Welcome And Spoiler-Free Setup

Ellie Alexander 0:05

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Reality Writes. I am author Ellie Alexander. This is the podcast where we talk about all things bookish, writer-ish, whatever else is on our mind, and we try to peel back the curtain and give you a look at what it takes to live the writer life. And as always, I am here with the one and only Tech Guy.

Tech Guy 0:29

Hello, hello. And today we are going to be talking about a new book.

Ellie Alexander 0:36

I know. I can't believe it.

Tech Guy 0:38

Again.

Ellie Alexander 0:39

I know. It's the story of my life right now.

Tech Guy 0:43

You've got quite the publishing schedule this year. That is true.

Ellie Alexander 0:47

I do. It's a great problem to have from a writing perspective. I don't even want to use the the word problem. It's just, it's I'm so grateful to be able to be writing at this level. And as I've talked about many times on this podcast, and if you've, you know, come to any kind of book event with me, writing is definitely my happy place. And because I've been writing for nearly two decades now, and I've built up a lot of muscle memory, I tend to write pretty fast, uh, which means more books for you, darlings, whether you want them or not. They're coming. They're coming at you. Fast and furious.

Tech Guy 1:25

Hopefully they want them. Um, and it based on the comments that we get, it sounds like they do. But before we get started, I do want to let everybody know, as always, this is a spoiler-free episode. So if you're if you're if you don't know about the series we're about to talk about, if you don't know about the book we're about to talk about, do not worry because we will not be giving away any secrets today. Um, but you will be learning a little bit about the series and the book, and uh we'll be talking about some pretty cool stuff. So, and as always, use that, send us a message link in the show notes.

Ellie Alexander 2:03

That's right. And the killer in this book is dun dun dun. No, I'm just kidding. No.

Tech Guy 2:11

Spoiler free, spoiler free. Yeah. Spoiler free. Yeah. So let's

New Release And Missing Heiress Hook

Tech Guy 2:18

get into it. What book is releasing?

Ellie Alexander 2:22

The next book in the novel detectives, A Murder at the Mansion, is coming out on July 21st. I'm so excited to share this one with you, darlings. I've had such fun getting to develop this series and do a spin-off from the secret bookcase mysteries. And uh, this book yet again is inspired by real life places, as well as some real life pets. This is the first time that I have had a pet focus in the actual mystery. So, for those of you who love any sort of thing involving animals, this might be the mystery for you.

Tech Guy 3:03

I love animals. I was just raising my hand.

Ellie Alexander 3:06

I know, but are you concerned that something might happen to said animal?

Tech Guy 3:11

No, because I listened to the a few episodes ago, we talked about the cozy contracts. And that is something that you cannot break. You can you just can't do it. It can't be a cozy and have an animal die. I mean, could the animal be the murderer?

Ellie Alexander 3:33

Oh wow. Well, I mean, I just read a book where that was the case, so that's a whole other uh Pandora's box that we won't go into. Yes.

Tech Guy 3:44

I know I know you, so I know I know the animal's gonna turn out to be okay.

Ellie Alexander 3:49

I don't know. I don't know.

Tech Guy 3:52

But this is book three in this series, right?

Ellie Alexander 3:56

This is book three in this series, and then because I did six books in the novel detectives prior or in the secret bookcase mysteries, I can't even keep them straight in the secret bookcase mysteries first. These all connect. So in some ways,

From Secret Bookcase To Novel Detectives

Ellie Alexander 4:10

it's kind of book nine.

Tech Guy 4:13

Well, let's let's talk about that for a minute for the darlings out there who don't know, because this was new to me, and this is something that you uh have worked on with your publisher, Storm and Um. So the Secret Bookcase Mysteries was the original series, and that series has six books in it. Yes. The novel detectives, same characters, many of the same characters, um, is a spin-off from the secret bookcase mysteries. I think I got that correct, but let me know if I didn't.

