DISCLAIMER: This content has been provided to THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF by Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. No compensation was received. This information required by the Federal Trade Commission.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Death and Disappearance (A Fina Fitzgibbons Brooklyn Mystery)
Mystery/Suspense
5th in Series
Self Published (May 30, 2016)
File Size: 682 KB
Print Length: 272 pages
ASIN: B01GEK7UOI
While Denny battles demons of his own and Cookie and Clancy disappear, a pregnant Fina Fitzgibbons investigates the death of her friend’s husband and in doing so lands in the middle of a group of art and drug traffickers.
INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR
What initially got you interested in writing?
Thanks for having me, Shannon. I’m a compulsive reader and have been writing all my life—a little of this, some of that, journals, school newspapers, articles in local papers, like that. And when my bosses needed letters written, a few called on me and sometimes got more than they bargained for—I’m not always into grammatical correctness. I have a BA in English lit, so I’ve written papers galore. But when my husband died ten years ago, I began writing in earnest because it was the only thing that made me feel halfway decent. I wrote for myself. I began creating characters, and they took me places like you wouldn’t believe, mostly to places involving murders. Not unusual—death was big on my mind. I began writing mysteries and pretty soon storyline swept me away.
What genres do you write in?
I write two mystery series. The first stars Serafina Florio, a widow and midwife. She lives in nineteenth-century Sicily where life is rough and tumble, and nineteenth-century Paris, where life is much better except when Serafina gets involved in solving mysteries and stubs French toes or the pull of home becomes too great. My second series stars Fina Fitzgibbons and is set in Brooklyn in the here and now—as much as Brooklyn can be described as being in the here and now. Death and Disappearance, Fina’s latest and the featured book in this tour is the fifth book in Fina’s series. She has grown from being a twenty-something ingénue living with her boyfriend in the first book, to the late twenty-something mother of twins in her sixth book—the one I’m currently writing. She retains her core and looks the same, with the same kinky red hair, but she’s grown a lot emotionally and filled out and now swears she’s going on a diet one of these days.
What drew you to writing these specific genres?
I wish I knew. Best guess, my characters.
How did you break into the field?
I self-publish on Amazon. I use Scrivener to write my books, compile them to MS Word for my editor, compile the corrected copy to a .mobi file for Amazon, and hire a designer do the cover, then upload it to Amazon. Once you do the first, it’s easy. The royalties and money for Kindle Unlimited pages read has been good for me (so far). After the ebook’s been out for six or so months, I create the paperback and upload it to CreateSpace for distribution.
What do you want readers to take away from reading your works?
My readers like to be entertained, to be swept away in the twists and turns of a fast-moving plot. They tell me they love Fina and Cookie, Denny and Clancy, and of course Lorraine. But I also hope they cringe and love and fear along with my characters; I hope they watch them grow; I hope my stories give them greater insights into what life, and death, loving and hurting are all about. I know that writing has done just that for me.
What do you find most rewarding about writing?
Being immersed in storyline, which is pretty much most of the time whether I’m actually sitting at the keyboard and writing or walking and trying to figure out plot, or laughing with my family, or photographing my surroundings.
What do you find most challenging about writing?
When the words don’t come and the plot won’t move.
What advice would you give to people wanting to enter the field?
Be true to your voice. Love it, then cut, cut, cut.
What type of books do you enjoy reading?
I love mysteries, contemporary and historical. I also love poetry and literary and historical fiction. My favorite authors these days, and I know I’m leaving some out: James Joyce, William Faulkner, Anne Perry, Charles Todd, Jacqueline Winspear, Henry James, T.S. Eliot, Anne Tyler, Ann Cleeves, Hilary Mantel, P.D. James, Jane Austen, Reginald Hill, Val McDermid, Barbara Cleverly, James Wood.
Is there anything else besides writing you think people would find interesting about you?
I come from a large Italian family where eating good food and laughing a lot are way up near the top and family and friends are everything. I spent many years painting in oil and am a life member of the Art Students League in New York. Now, when I’m not writing, I draw or photograph my world.
What are the best ways to connect with you, or find out more about your work?
My website and twitter. And once again, thank you, Shannon. And thank you, readers, for taking the time to slog through this.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Susan Russo Anderson is a writer, a mother, a member of Sisters in Crime, a graduate of Marquette University, and a life member of The Art Students League of New York. She has taught language arts and creative writing, worked for a publisher, an airline, an opera company. Like Faulkner’s Dilsey, she’s seen the best and the worst, the first and the last. Through it all, and to understand it somewhat, she writes.
TOO QUIET IN BROOKLYN, the first in the Fina Fitzgibbons Brooklyn mystery series published December 2013. The second book in the series,MISSING BRANDY, published September 2014, and WHISKEY’S GONE published in January 2015 and completes a trilogy. The fourth book in Fina’s series, THE BROOKLYN DROP, published August 2015.
DEATH OF A SERPENT, the first in the Serafina Florio series, published January 2012. It began as a painting of the Lower East Side, the landmark immigrant neighborhood in Manhattan, and wound up as a mystery story set in nineteenth-century Sicily. NO MORE BROTHERS, a novella, published May 2012, the second in the series. The third book, DEATH IN BAGHERIA, published in December, followed by MURDER ON THE RUE CASSETTE in January 2014.
Author Links:
Website: http://susanrussoanderson.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Susan-Russo-Anderson/349374975075796
Twitter @SusanRussoAnder
Purchase Link
Dianne Casey
Sounds like a great read. You are a new author to me and I look forward to reading.