Piper Glendale, author of Secrets & Scandals, the latest novel in the Gilman Gazette series, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today.

Welcome, Piper.

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

Secrets and Scandals is the story of Los Angeles tabloid reporter, Emily Delany. Called back to the hometown she thought she left for good, Emily is surrounded by small town intrigue as she tries to unravel an unsolved mystery, save the local newspaper, and clear her friend of murder. Not so easy to do when her ex-high school sweetheart is now a handsome detective blocking her every turn.

Secrets and Scandals is the first book in the Gilman Gazette Cozy Mystery Series. The egnaging series is filled with fun characters, humor and sweet romance

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

There are a few mysteries in the book and they evolved over many, many versions. Regarding the mystery of the Newberry Inn, who hasn’t looked at an abandoned building and thought, I wonder what happened there? It was fun to create the inn’s backstory and adjacent mystery. As for the murder, that evolved with the book’s charaters. As the character came more to life with revisions, the murder, motive an culprit became clear and integral to the forward movement of the story.

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

Sometimes our minds get stuck in the past. One of the themes in the book is moving on from a past memory that doesn’t serve us anymore, and better using our energy to connect with the present.

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

Some characters are purely out of my imagination, and some are bits and pieces of people I know or have known.

Bryce Peacock is one of my favorite characters. He is fun and lively and you know when he is in a scene you will get a good laugh. Bryce was actually based on the manager at my first summer job at a record store – who believe having a “bad hair day” was a legitimate reason to skip work. Obviously, that was a very fun job!

Sometimes I think I am going to write a scene one way and a character will just pull the story in another direction. In this way, writing characters has been one of the most suprising parts of being an author!

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

I try to link a chracter’s emotions to their surrounding, which helps create a sense of place. In Secrets and Scandals that was especially true for the main character, Emily, who had a bunch of emotions wrapped up in her hometown. A lot of the story is about her unpacking those emotions and taking a fresh look at her feeling about the place she grew up.

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

This book in particular has me researching facts about allergies! I also looked into the current state of the newspaper publishing issue, and the difference between a county sheriffs department and a city police department.

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

I hope that readers find a bit of romance, a dose of humor and a lot of cozy mystery in Secrets and Scandals.  And a heartfelt thank you to anyone who reads any of my books!

Thank you for answering my questions, Piper, and good luck with Secrets & Scandals, the latest book in the Gilman Gazette series.

Readers can learn more about Piper Glendale by visiting the author’s website and her Instagram page.

The novel is available at  Amazon 

About Piper Glendale: Piper Glendale is the pen name of author Stacey Auer. Stacey lives with her handsome husband and lively twins in the Pacific Northwest. When she’s not writing she can be found walking her hound dog or recycling. Visit Piper’s website at www.piperglendale.com to sign up for author updates and get access to the Secret Page.