It's Locked! A Cozy Mystery Celebration: Interview With Katie Oliver!

Hi, everyone! Today I'm happy to present an interview with Katie Oliver, the author of the Jane Austen Tea Society Mysteries!

Would you please tell us a little about the Jane Austen Tea Society Mysteries?

Phaedra Brighton is a Jane Austen scholar and a professor of English Literature at Somerset University. She’s thirty-four, single, and definitely not in want of a husband. When murder rears its ugly head in the small Virginia town of Laurel Springs, her best friend becomes a prime suspect. Phaedra follows the clues to find the killer...without getting in the way of homicide detective Matteo Morelli.

She enlists faculty colleagues Lucy Liang and Marisol Dubois—the Jane Austen Tea Society—to help solve the crime and clear her friend’s name. As if investigating her first murder isn’t enough, a new English professor arrives at Somerset, Oxford-educated Mark Selden. He’s as aloof as Mr. Darcy… and every bit as maddening. She tries to ignore him. But his charm (and British accent) proves hard to resist. 

Phaedra shares a cozy carriage house with her Himalayan cat, Wickham. Her aunt Wendy runs the local bed and breakfast, and her younger sister, Hannah, is pastry chef and owner of Tout de Sweet patisserie. Phaedra and her father Malcolm are close, but her relationship with her mother Nan is another story. Like Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, Nan wants only one thing – to see her two daughters happily married. 

The next book releases in December! Can you tell us a little about CYANIDE AND SENSIBILITY?

It’s the grand opening of Tout de Sweet, Laurel Springs’s first patisserie. Phaedra’s younger sister Hannah has worked hard to make her sweetest dream come true. 

When lifestyles diva Rachel Brandon shows up to feature Hannah in her magazine, it’s the icing on the gateau. Until Rachel’s assistant helps herself to the last dark chocolate cupcake—a cupcake meant for Phaedra and her father to share—and ends up dead. 

Was the poisoned treat intended for Phaedra? Or her father? Who on earth would do such a thing? And why? It’s up to Phaedra and the Jane Austen Tea Society to find the answers. 

Random Question! What’s your favorite color?

I love turquoise! Turquoise makes me think of tranquil Caribbean waters, the deepening night sky in summer, and one of those gorgeous little Tiffany boxes. 

If you’re able to talk about it, what are you currently working on?

I’m working on the fourth Jane Austen Tea Society Mystery, in which Phaedra finds a body in a most unexpected place…and fears her missing mother may be involved. 

In addition, Phaedra’s sister Hannah is having second thoughts about marrying Charles Dalton. He wants her to join him in Washington DC, where he works as a consul at the British embassy. She refuses to leave her hard-earned new bakery behind. 

Can Phaedra find her mother, solve the latest murder, and persuade Hannah that marriage involves a certain amount of compromise?

What are some of your favorite cozy mysteries? And what are some you’re looking forward to reading?

A few of my favorite series are the Lucy Stone mysteries by Leslie Meier; Maine Clambake mysteries by Barbara Ross; Noodle House mysteries by Vivien Chien; Tradd Street mysteries by Karen White; the Marlowe Murder Club by Robert Thorogood; and Laura Childs’ Tea Shop series, as well as the New Orleans Scrapbooking mysteries. I also enjoy anything by Jenn McKinlay. 

I can’t wait to read the latest Tradd Street book, The House on Prytania.

Thank you so much to Katie Oliver for participating in this event!

Author Bio: Katie Oliver is the Amazon bestselling author of the romantic comedy, Prada and Prejudice, book one in the Dating Mr. Darcy series. After completing a second series, Marrying Mr. Darcy, she decided to switch genres and write a cozy mystery. The first book in the Jane Austen Tea Society Mystery series, Pride, Prejudice, and Peril, was published by Berkley in December 2021. A Murderous Persuasion followed in January 2022, and Cyanide and Sensibility will be published in December 2023.

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