Autumn Embers by Tina deBellegarde

I’m thrilled to share an interview with Tina deBellegarde on her new book, Aumtum Embers. This is a fascinating interview so enjoy! We also have a giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours that you will want to enter!

1. Tell us about your book.

My Batavia-on-Hudson Mystery Series takes place in a fictitious village in the Hudson Valley of New York, but Autumn Embers, the newest book in the series, alternates between Batavia and Kyoto, Japan. In this installment, Bianca St. Denis travels to Japan to return a priceless artifact that was uncovered during a storm in Batavia the previous summer. While she’s there, she is also visiting her son who is studying at Kyoto University. Needless to say, they are embroiled in a murder mystery, first with a missing body, and then once the body is found, her son is implicated. She is compelled to help clear his name.

The mystery is only one part of the story, however, there are more personal sub-plots going on. For example, Bianca is coming to terms with the fact that her only son may choose to make Kyoto his permanent home. This is painful on one hand, but she sees his natural affinity for the city and that he’s happy. This is all she needs as a mother to understand that his chosen family abroad will take good care of him. The book also alternates between Bianca in Japan and events back home in Batavia-on-Hudson. Mike Riley, the sheriff and Bianca’s love interest, is in the middle of an election he seems poised to lose, as well as discovering some distressing news about his former partner’s death, all while dealing with a trial separation from his wife. These personal stories are what I am most interested in as a writer.

My fascination with Japan started when my son moved there the day after his college graduation. I visit him every 18-24 months and try to stay as long as possible – maybe a month or more if I can swing it. This way I can spend some real quality time with him and I also get to immerse myself in the culture. The story line about a mother dealing with a son living far away is very close to my heart.

I am returning to Kyoto in October to launch my book and I was there at the end of 2022 while I was writing it. I definitely benefited by being in the city while I was trying to capture its beauty and essence.

 

2. This is book 3 in a series. Should the series be read in order or are the books standalones?

I have made a point of making the books enjoyable as standalones, but I happen to be a huge fan of series. I love the pleasure of returning to a place and a set of characters and watching their personal stories unfold. It’s why I chose to write a series in the first place. I want my readers to invest in my characters and look forward to returning to Batavia-on-Hudson over and over again. All the characters have challenges and I enjoy writing their successes and stumbles.

 

3. What inspired this series and this book?

As I mentioned in question one, my personal struggle with my son’s life overseas inspired the storyline, while my first visit to Kyoto made it clear to me that the city was a place I wanted to share with others. I am absolutely in love with Kyoto, as well as the culture and literature of Japan in general.

 

4. Will there be more books in this series?

Yes, I have several more mystery plots sketched out for Bianca and the rest of the cast in Batavia-on-Hudson. I don’t have release dates yet, but stay tuned to my website and sign up for my newsletter for updates – tinadebellegarde.com.

 

5. I understand you have beehives. Do you have any interesting stories from taking care of your bees?

Oh, so many… One season we had to collect our bees from the woods behind our house when an entire hive with their queen swarmed – they do this when they are overpopulated. They bunched up into a ball on a tree branch and sent out scouts to look for a permanent home. Luckily, I heard them—they make quite a loud buzz when swarming. We had a very short time to collect them before they would be gone for good. But we managed to cut down the branch they were on and place them gently in a large box and gave them a new hive to live in where they could have more room. Luckily, they were happy with that arrangement and stayed with us.

And our hives have been attacked by bears several times. The amount of damage one bear can do is frightful! We have tried everything to keep them out with increasing degrees of expense and security—bells, dangling soap bars (it camouflages the scent of the honey), electric fencing, regular high fencing… But all those solutions only yielded more expensive damage. Nothing worked. So, we share our yard with a bear one in a while.

