Ron: “We set out to create a ‘kinder, gentler’ mystery series, the sort of mystery novels that used to be written decades ago, when clever plot twists played a more important role than graphic, in-your-face violence and coarse language, and when the action took place in unusual settings that were fun to read about.”

Janet: “We began by looking at the classic English mysteries written by Agatha Christy, Charlotte MacLeod, Edmund Crispin, and others. Their books honor a tradition that readers have long enjoyed. For example, the story is set in a small town rather than a large city so that interesting relationships can develop among the cast of characters. And the story deals with a small ‘family’ of potential suspects all of whom are nice people, the sort who would never, ever commit murder.”

Ron: “The lead characters in classic English mystery — its protagonists — are usually ‘amateurs with attitude.’ He, she, or they are drawn into to an investigation that really should be conducted by the police. Much of the fun is watching a quirky, eccentric amateur sleuth outthink the proper authorities who despite their access to forensic evidence have managed to get everything wrong. Along the way, the readers learn a lot about the protagonists’ lives, their careers, their interests, and their relationships.”

Janet: “The murderer in a traditional English mystery is almost always a previously upstanding citizen driven by straightforward motives: greed, jealously, revenge, or self-protection. I can’t imagine a story about random murders, or a bank robbery gone wrong, or a serial killer. And the murder itself tends to be bloodless, which helps to maintain the light-hearted, cheerful tone of a cozy-despite the fact that a murder has been committed. All of this is true of the murder and the murderer in both Dead as a Scone and The Final Crumpet. The culprits are the sort of people you would be happy to invite to dinner at your home.”

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