Why do you write the genre that you write?
Thanks so much for having me on the blog, Dru! It’s wonderful to be back. Mysteries are the perfect mix of creative and analytical that my brain craves. I love writing, and I also love puzzles. For me, the mystery genre challenges me as a reader and writer. No other genre gives me the satisfaction I feel when I read or write a well-crafted whodunit.

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?
I don’t know if it’s the quirkiest quirk, but Professor Prather is a candy fiend. Readers can always find her raiding the vending machine in the English building on campus! She loves junk food, and she’s unapologetic about her love affair with it.

How did you come up with your pseudonym?
I use my middle name (Angela) for my two cozy mystery series, the Professor Prather series and the Happy Camper series. My first historical mystery, Murder in Postscript, will be published under Mary Winters, which I picked because my birthday is in December, and I love winter.

Tell us how you got into writing?
As a young adult, I loved reading for escape, and soon, writing provided a similar escape. I wrote mostly poems and short stories in high school. Around the age of eighteen, I finished my first novel-length work, a romance, before I went to college. Then while I was at college, I started a mystery novel, but I put it away while I wrote and defended a literary novel for my thesis. After I graduated, I focused on writing short stories (one which would later be published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine) and raising my two daughters. When my kids went to school, I returned to the mystery novel because it was still on my mind. I finished it, and I submitted it to a few small presses. One agreed to publish it—as well as the next two books—and I was ecstatic! That was the beginning of my publishing journey in 2016, and I’ve been writing books and short stories ever since.

What jobs have you held before, during and/or after you became a writer?
After I graduated high school, I worked at Gateway computers as a technician and technical writer. In college, I worked at the South Dakota Review, a literary journal, as their editorial assistant and circulation manager. I also worked at Clinique (which was a fun job with lots of free makeup samples)! After receiving my graduate degree, I taught college English and humanities at the University of South Dakota and University of Sioux Falls for about twelve years while writing and raising my children. This fall, I’m teaching Writing Fiction at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute through the University of South Dakota. I’m really excited to be back in the classroom!

Where do you write?
I write in my semi-private office in our basement. It’s a nice quiet place to go when the house is noisy.

What is your favorite deadline snack?
Hot Tamales. I’m addicted to them.

What is next for you?
I just finished copyedits for Murder in Postscript, which is a Victorian mystery that will be published by Penguin Berkley next spring. My amateur sleuth is Amelia Amesbury, a widowed countess and an author of an agony column. Her secret pseudonym is Lady Agony, and she responds to readers’ problems or agonies at a penny paper. In Murder in Postscript, a reader witnesses a murder and writes in for help. But when Amelia finds her dead, she’s faced with two murders she must solve.

It’s been pure bliss writing in the era that first hooked me as a reader. The Victorian era was my gateway to becoming a lifetime lover of books. I’m really enjoying writing the second novel in the series.

What are you reading now?
I’m reading a few books: Something Wilder; Dusk, Night, Dawn; and Mine Til Midnight. I usually read multiple books at a time.

Where can we find you?
I’m on Instagram under @maryangelabooks and @marywintersauthor and Facebook under @maryangelabooks and @marywintersauthor. I don’t keep up with Twitter as often as I should, but I do have an account: @marypensmystery. The best place to find me (and win fun prizes) is my quarterly newsletter. Readers can sign up at either of my webpages: maryangelabooks.com or marywintersauthor.com.

Now to have some fun . . .

Vanilla or chocolate
Chocolate

Ice cream or cake
Cake

Broccoli or squash
Squash

Pizza, burgers, or pasta
Pasta

Breakfast, lunch, or dinner
Dinner

Mountain or beach
Mountain

City or country
City

Introvert or extrovert
Introvert

And even more fun . . .

You are stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?
Coffee, books, and wine!

My bio:
Mary Winters is the author of the Lady Agony mystery series. A longtime reader of historical fiction and an author of two other mystery series, Mary set her latest work in Victorian England after being inspired by a trip to London. Since then, she’s been busily planning her next mystery—and another trip! Find out more about Mary and her writing at marywintersauthor.com.