Ellie Alexander 4:45

Well done. Ding ding ding. Yeah, that's right. And this is a first for me too in publishing, and this came from the editorial team, and they were like, hey, we would love to keep this series going. We originally developed the series together, and they had this idea that it would be fun to do a spin-off, a way to continue the series, maybe pull in new readers as well. And the way that I plotted Annie's growth and development over the course of the first six books was leading up to this idea that she has a degree and this history in criminology. And when I first started this series, I had Veronica Mars, kind of a modern grown-up version of Veronica Mars in my head. And now in the spinoff with the novel detectives, and this is a tiny bit of a spoiler if you haven't finished the secret bookcase series, but you you sort of already know where this is going. She and her best pal Fletcher are actually investigating cases now. They were, of course, already involved in murder investigations in the first six books, but in the spinoff, they are legitimately getting invited onto the crime scene by the detectives, which is really fun and unique for most of my other cozies because in let's say the Bake Shop Mysteries, no pastry chef, like we've discussed, is ever going to be invited onto a crime scene or to help the investigative team with the case. But there's some legitimacy to Annie because she does have this training in criminology and her detective license and all of that. So it's fun to get to explore that and also to give her some different cases to work on, which is what she's doing in this particular book, uh, Murder at the Mansion.

Tech Guy 6:27

Yeah. And it's the all of the action takes place in the same setting, uh, which is Redwood Grove, right? So it's the same, same setting as the other books in the series so far.

Ellie Alexander 6:39

Same setting as the other books, same cast of characters, same cozy village. Like all of those vibes are there. It's just kind of fleshing it out and making it that much stronger. And then thinking about how I can get creative with, you know, a cold case or someone who might not remember what happened to them the night before and is covered in blood, or for this particular book, a wealthy heiress who's gone missing.

Tech Guy 7:06

Oh, the wealthy heiresses always go missing. That's what happens.

Ellie Alexander 7:13

The wealthy heiress always goes missing. You have a treasure trove of potential suspects in all of the family who wants said wealthy heiress's um estate, all of the things. It's just

Redwood Grove And The Phyloli Mashup

Ellie Alexander 7:25

chef's kiss.

Tech Guy 7:27

That's awesome. Quick aside about Redwood Grove, this is a fictional town. You uh, some of your other series, many of your other series, are set in real life places. This, however, is a fictional place. However, one time not too long ago, we were looking at a map because you had shown me a property that you were looking at. Because this is for the darlings out there who don't know, Ellie is always looking at properties and houses and saying, wouldn't it be great? Isn't this one lovely? Wouldn't what do you think of this? And it this doesn't matter. We we could have just moved into a new house last week, and I would be getting suggestions on new stuff, but I digress. So you showed me a property, and I was it was up in the mountains out by the coast here in the Bay Area, and I was looking at a map to find out where this place was in relation to other things, and I was kind of scrolling around and I came across Redwood Grove. It's not a city, it's an unincorporated area up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. But I was like, there's no way it is a real place, and it's not too far from Fyloli, which is the real life inspiration for the secret bookcase mystery setting and the the bookstore that uh that Annie and Fletcher work at, right?

Ellie Alexander 8:59

I mean, basically I manifested it, is what it comes down to. I just decided that there should be a Redwood Grove. I put it on the page, and now it shows up in real life, which has happened so many times in my books. But yeah, it was such a trip to be like, wait, we could just drive there right now. This can't be real. Yeah.

Tech Guy 9:17

Yeah, it was so wild. But uh, but this book is set in Redwood Grove, um, just like the others. So uh that's awesome. Is there anything that you want the darlings to know about Redwood Grove since we know that it might be kind of a sort of a real place?

Ellie Alexander 9:34

Yes, there's so much I want the darlings to know about Redwood Grove, as you alluded to. My inspiration for this series is the stunning estate of Phyloli, which is an old Edwardian mansion, as well as these gorgeous grounds and gardens. We've visited countless times before I started writing. Then once I visited and knew that I had to set a book here, we've gone uh, I too many times to count to make sure that I'm getting the details right or to imagine where things might be. Failoli is not a functional bookstore, but in my mind, I have turned it into a bookstore. And then I've imagined that there are all these kind of like what you really have, especially in the English countryside, where you have all these little towns that connect with pathways. That's my vision for Redwood Grove, that from the secret bookcase, you could take these little pathways and end up in the village within, you know, a half a mile or something. And then that you are surrounded by these old growth forests and redwood trees, and all of that is true to life in the Bay Area here. And then the other thing I've done with Redwood Grove is I've mashed up a number of small towns. Since we've been living in California for the last few years, we've noticed like every community, even if it's 10 miles away, has its own cute, charming little downtown with cozy shops and coffee spots and restaurants. So I've taken a bunch of those and mashed them up and made them this village square of Redwood Grove. And the fun thing about getting this deep into the series now is that I get to keep expanding. So in this book, we're gonna meet the owner of uh-oh, darlings, I I almost just gave something away. So the tech guy's gonna have to cut that.

