THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY - DEATH BY PINS AND NEEDLES by Susie Black

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
Death by Pins and Needles

Get a behind-the-scenes all-access pass to Susie Black's Death by Pins and Needles, book two of the Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series!

***Synopsis***

The last thing Mermaid Swimwear sales exec Holly Schlivnik expected to find when she opened the showroom closet door was nasty competitor Lissa Charney’s battered corpse nailed to the wall. 

When Holly’s colleague is wrongly arrested for Lissa’s murder, the wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth sticks her nose everywhere it doesn’t belong to sniff out the real killer. 

Nothing turns out the way she thinks it will as Holly matches wits with a heartless killer hellbent for revenge.

 

How are the books in the series related?

All books in the series feature protagonist Holly Schlivnik, a Ladies’ swimwear sales exec based in the California Apparel Mart in downtown Los Angeles. 

Holly has a penchant for finding the dead bodies of people in the garment industry and solving their murders. 

All the books in the series take place in the Los Angeles garment center. The protagonist and her cronies called the yentas appear in every story, as does Holly’s friend assistant LA County Coroner Sophie Cutler.

What is the sub-genre and trope? 

The sub-genre is humorous cozy mystery. The trope is the stories all take place in the LA garment district. 

The main characters meet every morning for coffee at the same place and time. Garment jargon is in every story.  

Did your characters lead you to this genre or was that decided before the story began?

The genre was decided before the story began.

Are you more character or plot driven?

As a career sales exec, I am a people person. So, I am definitely more character driven.

With many main and secondary characters, how do you keep them separated in your mind?  Do you have a story/vision board above your workspace?

Since almost all my characters are based on real people I knew, some of them quite well, I do not have any issues keeping them straight in my mind.

I know from previous interviews that characters take on a life of their own.  Were any of the characters in this series determined to take their own direction instead of where you initially wanted them to go?

Oh yes. Several are extremely independent and pushy. And we had some lively disagreements. 

Regrettably, the characters turn out to be right more often than not and don’t let me forget it. As a result, I write the beginning and ending but allow the characters to direct the middle. However, they know if they screw it up, I take over, and there is a chance one of them will either be written out of the story or killed off. 

In this specific plot, one character in particular was adamant about how that character’s participation in the story was to go. The character’s vision was diametrically opposed to mine, but I went along with the character’s idea. And ultimately the character’s vision had a huge impact on how the murder was solved.

Are any of the male POVs based on anyone you know?

All male POV’s with the exception of law enforcement are based on men I know.

Are any of the female POVs based on anyone you know?

All female POV’s with the exception of the coroner and law enforcement are based on women I know.

Was there any one character that was harder to write about than the other? 

Yes. Bobby Javadi, the boyfriend of the first murder victim, was harder to write about than any other character. 

Bobby is an Iranian immigrant, and I had to work hard not to stereotype him in any way. 

Was there any one scene that was harder to write about than the other?

The one scene in Death by Pins and Needles that was harder to write than any other was when the protagonist discovers the body of the second murder victim. 

The scene was more graphic than planned, but was necessary for the ending both the characters and I visualized to come to fruition.

What is your favorite book in the series? 

Now that I have four books in the series contracted for publication, this is a much more difficult question to answer. That said, if I had to choose my favorite, it would still be the first book in the series, Death by Sample Size.

I know that we aren’t supposed to have “favorites” as far as our children, but seriously, who’s your favorite character and why?

For this particular book, my favorite character is Corky, the sassy, outspoken, talkative African Gray Parrot whose comments and opinions are spot on and hilarious. 

In terms of the series, my favorite character is definitely protagonist Holly Schlivnik because she is based on me. It has been great fun giving her characteristics that I actually have as well as ones I wished I had but do not in real life. Holly is the me I always wanted to be.

Series question - Who is your favorite couple and why did you decide on their dynamics?

My favorite couple is Annette and Roddy Mason. I purposely made their dynamic confrontational so they would bring out the worst of one another. 

Both are backstabbing, self-serving, selfish, sneaky, amoral crybabies who don’t care who they step on or destroy to get what they want. Yet they blame everything and everyone except themselves for their problems. 

They deserve one another and are the perennial couple everyone loves to hate.

How do you get inside these characters’ heads to find their perfect HEA?

I got into their heads to find their happily-ever-after by examining their personalities and motivations for everything they did or didn’t do to destroy one another.

What scene in this book sticks out the most for you?  Why?

The scene in this book that sticks out the most for me is the ingenious way the protagonist escapes once she has been captured by the murderer, shot, and is lashed tight as a mummy to a fabric cutting table with strips of swimwear fabrics.

Series - Were any of the books harder to write than others?

Yes. The fourth book in the series was originally the first one. 

It was a completed manuscript that was completely revamped. The murder victim, how he was killed, and who the killer was all remained the same, but how the plot moved from the middle to end was completely different. 

The original back story was scrapped, as were a number of characters and events. When I was finished with it, the story was terrific, but could no longer be the first one in the series. 

Candidly, it was like giving birth twice to the same child. 

