Interview with Eileen Watkins

What is the title of your newest book?

Gone, Kitty, Gone. How many books have you published? I put out eight with my previous publisher,

Eileen Watkins

Amber Quill Press; this will be my fourth Cat Groomer Mystery with Kensington Publishing, so that’s twelve, total.

How did you develop your character and choose your location? 

The publisher suggested the idea of a cat groomer/amateur sleuth. Working from there, I decided to make her a young entrepreneur, which would give her the most freedom to customize her work day, physically handle the cats (she also boards them), and still have the energy to sleuth in her spare time. I like setting my books in my home state of New Jersey, because although it’s small it offers a wide variety of environments. I put Cassie and her shop in the northwestern part of the state, which edges toward Pennsylvania. That rural-but-diverse kind of area lends itself well to cozy mysteries. Wealthy people are building McMansions nearby, but it’s surrounded by small farms and wooded mountains with deserted iron mines. I felt that would help me to come up with a wide range of plots and suspects.

What do you enjoy about the author’s lifestyle? 

I retired from a full-time newspaper job right around the time I signed up to do this series, and I adore being able to spend my “work day” on my novels, rather than always having to squeeze my fiction writing into my evening hours and weekends. I also do publicity for a local chapter of Sisters in Crime and for New Jersey’s annual Deadly Ink conference, so I’m kept pretty busy with mystery-writing activities. That’s very satisfying. What do you not enjoy? Certain aspects of the marketing. I do Facebook, but I ignore most other types of social media, because I feel they would constantly distract me and use up time I’d rather spent writing. I go to a certain number of conferences a year, where I enjoy meeting up with other writers and book professionals, and I cheerfully do panels and signings. But I will never be the type to hang out at the bar and schmooze until all hours—I didn’t like to even when I was younger.

Do you model your character after yourself or any one you know? 

I took on the series because I’m a major animal lover and have always had at least one cat, so I’d say that Cassie’s heart and soul are similar to mine. It was fun to transplant them into an attractive, energetic 27-year-old who’s carving out an interesting life for herself! I’ve come to realize that I’m also very curious—I’m always researching things online, and when I sense something odd going on with a friend I’m very tempted to get to the bottom of it, even if it’s really none of my business! Also, I’m a bit of an idealist and a crusader, prone to complain that something “just isn’t right.” I channel those traits into Cassie, and of course they get her into plenty of trouble.


If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be? 

That eventually I would find a way to write something I enjoy, saying things I felt were important, and also reach a larger market. In my first eight books, I basically wrote what I wanted—mostly paranormal, some of it pretty dark—and got a lot of things off my chest. I got good reviews but, since the publisher was small, not much exposure. By the time an agent approached me about doing the cat groomer series, I was in a more positive place, reading a lot of cozy mysteries, and ready to do something more upbeat. Still, I enjoy clearing up misunderstandings about cat care and behavior, and calling attention to animal issues that many people aren’t aware of. Reviewers and other readers seem to like this, saying that they learn new things in each of my books. That makes me happy and satisfies my “crusader” side.

If your books were made into a movie, who would you want to play the lead character? 

Off the top of my head, I can’t say, because I’m not that familiar with all the young actresses out there today. Once in awhile I see one who is the right physical type—longish brown hair with bangs, about five-six and slim—and has the right independent, energetic personality. I’ll think, “She would be a good Cassie!” But since I’m not seriously casting the role, I may not even catch the actress’s name. I will admit that I loosely based her hunky veterinarian boyfriend on actor David Giuntoli, because I was a huge Grimm fan—a very-early-30s version of him, though. (If you know this, you’ll understand why Cassie is always so nervous when any other woman shows an interest in Mark!)

Who is your favorite author? 

I can’t really answer that question, because I like so many for different reasons. My first big influence was Ira Levin. His books got me interested in writing “daylight” paranormal, but he considered himself primarily a mystery writer. Barbara Michaels was another who spanned both of those genres. In terms of contemporary writers of animal mysteries, I like Clea Simon’s Pru Marlowe books, because her character has a psychic connection with animals but in a very believable, non-cutesy and non-sentimental way.

If you could not be an author, what would like to do as a career? 

If I couldn’t write at all, I probably would have tried to become a costume or a set designer, because I have a strong visual bent and those elements also help to tell the story in a play or a movie. If I had a little more physical courage, I might have been a horse trainer or a riding instructor, because I’ve never been able to stay away from—or off—horses for very long. As you can see, these career choices offer about the same prospects for fame and fortune as writing fiction! Practicality was never my strong suit…