Five Secrets from Kathleen Kaska and Her Novel ~ Murder At The Galvez

First we get to meet Kathleen, and then read her secrets. They're very interesting :)

Bio:  Kathleen Kaska writes the award-winning Sydney Lockhart mysteries set in the 1950s. Her first two books Murder at the Arlington and Murder at the Luther, were selected as bonus-books for the Pulpwood Queens Book Group, the largest book group in the country. The third book in the series, Murder at the Galvez, has just been released and number four will be out soon. Kaska also writes the Classic Triviography Mystery Series, which includes The Agatha Christie Triviography and Quiz Book, The Alfred Hitchcock Triviography and Quiz Book, and The Sherlock Holmes Triviography and Quiz Book. The Alfred Hitchcock and the Sherlock Holmes trivia books were finalists for the 2013 EPIC award in nonfiction. Her nonfiction book, The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane: The Robert Porter Allen Story (University Press of Florida) was published in 2012.

When she is not writing, Kathleen, a native Texan, spends much of her time traveling the backroads and byways with her husband, looking for new venues for her mysteries and bird watching along the Texas coast and beyond. It was her passion for birds that led to the publication The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane.

Hi Kathleen, please tell us Five Secrets we may not know about you, but will after today!

1)  I had not planned on writing the Sydney Lockhart Mystery Series. At the time Sydney appeared in my life, I was working on another series. Then one afternoon while staying at the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Sydney walked into my life and demanded I tell her story. The crazy girl wouldn’t shut up until I wrote the first scene. Her story was so entertaining, I put the first series on the backburner and began writing Murder at the Arlington. I’m working on book number five right now. The first series is still unpublished.

2) Since I’ve been writing my Sydney Lockhart series, I’ve had this weird reoccurring dream. Let me back up. Like I mentioned in my bio, the series is set in 1950s and Sydney is a twenty-nine-year old female Philip Marlowe. One of my readers described Sydney as a cross between Jessica Rabbit and Lauren Bacall. Anyway, since I began writing about her wild exploits, I’ve often dreamed of running down the street wearing a pair of red stilettos. I do own a pair of red stilettos, but when I run, it’s in a pair of New Balance sneakers.

3)  When I was a teenagers in the 1960s, I watched a lot of TV. My favorite TV personality was Morticia Adams from The Adams Family series. I wanted to look just like her, act just like her, and be blessed with her femme fatale charm. A few years ago, I wrote a short story about a high school girl obsessed with Morticia. The title is Role Model and by the time this blog posts, the story should be up on Amazon as an e-book. 

4)  I want to be an Egyptologist. Yes, I know at my age that will probably not happen. I didn’t discover my passion for ancient Egypt during my trip to that wonderful country in 1992. Since then, I’ve read everything about Egypt I can get my hands on, nonfiction and fiction. And that includes Elizabeth Peters’ entire Amelia Peabody series. I’m fascinated with King Tut’s story and am intrigued over the mystery surrounding the demise of his sister/wife Ankhesenamun. 

5)  Okay, I saved the most shocking secret for last. Don’t hate me, but I don’t like Oreo cookies. A real chocolate cookie is not pitch black and a real cream center is not stark white. I ate them when I was a kid because every kid ate them. Now that I’m an adult, and not so susceptible to peer pressure, I eat whatever cookie I want.

Blurb :

Eighteen years after discovering the murdered body of her grandfather in the foyer of the historic Galvez Hotel, Sydney Lockhart reluctantly returns to Galveston, Texas to cover the controversial Pelican Island Development Project conference. Soon after her arrival, the conference is cancelled; the keynote speaker is missing. When his body turns up in the trunk of Sydney’s car, she’s hauled down to the police station for questioning. The good news is Sydney has an alibi this time; the bad news is she finds another body—her father’s new friend—he’s floating facedown in a fish tank with a bullet in his head. Her father’s odd behavior and the threatening notes delivered to her hotel room, leads Sydney to suspect that her grandfather’s unsolved murder and the present murders are connected. As if this wasn’t bad enough, just a few blocks from the hotel at her parents’ home people are gathering, sparks are flying, another controversial event is in the planning, one that just might rival the Great Storm of 1900. 

Buy Links:

Amazon

LL Publications

Social Media Links:

http://www.kathleenkaska.com

http://www.facebook.com/kathleenkaska

http://www.kathleenkaskawrites.blogspot.com

http://www.twitter.com/KKaskaAuthor

http://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

http://www.amazon.com/Kathleen-Kaska/e/B001K88UMQ/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1402244054&sr=1-2-ent