This question is if you write in MULTIPLE POVs not just the hero and heroine - I love the multiple POVs in a book.  It’s not just the hero and heroine, but we get inside the heads of multiple characters throughout this series.  I feel that it gives the story further depth.  Do you think you will write another book or series following this multiple POV outline? 

The reader gets to know all the main characters quite well, but the stories are told first person and from the protagonist’s point of view. 

So far, that is how all the books in the series have been written and I don’t see changing that formula. Having my voice come through in my stories is important to the veracity of the tales. The best way to accomplish that is by telling the stories first person.

How long did it take you to write this book/series?

It took a year to write all the versions of Death by Pins and Needles. It took three years to write the prequel, book number one, and the other two books in the series.

How did you come up with the title for your book and series?

All of my book titles for the series give the reader a clue as to how the victim is murdered. 

I came up with the series name The Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series by taking the nickname the protagonist is given in the prequel and adding Mystery Series to it.

If you met these characters in real life would you get along?

I would get along with some of them extremely well, but others not at all.

Series question – Did you know in advance that you were going to write this as a series or did one of the characters in book one demand their own story?

I knew in advance that I was going to write this as a series.

If your book/series were made into a movie, which actors do you see as playing your characters?

Sarah Silverman- Holly Schlivnik;  

Katherine Heigel-Queenie; 

Melissa McCarthy-Joan; 

Elizabeth Banks-Sonia; 

Rebel Wilson-Hope; 

Sophie-Kristen Wiig; 

Anna Kendrick- Lissa Charney; 

Sakura Ando-AJ; 

Rose-Betty White or Charlotte Rae; 

Edgar Ramirez or William Levy-Miguel; 

Paul Rudd-David; 

Gerard Butler-Bobby; 

Edward Norton-Roddy; 

Kate Mckinnon-Annette

Can you give us a hint as to what we can expect next?  Whether a new book and series or a sequel to an existing series?  Can you share a small tease?

Book three of the Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, Death by Surfboard, is slated for release in the spring of 2023.

“No one is more stunned than Mermaid Swimwear sales exec Holly Schlivnik when a fisherman hooks her unscrupulous colleague’s battered corpse attached to a surfboard and hauls it onto the Washington Street Pier. The ME ruled Jack Tyne drowned, but “had help dying”, and Holly’s boss is wrongly arrested for the crime. To save the big cheese from a life behind bars, the wise-cracking, irreverent amateur detective dons her sleuthing hat to find Jack’s real killer. But the trail has more twists and turns than a pretzel, and nothing turns out the way Holly thinks it will as she tangles with a clever killer hellbent for revenge.”

 

Check out all my interviews/reviews for Susie Black!
https://readingbydeb.blogspot.com/2022/11/author-at-glance-susie-black.html

BIO:

Named Best US Author of the Year by N. N. Lights Book Heaven, award-winning cozy mystery author Susie Black was born in the Big Apple but now calls sunny Southern California home. Like the protagonist in her Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, Susie is a successful apparel sales executive. Susie began telling stories as soon as she learned to talk. Now she’s telling all the stories from her garment industry experiences in humorous mysteries.

She reads, writes, and speaks Spanish, albeit with an accent that sounds like Mildred from Michigan went on a Mexican vacation and is trying to fit in with the locals. Since life without pizza and ice cream as her core food groups wouldn’t be worth living, she’s a dedicated walker to keep her girlish figure. A voracious reader, she’s also an avid stamp collector. Susie lives with a highly intelligent man and has one incredibly brainy but smart-aleck adult son who inexplicably blames his sarcasm on an inherited genetic defect. 

Connect with Susie:

Email: mysteries_@authorsusieblack.com

Website:
www.authorsusieblack.com

Amazon:
https://amzn.to/3EcF96e

Good Reads:
Susie Black (Author of Death by Sample Size) | Goodreads

Book Bub:
www.bookbub.com/authors/susie-black

Facebook:
https://facebook.com/TheHollySwimsuitMysterySeries

Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/cozymysteryvillage 

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/author_susie_black_/
https://www.instagram.com/hollyswimsuit/

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/@hollyswimsuit

Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/hollysusie1_saved/

Linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/authorsusieblack-61941011

Download Susie Black's CHOOSING THE RIGHT SWIMSUIT!

FREE download

https://amzn.to/3AWY6bf

Everyone wanted her dead…but who actually killed her? 

The last thing swimwear sales exec Holly Schlivnik expected was to discover ruthless buying office big wig Bunny Frank's corpse trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey with a bikini stuffed down her throat. 

When Holly's colleague is arrested for Bunny's murder, the wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth jumps into action to find the real killer. Nothing turns out the way Holly thinks it will as she matches wits with a wily murderer hellbent for revenge.

https://amzn.to/44tR7UR

The last thing Mermaid Swimwear sales exec Holly Schlivnik expected to find when she opened the closet door was nasty competitor Lissa Charney’s battered corpse nailed to the wall. 

When Holly’s colleague is wrongly arrested for Lissa’s murder, the wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth sticks her nose everywhere it doesn’t belong to sniff out the real killer. 

Nothing turns out the way she thinks it will as Holly matches wits with a heartless killer hellbent for revenge.