This month we welcome the lovely
Katherine Hall Page!
Before becoming a writer, you were a high school teacher. How did you make the switch to mystery writer?
I
still miss being in the classroom and enjoy the school visits I do on occasion
for all grade levels. As for the transition, a great many things happened at
once: I was finishing up my doctorate, our son was born, and my husband decided
to take a sabbatical. I had intended to look for a job as an assistant
superintendent of schools. Instead, we left for France a month after I
graduated and settled into Lyon for what ended up being 2 years and many visits
back. I wrote The Body in the Belfry during that time, thanks to the
loan of an old Underwood typewriter from French friends, and the wonderful day
care system in that country. So, there wasn't an abrupt switch from teaching to
writing, more of a slide.
What type of writing schedule do you have? Tell us about your writing space and what you wear when you’re writing? (Many of our authors wear sweats or pajamas!)
No, I don't write in pajamas. Usually jeans. My writing schedule is still the one I got used to when my son was growing up—the school day. I eat breakfast and get to work. During breaks I put in a wash, make the bed, etc. and after I finish I take a walk and/or do errands. Twice a week I swim. I have a room of my own. It's filled with light in the morning and the walls are covered with books and art work. There's a comfortable chair next to my desk where my new kitten likes to sleep. For years when we lived in Lexington I wrote in the basement as there wasn't much room in that house. This space is perfect, as is the smaller space where I write in the summer in Maine. It's tucked up in an alcove off the bedroom looking out at the sky and pine trees.
What was your easiest book to write? Hardest? Easiest and hardest part of writing in general for you?
None
of the books have been easy. I do know which was the hardest—The Body in the
Ivy. I wrote it as an homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were
None. A group of women who were all in college in the late 1960's come to
an extremely isolated island at the invitation of a reclusive, world famous
mystery/romance writer. Each woman thinks she has been invited for a different
reason-to give a week-long seminar on finance, host a retreat for avid gardeners,
etc. They haven't seen each other since graduation, which followed the apparent
suicide of the twin sister of the writer. The writer never believed that and
hence has gathered all the suspects with Faith Fairchild catering and
sleuthing. The book goes back and forth between past—each college year—and
present—the women are disappearing one by one.
Keeping everything straight, and plausible, was a challenge.
Tell us about some of your favorite authors.
Favorite authors in no particular order: E. B. White, Eudora Welty, John Cheever, Jane Austen, Nancy Mitford, E.M. Delafield, Arthur Conan Doyle, M.F.K. Fisher, Henry James, Colette. This has been stream of consciousness. I read anything and everything.
Do you have favorite book conventions that you attend?
Tell us about the next books you have coming out? What are you working on now?
My
absolute favorite is Malice Domestic. It's a good size, wonderful attendees and
extremely well run. I've made so many friends there over the years. This year
Nancy Pickard is the Guest of Honor, Elaine Viets is toastmaster, and Anne
Perry will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award, which indicates the kind of
gathering it it! I also enjoy the location—DC area, a quick metro ride to all
those wonderful museums.
What do you enjoy doing with your free time? How do you relax?
I have just completed a manuscript, The Body in the Sleigh, which will be out in Fall 2009. It's a Christmas story set on the fictional island I created for The Body in the Kelp and other books off the Maine coast.
I had to give poor Tom, Faith Fairchild's ministerial spouse, an illness so I could have them on the island during the holidays when he would normally be in the pulpit. I'm very found of the first line:"The Christmas Eve sky was filled with stars when Mary Bethany found a baby in her barn."
Since
writing is a solitary profession—I tell school kids that if they want to be
writers, they have to like to be indoors and alone a lot—what I do for
relaxation involves being with family and friends. Sharing meals, going to the
movies, museums, galleries. I have a niece who is now living in Boston and I
have discovered the pleasures of shoe shopping—DSW—meeting her and walking
around the city is very relaxing. My husband is now semi-retired and we are
traveling more. He came with me on my last book tour and we fell in love with
Charleston where we hope to return this spring. Definitely a great food town.
Fun Tidbits about Katherine!
Favorite meal: Deer Isle, Maine lobster steamed with unsalted butter, Jersey tomatoes, sliced with just a little basil, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, Verrill Farm butter and sugar corn, Formaggio Kitchen's sour cherry bread pudding (and some of their cheese to start-obviously this is a hard meal to pull off).
I
also like to go to Chinatown for Dim Sum.
Movie: To Kill a
Mockingbird, close seconds: North By Northwest and The Big
Easy
TV Show: Am a total pop culture junkie, so Top Chef and HGTV's
Design Star. Addicted to Househunters also and love Tony Bordain's No Reservations.I
miss Sex and the City.
Ice
cream: Ginger
Time
of Day: late morning when possibilities seem to stretch out most
Season: without question, autumn
Please visit Katherine's wonderful website here!
And you can also read excerpts from some of her books:
Katherine at a charming Mystery Tea
at the Lincoln Library. The event featured food from mysteries...yum!
Katherine with Jeanne Bracken (the reference librarian who organized the tea) and author Sheila Connelly
