Interview with Joanne Fluke

Added August 2002

Sharyn: With her debut novel Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, Joanne Fluke claimed her spot as a top mystery writer. Wonderful, relatable characters and suspense abound, delighting readers everywhere. Joanne graciously consented to an interview with me.

Okay, I just have to ask this. Was your mother a matchmaker like Hannah's?

Joanne: My mother was exactly the opposite. She didn't want me to even think about marriage until I'd finished college. But my roommate's mother was the Delores Swensen type. She called Judy almost every night, wanting to know if she'd met any "nice" college boys. Judy told me her mother hadn't sent her to college to get a B.S. or an M.A. All her mother wanted was an M.R.S. for Judy, marriage to a young man with a good career whose parents had lots of money and social connections.

Sharyn: How many Hannah Swensen novels are you planning?

Joanne: I'd like to write about Hannah forever! I am under contact with Kensington for a total of seven Hannah books and I hope there'll be many more.

Sharyn: Can you tell us a bit about the next Hannah Swensen novel?

Joanne: Hannah's fourth book, Lemon Meringue Pie Murder, (hardcover March 2003) is set in the summer, right before Lake Eden's giant Fourth of July celebration. (And before you ask, the mosquito is not the Minnesota State Bird, although it would certainly be right up there in the running for the state summer insect!) Hannah's busy preparing for the upcoming holiday when she gets a surprise. One of the men she's dating, dentist Norman Rhodes, phones to tell her he just bought an old house from drugstore clerk, Rhonda Scharf. Norman plans to tear it down to build the dream house he designed with Hannah for the contest they won. The bad news is that Norman's building their dream house and Hannah's ring finger is still bare. The good news is that the house is full of antiques and Norman's giving them all to Granny's Attic, the antique shop his mother and Hannah's mother opened in Lake Eden. Hannah goes out to the house with Norman and her mother. They uncover some gorgeous old furniture, a set of rare antique dishes, a hundred-year-old patchwork quilt and Rhonda's dead body. The house is now a crime scene and Norman can't tear it down until the murder is solved. That means it's time for Hannah to sleuth.

Sharyn: Did you come up with the titles or were they chosen by the publisher?

Joanne: The answer to that question is yes, and yes. I came up with the title for the first book, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder. I suggested it because I had a wonderful recipe for Chocolate Chip Crunch cookies. My editor suggested the second title, Strawberry Shortcake Murder. That was fine with me, especially since I love to bake strawberry shortcake. Book three, Blueberry Muffin Murder, was also my editor's idea. I agreed and then had to scramble around to come up with a winning blueberry muffin recipe. Lemon Meringue Pie Murder was my suggestion. Everyone raves about my lemon meringue pie. As you can see, the titles are a cooperative effort between my editor, the cover artist, and me.

Sharyn: This one's just me, please tell me Hannah's not going to choose between Mike and Norman for a while?

Joanne: This is entirely up to Hannah, of course, but the last time she discussed her love life with me, she said that both Norman and Mike had their good points and choosing one over the other was impossible. Hannah thought that if she could magically combine them into one man, she'd race down the aisle before Delores could even think about sending out wedding invitations. Since magic wasn't possible, Hannah guessed she'd just have to date both of them.

Sharyn: In your novels, Hannah is very much aware of the ins and outs of police work. Did you just read up on crime-solving or do you have friends in the police department that answer all your questions?

Joanne: Luckily, Lake Eden and the Winnetka County Sheriff's Department are both fictional. If the Winnetka County deputies do something that wouldn't happen in a real county sheriff's department, I can claim that it's different in Winnetka County. Even with this built-in excuse, I do try to be as accurate as possible. I've done research on various county regulations and procedures and I also have a local resource. My neighbor across the street is a retired police detective and he's wonderful about answering my questions.

Sharyn: Where did the idea for your series come from?

Joanne: I grew up in a small town in Minnesota. Since the venue is familiar, I decided to set my series there. Then there was Hannah. She's the best friend I always wanted to have. Since I love to bake, I also wanted to include recipes. One way to do that was to make Hannah the owner of a cookie shop.

Sharyn: I believe I read on your web site that you test all of the recipes included in your novels. How does your family feel about eating all those delectable desserts? Do they ever get tired of being guinea pigs?

Joanne: I do test every recipe. I test them countless times. When I think they're perfect, I e-mail them to my friend in Wisconsin, Terry Sommers, and she gives them a final test for me. All of my recipes are family originals from my grandmother, mother, her two sisters, and from me. The women in my family never used cookbooks unless they were desperate, and they weren't desperate that often. Mom always said that if you wanted to bake and you didn't have some of the ingredients, you should just substitue something you thought might work. She also said that if the resulting recipe was good, you should write it down. I have dozens of shoeboxes in my kitchen that contain odd scraps of paper with recipes from everyone in my family.

My family loves it when I test recipes, or when I'm working on one of my own "creations." The kids grew up thinking that the cookie jar was bottomless (just like the coffee cups at Hal and Roses café in Lake Eden.) My neighbors are also enthusiastic taste testers. Melanie, up the street, promised to mow my lawn for a solid month if I'd bake her a whole batch of Hannah's Blue Blueberry Muffins. No one in my neighborhood seems to mind being a guinea pig, although several have complained that their waistbands seem to be getting a little tighter.

Sharyn: Do you see yourself ever not writing?