Tech Guy 11:21

Oh, it'll be cut. It's cut when they're listening to it. But but if there's a weird break in this podcast episode, now you know why, because Ellie just revealed something from the next book in the series, which she is currently writing, and stopped mid-sentence with a look of horror on her face. Because as we said at the beginning of this podcast, this is a spoiler free zone.

Ellie Alexander 11:46

So a spoiler-free zone. Okay, so what you are going to get to meet in this particular book, A Murder at the Mansion, is a new set of shops in town, a couple new spots that Annie and Liam, um, her love interest are going to visit. And then there is a mansion that makes the secret bookcase look like servants' quarters. And she gets called out to this mansion because our heiress has gone missing, and they have been invited to help find this missing heiress. And at this point in time, Bernadette Garst is the name of the missing um woman. We don't know whether she is alive, whether she's been kidnapped, whether she is frustrated with her family and has decided to jet off to one of her many homes all across the globe. Um, and so Annie and Fletcher are like deep in the mansion and the grounds there. And what I've done with this is I've taken some parts of Phyloli and then just expanded them and made them that much bigger.

Tech Guy 12:56

That's awesome. Quick side note about Phyloli that you were not aware of when you first concepted the idea of the secret bookcase mysteries. Phylloli, the mansion on the property, actually has a secret bookcase. And actually two secret bookcases. One of them opens to reveal a bar, which is a very cool thing, uh, and the other opens to reveal some hidden shelves. But nonetheless, that was another thing that kind of got manifested uh with the uh advent of the series.

Professor Plum And Outrageous Pet Spas

Ellie Alexander 13:29

It's so cool. So the other thing that I talked about at the beginning is the fact that there is a pet involved in this story. So this is the first series that I've written where there is already a pet detective in Professor Plum, who is Annie's tabby cat. And Professor Plum has been in every book in the series and has, you know, played a role, I'll just say, in a few of the cases. And Professor Plum is going to have an even bigger starring role as the series develops. We also have two crows that are um sort of the mascots now of the novel detectives. And this all was born out of my own experience with feeding crows at our local swimming pool. So I love weaving those sort of things in. But I was brainstorming with my writers' group when I was working on the plot for this book. And I said, like, you know, I this is gonna be someone who is just, you know, next level of wealthy, right? This old, old California money, and that the Garst family has owned acres and acres of land and has also had this sort of like old school commitment to preserving nature, preserving these historic places, and a funding of the arts. And one of the women in my writers group was like, oh yeah. I mean, like, I sh I see these people all the time in the work that I do in my non-writing job. And then we started talking about like what would be some of the most outrageous and outlandish things that might happen. And I was thinking, oh, Bernadette also owns prized poodles. Um, and so she has a poodle that gets charted by helicopter up to a pet spa once a week. Um, and this really happens. This was all based on my writers' group discussion. And then I did a deep dive into this world of the ultra-wealthy who will helicopter or they'll send their dog trainer with their prized pet to a spa that is nicer than any spa you or I could even imagine, you know, like full lunches and massages and grooming sessions for the trainers and the pets. I mean, it's just, it's so outrageous. And I love that. And I can't wait because I know I'm gonna hear from some of you darlings that are like, Ellie, come on. This is so over the top. It's real. I'm telling you, it's real.

Tech Guy 16:01

Oh, I am surprised that there wasn't any first person research necessary for these super expensive spas while you were writing this book.

Ellie Alexander 16:11

It would have been, I don't think they'd let me in. I think they'd be like, no, I'm sorry.

Tech Guy 16:17

You have to submit your tax returns in order to get access. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.

Ellie Alexander 16:22

I read a cozy mystery and can I come to your spa and just shadow, you know, you for the day. Yeah. Um, yeah, but I can't wait for that thread. And then I just really enjoy this idea of these being investigations and and true cases. Not that in my other series, like there's there's always a body, there's always a murder, and there probably will be in this one. You'll have to wait and see. Um, but there's such a focus on getting called out to this missing person's case, which would happen again in the real world with any sort of private detective firm. You might hire somebody like that to come find your missing relative, etc.

