Recently I added a new jewelry line to the Cemetery Cat family , and I am really excited about it. The inspiration came from a softer side of myself, and truthfully I was pretty surprised when it showed itself. I have had the pleasure of meeting Juliet a time or two and she is fantastic.
PS- she can hold her liquor too! you know that's a prerequisite...;)
So Juliet, I want to thank you for coming by. I am so excited to launch this line. My designs have taken a whole new direction because of your books.. It's pretty awesome.. Let's just dive into some questions shall we?
Who is Juliet Blackwell exactly?
Juliet Blackwell is an enigma. Actually an enigma wrapped in a conundrum, covered with chocolate sauce. Something like that.
Why mysteries? and what is a cozy mystery?
Mysteries are fun, that’s why. They give you a basic plot: someone’s dead, figure out how/why/who did it. But add the paranormal…? Then they get really juicy. They’re all about our deepest, darkest motivations, and the search for justice, and trying to put the world right again. To me, all those ideas work great with a witchcraft theme.
A “cozy” or traditional mystery is something you cuddle up with and read with a cup of tea at your side, a cat on your lap, a crocheted blanket around your shoulders. Or at a bar with a bottle of Jack at your elbow and a Marlboro hanging from your mouth. It’s, like, a book. Some are good, some bad. Mine’s good. Seriously, a “cozy” mystery is the kind of book that won’t make your mother keel over in disgust – there might be sex and violence, but it’s considered mild and/or takes place off-page.
How did the idea of incorporating occult ideas come about?
I’ve always been fascinated by witches. Unlike vampires or werewolves, witches are real people. Whether or not you believe in the actual magic of what they do, *they* believe it. That’s really fun. As a novelist, it means I get to go off and play with the ideas of the supernatural, but keep them grounded in reality. Plus, I get to hang around witches and hoodoo practitioners and folk healers all day, and call it work.
Tell us a little bit about Lily Ivory.
Lily is a natural born witch from a small West Texas town. She was rejected by her mother at an early age, went to live with the local curandera (a kind of Mexican folkhealer/witch) and then is finally run out of town at the age of seventeen. She’s been wandering the world for years, looking for a safe place to land, and finally finds it in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, where she opens a vintage clothing store. Because if you’re a witch, you just might fit in down in the Haight. And if you want vintage clothing, that’s the neighborhood to visit.
Vodka or Gin?
Gin. Unless it’s a vodka night. Throw in a little single-malt scotch, maybe some tequila, and I’m all yours.
Do you write in silence or with music?
In silence, unless I’m copyediting. Then it’s Edith Piaf. Or Billy Idol. I’m moody.
What's next for Juliet?
More Witchcraft mysteries! The fourth, In a Witch’s Wardrobe, comes out June 2012. And in the meantime, Dead Bolt, second in my Haunted Home Renovation series will be released December 6 of this year.
Synde, thank you for having me! I looooove your jewelry designs! I don’t really believe in marriage, but I might want to marry them ;-) I can’t tell you what a thrill it is to have jewelry inspired by my books and characters. You’re my hero!
About Juliet!~
Nationally bestselling author Juliet Blackwell writes the Witchcraft Mystery series (Secondhand Spirits, 2009; A Cast-off Coven, 2010; Hexes and Hemlines, June 2011; Obsidian). If Walls Could Talk launched the Haunted Home Renovation series in 2010; Dead Bolt, the second in the series, comes out in December. As one-half of the sister duo dubbed Hailey Lind, Blackwell wrote the Art Lover’s Mystery Series--including Agatha-nominated Feint of Art and the most recent, Arsenic and Old Paint (September; Perseverance Press). A former anthropologist and social worker, Juliet has worked in Mexico, Spain, Cuba, Italy, the Philippines, and France, and is now a painter in Oakland, California. She served two terms as president of NorCal Sisters in Crime.
You can visit Juliet at www.julietblackwell.net or on Twitter and Facebook!
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