S. 8, Ep. 22: Interview with Crime Writer Saralyn Richard

The Crime Cafe

This episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features my interview with crime writer Saralyn Richard. Check out our discussion about her books and the writing life! Before I bring on my guest, I’ll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two eBooks for sale: the nine book box set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy inks for both on my website, debbimack.com under the Crime Cafe link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You’ll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, along with our eternal gratitude for doing so. Check us out on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/crimecafe Debbi (00:54): But first, let me put in a good word for Blubrry podcasting. I’m a Blubrry affiliate, but that’s not the only reason I’m telling you this. I’ve been using Blubrry Podcasting as my hosting service for my podcast for years and it’s one of the best decisions I ever made. They give great customer service, you’re in complete control of your own podcast, you can run it from your own website, and it just takes a lot of the work out of podcasting for me. I find for that reason that it’s a company that I can get behind 100% and say, “You should try this.” Try Blubrry. It doesn’t require a long-term contract, and it’s just a great company, period. It also has free technical support by email, video, and phone, so you can get a human being there. Isn’t that nice? If you want to podcast, try out Blubrry. No long-term contract, excellent distribution, and great technical support, too, by email, video, and on the phone. I’ve included an affiliate link on this blog. I’ve included an affiliate link on this blog. Download a copy of the PDF transcript of this episode here. Debbi: Hi everyone. Today I have a return guest. I get a few of those now and then. My guest today is the author of the Detective Parrott Mystery series. The latest book in that series is Crystal Blue Murder. I almost wanted to say “Crystal Blue Persuasion”. Yeah, I'm old . Anyway, Crystal Blue Murder was selected as December Read by Women Writers Women's Books. Her second book in that series, A Palette for Love and Murder won the Killer Nashville Silver Falcion Reader's Choice Award in 2021. She's also written books outside the series. Standalones that have either been shortlisted or made the finals in various award contests. I'm pleased to have with me Saralyn Richard. Hi, Saralyn. Glad to have you here today. Saralyn: Thank you so much for having me. I'm just thrilled to be on. Debbi: Excellent. Good. I'm thrilled to have you here. So tell me was your title inspired by Breaking Bad? Saralyn: No, but "Crystal Blue Persuasion" was running through my mind, an earworm during the whole time I was writing the book. Debbi: Oh my gosh, wow. Because I noticed that the story starts off with a bang in terms of the explosion of a meth lab, I think it is. So what was it that inspired you to write this story? Saralyn: Well, my series, my Detective Parrott series that started with Murder in the One Percent is set in Brandywine Valley, Pennsylvania, and that is a very rural, peaceful, serene, wealthy area west of Philadelphia. And there are a lot of parties that go on there. There are horse activities, equestrian activities. There are artists in the community. You're probably familiar with Andrew Wyeth and his family. They live in Brandywine Valley and paint there. There are numerous things to do there, and there're just lots of stories waiting to be told. And the first book, Murder in the One Percent takes place with the equestrian crowd at a party. The second book, A Palette for Love and Murder, takes place with the artist community. And this third book takes place, starts off with the burning of a bank barn, and bank barns are prolific throughout Brandywine Valley and really throughout New England. They are, they're structures that are very, very interesting because they were built for functionality into ...