Publishing Ahead And Researching Private Detectives

Tech Guy 17:02

That's so great. Yeah. Um, that how many books will this series have?

Ellie Alexander 17:10

Well, I am currently working on book seven of the novel detectives.

Tech Guy 17:18

Oh, I didn't even know you were that far into it.

Ellie Alexander 17:21

Yeah.

Tech Guy 17:22

That's funny. Um that's a good thing.

Ellie Alexander 17:25

You're gonna cut that part that I almost tried to spoil. Way too far ahead.

Tech Guy 17:30

Well, and that's the problem you've talked about several times on Reality Writes is that the with the way that the publishing schedules work, you are always working one, maybe two books ahead of the one that is currently releasing. And so that presents challenges when you want to talk about the book that's currently releasing because your your mind is one or two books into the future, sometimes more. Um so it makes it makes it difficult to you know have conversations like this, I think.

Ellie Alexander 18:01

Darlings, these are the real world struggles of the writer life that we are sharing here on this podcast. But it's true, I'm always books ahead. And I wrote this book, I don't know, a year, a year and a half ago. And so once I send off a book, it goes through obviously the editorial process and everything like that. But then I haven't touched it for months and months at a time. I get super excited when it's finally then coming out because it's been in the process of being developed and edited and all those things. And each stage has its own exciting moments. You know, when you first see the cover or when you get page proofs, or when you physically get early copies, it goes up on NetGalley. But I really need to start doing like a quick like reread before book launches because uh yeah, like you said, I'm so far into the series and a lot of things have developed as they do in series writing, that um I need like a quick refresher to be like, oh yeah, that's right. You don't know this yet, darlings. I gotta zip the lips.

Tech Guy 19:07

Right. We talked about that in a previous episode of Reality Rights 2, where you in in mysteries, there is the mystery that takes place. So the case for for the book that that you happen to be reading, but there are often overarching mysteries and things develop that developments that take place over the course of several books uh within a series itself. So knowing which books that stuff takes place in is an ongoing challenge for the author and their tech guys.

Ellie Alexander 19:41

And their tech guys. And thank goodness for editorial staff at the publishing houses who send long, long lists of everything that has happened book by book, chapter by chapter. I always do that quick synopsis before I start writing. Yeah. Uh what I love about this particular series is it still has all of those cozy vibes, but I've done a deep dive into what it's like to own and work at an independent bookstore. And I've also done a lot of research, some of which doesn't even make it into the books, about what it's like to run a private detective agency. And I've learned so much over the last few years. And I'm so fascinated now by how much private detectives can actually do as far, and this is all based on California state law since the books are set here. So I know that it the rules change state by state. Um, but I'm quite impressed. You know, it's more than just maybe like trying to snap photos of a cheating spouse or something like that. There, there is a lot that private detectives can do to assist the police and investigative teams in real cases. Um, so I have copious stacks of notes for future books, too, which is uh a good thing and a bad thing, I guess.

Tech Guy 21:01

Copious stacks of notes on how to get away with murder. Uh, that's like not something you advertise, probably.

Ellie Alexander 21:09

No, maybe not. No. Um, and then the other thing about the bookstore piece is we've talked

Bookstore Daydreams, Indie Reality, Preorder

Ellie Alexander 21:15

at length about how cozy's really are these escapism reads. They're kind of fantasy. But I have always imagined what it must be like to work at or own a bookstore, right? It's total wish fulfillment to get to write this series. You and I have had a thousand conversations about like, you know what, there are a lot of authors who own bookstores. Maybe we should do that too. Neither of us have any time to actually make that happen. But the reality of doing a deep dive and having a lot of conversations with friends and colleagues who I've known over the years who do own bookstores, it's not as romantic as it might seem, darlings. It's fantastic. I mean, all of them love books, they're purveyors of books. Books, they're supporters of books, it's all those things. But you are not spending your days sitting in the bookstore reading and, you know, recommending books and walking people. I mean, like you're doing some of that, but it's a lot of work. And there's so much more that goes in behind the scenes in terms in terms of vendor relations and ordering and restocking. Um, it's been so fun too. I have shadowed some booksellers and just watch them be like, yep, okay, well, 25% of my day is just putting books back on a shelf that got misplaced. And they're not even mad about it, but you know.

