Sara Rosett is the author of the Ellie Avery mystery series, an adult “whodunit” mystery series in the tradition of Agatha Christie. Publishers Weekly has called Sara’s books “satisfying,” “well-executed,” and “sparkling.”
Her marriage to an Air Force pilot has taken her to central and southern California, Texas, Washington state, Alabama, Oklahoma, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, and Florida. Sara has worked as a credit processor, a staff reporter for two Air Force base newspapers, and a researcher and writer for the Citizen Ambassador Program of People to People International.
Her husband served as a pilot in the Air Force for nine years on active duty and is still a pilot with the Air Force Reserve. He is stationed at MacDill AFB, Florida.
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| Wikipdeia.com |
Kim: You currently live near my hometown - what is your favorite sight, smell, and sound?
Sara: Florida is great. We have a large pond behind out house and I love watching the wildlife. We’ve seen blue herons, egrets, sandhill cranes, and eagles. We also have some neighborhood alligators—interesting! Favorite smell: fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. Favorite sound: my kid’s laughter. (Those last two don’t have anything to do with the Sunshine State, sorry!)
Sara: Florida is great. We have a large pond behind out house and I love watching the wildlife. We’ve seen blue herons, egrets, sandhill cranes, and eagles. We also have some neighborhood alligators—interesting! Favorite smell: fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. Favorite sound: my kid’s laughter. (Those last two don’t have anything to do with the Sunshine State, sorry!)
Kim: I admire your flexibility in jobs as you have moved with your husband's assignments. What has been the challenges and rewards of military life?
Sara: Military life has been an adventure. The hardest thing about being a military family is moving and leaving friends behind. That’s never easy. On the upside, I’ve traveled to so many places that I never would have been able to visit like Hawaii, Germany, and Italy.
We’ve also been able to see lots of different parts of the US, too, and I liked getting to know most areas—some more than others! (That’s another plus of military life: if you don’t love it where you are, you’ll be moving soon!)
I’ve used the locations we’ve lived in as settings for my books. So far, I’ve written about Washington state, Washington D.C., and Georgia. The book coming out in 2013 takes place in the Florida panhandle. There’s still a few more places we’ve lived or visited that I’d like to work into future books. I don’t think I’ll run out of material for settings!
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| Florida Panhandle from thecapeescape.com |
Kim: Who or what helped you along the path to publishing?
Sara: My family is very supportive and encouraging, which has been wonderful. I also joined Sisters in Crime, an organization of authors, librarians, and mystery readers. They have tons of good info about publishing and the craft of writing. I went to several writer’s conferences and entered my work in contests to get feedback.
Kim: Tell us about Ellie Avery and MISTLETOE, MERRIMENT, AND MURDER?
Sara: It’s about a white elephant Christmas gift exchange gone bad. Ellie (mom, professional organizer, and military spouse) agrees to host the squadron spouse Christmas party and becomes embroiled in a murder investigation when her white elephant gift is used as a murder weapon.
The idea for the book came when I attended a Christmas party with a white elephant gift exchange. Our rules were that the gifts couldn’t be purchased; they had to be something we wanted to get rid of and, more importantly, they had to be as awful as possible. It was such a fun party! It got me thinking about what one person considers "trash" maybe a "treasure" to another person. I also happened to be watching a lot of Antiques Roadshow at the time and that led to one of those “what if” moments. What if one of the white elephant gifts wasn’t trash, but an overlooked treasure….?
Sara: It’s about a white elephant Christmas gift exchange gone bad. Ellie (mom, professional organizer, and military spouse) agrees to host the squadron spouse Christmas party and becomes embroiled in a murder investigation when her white elephant gift is used as a murder weapon.
The idea for the book came when I attended a Christmas party with a white elephant gift exchange. Our rules were that the gifts couldn’t be purchased; they had to be something we wanted to get rid of and, more importantly, they had to be as awful as possible. It was such a fun party! It got me thinking about what one person considers "trash" maybe a "treasure" to another person. I also happened to be watching a lot of Antiques Roadshow at the time and that led to one of those “what if” moments. What if one of the white elephant gifts wasn’t trash, but an overlooked treasure….?
