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

What drew you to the genre you write?
I started “borrowing” my Grandpa’s Agatha Christie’s when I was about eight. Honestly, the first mystery I picked up was a collection with “Miss Marple” in the title…and as a kid, I wondered why there was a book about me! (Yes, Marple really IS my maiden name…I was doomed from the start!)

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?
Grace Adair, the “hit mom,” relaxes after an assignment by making fudge. She has this whole spiel about the Zen of measuring, mixing, and stirring, but she’s probably just in it for the chocolate!

How did you come up with your pseudonym?
My husband, a fellow broadcaster and UConn journalism professor, named Nikki Knight. I needed a pseudonym for the first Vermont radio book, and I was playing with nighttime DJ names like Crystal Starr…and he came up behind me and said, in this very sultry voice: “I’m Nikki Knight.” Sold!
Tell us how you got into writing?
I hardly remember NOT writing. Started scribbling my own awful riffs on Victoria Holt in middle school, wrote my first real novel at sixteen – and actually tried to sell it! After that, though, I wrote in newsrooms for a couple of decades before returning to fiction after my son started kindergarten. Wrote an early version of the Vermont mystery and got my first agent — spoiler alert: he was great, but the book wasn’t, and he was right to drop me. Fast forward a year or so, after a family health crisis, I started querying with something new, which became the Ella Shane Mysteries. (Then the lockdown debut, and everything after…)

What jobs have you held before, during and/or after you became a writer?
I’m a radio lifer – on the air somewhere, as a DJ, news host, or anchor – since I was a teenager. For the last 21 years, I’ve been doing weekend mornings at 1010 WINS, New York’s top all-news operation.

How many books do you have published?
Eight full-length novels, plus a novella, and short stories in about a dozen anthologies.

Where do you write?
Anywhere I can find a flat surface for the laptop.

What is your ideal time to write?
Early in the morning before everyone else is awake.

What is your favorite deadline snack?
Black coffee before the manuscript is in…cake after I hit send!

What’s your favorite genre to read?
Mystery: comic, cozy, or historical.

What is something people would be surprised to know about you?
On my own time, I still have a bit of a Western Pennsylvania accent: if you come to my house, I might welcome you with “Jeet yit?” meaning, “Did you eat yet?”

What is your favorite beverage to end the day?
A glass of red wine.

Who is an author you admire?
Elizabeth Peters. Not only did she practically invent the modern historical mystery, she made it okay to write mysteries in a funny and snarky tone. Crocodile on the Sandbank and Die for Love changed my life!

Have you any advice for aspiring or beginning writers?
Do the work and control everything you can…and don’t take rejection personally. After about 300 rejections, between querying and short stories, I can tell you, they always hurt, but they’re not a cosmic judgment on you or your work. It’s “No, today,” on one submission. That’s all.

What are you reading now?
Dreams of Reality, a poetry collection by my Irish mystery writer pal Geraldine Moorkens Byrne. Some inspiration after a heavy writing November. Poets amaze me!

What is next for you?
Nikki and I both have books coming out on March 25! Mine is THE STUFF OF MAYHEM, the second Old Stuff book from Level Best. Turner Publishing/Keylight books is publishing Nikki’s second Grace the Hit Mom book, HOUND OF THE BONNEVILLES. Amazing coincidence…and really, a dream come true!

Where can we find you?
kathleenmarplekalb.com

Now to have some fun . . .

Breakfast, lunch, or dinner
Breakfast for dinner — poached eggs and pancakes!

Fruits or vegetables
Fruit.

Chocolate, vanilla, or another flavor
Chocolate, always!

Sweet or salty snacks
Salty.

Ice cream or cake
Cake.

Cooking or baking
Cooking.

Dining in or dining out
Dining in.

City life or country living
Country (suburbia).

Beach or mountain
Beach.

Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall
Spring.

Extrovert or introvert
Introvert. (I know, I know – but I don’t have to LOOK at all those people in the radio audience!)

Early bird or night owl
Early Bird.

And even more fun . . .

What’s your favorite movie?
Titanic

You are stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?
A way to write, a box set of Dorothy Sayers books, and moisturizer with sunscreen. (I’m a secret beauty maven!)

My bio:
Kathleen Marple Kalb describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York’s 1010 WINS Radio, she’s the author of short stories and novels including the Old Stuff and Ella Shane Mysteries. As Nikki Knight, she writes the Vermont Radio and Grace the Hit Mom series. Her stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, and many anthologies, and been short-listed for Derringer and Black Orchid Novella Awards. She’s served as Vice President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and Co-VP of the New York/Tri-State Sisters in Crime Chapter. She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat.