Interview with CJ Love

What is the title of your newest book? How many books have you published? 

Juliet & Dead Romeo is my latest book. It’s the first cozy mystery I’ve written. I have four

CJ Love

previously published books, all romantic comedies: A Horse Called Hustle, Ring Around His Heart, For the Love of Murphy, and For the Love of Lauralee. 

For a review of Juliet & Dead Romeo, click here

What was the most recent book you read?

The Christie Curse by Victoria Abbott. As you can tell, I’m a little behind in my reading. I have a pile of books to be read.

How did you develop your character and choose your location?

In Juliet & Dead Romeo, I chose western New York because it is an area of our country (besides California) that grapes are grown. It’s not over-populated there either so that I could plant Verona’s Vineyard without too many people questioning its existence. When I develop characters, I need to work with them for a while, work with their dialog, and see who they really are. Once I like the character their dialog changes. Sometimes their appearances change too. In A Horse Called Hustle, I added that Jessa wore glasses and that she was quite near-sighted. Suddenly, I went an entirely new direction with her.

What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book.

I do a lot of research for my books, especially for Juliet & Dead Romeo. The setting is a vineyard, and I needed to learn the grape-growing season. June is the beginning of harvest season for grapes, so I put that in the book. For book 2, O’ Happy Dagger, I needed to study all about the fermenting and clarification of wine. I had no idea there were so many different methods.

What books did you read as a child?

As a young girl, I loved The Boxcar Children. Oh, the very thought of living in an abandoned boxcar and making it a home thrilled me.

What drew you to writing? 

Funny, it wasn’t a book that drew me. It was a movie, a zany film: What’s Up Doc? It starred Barbara Streisand and Ryan O’Neil. I wanted to write something fun like that. I wanted to entertain readers. Even though I write about murder now, I want it to be humorous and entertaining. Wait that sounds so wrong.

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

Learn how to write is what I’d tell my younger self. I’d say, “You can’t just sit down and write something and think people will enjoy your book. You need to know what you’re doing. Study the writing craft, and never stop studying it.”

Who is your favorite author?

It’s so difficult to pick one writer, and I’ll change my mind after I tell you who it is. Right now, it’s M.C. Beaton, author of the Agatha Raisin series. BUT, speaking of Agatha… I love Mrs. Christie. I’ve read everything she ever wrote.

If you could invite five people – living or dead – to a dinner party, who would they be?

Five funny people: Rob Brydon, Lee Mack, David Mitchell, Bob Mortimer, and Tina Fey.

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

A meteorologist =) I love weather-related anything. I live in Florida, and we have violent summer thunderstorms, hurricane seasons, and lightning shooting off everywhere. It’s captivating. My family makes fun of me for watching the weather channel. I love that they’ve named winter storms, Gia, Petra, Ulmer. And now we have cyclone bombs. What?