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Interview with Elizabeth Spann Craig

 

How did you decide on a beauty parlor for the murder scene in A Dyeing Shame?

I grew up in a small town in the South and found the local beauty parlor fascinating.  In 30 minutes you could find out everything going on in the town.  There was the added draw of hearing lurid gossip being yelled at the tops of lungs over all the hair dryers. You were getting a lot of entertainment value for your dollar. I thought – what if your hairdresser, who you’ve trusted with all your secrets as if she were your priest, suddenly started blabbing?  What if she blackmailed people with all the information she had?  I decided somebody would get rid of her, fast.  I had the perfect victim. 

 

Are your quirky characters spoofs or based on real people?

The characters are composites of lots of different people.  Some of them are friends and family, but others are unusual people I ran across in the grocery store or at my son’s soccer practice.  Maybe they had a distinctive way of talking or an unusual feature that showed up in my book. Sometimes I’d have complete conversations with these people and all I was thinking the whole time was, “I’ve got to find something to write on! Her mannerisms are perfect.” Of course, the evening news shows are great ways to find unsavory characters to describe.  It’s easy to get character ideas when you live in the South—you’re surrounded by so many quirky people!  And they all seem to have these wonderful skeletons in their closets. 

 

What made you decide to write mysteries instead of other genres?

I love reading mysteries and knew they’d be fun to write, too.  You create this idyllic little world, then introduce this wicked element.  The reader roots for the detective to track down the bad guys and reinstate Paradise.  It’s sort of like watching a horror movie: you’re all stressed out and caught up in the moment and when the ending comes, the stress is gone and you feel great!  All is right in the world again.  It’s a very cathartic experience.   

 

   At the Cape Fear Crime Festival with the Carolina Conspiracy and Randy Rawls

 

 

 

Your bio says you’re a stay-at-home mom.  How do you squeeze writing into your day? 

Squeezing is right.  I don’t really have the luxury of spending hours in front of the computer.  I do most of my writing on the run. My goal is one page a day, and I do get that page: off many scraps of paper from my car (scribbling away with a crayon on a gas receipt at a stoplight), pocketbook, bedside table (great for those middle-of-the-night ideas), and kitchen counter.  Once I find all the day’s scraps, I compile them into a page of the mystery. 

 

What are you working on now?  Are you going to continue Dyeing Shame into a series?

I’m currently writing my second Myrtle Clover book