I’ve never met Rose Kerr, though we’re both members of Sisters in Crime Guppies branch and we share a love for the beauty of Northern Ontario and Lake Superior. When I learned that her debut mystery was being released in March 2022, I invited her to write something for my blog. Here’s Rose, talking about cooking up a cozy premise…and it’s a good one. In fact, as of this writing, it reached #1 on Amazon in the Cozy Culinary Category

How does someone who failed home economics write about a cooking reality show?

When I graduated from high school, I applied for home economics at university. The plan was, I’d become a home economics teacher. I don’t know why I thought that was a good fit for me because I had never enjoyed taking the home economics course in high school. After a few disastrous cooking labs and poor grades, I realized home economics wasn’t for me and changed programs to Recreation and Physical Education. A much better fit. I loved the recreation program and after graduation found my dream job, working for the provincial figure skating organization.

Fast forward to my retirement… throughout my working career, I had the urge to write a mystery, but I didn’t know where to start. When I retired, I took some creative writing classes and joined a writers’ group. I had a lot of ideas, but none were “it.”

One evening, while watching a cooking show on the Food Network with my son, and the chef in charge was being nasty. I said to my son, “One day, someone’s going to knock him off.” He chuckled and said, “There’s your story. Figure out how he’s going to die.”

I spent a few weeks mulling over the idea, coming up with a loose plot. I did some research online and watched more of the Food Network. I had read enough cozy mysteries to know I might have to include recipes in the book and, honestly, that worried me more than writing the book.

A month later, my husband and I were at a resort on the Mexican Riviera. I was poolside chatting with another guest. Turns out, she was a production assistant on a cooking show. We laughed about some of the cooking reality shows and how they portrayed the chefs. I asked her what a production assistant did. She was involved in almost every aspect of the show, and I thought to myself, this would be the perfect job for my sleuth–no cooking or recipes needed!

I pulled my notebook out of my beach bag and started asking her questions. She was generous with her information.

I knew my sleuth’s job and who the victim would be. I just had to figure out the rest.

I needed to find a hook because I wanted this to be a series.

My sleuth is a high school guidance counselor who loses her job because of budgetary cuts. Due to lack of seniority, she’s not able to find work. She signs up with a local temp agency. This ensures she’s working in different jobs around town. And she’s not a chef, so I don’t have to include recipes in the book.

My husband and I raised our family in a small town in Northern Ontario, on the shores of Lake Superior. It was an amazing place to raise our children. We had access to so much of the natural beauty that surrounds Lake Superior. I wanted to share that with readers.

Bayview City is a compilation of several towns we lived in and visited. It has a university, a college, a thriving shipping industry, a downtown core showcasing beautifully renovated Victorian homes. There’s a marina and a sheltered bay, and parks and campgrounds nearby. It’s been a lot of fun creating my characters and the setting.

Death on the Set, A Brenna Flynn Mystery is book one of three books contracted to TouchPoint Press. Find out more here.