TOUR: Well Read Then Dead, by Terrie Farley Moran – Interview & Review

I’m very pleased to have Terrie Farley Moran with me today.  Terrie is the author of a new cozy mystery series featuring Sassy and Bridgy, the proprietors of the Read ‘Em and Eat Cafe. 

Lark (Bookwyrm’s Hoard):  Terrie, welcome to The Bookwyrm’s Hoard! I’m so glad to have you here to chat with us today. 

Terrie Farley Moran: Lark, it is so kind of you to host me. It is great to be able to chat with you and the folks who visit The Bookwyrm’s Hoard.


Lark: It’s my pleasure! Your biography (from the Women of Mystery website) calls you “a life-long New Yorker,” so I’m curious:  How and why did you decide to set a cozy mystery series in the barrier islands of Florida’s Gulf Coast? And how did you research the location?

Terrie: True. I am very much a City girl. When my agent, the magnificent Kim Lionetti of Bookends, and I were talking about a new project she cautioned me against writing a cozy set in the Big Apple. I think it came up because so much of my short mystery fiction is set in the New York and Kim wanted to stretch my range. I was looking for a beach town in Florida north of the Everglades. My daughter lives down that way and she suggested Fort Myers Beach. I spend a lot of time visiting her and hanging out with my grandkids, so I took a look and it was love at first sight. As far as my research I have to give a big shout out to the Island Sandpaper, The Lee County Library System, The Fort Myers Beach Public Library and the Town of Fort Myers Beach. In fact at one point I called the Island Sandpaper to ask if they knew the dimensions of the clock in Fort Myers Beach Times Square. I’d been there, stood next to it, taken pictures of it, but all I could guarantee is that it is taller than I am. So Editor Missy Layfield and her husband drove to Times Square, measured the clock and emailed me the dimensions. How is that for research support?

Lark: That’s definitely above and beyond the call of duty – but what a fun “assignment”!

You’ve been writing and publishing short stories for a while now. What prompted the switch to novels, and how do the two formats differ (other than the obvious matter of length)?

Terrie: I actually switched from novels to short stories and back again. I started by writing a still unpublished cozy mystery novel, Driven to Death. As my rewrites were nearing completion my Sisters in Crime chapter put out a call for submissions for short stories for an anthology. I decided to try and found out I absolutely loved writing short. Short stories reflect a moment in time—could be an hour, a day, a week or thirty years but the story never wanders from the inciting moment until there is resolution. A short story doesn’t provide a lot of room for setting or character development because you only have so much space and it needs to be dedicated to plot. 

In addition to its main plot, a novel carries a variety of long and short sub-plots. Some subplots last only a few chapters while others may co-exist with the main plot for nearly the entire length of the novel. The writer has to keep track so that the reader is satisfied, and not left with dangling questions. As to characters, a novel has room for many more characters than a short story, so the writer gets to know the characters intimately and can map out their place in the fictional world.  And in a novel there is room for a character to push forward, take up more space than the writer originally intended. That often makes for a better book. That’s some of the differences.  

Lark: What other jobs or occupations have you had? Do you ever make use of your prior experiences when you’re writing a story? 

Terrie: I worked for the City of New York for more than twenty-five years, most of the time as an Administrative Manager in areas that required huge time investments. I loved every day of every job I had.  When my closest friend from my high school days passed away, I decided I wanted to invest my time differently.  I retired and began to write. I spent a lot of time on a cozy that never sold. When money got tight I took a job in a gym for three years. When that gym closed I was out of work for a while but got a job in another gym and stayed there for three and a half years until it changed ownership. I decided not to go back to work but to write full time. As to using my experiences, some of the Well Read, Then Dead ladies practice yoga and meditation which is outside the realm of my gym experience but if they decide they want to pump it up, I may fall back on my work knowledge.  In my final job with the City I spent a mega amount of time figuring out how gazillions of dollars could be divided among dozens of capital projects across a span of four or more fiscal years. Your eyelids are starting to droop, right?  Way too boring for the cozy crowd. So no. I don’t rely on prior experiences. 

Lark: [laughs] I guess not! Which authors – mystery or otherwise – have most influenced you in your own writing? 

