Amey Zeigler
wrote her first mystery with her best friend in fourth grade. She wrote, the
friend illustrated. It also had a cute boy in it with spiky hair (because that
was the style back then). Not much has changed. She loves mysteries. She loves
romance. She loves suspense. She loves action, adventure and comedy. But she
wants it to have a happy ending.
Because she grew
up moving all around the United States, Amey loves writing about different
places. In her books, she explores the whole world.
Growing up, Amey
was always trying new things. She played violin, drums, flute, piano, all
before she was sixteen. She also discovered she didn't have much talent for music.
When people asked
her what she wanted to be when she grew up, she was afraid to tell them she
wanted to be a writer because she didn't know how to write.
She is so
grateful for her Sophomore year Honor's English teacher who gave her a star and
five points (out of five!) for Voice on her personal essay. Otherwise, she
wouldn't have had enough courage to pursue writing.
Connect with the Author here:
Twenty-three
year-old investigative journalist, Andy Miller is armed with her many disguises
and creativity to take down the riff-raff of Saint Louis. When her stepbrother
is murdered by the mob, Andy soon discovers she’s out of her depth.
Enter Hugh
Donaldson who has reasons of his own for discovering the murderer. He’ll use
everything in his power to achieve that, including lying to Andy about his
past. Dangerous as he is attractive, his martial arts skills and his quirky
ways raise Andy’s suspicions.
Although Andy
balks at his lies, Hugh’s charms, twenty-inch biceps, and electrifying blue
eyes are difficult to resist. Striking out on their own, Hugh and Andy try to
outwit each other as they traverse North America tracking down people connected
to the case.
As clues
disappear and the body count climbs, Andy and Hugh must trust each other and
use their combined skills to bring the murderer to justice.
~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~
Q&A With the Author:
1.
Tell
us about things you enjoy — what you do for fun or personal satisfaction
besides writing?
I am a full time mom. I also like to sew
costumes especially for Halloween. I oil paint. I like to adopt stray furniture
on the side of the road and give them a face lift with chalk paint and/or
reupholstery. My husband says we have enough free furniture in our house. I
might need to find another hobby. I garden. I bake. I am an avid people
watcher. And I exercise and read.
2.
What
is the thing you struggle with the most while writing? And how do you defeat
it?
I struggle with getting a plot nailed down. I write
about twenty thousand words before I truly have a sense of the story. Then I go
back and rewrite large swaths of it. I have so many ideas it’s just a matter of
find out which ones will work for the story. Not every good idea can be
squeezed into a story, but I do try :)
3.
What
are your future projects?
I
will finish out the Baker’s Dozen series, I have a sweet casserole romance, a
sweet romance set in Switzerland and two sweet romances set at the University
of Arizona. I also have paranormal YA romance as well that needs to be
polished. Then I’m working on plotting out another mystery series set in
Europe.
4.
What
is the “message”
of your writing?
I
have themes for each book. Baker’s Dozen talks about honesty, hypocrisy and
whether or not it’s okay to lie to protect people. All of my themes are
uplifting and inspiring, I hope. I also like writing romances because I really
do feel that finding love and developing a relationship brings us happiness.
5.
Are
your characters/stories/scenes, etc. based on anything in real life?
I
am sending out a novel set in Vevey, a city where I lived in Switzerland. The
novel includes some crazy adventures like hauling a recliner up four flights of
stairs and cultural misunderstandings. I left out the scene that was really
similar to the time I went down in the basement and in searching for the light,
turned on the fire alarm.
6.
Have
you done anything writing-related, besides actually writing your books, that
seemed to get a lot of positive response? Something that encouraged you?
I
wanted to be a writer since I was little. But I didn’t know if I had talent. In
my sophomore honors English class, we were asked to write a personal essay
about a talent we had. As I went walking, I brainstormed ideas. Then, I found
it. I found my voice. My personal essay talked about how I couldn’t do sports
because I had my father’s rear and my mother’s hips and they didn’t work well
together. I talked about taking raw materials and creating something new by
sewing them together. I read my essay aloud to my class. They laughed. And I
got a perfect score. I was delighted I found my voice. I love to make people
laugh.
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