Tech Guy 22:36

Yeah. So, darlings out there, if you take a book off the shelf, put it back where it was, help an indie bookstore owner out. Um that's right.

Ellie Alexander 22:44

Yeah.

Tech Guy 22:45

It's it's almost like you talk about being an author being a lot of work and how these professions that all seem super dreamy and fun and easy actually take some effort too, because they are fun, but a lot of work goes into making them fun. Um, I will say that owning a bookstore is probably still on our respective lists uh for doing at some point, sometime. Who knows? Maybe it'll happen. I'd love to hear from the darlings out there if they would stop in and discuss like murder plots and stuff with me because I know I'd be behind the register uh while you're writing books.

Ellie Alexander 23:26

This feels like my sign to start sending you new properties where we can vibe. Oh no.

Tech Guy 23:31

Oh no, I didn't even think about that. Yeah, of course. Okay, so now I'm gonna start getting uh a bunch of commercial properties. Uh I I I'm foreseeing a lot of live work spaces coming my way in the next couple of days. That's great.

Ellie Alexander 23:46

Okay, this is a total aside, but not really. And I have thought about how I might incorporate this into the series for a future book. There is a bookstore. I can't remember now if it's in Ireland or Scotland, but I've sent it to you. And you get to go stay. It is a live workspace, so it's a cozy, sweet little, I think it's Ireland, but it could be Scotland. Cozy, sweet little bookstore. And you stay for a week and you run the bookstore as part of your stay. That, I mean, that's the dream. We have to do that first and test it. Um, and the owners are super casual about it. It's like, well, if you want to go out for a hike, you just put the clothes, sign up for a couple hours, but you come, you stay, you pay to stay, and you run the bookstore. Like it's also a brilliant strategy on their part, but I'm sold, darlings. Are you with me? We need a book tour there.

Tech Guy 24:34

That that is amazing. Uh maybe uh Annie and Fletcher will have to incorporate that into uh the shop at some point.

Ellie Alexander 24:44

That's what I'm thinking. Yeah.

Tech Guy 24:45

Yeah.

Ellie Alexander 24:46

And then there would be a body, somebody wouldn't do their duty.

Tech Guy 24:51

Somebody didn't put somebody didn't put the books back in the right place, and they ended up paying the ultimate price for it. I told you, darling, you gotta put those books back.

Ellie Alexander 25:05

It's a public service announcement, really.

Tech Guy 25:09

All right, so book three comes out July 21st. Uh available for pre-order now. Ebook and paperback and audio. Yeah. Yes. All three. The trifecta.

Ellie Alexander 25:21

All formats. I know. I can't wait. I can't wait for you to get your hands on it, darlings. Please share if you've read it. Uh, I always love hearing your thoughts. And yeah, uh, I think we need to start planning a another bookish trip soon, just in the name of research.

Tech Guy 25:39

Uh I do love the bookish research. It is the best part of the job.

Ellie Alexander 25:43

It's true.

Tech Guy 25:44

All right. And you said you're working on book seven right now, so there's a lot more to come in the novel detective series. Will the novel detective series have a spin-off? That's what I want to know.

Ellie Alexander 25:57

Whoa, a spin-off of the spin-off?

Tech Guy 25:59

Professor Plum is gonna get his own spin-off.

Ellie Alexander 26:03

Yes.

Tech Guy 26:04

It'll be a fully pet detective series.

Ellie Alexander 26:08

Okay, all right.

Tech Guy 26:10

There's probably a market for that. There's probably a market for that.

Ellie Alexander 26:14

Yeah. You heard it here first, darlings.

Tech Guy 26:18

All right. Anything else you want to share with the darlings about a murder at the mansion?

Ellie Alexander 26:24

A murder at the mansion. You just have to say it like that. A murder at the mansion. I want to say, as always, darlings, thank you for your support, for coming along with me on so many books. It's just a delight to have such a connected community. And I could not do this without you. So thank you for all that you do, for sharing, for telling friends, for posting reviews, for your ideas, all of it. It's just incredible to be part of this community.

Tech Guy 26:57

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. All right. Well, with that, I am going to say until next time.

Ellie Alexander 27:05

Until next time.