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| Wikipedia.com |
Kim: What's next for Sara Rosett?
Sara: I’m also writing a romantic suspense series, the On The Run books. The first one, Elusive, came out in August. It’s available in ebook. There will be two more books in that series. I’m working on the next book, Secretive. I’ve also just finished the eighth Ellie book, which will be out in 2013. Ellie and family go to the white sand beaches of the Florida Gulf coast and (of course!) get mixed up in murder and mayhem.
Mahalo, Sara, for joining us at SOS Aloha! I posted my review of MISTLETOE, MERRIMENT, AND MURDER on Amazon (at this link) and Goodreads (at this link). I am giving away a print copy of MISTLETOE, MERRIMENT, AND MURDER to one randomly selected commenter. To enter the giveaway,
1. Leave a comment about gift exchanges - do you like the White Elephant? Yankee Swap? Any memorable gifts?
Two years ago, the spouses' club played Yankee Swap. I "stole" the gift from the four star general's wife just because no one else would do it! She laughed at my willingness to go where no other spouse had gone. After the party, I gave the gift back to her.
2. This giveaway is open to all readers.
3. Comments are open through Saturday, October 20, 10 pm in Hawaii. I'll post the winner on Sunday, October 21.
Mahalo,
Kim in Hawaii
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| Here's my Alma mater ... the University of Tampa! |
I'd never heard of the White Elephant or Yankee Swap. I do love the idea of the White Elephant. I could unload all sorts of things. Maybe someone else will treasure them.
ReplyDeleteI never heard of a Yankee Swap...when I was working we would do a White Elephant at our Christmas luncheon....my most memorable gift the beaded coasters I still use.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of the White Elephant. I've not heard of the Yankee Swap. I must say, you were very brave to take the Generals gift, but really kind to hand it back afterwards. I've never participated in either, so don't have any memorable gifts to mention.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a great idea! I always get a bunch of gifts that I don't know what to do with....
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of either of these but they do sound like fun!
ReplyDeleteSome of my women's clubs have played similar games. One is played where you pick wrapped presents and have 3 changes to take someone else's before you get to claim it. Another is you unwrap the present so everyone knows what they are trying to steal. It's loads of fun.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I played the Yankee Swap type of game was at a work holiday party. It was fun. I ended up with a dvd of the movie, "Mr and Mrs. Smith."
ReplyDeleteWe have done the Yankee swap but not the White Elephant. I love the idea.
ReplyDeleteDon't like gift exchanges
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of the White Elephant idea but it does sound like fun. I've participated in something like the Yankee Swap (not called that, though) - it was fun 'stealing'!
ReplyDeleteWhat's the difference between a Yankee Swap and White Elephant? I really enjoy exchanges where you get to "steal" the person's present if you like it, rather than pull an unwrapped present. We call that white elephant.
ReplyDeleteme and my friend done the exchange when valentine, love it :)
ReplyDeleteI love white elephant gift exchange. Those are the most fun. Last year we did as seen on tv exchange. It was hilarious and a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard od the yankee one, but the last couple of years at my job we have did it. I like doing them, but sometimes enjoy the plain old secret santa. Especially with a smaller staff at my job. Thanks for the giveaway.
ReplyDeleteChristinebails@yahoo.com
Hi Kim and Sara!
ReplyDeleteSince we have 5 grandchildren now a few years agno we decided with our sons and their wives that that we'd only give gifts to the grandchildren and a charitable contribution to each others favorite organization.
The grandchildren were disappointed that we weren't exchanging gifts so we decided on a "white elephant" exchange and now one of the "highlights" of the holidays for the children are seeing what crazy gifts we give each other. We set a $10.00 limit on what you could spend so we all also have lots of fun searching flea market and consignment shops to search for our Christmas "find" during the year!
Kim,
You know I love historical romance but I also enjoy mysteries as well and Sara's Misletoe, Merriment, and Murder sounds like the perfect way to get ready for the holidays!
Ellie,
I hope your enjoying Florida! It has a special place in my heart because that's where I met my husband when he was stationed at NAS Ceceil during the Vietnam War and this year we celebrated our 42 anniversary!