JOD: Thanks for
having me! I’m always happy to talk with others who love cozy mysteries as much
as I do.
LKBR: Please tell
us a bit about your new book.
JOD: When Regina
Murphy, a small town theater teacher, finds a dead body backstage during
rehearsal and her lead actor is the prime suspect, she has to put down her
director’s notebook and polish here sleuthing skills to find the real culprit
so the curtain can go up on the show.
I’ve been reading
cozy mysteries for decades, and it’s kind of surprised me how many people don’t
really know the cozy genre. When I share
with them what a cozy is, how they are usually set in a small town, the crime
is committed offstage, the detective is an amateur in it to find the
perpetrator for personal reasons, and the cast of characters is usually full of
quirky personalities, they get excited to read one. Rapier Wit has all
of those qualities, plus, it made my sister laugh out loud, so there’s
definitely some humor!
LKBR: Are you
working on any new projects?
JOD: Rapier
Wit is the first book in a series, so now that it’s out, I’m working on the
sequel, Slings and Arrows.
LKBR: How many
books do put out annually (if more than one)?
JOD: Right now, I
plan to put out one a year. I have a lot of ideas in the pipeline, so if I can
fit in the writing around my day job teaching, I may be able to adjust the
schedule and do two a year!
LKBR: What is
your brainstorming process like? Do you have a certain order you use when
starting a new story? Such as, main character development, do you already have
a murder in mind, the location it takes place?
JOD: I’m always
open to stories that strike a chord with me as a writer, a reader, and a
lifelong Okie! I think that sometimes
people think nothing ever happens in a small town, but in Quanah, Oklahoma, the
setting of all the Regina Murphy mysteries, the issues that are important to
people everywhere are important to the people there, too. In Rapier Wit, some of the story draws
on the problems teachers deal with every day, like high-spirited students and
plagiarism.
As for the crime,
I start with thinking, why would someone be a target in this little microcosm,
and take it from there. The victim in Rapier Wit is a math teacher who’s
had conflicts with students, parents, and other faculty members. Slings and
Arrows is going to be about how close to home the opioid crisis is to small
towns in Oklahoma.
LKBR: Where’s the
strangest place inspiration has hit?
JOD: Even when
I’m not at the keyboard, the story I’m working on is always simmering. During NaNoWriMo one year, I had an epiphany
about a plot twist during a debate tournament and had to find a place to hide out
for a bit so I could type up the idea on my phone before I lost it!
The bathroom. I
hid in the bathroom so I could make sure I didn’t lose the idea.
LKBR: What
publishing decisions are made by you, and what are made by the publisher? Such
as, cover design, paperback/hardcover, publishing date, pricing, and so on.
JOD: Since I’m an
independent author, it’s all on me to find the people to help me deliver the
best book I can! I’ve learned so much since I began publishing my books and I
keep learning every day. I work with very talented people who edit my books and
do the work I can’t do, like design awesome covers.
LKBR: Multiple
questions here. Have you ever thought about giving up on writing? If yes, why?
What kept you going? What would you see yourself doing instead? If no, YAY! ☺
JOD: I have never
given up on writing. Writing has been a part of who I am from a very early age.
It’s just taken different forms through the years. I’ve written poetry,
academic papers throughout college, memoir, blogs, you name it. For a very long
time, I had a daily writing practice inspired by Natalie Goldberg’s book, Writing
Down the Bones.
What is very new
is publishing. I read Catherine Ryan
Howard’s book, Self-Printed a few years ago and it inspired me to
publish my own books. The self-publishing industry was just getting started,
and I knew I could do it, so I did.
Writing can be a
very isolated and isolating pastime. Knowing that people are reading my books
is a way of making a connection that I value very much. There’s that saying
that “books are a uniquely portable magic.” Part of that magic is in the
connection between the writer and the reader who picks up the book.
LKBR: If you
could make one request of a reader, what would that be?
JOD: I wish I
could hear from every reader when they finish one of my books. I know that’s
not possible, but if I had a map and could stick a pin in every location where
someone has read one of my books, I think it would be incredible!
In reality, I
would ask each reader to let themselves get lost in the books they read so they
can truly enjoy the world the author, any author, not just me, has built for
them. I want my readers to know what
it’s like to be in the darkened theater with Reggie, to feel the empathy she
has for her students, and to experience what Quanah, Oklahoma is like.
LKBR: Thank you for
joining us here today, Jennifer!
JOD: It’s been a pleasure!
And that was just the start.
Florid poems in the local paper, impassioned letters to the editor, and later a BA in English followed by a Master's degree in Composition and Rhetoric, firmly sealed her fate as a writer. Her love of complex characters led to a twenty-six-year career as a theater educator and a series of award-winning essays. But it wasn't until Denslow learned about the fille de cassette, or 'casket girls' sent to wed men in French colonies, that she was compelled to write a novel about the plight of women in historical times, and An Ignorance of Means was born.
Denslow is drawn to strong female protagonists with sharp intellects, and stories that delve into experiences far beyond the scope of our daily lives. When she isn't using every spare second to pen her latest novel, she can be found coaching her debate team and working with young actors to create the emotional experiences for which theater was created.
You can learn more about Jennifer's work at
