Behind the Scenes with Cozy Mystery Author Kalyn Shaible
Kalyn Shaible, a prolific author with a flair for cozy mysteries, shares her journey from aspiring playwright to cozy mystery writer. With series like Sleuthing with Seals and Cozy Corner Coven Mysteries, Kalyn brings to life captivating characters and intriguing plots. Learn about her creative process, unique settings, and the charm of her feline character, Nicodemus.
Could you share a little about yourself and the cozy mysteries you write?
I’ve wanted to be an author since I was twelve years old, but had a hard time finding my voice. I wrote two terrible westerns and turned to other things. I was a theatre major in college and got my MFA in costume design. I wrote my first play when my boss disappeared, on a two week vacation she didn’t tell me about, and left me no work to do. Then, I realized that I was a playwright. My second play won a local playwriting award and I turned to screenwriting, but nothing came of that neither. I began reading cozies after watching a few Hallmark movies, especially the Murder She Baked and the Aurora Teagarden series, so of course I read the books. I met an indie publisher online, Maxwell Landing Press, who hired me to ghostwrite a beach cozy. My editor liked it so much, she hired me to write another series and added my name to the cover. That’s how the Sleuthing with Seals by Aggie Parris and the Cozy Corner Coven Mysteries series by Aggie Parris and Kalyn Shaible began. Except for the idea of Nicodemus the cat, all the characters and plot lines are mine. But I’m responsible for his personality and snark!
How do you develop your characters, particularly your amateur sleuth?
I start with a name, then a description. This is where my costume design skills come in. I visualize my characters right down to what they wear, how they take their coffee or tea, what they do for a living, what their houses/apartments look like, and what they drive. What their families look like and whether they appear. Who their friends are. In the first book, Secrets of the Sealed Treasure, my sleuth worked in a museum with her best friend. She discovered a shipwreck off the coast of New Jersey which concealed a powerful and evil secret. The first book of the second series, stars the friend as the sleuth, after she moves north to her ancestral home in Massachusetts.
Cozy mysteries often feature unique settings or themes. Can you tell us about the setting/theme of your latest book and what drew you to it?
The setting of my latest book is in the fictional town of Cozy Corner, Massachusetts, right next to the Quabbin Reservoir. We (my publisher and I) wanted to have loose ties to the Salem Witch Trials, which many of our last names reflect, and there’s a small town nearby called New Salem which we adopted as a loose basis for Cozy Corner. As the story developed, we needed to go diving for an artifact and my research on the Quabbin Reservoir revealed that four thriving towns were disincorporated and razed to the ground to make room for the reservoir back in the 1930s. I thought what would be better than to have one of those towns surface in visions like Brigadoon? Hence, When the Ghost Town Rose was born. Also, I brought back the characters of Carly and Leo from the Sleuthing with Seals books since they are both expert divers.
What do you find most challenging about writing cozy mysteries, and how do you overcome it?
When I first started writing, I was 100% a pantser. The problem with that was how often I found myself painted into a corner or suffering major writer’s block. When I began writing cozies, I wrote a treatment, much like I would do a screenplay, outlining the chapters or at least the events in chronological order. I also would not begin the treatment until I had a good idea who was murdered (or what the mystery was), who did it and why, and how it was resolved. Then I would write the treatment and begin the book. As I write, I let the characters speak to me and sometimes I go afield of the treatment. And that’s okay as long as I can get back to the roots of the story. So now, I guess you could say I’m 40% plotter / 60% pantser. When I get really stuck, I go talk it out with my roommate, who was my screenwriting partner. She’ll play “what if” with me until I figure it out. Having someone to help you bounce ideas around is always helpful.
Cozy mysteries often incorporate humor and wit. How do you balance the lighter elements with the seriousness of the mystery?
Comedy is my forte, so it’s just natural to me. Life itself is a balancing act between comedy and tragedy. If I find it’s becoming too dark, I’ll have something ridiculous happen, or just bring in the snarky cat!
Can you share any interesting research experiences or fun facts you discovered while researching for your books?
OMG! I do sooooo much research for my books. They say “write what you know,” so I learn as much as I can about things I want to include. I learned about deep sea diving and shipwrecks for Secrets of the Sealed Treasure. I learned about Wiccan rituals, covens, New England architecture, and the local geography and road system in central Massachusetts for When the Glass Shattered. When the Wind Blew Hot centered on two extreme sports lovers so I researched cliff climbing, rappelling, skydiving, and various other sports. I also like to use real places and companies in my books, so I used the skydiving company, Jumptown, located right next to my fictitious town, and The Ship Inn in Stonehaven, Scotland for my locales. Websites are wondrous things! I called those places and got permission to use them, too. Very important to get permission.
I’ve been to the Bahamas once and that seemed a natural location for Leo the selkie to be from, for the second Sleuthing with Seals book, Pinnipeds and Poachers. And I did a great deal of research on the lost towns of the Quabbin Reservoir, even finding some old photographs of some of the buildings in the lost town of Dana for When the Ghost Town Rose. Right now, I’m researching old ship manifests and rock bands for the third Seals book, Sealed for the Holidays which I’m currently writing.
Do pets play a role in your cozy mysteries, and do they reflect any real-life pets or experiences?
Oh, yes. Nicodemus the cat is a very important part of all the Cozy Corner Coven books. He is a true familiar and he speaks with the members of his family, not all of whom are related by blood. I’ve lived with eleven different felines, and one miniature poodle, throughout my life, five of whom were mine, or should I say I was theirs? I would say Nicodemus reflects parts of all of them in one way or another. Each one had his or her own distinct personality and bits of each of them make up one powerful, magickal feline!
Is there anything else you’d like to share that I haven’t covered in the interview?
Yes. Sleuthing with Seals and the Cozy Corner Coven Mysteries take place in the same world. Some of the characters go back and forth so there is an ideal reading order, although one can read each series separately. There will be six books per series with a total of twelve books altogether, with all the characters coming together in the last book for the denouement. The reading order to date is as follows:
1. Secrets of the Sealed Treasure – Book One: Sleuthing with Seals
2. When the Glass Shattered – Book One: Cozy Corner Coven Mysteries
3. When the Wind Blew Hot – Book Two: Cozy Corner Coven Mysteries
4. Pinnipeds and Poachers – Book Two: Sleuthing with Seals
5. When the Ghost Town Rose – Book Three: Cozy Corner Coven Mysteries
6. Sealed for the Holidays – Book Three: Sleuthing with Seals (pending)
And so on.
Finally, what advice do you have for aspiring cozy mystery writers?
Upload the free version of Grammarly. This will point out any misspellings you may have, as well as grammatical errors. You don’t have to accept what Grammarly suggests, necessarily. It doesn’t like contractions and won’t always point out typos, especially if your incorrect word is an actual word, (e.g. he when you meant her, or live when you meant love, both easy typos to make). But Grammarly will make editing your work easier.
Finally, write what you love. Don’t try to guess what sells best, just write the best book you can, one you yourself would want to read. Be true to yourself. Your readers are out there!
