maintain, though it tilts dangerously a lot of the time. My shrink thinks I’m an adrenalin junkie. She’s probably right.

You can read about Mattie in Dead Calm, the ninth book in the “Mattie Winston” mystery series. The first book in the series is Working Stiff.

The honeymoon will have to wait for newlyweds Mattie Winston and Steve Hurley . . .

As deputy medical examiner and homicide detective respectively, the couple are dispatched to a grisly crime scene at the Grizzly Motel, a seedy joint for illicit liaisons on the outskirts of Sorenson, Wisconsin. A man and woman are found dead next to each other in bed in what initially appears to be a grim but straightforward murder-suicide. An affair gone sour?

But as the forensic evidence is gathered and autopsies are performed, Mattie and Hurley realize the scene has been staged. They have a double murder on their hands. The spurned spouses of both victims top the list of suspects, but as more is revealed, the case becomes increasingly complex. Dividing their time and resources between the double homicide and an ongoing investigation involving Mattie’s father, as well as caring for their toddler, Matthew, and Hurley’s teenaged daughter, Emily, the two are stretched to their limits.

After another victim turns up dead, there’s no room for error as Mattie and Hurley stage a scene of their own to back the killer into a corner . . .

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About the author
USA Today bestselling author Annelise Ryan is the pseudonym for the author of the Mattie Winston Mysteries and another mystery series. She has written more than 200 published articles, worked as a book reviewer for Barnes & Noble, and is an active member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers. She currently works as a registered nurse in an ER. She can be reached at mattiewinston.com.

All comments are welcomed.