Interview with Nancy West

What is the title of your newest book? How many books have you published?
Thanks for having me on Map Your Mystery!
My sixth book, The Plunge, the first Aggie Mundeen Lake Mystery, debuts in October, 2018.

Aggie Mundeen goes with love interest, San Antonio Detective Sam Vanderhoven to spend the weekend taking care of a friend’s lakeside cottage on Lake Placid, a retreat on the Guadalupe River in Central Texas. Sam will discretely investigate the theft of his friend’s boat.

Buckets of rain and gusting winds roil the lake, turning the peaceful, shady Guadalupe into an angry, raging river. After dark, lightning highlights two people arguing on a dock across the river. When lightning flashes again, they are gone. Do Aggie and Sam witness an accident? A drowning? A murder?

The Plunge infects readers with the threat of looming disaster and the helplessness of being swept along by an untamable force. Do survivors really survive if disaster changes them forever? Filled with suspense and fear, The Plunge, A Lake Mystery, takes Aggie in a new direction.

How did you develop your character and choose your location?
My books are set in Central Texas. Many types of people fill the state, which provides me with a great source of endless stories and a variety of characters in distinctive settings.

My first novel, Nine Days in Evil, was mystery/suspense. In the story, Aggie’s friend Meredith, a young San Antonio graduate student, faces a life threatening dilemma. Aggie pops up in Meredith’s class and wants to help. This was my first acquaintance with Aggie Mundeen. With her wry sense of humor and eager determination, she captivated me and insisted that I write about her. Four Aggie Mundeen cozy mysteries followed, Fit to Be Dead, Dang Near Dead, Smart but Dead and River City Dead, each one the winner or nominee for an award. Aggie matured and changed, and I wanted to stretch myself as a writer and try new things. So I delved into a catastrophe I personally experienced in The Plunge, A Lake Mystery.

What is a day in the life of an author like? Do you write a certain number of words, do you write in the morning or evening?
I have a large family and they come first in my life, so I go days without writing. But I’m always thinking about the story I’m working on. I set personal deadlines based on how many full writing days I can count on each week.

I research a new book for two-to-three months. The following month, I’ll make a general outline for the book, write the first draft and set it aside. After two weeks of trying to stay away from the book, I revisit the manuscript and start revising. Once the story is in the best shape I can produce, I submit it to the editor.

My writing days are long, ten to twelve hours. I like to immerse myself in my characters’ world while I’m telling their story.

Do you belong to a writers group or are you in touch with other writers? How does that help your writing?
I belong to Sisters in Crime, its Guppy Chapter, and the Writers’ League of Texas. I benefit most from learning about resources: publishers, agents, online media, new books, and creative ways to structure books. Sometimes I take classes from these organizations. Sometimes I teach a class. When I can, I critique other writers’ manuscripts anonymously, which is a great learning experience. I LOVE going to writer and fan conferences where I can talk shop with writers and readers. In my reading club, I read and review a book each year and listen to twenty-six other reviewers offer their impressions of books.

Do you model your character after yourself or any one you know?
All writers’ characters are based on a combination of people we know. Personal experiences, those of others, and situations we read about, sprinkled with imagination, make their way into our stories in some form.

If your books were made into a movie, who would you want to play the lead character?
For the cozies, it would be “Miss Congeniality’s” Sandra Bullock, or someone with her doggedness and capacity for humor. But just as Ms. Bullock developed her acting breadth from comedy to serious roles, Aggie matured and developed a secure sense of self, so her future stories will be more substantive. Her wry sense of humor, however, will undoubtedly slip in.

I’ve written a few short stories with completely different characters and am obsessed with an idea for a stand-a-lone contemporary novel that will be different from my previous books.

Who is your favorite author?
I have several: G. M. Malliet, James W. Ziskin, William Kent Krueger, David Baldacci, Elizabeth George, John Grisham, Ken Follett and Alan Eskin. I also like Jodi Picoult, Celeste Ng and Catherine Ryan Hyde.

How do you keep track of character details from book to book so they are consistent?
For my main characters, I keep a list of their physical and emotional states, frequently revealed in dialogue. My supporting characters rarely reappear in other books because they are indigenous to the setting for that book. Each cozy mystery, for example, is set in a specific Texas locale: a university, a dude ranch, a fitness club, and the San Antonio River Walk. Aggie, originally from Chicago, gets to react to and interact with these distinctive Texas types. If I’m particularly fascinated by a character, they are more apt to reappear in a future story.

If you could not be an author, what would like to do as a career?
Writers don’t really have a choice. We have to write. If I couldn’t write fiction, I’d probably write copy for an advertising firm. With the single goal of making money, I’d sell real estate. But then I would have to write about it.


Thanks for the great questions. You made me think about my answers.

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Christine Gentes

MapYourMystery.com