Terrie: The Golden Age writers. You know, G.K. Chesterton, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Ellery Queen, Ngaio Marsh, and so on.  I also have subscriptions to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. I find the variety of short stories they publish broadens my view of a good mystery or crime story. Although my subscriptions have existed for decades, in full disclosure I will say I have had stories published in both magazines in recent years. 

Lark: I’m pretty partial to the Golden Age writers myself – especially the British ones.

Can you tell us a little more about your main characters, Sassy and Bridgy?  And if you could cast them (and any other characters) for a movie or tv production, who would be perfect for the roles?

Terrie: Sassy and Bridgy have the kind of relationship that lifelong besties will recognize instantly. Yin and yang. Sassy is the more serious, more determined of the two. Bridgy is more light-hearted and cautious. But if Sassy gets a little wild and crazy, Bridgy will take over as the serious one. And if Bridgy starts to demand that they spend their time chasing a killer around town, well Sassy will move into caution mode. It is fun to watch. Aimee Teegarden (Friday Night Lights) could play Sassy exactly. Blake Lively (Gossip Girl) would be the perfect Bridgy—she even likes to cook. In my mind Elizabeth Perkins has such a wide range of performance skills that she could play Aunt Ophie with the grand panache the character requires. Okay, Hollywood, where do we sign? 

Lark: I don’t know the other two, but I can definitely see Elizabeth Perkins as Aunt Ophie!  

Are there certain types of scenes you find easier or harder to write than others?  

Terrie: Violence. I don’t like to write violence. I prefer when the violence is off stage. I can write about the victim of violence being in the hospital or in the morgue but I am uncomfortable writing about the acts of violence themselves. I have a short story, “Thanksgiving on the Throgs Neck Bridge” in this year’s NY/Tri-State Sisters in crime anthology, Family Matters: Murder New York Style. It centers on domestic violence and it is depicted graphically. Very tough to write. 

Lark: Whew, I imagine so!  In your bio, you mention learning to play the Irish Tin Whistle. What else do you enjoy doing when you’re not writing?   

Terrie: Oh the poor tin whistle. I can now play Mary Had a Little Lamb, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and I can struggle through The Irish Washerwoman. I think I am better suited to be a writer than a musician, so don’t be looking for me to lead the Saint Patrick’s Day parade come next March 17th.

My time is best spent hanging out with any or all of my seven grandkids, a fun bunch aged 4 to 12. As you can guess every age has a different interest and offers a unique delight. I love to read and because my professional life is so sedentary, I make sure I walk, go to my water aerobics class and visit the gym.  

Lark: What’s a question no-one ever asks you about your writing, that you would love to answer?   

Terrie: No one has asked if writing is a struggle for me or if I ever considered quitting. The answer to both is yes. The reason I haven’t quit is that another great story comes along and begs to be written, so I struggle to write it. 

Lark: I’m very glad you haven’t quit! A few quick questions before we wrap things up: Favorite TV or movie adaptation of a mystery? 

Terrie: Without a doubt the movie Witness for The Prosecution (1957) based on a short story of the same name by Agatha Christie. I was eleven years old and should never have been in the audience but in those days as long as there was a matron working to keep the kids in line we could go to whatever movie was playing. To this day I remember cringing in my seat when Marlene Dietrich leans over, pulls back her hair and says to Charles Laughton, “Wanna kiss me, ducky?”   

Lark: Best time of day for writing? 

Terrie: I am most productive in the morning, however I am an exceptionally slow writer, so to keep a respectable pace I go back to the keyboard after lunch and when I am on deadline I go back again after dinner. I do have to attend to the usual chores and medical appointments, and I have a tiny social life but I spend most of my time writing or having fun with my grandkids.  

Lark: Favorite ice cream flavor? 

Terrie: Vanilla with “stuff” in it—cookies and cream, chocolate chip, etc. 

Lark: Coffee or tea? 

Terrie: I drink more iced green tea than anything else. 

Lark: Best time and place to read? 

Terrie: In the recliner at night. 

Lark: It’s been great to chat with you today, Terrie — thank you again for ageeing to talk with me!  And congratulations and best of luck to you, to Sassy and Bridget, and to your new series!  I look forward to seeing what they get up to in the next book.