1) How did you get started writing?
I’ve always enjoyed the creativity of telling stories. After I retired from teaching, I decided to put to paper a memory that I wanted to save for my nieces and great-nephews. I sent it to Victoria magazine. The next day, I received a phone call from the editor. She bought the article and asked for more. Although I loved that experience, I was itching to write something longer and more involved. For some time, I’d had an idea for a time-travel mystery series and thought Why not? The next day I wrote the plot to Doorway to Murder (book #1 in The Blackwell and Watson Time-Travel Mysteries). I haven’t looked back!
2) What interests or excites you most about your genre(s)?
I love the challenge of creating the mystery, planting the clues and red herrings, and keeping the secret until the end when all is revealed. It’s exciting when I get to talk about all of it with book clubs. It thrills me when a reader says that they never saw a twist coming or they didn’t guess the killer.
3) Who or what is your favorite inspiration when writing?
Deborah Crombie is my favorite mystery writer. Not only does she craft extraordinary plots, she has managed to create a cast of inter-acting characters that make her world seem full and vibrant. The first time I was aware of an author doing this was when I was in grad school and took a course on Balzac. His series La Comédie Humaine consisted of some 80 works. Each novel or short story focused on someone in particular but the supporting characters were all people who were the focus in other books or stories. Balzac created a village atmosphere in his body of work. That’s what Crombie does. That’s what I am aiming for.
4) Tell me about your latest book or work in progress.
Threshold of Deceit is the second book in The Blackwell and Watson Time-Travel Mystery series.
In the first book, Doorway to Murder, Depression-era cop Steven Blackwell and 21st-century journalist Olivia Watson come face to face when time folds over in the house they share 80 years apart. They discover that it’s Einstein’s theory at work: there is no past, present, or future; all time happens simultaneously; time can fold over. With this knowledge, they experiment traveling back and forth to each other’s time and, along the way, become good friends. What they don’t do is leave the safety of the house in the other person’s time. In Threshold of Deceit, Steven and Olivia are ready to push the boundaries of time travel and discover more about their new-found ability to cross over into the other’s time.
On April 22, 1934, local ladies’ man Frankie Russo is murdered in broad daylight. Although the whole town is at the Little League Parade, it seems no one saw anything. But nothing is as it seems in the small New York town of Knightsbridge. Tackling the investigation, Steven discovers Frankie’s little black book, a coded list of dozens of flings, affairs, and one-night stands−and a solid motive for the widow. Soon, what appeared to be a straight-forward case gets complicated. A witness goes missing, a second body turns up, the victim’s cousin disappears, and an old flame surfaces. Faced with conflicting pieces of evidence, lies, and false alibis, Steven creates a psychological portrait of the killer. He realizes he’s looking for someone wearing a mask.
Olivia travels back to 1934 and is embraced by the community, who have no idea who she really is. She accidentally falls in with Steven’s main suspect, an act with repercussions that threaten her life.
Can Olivia outsmart a killer before becoming the next victim? Can Steven and Olivia solve the case of the poisoned philanderer in time to protect her true identity and their time-travel secret?
5) Please share with us the first few paragraphs of your latest work.
Sunday − April 22, 1934
Chapter 1
She sat across from him on the red-and-blue plaid blanket, legs stretched out and ankles crossed. It was a glorious day and the sun felt delicious on her skin. The wide-brimmed hat shaded her face, but already her arms were growing pink. She smiled, watching cardinals swoop back and forth in the lush meadow around them. She closed her eyes and listened−the air hummed with birdsong.
Today was their first picnic of the season. He had carried the wicker basket packed with all his favorites—ham sandwiches and garlicky pickles, potato salad, and apple muffins with chopped walnuts.
He’d finished eating first and was lounging on his back, elbows bent, hands locked together behind his head. He squinted in the bright light as he gazed sleepily at a flock of Canada geese flying high above in a V-formation.
She sat quietly, watching, waiting for the poison to take effect.
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About Carol Pouliot
Website: http://www.carolpouliot.com/
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