Joanne: No. I love to write, and writing about Hannah and her family is like going back home to small town Minnesota again. The only time I don't write is when I'm working on a new recipe, or traveling somewhere to talk about the Hannah books

Sharyn: Do you always plan to be an author?

Joanne: Yes. Retirement isn't an option for me. Writing is as necessary to me as breathing.

Sharyn: What is the hardest part of being in the writing business for you?

Joanne: It used to be typing "The End." I've always identified with my characters and all of them have seemed very real to me. When I wrote single-titles and I finished a book, I'd feel as if I'd lost my best friends. Now that I'm writing a series, that's not a problem.

Sharyn: What do you feel makes your books unique or stand out from others in your genre?

Joanne: That's tough for me to answer, but I receive a lot of e-mail messages from fans and I asked them that question. For some, it was the recipes. They like the fact that they're easy and delicious. Others say that Hannah and her life in Lake Eden intrigue them. One told me it made her feel good to read about Hannah, that her life is too complicated and the Hannah books gave her a break from the stress. Another reader said that when she needs a good laugh, she rereads one of the Hannah books. Several fans have mentioned that they're sorry Lake Eden is fictional, because they really want to move there!

Sharyn: How do you find your ideas?

Joanne: The ideas for plots come from the characters themselves. Just like real people, they grow, mature, and change with each passing day. I do a lot of "what ifs." One of those "what ifs" led to Lemon Meringue Pie Murder. I asked myself, "What if Norman actually decided to build the dream house he designed with Hannah? How would she feel about that?" One of the "what ifs" that occurred to me last night was, "What if Delores got involved with another man? How would Hannah, Andrea, and Michelle deal with that?" (I think that'll be the basis of a future book. I'm already excited about writing it.)

Sharyn: What books do you read? Do you read in genres that you currently don't write?

Joanne: I often have several books "going" at once (sometimes one book in every room.) I'm currently reading, I'm Just Here for the Food by Alton Brown, All The Best by George Bush, Dreadnought by Howard K. Massie, and Uncle John's Ultimate Bathroom Reader by the Bathroom Reader's Institute (you'll be able to guess which room that's in!) And yes, I do read in non-mystery genres. The last mystery I read was, Lemon Meringue Pie Murder, but that's because I just finished going over the copy-edits.

Sharyn: Who are some of your favorite authors?

Joanne: Agatha Christie (surprise, surprise,) Stephen Ambrose, Anne Perry, LaVyrle Spencer (I cried when she retired,) and just about any fiction writer who delivers a good tight plot, believable characters, and situations that seem real to the reader.

Sharyn: Do you have a superstitious thing you do when you write? You know, do you have a favorite mug, or shirt you have to have when you write certain parts of the book?

Joanne: Not really. I do have to be fortified by several infusions (cups) of Swedish Plasma (good strong coffee) though. My only habit that might be called "superstitious" is never finishing a chapter when I quit for the day. I always leave at least a couple of paragraphs unwritten. That way, in the morning when I sit down to write, I know exactly what has to be done. By the time I've finished that chapter, I'm rolling and I can start the next chapter.

Sharyn: How does your family react to your writing novels? I know sometimes family can not be as supportive as they could be.

Joanne: My husband is very supportive. He's also a huge help. He wrote for television for years and he can spot a hole in a plot much quicker than anyone else I know. (A mystery is like a puzzle - if one piece doesn't bit, it'll throw off the whole thing.) He's also an expert at pacing a story for maximum suspense, something that has to be honed to perfection in a mystery.

Our kids are also supportive. They like what I do and they're proud of me. They're especially appreciative when I've just finished baking a new recipe and I'm looking for volunteers to taste it.

The rest of my family isn't quite as supportive, but they're sweet. Our pets don't seem understand why "Mommy" has to sit at the computer and can't come out to play with them.

Sharyn: What advice do you want to share with upcoming writers? What piece of advice did someone give you that made a difference for you?

Joanne: My advice for upcoming writers would be to read. Read everything you can get your hands on, in as many genres as possible. Keep a list of the techniques your favorite writers use to pull you into the story. Keep another list of the techniques that stop you cold and make you want to stop reading. Refer to this list often. Try using the techniques you like and see if they improve your writing. And stay away from the techniques that you don't like.

My mother gave me a piece of advice that's been invaluable to me over the years. "If you want to do something and don't know how to do it, find out. And once you find out, go do it."

Sharyn: How do you find the time to do all that you do to keep track with what's coming out, what's being released, and the editing needed?

Joanne: I keep a small notebook on the table next to my favorite chair and devote one page to each day. When I get up in the morning, I make a list of the things I have to do that day. When I've completed them, I cross them out. If I don't do them, I carry them over to the next day. I also have a master schedule I keep on the kitchen calendar. It tells me which date I have to prepare bookstore packets, send out press releases, correct copy-edits, check page proofs, go to a book signing, or do interviews. Of course some things fall through the cracks, but usually this system works for me.

Sharyn: Joanne, thank you so much for talking with us.

Joanne: You're all invited to visit my web site at www.MurderSheBaked.com - Jamie Wallace, my web expert, has done a wonderful job and she posts a new recipe for me every month.

While you're there, take a peek at my new cover for Lemon Meringue Pie Murder. Just click on the cookie button for the "What's Next" page.

I've got to run along now. I'm working on a new cookie today. If all goes well, the cookies will be called "Hannah's Bananas," and the recipe will be in book five.

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