Q&A with Molly MacRae

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Yarns and flosses and fabrics call to me! And once upon a time, when I had spare time, I did a lot of embroidery and I sewed everything from baby clothes to backpacks to a bridesmaid dress to a teepee. I’ve been taught to knit so many times it’s embarrassing, but last year, thanks to a patient friend, I think it finally stuck. I wish I had more time for needlework these days, but I do belong to a wonderful group of local fiber artists and I’m able to get my fiber fix by drooling over their projects.

2)  LAST WOOL AND TESTAMENT also features Geneva, a ghost sidekick with a fun, spunky personality who helps Kath Rutledge solve the murder mystery. Have you ever seen a ghost yourself?

I’m a lot like Kath. I don’t think I believe in ghosts. But . . . when I was six or seven, I was convinced I saw two. Neither was scary, even though one of them — wearing a fedora, believe it or not — walked into my bedroom and into my closet. And even though I don’t think I believe in ghosts and haven’t seen one in half a century or so, I can tell a very convincing story about hearing ghosts. But that wasn’t your question so you’ll just have to wonder.

3)  The series is set in the town of Blue Plum, Tennessee, and the place seems so real it practically jumps off the page. Is Blue Plum a real place? Is there a town it’s modeled after?

Thank you for saying that. Blue Plum is completely real in my own head, so it’s nice to know other people feel that way, too. It isn’t real, but it is real bits and pieces from all my favorite towns near where we lived in northeast Tennessee. Most of it is Jonesborough, Tennessee’s oldest town. I was director of the history museum there for seven years and Jonesborough is a place dear to my heart. The name Blue Plum I stole from Johnson City, Tennessee. Johnson City has changed its name enough times over the years I thought it might not miss a small one.

4)  Can you share a little bit about your writing process? Where and when do you like to write?

I’m lucky enough to have characters who enjoy talking to each other and don’t seem to mind if I eavesdrop, so I just sit back and take notes. It’s easy. (I wish!) My characters do talk to each other, and I do take notes, but I also set myself a daily word goal. When I reach the goal, I’m done for the day. The next day I revise the previous day’s words and go forward from there. Eventually it all adds up to a book. So easy! Where do I write? Mostly at my desk on a computer at home, but also in a notebook on my walk to and from work and on a computer at work over lunch.

5)  Who are your favorite authors? Do you have a favorite book or genre that you like reading the most?

You’re asking that of a librarian and former bookseller. Favorite authors and books are to me as shoes or hats are to people with fashion sense and who don’t crawl around on the floor at their day jobs. I have different favorites for different occasions and way too many for every occasion. I do gravitate toward mysteries, though, and I have a special fondness for the comic novels of P.G. Wodehouse. One of my greatest treasures is a letter Wodehouse wrote to me.

6)  In your spare time—if you have any!—what other hobbies do you enjoy?

Looking for spare time is kind of like a hobby, isn’t it? When I find it, I do the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle (I’m an addict and I’m good!) and I cook. I’ve been cooking since my mother gave me a miniature baking set before I could read. I put myself through school cooking in a campus bar & grill and a dorm with two thousand students — making things like eighty gallons of spaghetti sauce at a time. These days I cook vegetarian. Not just brown rice and beans, vegetarian, though. WOW vegetarian with eye-popping and taste bud-dazzling flavors. If you want recommendations for great vegetarian cookbooks, or a few good recipes, let me know.

7)  7. Can you give us a sneak peak at what is in store for the next Haunted Yarn Shop Mystery?

Sheep! Kath and some of the TGIF members take a field trip to a sheep farm to learn hand-painted dyeing techniques. But, as you might guess, another type of dying interrupts them and Kath and her friends—and the ghost—scramble to unravel the new mystery. Kath learns more about the ghost and she might, just might have been out on a date. She isn’t sure and I’m not telling.