Meet our cozy Christmas chat authors

BingeBooks: How did you start writing?

Sara: I'd always dreamed of writing a mystery and when I had my second child, I thought "my life is only going to get busier," so I started writing during nap time a couple of days a week. I researched the publishing industry while I was writing the draft and went to writers conferences.

After about three years of writing and revising I had a novel. I queried agents the old-fashioned way, with a letter, and found an agent. She sold the manuscript in a 3-book deal. The book came out six years after I first started writing.

Tonya: I was a child therapist that belonged to a book club. It was my turn to host the book club and like most hosts of a book club, I'd gone to Walden's Books and picked up around TEN books that I wanted to read. I was going to decide on which one for the book club later that day. My husband came home from work and he looked at the stack. He picked up the top book and read a little bit of it. He put it down and told me that I could write a story better than that. Of course, I laughed and brushed him off.

At book club I was telling my friends a story. One of them told me I should write my own book about it. That was TWO people in less than a couple of hours who said that. After book club I went to bed and woke my husband up. I asked him if he really thought I could write a book that would make ONE reader escape like books had helped me. He said yes.

The next day I picked up a notebook from the local drugstore and that afternoon at my son's little league football practice I started writing my first book. I've never looked back.

BingeBooks: What attracted you to writing cozy mysteries?

Sara: I love the tone - light with touches of humor. I don't enjoy dark and gritty entertainment so cozies are my cup of tea. I also love the whodunnit puzzle. I've always enjoyed mysteries from Nancy Drew to Agatha Christie. I also enjoy returning to the same cast of characters and the same location again and again.

Tonya: I LOVE love love love the small town community found in cozies. They might be about a murder or crime, but it's the atmosphere of the small town cozy characters that makes them so fun to write and read. When I sit down to write another book in a series I feel like I'm returning home.

BingeBooks: Why do you think cozy mysteries are so popular?

Sara: I think readers love the escape to a beautiful place (cute small town/charming village/etc) and reading about familiar characters who feel like old friends. And then there's the aspect of the murder interrupting life, but it's an intellectual puzzle (not a gory) and justice is done--something that doesn't always happen in real life. 

Tonya: Definitely the fun escape. Cozies are written in series and readers not only get to put on their sleuthing caps to help try to figure out who did the crime, but have invested in the community of characters and the small town. Readers become invested into the towns, the recurring lives of the characters. Even though the cozy mystery is based on a murder, the subplot of the character's evolving lives is a thread throughout the series. Readers love those subplots just as much as the solved crime. We tease that gossip is a big part of cozies and the readers LOVE to feel like they are part of the gossiping crowd.

BingeBooks: How will you be celebrating Christmas this year?

Sara: Family, food, and fun! We'll read the Christmas story, make way too many desserts, and we all have ugly Christmas sweaters. My husband and I bought some for a Christmas party and we were shocked when our kids wanted some too. :)

Tonya: This year is going to particularly special to me. At the beginning of the pandemic my husband and I started building our dream, final home. Guess what?! Covid. It's been a crazy 18 months of back orders, not being able to get the things we wanted because they are no longer being made etc... Plus during this time my mom was involved in a horrific tractor trailer wreck where it was touch and go if she was even going to survive.

Fast forward to today ... mom is doing great and we just got news we will be able to move into our new house before Christmas. So I'm going to be spending Christmas in our new home with my mom! It's truly a Christmas miracle and blessing.

Watch our chat with Tonya and Sara and find out about forthcoming author chats on our Book Club page