 

6. The cover is beautiful! What inspired the cover and did you get to pick the cover?

Thank you! I did get to pick my cover. I had an artist in mind when I signed my contract and was granted permission to use her. I am blessed to have worked with two very talented artists on my covers and maps. Both artists are based in Japan and have artistic styles that capture the aesthetic I was seeking. When I worked with Sachi Mulkey on the first book, I gave her some ideas of what I wanted. She took those ideas and gave me several mock-ups. When I saw the one that eventually became the Winter Witness cover, I realized that she had something special there. It was evocative and intriguing for a mystery but gave nothing away about the story. It was the kind of cover that would cause me to pick up the book. And I also realized that I could create a series of covers based on the original. I had all three of these covers in mind from that point.

 

7. What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

I always give the same three pieces of advice.

First, make sure you are always reading, including outside your writing genre. I think staying immersed in great writing is inspiring and rubs off.

Second, I would say you must create some sort a regular writing practice – so either write every day, write every Thursday, or on the weekends, but make it regular so you can keep your head in the writing.

Third, try writing short fiction, because it allows you to stretch as a writer.

 

8. What is your writing process like? (Do you outline, write certain times of the day, etc)

I have no regular writing time or day. Every book is different and my schedule evolves as well. Based on my life needs at the time of each book, I will develop some sort of routine. But once I sit, I usually must have coffee and soft jazz (I actually have a particular album I write to for each book and when I turn it on, I am immediately “in” that book).

I do a quick outline first, then draft the story beats long hand (10-15 pages) because I find handwriting more creative. Then I type up a detailed outline. After that, I create a post-it note timeline on a white board. Only then do I start writing.

 

9. You have had a variety of jobs including teacher, paralegal, and library clerk. When and why did you decide to become a writer?

I always did a great deal of writing in my work and studies, but I did not have the confidence to put my creativity to the test. Then I retired from teaching and moved to a small village. I was also reading a lot of traditional mysteries at that time and I decided to try my hand at it. My small village of Catskill inspired me. I was in love with the idea of a large cast of characters in an intimate town with all their possible interactions.

 

10. Do your books require research and if so, how do you complete the research?

Only this last book, Autumn Embers, required research. My visits to Japan in person addressed the bulk of my needs, but most of the writing took place at home in Catskill. So, when I was at a loss, I got on Zoom and picked the brains of my friends in Japan. I also had a Japanese- American woman living in Kyoto who acted as my cultural reader. She was able to pick up inconsistencies for me. Of course, the internet, YouTube and my personal library of Japanese books came in handy.

 

11. What is one fun fact about you?

For a short time, I took a class to be a hot-air balloon pilot. Ballooning is one of my absolute fascinations and one day I will write about that as well!

 

About the Author:

Tina deBellegarde’s debut novel, Winter Witness, was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Dead Man’s Leap, her second book in the Batavia-on-Hudson Mystery series, was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel. Reviewers have called Tina “the Louise Penny of the Catskills.” Tina also writes short stories and flash fiction. Her story “Tokyo Stranger,” nominated for a Derringer Award, appears in the Mystery Writers of America anthology When a Stranger Comes to Town edited by Michael Koryta. Tina co-chairs the Murderous March Conference and is a founding member of Sleuths and Sidekicks, where she blogs, tours virtually, and teaches writing workshops. She is a member of Writers in Kyoto and reviews books for BooksOnAsia.net. She lives in Catskill, New York with her husband Denis and their cat Shelby. She travels frequently to Japan to visit her son and daughter-in-law and to do research. Tina is currently working on a collection of interconnected short stories based in Japan.

Social Media Links:

www.TinadeBellegarde.com
www.SleuthsAndSidekicks.com
Goodreads
BookBub - @tinadebellegarde
Instagram - @tdb_writes
Threads - @tdb_writes
Twitter/X - @tdbwrites
Facebook - @tinadebellegardeauthor

 

Giveaway:

https://kingsumo.com/g/1x952z1/autumn-embers-by-tina-debellegarde-gift-card