Author Susan Furlong
Welcome, Susan! First off, having read some of your short stories and PLAYED BY THE BOOK, I have to say I’m already a fan. I also pre-ordered PEACHES AND SCREAM back in November and can’t wait to finally read it.
Thanks, BJ. I’m honored to be on your blog. It’s a wonderful resource for crime writers.
I’m honored to have you here and I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to answer a few questions.
What can you tell us about PEACHES AND SCREAM?
PEACHES AND SCREAM, the first in the Georgia Peach Mysteries, is set in middle Georgia and features Nola Harper, a female amateur sleuth, who discovers a murder victim in her family’s peach orchard. When her brother-in-law is accused of the crime, she steps in to help bring the real killer to justice. Readers will find that PEACHES AND SCREAM is a fast paced, character-driven cozy mystery.
What inspired you to start writing fiction, and how long have you been at it?
I’ve always been a huge mystery reader and dreamed of one day writing my own. I worked as a free-lance writer for a number of years before my first piece of fiction, a short mystery, was published in 2010 by Untreed Reads Publishing.
What genre do you prefer reading, and who is your favorite author in that genre?
I prefer mysteries, hard boiled to cozy and everything between. I like thrillers, too. My all-time favorite mystery author is Rex Stout–the Nero Wolfe Mysteries.
Along that same line of questioning, have you ever read an author who has had a lasting and positive impact on your life?
That’s a tough question, because it seems every book I read impacts me in one way or another. However, one of my favorite cozy mystery series is the China Bayles Mysteries by Susan Wittig Albert. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Ms. Albert at a local signing. As she signed a book for me, I confided that I’d always wanted to try to write a mystery. She was so kind and encouraging! I came home from that event motivated to start working on my own mystery.
How many hours per day do you devote to writing?
I write six to eight hours a day, often six days a week. Especially if I’m behind on a deadline.
Can you describe a typical day in the life of Susan Furlong?
Chaos. Pure Chaos! LOL. Actually, summers are a bit wonky, but during the school year, I get up early to exercise and see the kids off to school. After they leave at 7:00, I throw in a load of laundry, do a few household chores and start writing until it’s time to pick them up at 2:30. After school: errands, homework, more house chores, and dinner. Often times, after my husband comes home from work, I spend time completing whatever writing goal I didn’t accomplish during the day.
If you could write from anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
In my dreams, I have a quiet writing studio near the beach, with an emphasis on quiet! But honestly, I feel fortunate to have been able to work from home all these years and be with our children, especially when they were younger.
What are some of your interests or hobbies outside of writing?
I enjoy gardening, hiking, fishing, shooting guns, and martial arts.
What’s next after PEACHES AND SCREAM?
I write another series under the pen name Lucy Arlington. The fifth novel in that series, OFF THE BOOKS, releases in February. The second Georgia Peach Mystery, REST IN PEACH, will release in April of 2016.
Purchase PEACHES AND SCREAM
PEACHES AND SCREAM blurb:
In the first Georgia Peach Mystery, when murder threatens her family’s orchard, Nola Harper is ready to pick out the killer and preserve the farm’s reputation…
To help run the family peach farm during her parents’ absence, Nola Harper returns to her childhood home of Cays Mill, Georgia, and soon discovers that things back at the farm aren’t exactly peachy. A poor harvest and rising costs are threatening to ruin the Harpers’ livelihood, and small-town gossip is spreading like blight thanks to Nola’s juicy reputation as a wild teenager way back when. But Nola really finds herself in the pits when she stumbles upon a local businessman murdered among the peach trees.
With suspicions and family tensions heating up faster than a cobbler in the oven, this sweet Georgia peach will have to prune through a list of murder suspects—before she too becomes ripe for the killer’s picking…
Susan Furlong has lived throughout the United States, including the South, but is now happily settled in the Midwest on a small hobby farm with her husband and four children. Writing about peaches comes naturally to her as she grows several varieties of her own. Susan also writes the Novel Idea Mysteries under the pen name Lucy Arlington.
For more about the author, visit: www.susanfurlong.com
You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Copyright © 2015 Susan Furlong