Under the name Connie Archer, my guest today writes the Soup Lover's Mysteries. Under Connie di Marco, she is launching a new series on June 8th, the Zodiac Series. Whatever name she uses, Connie is a terrific storyteller with a lot of heart, and I am thrilled to be talking to her today.

We cover a lot of ground, from the allure of cozies to creating memorable characters, to the true-life crazy things that can happen in a small town. And we talk about her blog tour, which you definitely want in on, since every stop generally involves a Madness of Mercury book giveaway. I link HERE to Connie di Marco's home page for more info on the Zodiac series, and HERE to the page that has links to all her blog tour stops.

Connie Archer's website can be found here for you soup lovers (you can find one of her recipes at Cinnamon Sugar and a Little Bit of Murder). Here, in order, are the five books in the Soup Lover's Mysteries series:

1 - A Spoonful of Murder

2 - A Broth of Betrayal

3 - A Roux of Revenge

4 - Ladle to the Grave

5 - A Clue in the Stew

For her latest book, The Madness of Mercury, book one of the Zodiac Series, Connie was inspired by someone who lived in San Francisco at the same time she did: Jim Jones, of the Jonestown Massacre. Very creepy. On a slightly less deadly note, we also talk about the Rashneeshees and their poisoning of a town in an attempt to win elections (luckily, no lives were lost, but it was a close call).

Connie also gives a shout out to Sue Grafton and to cozy writer Nancy Parra, who writes (among other things) a gluten-free cozy series.

If you'd rather read than listen, the transcript is below. Enjoy!

Transcript for Connie di Marco/Connie Archer interview:

Welcome to Destination Mystery, a podcast for readers who love a good mystery. I'm Laura Brennan.

Laura Brennan: My guest today is a bestselling mystery author with a double identity. As Connie Archer, she writes the Soup Lover’s Mysteries, set in the village of Snowflake, Vermont. As Connie di Marco, she has a new series, the Zodiac Mysteries, which debut with The Madness of Mercury on June 8th. Connie, thank you for joining me.

Connie di Marco: Thank you, Laura.

Laura: So you are not just one author, you are two authors.

Connie: Well, one author with two identities.

Laura: So tell me a little bit about how that happened. Let’s start with soup. The Soup Lover’s Mysteries, how did you start writing those cozies?

Connie: Well, I had been very lucky to find an agent pretty quickly, which I later realized was extremely difficult. And my agent loved the concept of my first book, and the book did not sell. They liked it, but it was also partly economic reasons, too, because it was 2007-2008 and a lot of the major publishers were laying people off and the economy was really going south. So, I wasn't actually surprised at that, there was no negativity in the rejections, it was just like, well, we don't think this is quite what will sell.

Undaunted, I continue to write. And my agent called me and she said, would you be interested in doing this series for Penguin? And I said sure, because mostly because I really wanted my agent to keep working for me. And that's how the soup lover’s mysteries came about. I was born in Boston, I grew up there and I certainly know New England and I also love to make soup, so it seemed like a really good match. And it was released in August 2012, A Spoonful of Murder. And it was an amazing success. People seemed to really like it and seemed to really connect with the characters.

Laura: One of the things, for me, that I really love about it is the recurring characters. You give the whole town such enormous personality. One of the great pleasures is coming back to every novel. Did you base any of those people on people you knew?

Connie: No, I guess -- I did grow up in New England, I’ve certainly seen a lot of smaller towns and villages,