Today Debra Sennefelder is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Three Widows and a Corpse, her latest novel in the Food Blogger mystery series.

Welcome, Debra. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about your novel. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

DS: THREE WIDOWS AND A CORPSE is the third book in my Food Blogger Mystery series. The series features food blogger, Hope Early who has recently returned to her hometown of Jefferson, CT. After a divorce, quitting her magazine job and losing a reality baking competition show, Hope decided to turn her part-time gig of blogging into her full-time job. In this book, Hope has jumped into organizing the town’s scavenger hunt which turns deadly when the body of disgraced real estate developer, Lionel Whitcomb, is found by three women who each claim to be married to him.

Where did the idea for the mystery that is central to the story come from?

DS: When I was submitting the first book in the series, THE UNINVITED CORPSE, to editors, I had to include summaries for the next two books in the series. While I had a completed draft of the second book, I needed an idea for the third book. The idea of three women claiming to be married to the same man popped into my head and then I got the idea for a scavenger hunt. I wrote up a fast paragraph and then about a year later I was writing the story.

Is there a theme subject that underlies the story? If so, what prompted you to write about it?

DS: The question I always seem to be incorporating into my books is, how well do we really know people, is a big part of this book. There are three women who thought they knew their husband, yet it turns out they didn’t.

How do you create your characters? Do you have favourite ones? If so, why are you partial to them?

DS: I create characters based around the plot of each book. Since I write series, there are a handful of characters that are regulars, they’ll come back book after book. I’ve created them to round out Hope’s life. I try not to have favorites, but of course Hope is definitely a favorite because she’s the main character and I spend a lot of time with her.

How do you bring to life the place you are writing about?

DS: By using the characters, adding in little details of Jefferson’s history and taking them along with Hope on her day-to-day life. One of the most beautiful buildings on Main Street is the Victorian house that is the Merrifield Inn. There’s the historic Jefferson Library and the collection of quaint shops including Hope’s favorite coffee shop, The Coffee Clique.

What research do you do to provide background information to help you write the novel?

DS: For THREE WIDOWS AND A CORPSE, I spent a lot of time on Pinterest looking for ideas about scavenger hunts. I probably only used about one percent of what I found. But it was a lot of fun researching.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about the book?

DS: I’d like readers to know that my hope is when they sit down to read THREE WIDOWS AND A CORPSE that they have a joyful experience and are entertained.

Thanks for answering my questions, Debra, and good luck with Three Widows and a Corpse, the latest book in the Food Blogger Mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Debra and her writing by visiting her website and her Facebook and Instagram pages.

The novel is available at online retailers through the following link:

http://bit.ly/2lFkcvL

About Debra Sennefelder: Debra is the author of the Food Blogger Mystery series and the Resale Boutique Mystery series, and is an avid reader who reads across a range of genres, but mystery fiction is her obsession. Her interest in people and relationships is channeled into her novels against a backdrop of crime and mystery. When she’s not reading, she enjoys cooking and baking and as a former food blogger, she is constantly taking photographs of her food. Yeah, she’s that person.

Born and raised in New York City, she now lives and writes in Connecticut with her family. She’s worked in pre-hospital care, retail and publishing. Her writing companions are her adorable and slightly spoiled Shih-Tzus, Susie and Billy. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, Women’s Fiction Writers Association and Romance Writers of America.