Interview With Mountain Mystery Author Kit Karson

                                 

1.      Kit, what inspired you to write your series of mysteries, The Anderson Chronicles?

I had the desire to write a novel and leaned toward thrillers but struggled with exactly what I wanted to do. People say, ‘write what you know’ and I would think ‘I really don’t know much, at least anything interesting enough for a novel.’ An addendum to that advice should be ‘write what you love.’ While reading through the Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin series by author M.C. Beaton, I had my epiphany. I love reading mysteries, especially series where we get to know and love the characters. Hamish Macbeth is based in the Scottish Highlands and Agatha Raisin in based in the English Cotswolds because those are the areas where MC Beaton lived and knew well. I have spent my life in small-town Montana. It made sense to base my novels here.

 

2.      Take us through the four books. What was the first one, Land Grab, about?

All four books are based in a small western Montana town called Anderson. Land Grab opens with the body of the local dairy man found in a grisly murder scene in the bakery and the baker is missing. Later that day, a beloved town patriarch and sapphire dealer is found hanging from his balcony. Eventually, valuable sapphires are found missing from his inventory. In the middle of all that, the Russian mob is in town trying to gain control of prime real estate with a plan of building a high-end resort. The dairy man had been receiving threatening notes and was being harassed by a neighboring rancher in a land dispute. Sheriff Elliott and his deputies struggle to solve both cases as well as find a connection between them.

 2.      The latest installment, Nefarious Intent, is about what?

In Nefarious Intent, an older couple, Frank and Alice, are found tied to kitchen chairs in their home on the mountain and left to freeze to death. Later, their son and his wife are found missing from their home with nothing but a pool of blood left as a clue. There are several possible motives for the murders. Frank was a bus driver blamed for an accident that resulted in the death of three young boys. Alice was accused of embezzling money from the church coffers. Their son Tony seems to be an innocent, but his wife is a greedy social climber. Would she have killed her in-laws for money?

 

3. All of your titles consist of two words. How do you manage to find just the right combo of so few words to declare your title?

It’s tough. I don’t title the book until after it’s finished, then I brainstorm the main theme of the book and narrow it down to two words. I look on Amazon for books with that name, because I don’t want to use something that is already over-used, and the first title idea usually is. Then, I get out the thesaurus and look for alternatives to the original words. I keep mixing up words, looking for combinations that sound good together and then checking them against titles on Amazon. Sometimes I have to go back and rethink the original word choices. Eventually something clicks.

 

4. Your stories have been referred to as “mountain mysteries,” taking place in western Montana. You are a fifth-generation Montanan. What is it about that setting that makes for a good story?

There’s such an aura of romance and mystery surrounding the west, especially in the mountains. So many secrets of days gone by can lay hidden in abandoned mines, and under the ruins of mountain cabins. Outlaws and lawmen, cowboys and Indians, even the women of the west were tough and resourceful. I’ve personally been told stories of bodies that were never found, and murderers who are never caught. In my own family, there’s a true story of multiple murders committed by family members. My great-great grandmother and her sons were arrested but eventually set free. They got away with murder. In one case the body was never found. The only proof to the murder was that my great-great uncle admitted to it while drinking heavily in a local bar.

 

5. You show small town life through the eyes of one who lives it. How do your stories differ from ones that may take place in big cities, like LA, NYC, or Chicago?

Life in a small town is so much more intimate than in a city. If you’re one person in a 1,000 people versus one person in 200,000 or even 2 million, it’s harder to stay under the radar. There’s a country song with a line that says, “Everyone dies famous in a small town.” It could say “Everyone lives famous in a small town.” Our paparazzi is everyone in town. Law enforcement is also handled differently in a small town. The local sheriff will often know a criminal personally and be able to deal with a situation before it escalates.

 

6. You seem to balance a good pace of action combined with authentic dialogue and a number of plot twists. Where did your storytelling ability evolve from?

I’ve been an avid reader for as far back as I can remember so, in a sense, have been in training studying other author storytellers most of my life. I’ve also been writing real-life short stories for family and friends for years, so it was a natural progression into fiction. Writing short stories taught me to pace the narrative and lead to the surprise ending. For fiction, I have an active imagination. I’m able to play out scenes in my head and sometimes act out physical action so I know the scenes are realistic. I read the dialog out loud to make sure it sounds legitimate.

 

7. You are very meticulous about the research that you do for your books. Is it true that you once spent several hours researching the accuracy of just one line in one of your books?

More than once. I often spend hours researching subjects that only have a small part in the book. For example, I spent quite a bit of time researching antiques, including antique forks while writing Justice Rendered to make sure I described the murder weapon accurately. I have multiple books on forensics and Police procedure that I refer to for crime scene investigation, and The Handbook of Montana Criminal and Traffic Laws for citing statutes. I spend time looking into both modern and period clothing to describe a vest, dress, or hat someone is wearing. Sometimes I do get sucked into tangents, but it’s all interesting.

 

8. Another theme that pops across some of your books is that of abuse. Why does that seem to make it into your stories?

Abuse is so much a part of real life, physical, emotional, financial. Not to generalize, because not everyone is evil, but people treat each other horribly. Elder abuse is rampant in families and usually has to do with money. Grandpa needs to be in a nursing home, but the kids, or even grandkids, don’t want to sell the house or ranch or dip into their inheritance to pay the cost, so grandpa isn’t cared for properly. I’ve witnessed too many times woman who are physically and emotionally abused by a husband and yet don’t press charges and go right back into the situation. If they do leave one abuser, they’ll hook up with another one just like him. Parents abuse children, children abuse other children. It’s an endless cycle.

 

9. You say that everyone has secrets, and even in a small town, where everyone knows each other, they really don’t know each other. This plays out in your books. So, what are some examples of these secrets?

People play a part in society, but no one really knows what goes on behind closed doors. A well-respected leader in a community may go home every night and beat his wife. Children are sexually abused. I knew a woman once who was a closet alcoholic. She was so ashamed of her addiction; she would hide in her basement to drink. Not even her closest friends knew until one day she fell down the stairs and someone eventually found her.

Secrets can also be positive. People may live as paupers and when they die, you find out they have millions in the bank. Or others may do endless charity work, but only behind the scenes and don’t take credit for it.

 

10. Midwest Book Reviews said you “mastered the craft of writing” and that you have “the talent for weaving will keep you on the edge of your seat.” Does that surprise you, considering you didn’t take to writing novels until just a year ago, -- with no formal training?  Yes, although people close to me have been telling me for decades that I should write a book, so there must have been clues of a not-so-hidden talent. In my home as a child, there was a plaque on the wall that said, ‘A singer can always find a song.’ In the same sense, a writer can always find a story to tell, and the words just naturally flow. I love to write and feel the words coming together and falling into place. I don’t think that is something that can be taught and trained so much as a natural inclination. I’ve had to learn some of the rules of writing, but those fill-in as I go along

 

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About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over four million pageviews. With 5,000+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” 

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully).

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog