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- Author interview - |
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| A Cut Above the Rest: An Interview with Nancy J. Cohen By Susan McBride  Ever have those days when you look in the mirror and sigh woefully, then find a baseball hat to cover up your head? You know what I’m talking about: a bad hair day. Mystery novelist Nancy Cohen not only has experienced a few bad hair days of her own, she also wrote a series based on the idea that it’s a killer trying to find a good cut these days. Her books featuring beauty salon owner Marla Shore deliver big bangs. The first Permed to Death debuted in 1999 to great reviews, and the second Hair Raiser is a December 2000 release from Kensington.But Cohen’s writing career didn’t begin with mysteries. Her roots are in another genre. Using the pen name Nancy Cane, she won the prestigious Holt Medallion Award for a romance called Circle of Light. After establishing herself as a solid storyteller with several futuristic romances, she took a stab at whodunits. That’s when Marla was born, giving a whole new spin to the phrase curl up and dye. SUSAN McBRIDE - I love the name of your series The Bad Hair Day Mysteries because I'm one of those people who's always had trouble with her hair. Did you come up with Marla Shore first (the owner of the Cut 'N Dye salon) or the concept for the series? NANCY COHEN - I created the concept of a beautician sleuth first. Women can relate to Marla. Who doesn't get her hair cut, styled or colored? Customers confide in their hairdressers. Marla is in the perfect setting for listening to gossip and interviewing suspects. Plus she encounters clients all over town. I decided she'd be centered in South Florida where I live and would share the same social milieu. Okay, I have to ask: do you ever have bad hair days? Because every time I've seen you, your hair looks great! Every day is a Bad Hair Day for me. I don't have the patience or skill to manage my own hair, so I rely completely on my hairdresser. I'm just glad that when I attend conferences, the hairdo lasts through an entire weekend. So, you live in Florida like Marla, and you have a poodle that looks suspiciously like Marla's dog Spooks. How much of you is in your main character? How are you different? I feel very close to Marla because we share the same upper middle-class Jewish background, and we live in the same neighborhood. I like to think we both have a nurturing nature. Marla cares about her clients in the same manner I cared about my patients when I was a practicing RN. Marla is a lot braver than I am, though. She isn't afraid to track down a murderer whereas I'd rather confine my adventures to paper. She's more of a party gal, going out with friends in the evening. I'd rather stay home with my family and read a good book. She doesn't want children whereas mine are the center of my universe. So while a great part of me identifies with her, our goals in life differ. Hair Raiser touches upon the subject of environmentalism, while Permed to Death focused on the poisoning of a beauty salon client with tainted creamer. How do you come up with such disparate story ideas? My stories are not all focused upon a particular theme, such as saving the environment. Each book is different because I like variety. Inspiration comes from many sources. The first book was easy: I was bored while waiting for the timer to go off while getting a perm. Looking at the other customers staring into space, I felt we needed something gripping to read. Why not kill off one of the clients? That's how the story idea for Permed to Death was born. Hair Raiser was inspired by a visit to Bonnet House, a local attraction. This magnificent oceanfront estate inspired me to write about mangrove preserves, and a newspaper article led to the creation of two suspects. Murder by Manicure started with a friend's suggestion that I should set a book in a sports club. Marla, who's gained too much weight over the holidays, joins a fitness club for a trial membership. Her first visit doesn't go so well when one of her clients is found dead in the whirlpool. I love the fact that you were a fan of the Cherry Ames books only to work in the nursing field as an adult. Obviously, your choice of reading material had a big impact. What inspired you to write your first novel? Back in 1975, I bought a book called Structuring Your Novel. Up until then, I'd been writing short stories and poems. This book taught me how to write a novel. I wrote several practice books before my career took a professional turn. You began your career as a romance author, writing as Nancy Cane, then shifted over to mysteries. What if anything, prompted you to change genres? My futuristic romances involved complex plots, and Keeper of the Rings contained a strong mystery. That book taught me how to write a whodunit, and I enjoyed plotting it so much that I decided to write a straight mystery. Besides, I like reading female amateur sleuth stories. Why not write one of my own? Is there a big difference in writing mysteries as opposed to writing romance novels (i.e., research, work habits, readership, etc.)? Research and work habits are unaffected by genre. What differs most are reader expectations in terms of story focus, writing style, and language. For example, a more lyrical writing style is acceptable for certain subgenres in romance, but it won't work for mysteries where clean, concise prose is desirable. Longer descriptive passages, which may be acceptable in historical or futuristic romance, slow the pace in mysteries. So the tone of the stories differs. Contemporary romance is closest in style to mysteries. Similarly, language varies according to genre. Physical descriptions of main characters are necessary in a romance but can be viewed as flowery writing in a mystery. I have to be careful when writing mysteries not to cross that boundary but sometimes my roots emerge. Also, the focus of a mystery is not on the developing relationship between hero and heroine like in a romance, but on a murder that must be solved. In a romance, the mystery element is solved first before the romantic relationship is resolved. In contrast, an ongoing romance in a mystery series needs to be subtle and progresses slowly from book to book. Sexual tension heightens suspense in either case. What do you enjoy most and least about being a published novelist? The most satisfaction I get from being published is to receive letters from readers. My aim is to entertain, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to share my stories. It inspires me to keep writing when readers say my books have taken them away from their troubles for a few hours. What I like least about being published is the constant drive to promote oneself. You have to become a salesperson when you'd rather sit at the computer and write all day. What's your typical schedule when you're in the midst of a book? Are there certain times of the day when you're more productive than others? I start work in the morning when my brain is most alert. I'll write from 8 AM until I finish my quota for the day, which is five pages. Then I'll spend time on promotion. What's next for you? Is the third Marla Shore mystery in the works? In Murder by Manicure, a woman drowns in the hot tub at an athletic club where Marla is a trial member. Marla gets into hot water herself when she plays a charade to help a friend. She drags Detective Dalton Vail into the game, raising the stakes in terms of her love life. More than her muscles tighten when he's around, and if I were writing romance, I'd tell you exactly which body parts I mean. Readers can contact Nancy Cohen by regular mail at: PO Box 17756, Plantation FL 33318 or by email at ncane@att.net. Visit the author's Web site: www.nancyjcohen.com |
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