Katie Bonner is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about A Lethal Lake Effect, the latest novel in the Victoria Square mystery series.

Welcome, Katie. 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.

I’ve only just discovered that someone has been chronicling my life for the past four years. I don’t know how she’s doing it, but I wish it would stop. Apparently, this person is stalking not only me, but the other merchants on Victoria Square. So far there have been nine books and 10 short stories—and a cookbook. She called the books The Victoria Square Mysteries, and the short stories Life On Victoria Square.

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say, too?
I call my own shots. That said, all the mistakes are mine, too. (Except the typos. She gets credit for all of them.)

How did you evolve as the main character?

One day, I just showed up on the page. Apparently, the author had a booth in an antiques arcade. She sometimes thinks I’m a thinly disguised (and yes, I’m much thinner than her) version of herself. I’ve got a real life where she just makes up stuff.

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

Many. I have such good friends here on Victoria Square, starting with the guys who bought what’s now known as Sassy Sally’s B&B: Nick Ferrell and Don Parsons. If I’d had my way, it would have been my property, but the stars just didn’t align for me. I ended up selling them all the things I’d collected for my inn. They let me help them decorate, and we became good friends. One of Nick’s best friends, Seth Landers, is my lawyer, which is how we met.

Moonbeam Carruthers is a new friend. Some people think she’s just an old hippy, but she’s sweet, generous, and has a loving nature. Who wouldn’t want her as their friend?

And then there’s Ray Davenport, a former sheriff’s office detective. We clashed the first year of our accquaintance but have become good friends since. Friends only. There’s nothing between us. There never could be. His daughters have taken a dislike to me because … I guess it doesn’t matter why. Anyway, he’s 20 years older than me.

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

Conflicted. So much is going on. I have so much on my plate juggling two businesses, along with interests in real estate on and around Victoria Square. I recently broke up with my significant other. I’ve got a mother-in-law problem (for ten years, I was married to her now-deceased son), and one of the merchants on the Square is trying to take my job as Merchants Association president.

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

Some readers seem to think Dead Man’s Hand was the last book in the series. Obviously, A Lethal Lake Effect disproves that theory. And apparently, the “author” has plans to keep chronicling my existence. Legally, I have no recourse, but a part of me is kind of flattered. I’m just me; why people have taken such an interest in what I do and how I live was a surprise but a happy one. More shocking is that the series is a New York Times bestselling one!

Don’t tell the author, but I’m moving on with my life, and I’ll be just as excited to see how the stories unfold.

Thank you for answering my questions, Katie, and good luck to you and your author, Lorraine Bartlett, with A Lethal Lake Effect, the latest book in the Victoria Square mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Katie and her author, Lorraine Bartlett by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Goodreads, Bookbub, and Instagram pages.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Kindle    Kobo    Nook    Google Play    Smashwords

About Lorraine Bartlett: The immensely popular Booktown Mystery series is what first put  Lorraine Bartlett’s pen name Lorna Barrett on the New York Times Bestseller list, but it’s her talent — whether writing as Lorna, or L.L. Bartlett, or  Lorraine Bartlett—that keeps her in her readers’ hearts. This multi-published, Agatha-nominated author also pens the exciting Jeff Resnick Mysteries as well as the acclaimed Victoria Square and Lotus Bay Mystery series, and the Tales of Blythe Cove Manor, and has many short stories and novellas to her name(s).