Now it’s time to learn more about the authors we read. . .

What drew you to the genre you write?
My mother was a life-long subscriber to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, so I cut my teeth early on short crime fiction! There were also the Nancy Drew books I devoured before moving on to Agatha Christie.

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?
Lilith, in A QUIET DEATH, was a hoarder.

How did you come up with your pseudonym?
Although I thought about adopting a pseudonym that would put me on B&N shelves closer to Agatha Christie and Mary Higgins Clark, I decided to keep the name I’d been using since 1964. Consequently, I got shelved between Amy Tan and Robert Tanenbaum, not too shabby, and because seating at festivals was often alphabetical, I became lifelong friends with authors at the lower end of the alphabet, like Elaine Viets.

Tell us how you got into writing?
Back in the early 1980s, there were a lot of people in my life who needed to die. So I bumped them off in my fiction. Cheaper than a therapist!

What jobs have you held before, during and/or after you became a writer?
I began as an elementary school teacher, but after three years, decided that books were less stressful than sixth graders. I segued into a job as a lower school librarian in Baltimore, typing catalog cards like I had done for a campus job at Oberlin College. When my husband accepted a job at the Naval Academy and we moved to Annapolis, I began working as Cataloger at St John’s College. Ten years later, with a Masters of Library Science under my belt, I went to work in Washington DC for a series of corporate and federal libraries. I wrote my first three novels while working full time. A breast cancer diagnosis gave me the permission I needed to ditch the grueling commute and take a job closer to home, so my last four years as a librarian were spent as head of technical services at the U.S. Naval Academy Library before I “retired” to sail off into the sunset with my husband . . . and write full-time.

How many books do you have published?
I’ve published twenty Hannah Ives novels and about two dozen short stories. Also, was author/editor for two serial novels—13 women, 13 chapters, one novel! A lot of fun!

Where do you write?
My first draft is always in a college-lined notebook which I like to take outside with me—the beach, in a hammock, on a porch lounger. Then I type chapters into my laptop and edit as I go along. Finally, the chapters get passed by my writers’ group.

What is your ideal time to write?
In the morning, after I have coffee and complete Wordle and share my results with my brother in law. We have a friendly rivalry going on.

What is your favorite deadline snack?
Big, fat pretzels from Pennsylvania Dutch country and try not to get crumbs in the keyboard.

What’s your favorite genre to read?
Mysteries, duh! My second favorite is historical fiction.

What is something people would be surprised to know about you?
I went to high school in Taipei, Taiwan when my father was stationed over there. I still keep up with my high school friends and we get together as often as we can. Ding hao!

What is your favorite beverage to end the day?
Red wine, with a big hunk of dark chocolate, double bonus if the chocolate contains caramel.

Who is an author you admire?
Oh, so many! When asked this question, I usually defer to writers who have passed away rather than to offend any of my living writer friends! Other than the usual stars of the Golden Age of Mysteries—Christie, Tey, Sayers—I’m high on the amazing historical fiction of Dorothy Dunnett. Dunnett wrote mysteries, too, featuring Johnson Johnson and his sailboat, Dolly, but her Niccolo series and the Crawford of Lymond series set in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries respectively, are true masterpieces–14 volumes in all, so it’s a commitment, but well worth the effort.

Have you any advice for aspiring or beginning writers?
Yes! Sit your butt down in that chair and write. Join a writers critique group where you will get “tough love.” Don’t give up.

What are you reading now?
Kate Atkinson’s latest Jackson Brodie adventure, At the Sign of the Rook.

What is next for you?
I’m working on three short stories, due at various times over the next couple of months, and waiting for Hannah to tell me what she’s got up her sleeve.

Where can we find you?
marciatalley.com

Now to have some fun . . .

Breakfast, lunch, or dinner
Definitely lunch.

Fruits or vegetables
Veggies, all kinds, especially fresh from the vine tomatoes, although I know they are technically fruits!

Chocolate, vanilla, or another flavor
Chocolate, especially if it’s dark with caramel. I’ve found a fabulous source—a group of nuns in Iowa! Trust me on this, they are truly heavenly! monasterycandy.com

Sweet or salty snacks
Salty.

Ice cream or cake
Ice cream

Cooking or baking
Cooking. I come from New England Puritan stock, so it’s meat and potatoes for me. After living on a sailboat part of the year where I’ve got a wonky oven and only two stovetop burners, I’m also a whiz at one skillet meals.

Dining in or dining out
I like lunches out, but prefer dinners in.

City life or country living
I spend half my year in a cottage on a tiny island in the Bahamas where rush hour is two golf carts trying to pass on a narrow lane. But, I absolutely love getting away to the city. New York and Chicago are my faves.

Beach or mountain
Beach! I’m attaching a picture of the Atlantic beach just over the dune from our winter cottage.

Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall
Spring, hands down. Spring’s promise of new life always gives me renewed hope in dark times.

Extrovert or introvert
I’m a little bit of both, depending on the situation.

Early bird or night owl
As a lifelong sailor, I’m accustomed to sailors’ hours: when the sun goes down, I go to bed. When it rises, I get up. Sailor’s midnight? Nine p.m.

And even more fun . . .

What is your favorite movie?
Quite a few, actually. Ones I watch over and over are comedies: Overboard with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn; Ruthless People with Danny Devito and Bette Midler; Parenthood with more big -name stars than the galaxy. When it comes to crime dramas, my two favorites are Body Heat {whew! fanning myself} and The Last of Sheila which, surprisingly, was co-written by Tony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim and features an all-star cast: James Coburn, Mason, Raquel Welch, Dyan Cannon, Richard Benjamin, Joan Hackett, and Ian McShane.

You are stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?
A cellar of fine wine, a laptop computer and an internet connection! I’d probably need a solar panel, too. Does that count?

My bio:
Marcia Talley is the Agatha and Anthony award-winning author of twenty mystery novels featuring Maryland sleuth, Hannah Ives, including CIRCLES OF DEATH, DISCO DEAD and DONE GONE. She is editor/author of two collaborative serial novels, NAKED CAME THE PHOENIX and I’D KILL FOR THAT set in a luxury health spa and an exclusive gated community, respectively. Her short stories appear in two dozen collections and have been reprinted in many best-of-the-year crime story anthologies.

Marcia is past-president of Sisters in Crime, Inc. and has served on the National Board of Mystery Writers of America. She divides her time between Annapolis, MD and a quaint, Loyalist-style cottage on Elbow Cay in the Bahamas where she is just wrapping up a two-year term as Commodore of the Hope Town Sailing Club.