The following is an excerpt from an interview between cozy mystery author, Harper Kincaid, and Vienna Virginia’s favorite-and only-book binder, Quinn Caine. The two have lived in the same town for years but have just recently become acquainted. They decided to meet over at Prose & Scones, Quinn’s family bookshop.

Harper: I bet you didn’t know this, but I used to work here, at the bookstore, before your parents bought the place.
Quinn: Oh wow, really? Has it changed much?

Harper: Little things here and there, but the biggest change is that the space that’s now your bookbinding workspace used to be an out-of-control storage closet.
Quinn: It still feels that way now sometimes.

Harper: Nah, you have it organized beautifully. I’m looking around here though, and I see a ton of mixtapes. I see lots of enamel pins with old school pop culture references. How does a millennial get into all this?
Quinn: Ha! Blame-or thank-my family. My parents like the classic rock and my older brother, Bash-that’s short for Sebastian-well, he’s just the coolest guy around. Or at least one of them. He got me into all the alternative, indie stuff. I guess it stuck because their influences are now my favorites.

Harper: Nothing wrong with that. How did you get into book binding as a profession?
Quinn: Well, I love books and I also appreciate history. I thought I was going to be a teacher. In fact, I taught English overseas for three years- mostly Cambodia and in Central America. It was a cool experience, but I really wanted to have a job that allowed for quiet and something requiring me to use my hands. I’ve been book binding as a hobby for years, but it wasn’t until my parents bought the shop that I decided to really give it a go as a real job. Now, I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Harper: That’s awesome. I hope you get some of that quiet, because it sure hasn’t been recently.
Quinn: For real! Who would’ve thought we’d have two murders here, mere months of each other? Did you that before Dr. Levine or Tricia Pemberley’s demise, we hadn’t had a murder in Vienna for over thirty years?

Harper: Oh wow. That’s kind of scary when you think about it.
Quinn: Don’t worry. I happen to know the lead detective of the Vienna Police Department and, trust me, no one is getting hurt on his watch.

Harper: Quinn. . .is there a reason you have a big, dopey smile on your face when you mention Detective Aiden Harrington?
Quinn: Nope. . .I don’t know what you’re talking about. Interview over!

To Kill a Mocking Girl is the first book in the NEW “Bookbinding” cozy mystery series, released via ebook on May 12, 2002 and in print on June 9, 2020. It is available now via audio through Audible.

Quinn Victoria Caine is back in her quirky town of Vienna, Virginia, starting her new life as a bookbinder in her family-owned, charm-for-days bookshop, Prose & Scones. With her trusty German Shephard RBG-‘Ruff Barker’ Ginsburg by her side, what can go wrong? Okay, sure, bumping into her ex, Scott, or her former high school nemesis, Tricia, is a drag. It certainly doesn’t help they have acquired the new hobby of shoving their recent engagement in her face every chance they get. But that doesn’t mean Quinn wanted to find Tricia dead in the road. So why does half the town think she may have done it?

Quinn is determined to find Tricia’s killer, even if it means partnering with her cousin-turned-nun, Sister Daria, and Detective Aiden Harrington, her older brother’s too-movie-star-handsome-for-his-own good, best friend. They believe she’s innocent, but of course that doesn’t influence the police, who peg her as their prime suspect. Or, at least until she’s poisoned.

But there is no way Quinn is going to stop now. Vienna is her town and-for better or worse-Tricia was one of their own. Someone may have killed the mocking girl, but no one’s going to stop the notorious QVC.

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Meet the author
Born in California and raised in South Florida, Harper Kincaid has moved around like a nomad with a bounty on her head ever since. After earning her master’s degree in Gender History and another in Clinical/Macro Social Work, she published with Samhain Publishing (now defunct), Entangled Publishing, Crooked Lane Press, Throat Punch Media, and Medium. This is where she’d like to talk/brag about her family, but has been forbidden to do so-under the lame threat of a court order (as if) and prolonged dirty looks only teenage girls could deliver. Her husband is staying out of it. The dog just want to chew on a dirty sock. Visit her/his website at harperkincaid.com.

All comments are welcomed.