Today Amy Flowers is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Truffles and Tragedy, the latest novel in the Down South Café mystery series.

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

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

Hi, there. I’m Amy Flowers, and I live inside the Down South Café. My current residence is a book called TRUFFLES AND TRAGEDY. The series began when I bought the café from my hateful, skinflint of a former boss—actually, I bought if from her son after she died. Did I mention I’m the one who found her murdered in her office? No? Well, yeah…that happened. TRUFFLES AND TRAGEDY is my sixth adventure so far.

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say too?

The writer likes to think she controls everything, but I and my friends also get a say. Sometimes we even have to point her in the right direction of the killer—she goes off on tangents sometimes, and we can see that she’s getting ready to accuse the wrong person. But, hey, she only writes the story—she doesn’t live it like we do—so we cut her some slack.

How did you evolve as the main character?

I feel like I’m maturing all the time. When I first bought the café, I was pretty scared. I hadn’t been out of culinary school for long, my nana had died, and I wanted to do something to make her proud. I still suffer from some insecurities—that’s painfully obvious when I look back at TRUFFLES AND TRAGEDY—but I’m coming into my own as someone my family and friends can rely on.

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them?

I love sharing the story with my boyfriend, Ryan, and my cousin, Jackie. I love spending time with my mom and Aunt Bess, of course, but I tend to spend more time with Ryan and Jackie. Ryan is wonderful, and I feel confident and happy that he and I will have a future together. Jackie is not only my cousin, but she’s also my best friend; and she works with me at the café. I offered her a partnership once, but she wants to follow her own dreams.

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story?

In a word, homey. The café offers down-home cooking and a warm, hospitable atmosphere. Winter Garden is a tiny town. In fact, there’s only one other restaurant, and it’s a pizza parlor. The town is bucolic and beautiful. I grew up here, and there’s nowhere I’d rather live.

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

Just that I hope they’ll like it! Thank you for hosting me here on your blog! I’ll have to tell Aunt Bess about it—she’s in her early 80s, and she loves the internet.

Thank you for answering my questions, Amy, and good luck to you and your author, Gayle Leeson, with Truffles and Tragedy, the latest book in the Down South Café mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Amy and her author, Gayle Leeson by visiting the author’s Amazon Author page and her Facebook, Goodreads, and Bookbub pages. You can also follow her on Twitter.

The novel is available online at  Amazon 

About Gayle Leeson: Gayle Leeson is a pseudonym for Gayle Trent. Gayle has also written as Amanda Lee and Gayle Trent. Going forward, Gayle intends to keep her writing under the Gayle Leeson name. She lives with her beautiful family in the hills of Southwest Virginia.