Author Spotlight: Ellen Byron

Ellen Byron is a bestselling author who writes several cozy mystery series. Her books have been nominated for and won some of the most prestigious awards in the mystery genre, including Agatha, Anthony, and Left Awards. She is a director on the national board of Mystery Writers of America.

Ellen honed her humor writing skills on TV shows like Fairly Oddparents, Wings, and Just Shoot Me and through her work as an award-winning playwright. Ellen has a website, www.EllenByron.com, with a really fun newsletter and a blog called Chicks on the Case, which includes articles penned by her and other mystery writers.

Cozy Crime Reads Interview with Ellen Byron

What attracted you to the cozy mystery genre?

I honestly didn’t even know I was writing a cozy when I began. I only knew I wanted to write something like my favorite author, Agatha Christie— who, by the way, is much edgier than people give her credit for. But for me, the elements that stood out were a bucolic setting, appealing characters, an amateur sleuth, and a lack of sex and violence – because I’m terrible at writing that! I was also trained as a playwright that you only use profanity when you can’t think of a better way to say something. It’s much more fun to think of that better way than drop a lot of f-bombs. Which I do in real life, lol!

What are a few of the essential elements that make a cozy stand out to you as a reader?

I want to love the characters. Like, I could see myself hanging out them. Having them as my friend group! The setting has to be a lure. I’m a big fan of historical mysteries because it’s like traveling in a time tunnel. And I don’t want to see the ending coming. I want to be surprised and impressed by the solution to the murder.

Do you have a favorite amateur sleuth?

My own!

What inspired you to write your first cozy mystery?

My very first mystery never sold because it wasn’t completely a cozy. It was set at the most exclusive private school in Los Angeles and the victim was a horror of a teen reality star. While that manuscript was on submission, I began thinking about how much I loved Cajun Country and how cool it would be to set a mystery series there. I began thinking about setting – an historic B&B – and characters – a protagonist who was an artist forced to return to the hometown where she never felt like she fit in but her family helped found – and eventually started writing what became Plantation Shudders, the first book in my Cajun Country Mystery series.

How do you research and create your books' “cozy” elements, like the settings and community?

When I wrote the Cajun Country series, I hadn’t been there in a while, so I used my memories for the first book and then began traveling back to Louisiana. Now I roam the streets of New Orleans and immerse myself in the city for the Vintage Cookbook Mysteries. For the Golden Motel Mysteries, I’d been to Columbia State Historic Park years ago but last year my husband I took a road trip up to the region so I could further research it. We’re going again at the end of October. As to my Catering Hall Mysteries, which I write as Maria DiRico, those are my life! My protagonist Mia lives where my late nonna lived and works at one of the catering halls my cousins ran.

What is one key step in your writing process that helps you transform an idea into a finished book?

A detailed outline, a skill I developed writing for television, where you can’t move to script until the outline is approved. Mine are about thirty pages, single-spaced, broken into chapters. But I call it a fluid outline because I discover so much when I’m turning the outline into a manuscript. Terri Fuoco, one of my favorite characters to write in the Catering Hall Mysteries, didn’t exist in the outline. I discovered her during the draft. But I really feel that my strong outlines give me the freedom to make those discoveries.

What advice would you give aspiring cozy mystery authors who want to start writing their first novel?

Create a world you’d love to live in and characters you’d love to be friends with. And a mystery where the reader won’t see the ending coming. And have fun!! Writing isn’t easy, so enjoy the moments where you’re excited about what you’ve written. Revel in those moments. You earned them and deserve them.

A Vintage Cookbook Recipe From Ellen Byron

Ellen includes many tasty recipes in her Vintage Cookbook Mysteries, Catering Hall Mysteries, Golden Motel Mysteries, and Cajun Country Mysteries.

She shared this Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Recipe with us. It comes from French Quarter Fright Night, the third book in the Vintage Cookbook Mystery series. The recipe was inspired by a recipe from a vintage Duncan Hines cookbook published in the 1940s.