Feta Attraction by Susannah Hardy Interview, Review & Giveaway

Feta Attraction
by Susannah Hardy

I enjoyed reading this series with all the various people in town, and how they all are connected to either Sophie, Spiro and Georgie it is definitely a recipe for success!
~Community Bookstop

Hardy manages to combine fun and downright silly exploits (driving a boat-easy, even if you’ve never done it before) with curiosities about Napoleon Bonaparte and his plans in New York to create this big fat Greek mystery!
~Cozy Up With Kathy

Those looking to start the year with a fun, new series that provides a different flavor to a favorite genre will be glad they picked up Feta Attraction. Sit down and hold on tight as you race through the pages of this promising debut.
~Carstairs Considers…

Feta Attraction
(A Greek to Me Mystery)
Series: A Greek to Me Mystery (Book 1)
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Berkley (January 6, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-0425271650

The first mystery in a new series overflowing with Greek flavor…

Georgie Nikolopatos manages the Bonaparte House, a Greek restaurant and historic landmark in beautiful upstate New York rumored to possess ghosts and hidden treasure. But when her husband disappears and her main competitor is found dead, it’s up to Georgie to solve a big fat Greek murder.

With her husband, Spiro, inexplicably gone for days, Georgie has her hands full running the restaurant and dealing with the crew of the TV show Ghost Squad, called in by Spiro to inspect the house for haunting. So when she has a chance to take a boating excursion on the St. Lawrence River with her friend Keith Morgan, she jumps on it. But their idyll is quickly ruined when they discover the body of rival restaurant owner Domenic “Big Dom” DiTomasso floating in the water.

When the police start asking questions, it doesn’t help that Spiro can’t be found—and with Georgie on their suspect list, it’s up to her to find her missing husband and find out who killed Big Dom before someone else’s order is up.

Includes delicious Greek recipes!

About This Author

       Susannah Hardy thinks she has the best job in the world: making up stories and inventing recipes to go along with them. A native of northern New York, where she attended St. Lawrence University, Susannah now lives in Connecticut with her husband, teenaged son, and Elvira the Wonder Cat.

Interview

Where are you from?

I grew up in Northern New York State, just a few miles from the Canadian border. I visit family there several times a year. It is a beautiful part of the country, and yes, it is very cold and very snowy! But now I call Connecticut home.

Tell us your latest news?

I am thrilled beyond belief that my first novel, FETA ATTRACTION, is available online and in bookstores. I’ve written and turned in the second and third books in the series. Now I’m developing ideas for a new series, which I’m really excited about. I can’t say more at this point, other than that it is, of course, cozy, and its premise has not been explored before to my knowledge.

When and why did you begin writing?

I don’t recall writing anything other than school assignments until I was in high school, when I wrote a couple of short stories, now mercifully lost to time, as well as some deliberately bad poetry, also gone. I say “mercifully” because now no one can blackmail me with any of my dreadful early attempts at a literary career! I also wrote and illustrated a comic strip based on a biology-loving superheroine. Later, I started—and stopped—writing many times before things clicked for me. See my answer to the next question for more on this. But the why? I’ve always been a reader, and I have had stories running in my head, both my own and other authors’, my entire life. Eventually, I had to start writing some down. I knew I’d never be able to respect myself if I didn’t at least try.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

In my heart, I’ve always been a writer. But for a very long time I only wrote in fits and starts, never getting past the first chapter or two before giving up because my work wasn’t perfect on the first draft. But then I found the courage to join a writers’ group at my local public library, and some of those writers are now my very best friends. The precious gift of finding my people--like-minded writers on the same journey—made all the difference in my being able to complete a novel for the very first time. Then I joined (along with many of those same early writing friends) a couple of professional organizations that taught me the business of being a writer and gave me the tools to find an agent and sell this series. It wasn’t until my agent called and told me we had a sale to Berkley Prime Crime that I realized that I was, indeed, a professional writer. And yes, I still have trouble believing it some days!

What inspired you to write your first book?

Feta Attraction is the first book I ever completed, and I have been extremely fortunate to have sold it. I worked in a Greek restaurant for several summers during college and yes, the owner had a very crush-worthy son! Every Greek man I’ve ever met has been handsome and charming. I’m also a big history nerd, and the idea that there were Bonapartes in nineteenth century America—right in my backyard in Northern New York—has always fascinated me. I put these two experiences together to form the framework of Feta Attraction.

Do you have a specific writing style?

I tend to write in intense bursts. When I start a story, I usually write 30 or 40 pages over a week or two, to set the stage and get somebody murdered. Then I like to let the story percolate for a while as I go about other business. This gives my subconscious time to work out suspects and motives and subplots, and to understand how all these elements fit together—quite often in ways that surprise me, so I hope they surprise you, the reader! Then I pick up the manuscript again and try to keep going. When I start out, I usually only know a few major turning points. The fun of writing is seeing what happens between those turning points. And I know who I think the villain might be, but that can change as the story progresses. I actually write fairly slowly—sometimes only a page an hour—but the draft that comes out is very close to what you will read when the book is published.

How did you come up with the title?

Cozy mystery titles are so much fun, aren’t they? My series is about a non-Greek woman who married into a Greek family and now runs the family restaurant. So I knew I wanted a title that incorporated something Greek, something foodie, and something murderous. I made a list of different Greek foods, and thought about some deadly words and phrases, and Feta Attraction, a play on the wonderful movie Fatal Attraction, jumped out at me. Interestingly, Feta Attraction was the title I originally proposed for the second book in the series, but the publisher liked this one so much, they decided to use it to debut the series.  

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

While I was not conscious of this as I was writing Feta Attraction, later I realized that this is a story about stepping out of your comfort zone, letting other people live the lives they were meant to live, and setting yourself free by letting go, even though the future is uncertain.

What would you like my readers to know?

That I am humbled and so incredibly grateful to each and every reader out there who loves books, whether you read mine or someone else’s. Thank you, readers! You are the people who enable writers to live their dreams. 

Author Links

www.susannahhardy.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Susannah-Hardy/111056935644467

@susannahhardy1

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22522032-feta-attraction?from_search=true

Purchase Links
Amazon B&N Book Depository

Tour Participants

January 2 – Michelle’s Romantic Tangle - Review, Guest Post

January 3 – Community Bookstop – Review, Giveaway

January 4 – Cozy Up With Kathy – Review, Interview, Giveaway

January 5 – Carstairs Considers – Review, Giveaway

January 6 – deal sharing aunt – Review, Interview

January 7 – a chick who reads – Review

January 8 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – Review

January 9 – Griperang’s Bookmarks – Review, Guest Post, Giveaway

January 10 – Books Are Life – Vita Libri – Review

January 11 – Girl Lost In a Book – Review, Giveaway

My Review:
This is the first book in this new series by author Susannah Hardy called , "A Greek To Me Mystery".
I just finished reading this book and I really liked it. This book has it all, mystery, action, terror, fun and just the right touch of romance. The best part though is the "Ghost Squad" a  TV show crew that Spiro, Georgie's husband, has asked  to come and check and see if they are haunted. After a body is found Spiro cannot be found so the hunt is on. Who was responsible for the dead body and where is her husband? It is all thrown in her lap and she better hurry, the police have called her a suspect. I give this book a 4/5. I was given this book for the purpose of a review and all opinions are my own..  

Author is giving away a $10 Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts gift card (winner’s choice) at each stop a Rafflecopter giveaway