Why do you write the genre that you write?
Short answer, because planting bodies and clues in books is more socially acceptable than burying them in my backyard. The longer answer is that I write traditional/cozy mysteries because they offer readers what real life so often doesn’t—a satisfying resolution to turmoil and trouble. Plus I love small town building (the traditional/cozy mystery version of the world building found in science fiction and fantasy novels). I love creating the settings in my books and filling them with people with whom I’d like to spend time. Or, in some cases, kill.

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?
Emrys Lloyd, the ghost in my upcoming Haunted Shell Shop mystery series, reads obituaries. He likes the sentimentality, the stories some of them tell, the nuances, and the occasional glimpses of the dearly departed’s humor. He started reading obituaries soon after he died, hoping he might find new friends that way. Friends who found themselves in a similar unfortunately spectral situation.

How did you come up with your pseudonym?
I write most of my books and stories under my own name. But I’ve written books for several continuity series under the penname Margaret Welch. Margaret is the main character in my short stories that first appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and also in my novel Lawn Order. She runs a bookstore, and loves books as much as I do, so I figure she’s probably always wanted to write, too. Now she does.

Tell us how you got into writing?
I love everything about stories and books, and from the time I was a kid I’ve wanted to have something of my own between the covers of a book. Carl Sagan said this, and I believe it one hundred percent: “Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.”

What jobs have you held before, during and/or after you became a writer?
Quite a few! Deli worker, towel folder in a towel factory, short order cook, dormitory cook (cooking for 2,000+ students for breakfast, lunch, and dinner), hand tool instructor at a school for emotionally disturbed children, museum curator, museum director, independent bookstore manager, and fake children’s librarian (no MLS degree).

Where do you write?
In a sweet little room in our finished attic space. When it’s raining it sounds like I’m in a carwash because I’m snugged up under the slant of the roof. My desk is made of three unfinished wood planks laid across a couple of two-drawer filing cabinets. Every once in a while I think about getting a real desk but I always decide not to. I’ve used this arrangement since the mid-80s and don’t think I’ll ever find a desk that suits me better.

What is your favorite deadline snack?
Sorry, I don’t have one. If I did I bet it would involve chocolate.

Who is an author you admire?
In my head is a whole rolodex of authors I admire. Penelope Lively is a current favorite. She writes novels and short stories for adults and children. Her short story “Uninvited Ghosts” is a lot of fun and her novel, Moon Tiger, which won the Booker Prize in 1987, is fabulous.

What’s your favorite genre to read?
Any kind of mystery – traditional, cozy, noir, procedural, hardboiled, thriller, suspense, children’s mysteries – especially any kind of mystery with humor.

What are you reading now?
Death of a Kingfisher by M.C. Beaton and Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree.

What is your favorite beverage to end the day?
Cold tap water, but not too close to the end of the day.

What is next for you?
I’m putting the finishing touches on Come Shell or High Water, the first book in the Haunted Shell Shop mystery series for Kensington. It comes out in July 2024. Then Margaret Welch is writing book 20 in the Whistle Stop Café mystery series for Guideposts. She also wrote book 6. That series should start coming out this year or next.

Where can we find you?
You can find me at my website: MollyMacRae.com. Once there, you’ll find links to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen, and Writers Who Kill.

Now to have some fun . . .

Chocolate or vanilla
Chocolate

Cake or ice cream
Cake

Fruits or vegetables
Vegetables

Breakfast, lunch, or dinner
I keep wanting to say breakfast, because I LOVE breakfast, but our son cooks supper most nights and his cooking is to die for.

Dining in or dining out
In! No point in eating out with the son in the kitchen.

City life or country living
Small town in the country

Beach or mountain
Beach—one with sand, rocky areas, and tidepools.

Summer or winter
Summer

Short story or full-length novel
Short story—good short stories are absolute gems.

Extrovert or introvert
Introvert

Early bird or night owl
Early bird

And even more fun . . .

What is your favorite movie?
The Milagro Beanfield War

You are stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?
My Swiss army knife, a solar-powered tablet, and the time machine my boys promised to invent.

My bio:
The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” If you ask her, she’ll say no, she didn’t experiment with arsenic while writing Argyles and Arsenic, the latest title in her Highland Bookshop Mystery series. Molly also writes the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch she writes books for Annie’s Fiction and Guideposts. Molly’s short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Look for Molly’s new Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries debuting in July 2024.