Why do you write the genre that you write?
You should always write books you would love to read. I love traditional mysteries where the central question is “whodunnit?” And I love series, stories about characters you get to know over time. So, the cozy genre is a natural fit for me. I don’t care one way or the other about the cozy prohibitions on swearing, sex and gore. I can live with’em or live without’em, fictionally.

Tell us how you got into writing?
I was always interested in language, a great imitator and adopter of adult speech when I was a child. I wrote as a kid, and sporadically in my twenties, but it wasn’t until I was in my forties and joined a writers group that I really started producing fiction. My writers group gave me deadlines and encouragement. I wouldn’t be published without them.

What’s next for you?
I’m hard at work on the tenth Maine Clambake Mystery. No title yet. There are three in contention.

What are you reading now?
I just finished Sherry Harris’s Absence of Alice, which I absolutely loved. Right now I’m reading Colin Woodard’s American Nations, about the distinct regional histories of North America and how they inform our political differences to this day. I love well-written narrative non-fiction. Next up, Edwin Hill’s Watch Her.

Where can we find you?
I love to hear from readers. You can write to barbaraross@maineclambakemysteries.com, or find me on the Wicked Authors blog, on my website, or on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, Pinterest, Instagram.

Now to have some fun . . .

Vanilla or chocolate
Vanilla

Pizza or burgers
Pizza, but I also love a good burger

Broccoli or squash
If I can have the squash in a creamy soup, then that. Otherwise, either is good.

Breakfast, lunch, or dinner
Really tough. Dinner by a thin margin.

Mountain or beach
Beach, definitely.

Introvert or Extrovert
Introvert—though even this introverted homebody has had it with the pandemic at this point.

And even more fun . . .

You are stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?
Fun? This is really hard. Food and drink, because I am pretty helpless. I suppose if I had my Kindle app on my iPad and could download new books and blow the fonts up to a size I could read without reading glasses (a fourth thing), then I really wouldn’t be stranded, right?

My bio:
Barbara Ross is the author of the Maine Clambake Mysteries and the Jane Darrowfield Mysteries. Her books have been nominated for multiple Agatha Awards for Best Contemporary Novel and have won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction. Barbara’s Maine Clambake novellas are included along with stories by Leslie Meier and Lee Hollis in holiday anthologies from Kensington Publishing. Barbara and her husband live in Portland, Maine. Readers can visit her website at barbararossauthor.com.