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Becky James has inherited more than just her grandma’s old house. She’s stunned to discover she’s able to communicate with the deceased, who haunt the place! Becky does her best to ignore the souls who interrupt her restful reset. But between unsolved mysteries, a lovable specter-seeing stray cat, and a tireless string of spooks, she finds herself drawn into a life solving mysteries.

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What inspired you to create your cozy mystery series, and how do you keep finding fresh ideas for each new book in the series? 
The inspiration for my paranormal series actually came from personal experience. I know –that’s creepy, right? It’s inspired by a house I used to live in. I’d moved in and was having a few spooky dreams, and every time I walked up the stairs, I felt as if someone was following me! The house was over 100 years old in Southwest England in a seaside resort. And on some land at the end of our garden was a spiritualist church in an old prefab hut. One night I had a dream that I was visited by a ghost who asked me to take a message for them. No surprises, I said no, because I was petrified! As an author, I was writing romance, but then one day, I remembered that dream and wondered what would have happened if I’d said ‘yes’? This resulted in the ‘Medium of Branden Bay’ series, about Becky James, a woman petrified of ghosts who is contacted by a ghost seeking justice! BUT, as this is a ‘cozy’ mystery series, the scare-factor was dialled down, a cute cat added and an awful lot of cake! With regard to fresh ideas, I don’t have a problem with ideas, my mind seems to throw them at me constantly, all day. The problem I have is having the time to write them all!

How has fan feedback influenced the direction of your series? Can you share an instance where reader input affected your storytelling? 
Someone said to me that they wanted Becky to put on her big-girl pants and stop being so scared of the afterlife. Hmm, as she was based on me, I thought that’s never going to happen, however, I did realise that for the sake of character development Becky did need to come to terms with her gift, so as the series progresses she becomes stronger. And I reflected this with her expressions on the book covers, going from ‘shocked’ and frightened to more of an inquisitive expression!

Selling your books in box sets is a successful strategy for you. What motivated this approach, and how has it influenced your writing and publishing process? 
I’m surprised that the single books do seem to still sell, with it being cheaper to buy them as a box. The reason I boxed them up was because I had heard KU readers like them that way as they can fit more books on their Kindle at a time. I also lead readers from my other series to the boxset as it is the most cost-effective way to read the series.

Do Your characters have developed over the series? Let’s talk about the process of developing your characters across multiple books? How do you ensure they grow yet remain consistent with their core traits? 
I touched on this above, I think character development is so important and I make sure my characters do not remain static, as in real life, we all grow and learn from our experiences. My main character learns courage, my secondary character learns independence and even the grumpy Police Inspector has a major transformation when faced with a life changing experience. I introduced a crime lord in book 4 who for some reason I fell totally in love with, so had to carry him on to the next book. With the crime lord, I wanted him to still be a likeable character, so I gave him a soft side when it came to cats. That displayed that he already had a soft and compassionate side, albeit directed at felines rather than people, but I felt it more believable when he also showed a little compassion to humans, that it was a development of his soft side, rather than a complete change of personality. I made sure he was still manipulative but on matters which were not so drastic.

Cozy mysteries often feature charming, tight-knit communities. Can you talk about your approach to world-building in your series? How important is setting to the overall mystery and series identity? 
I began to write the first book in November. For those you are not aware, November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I’d left it a bit late for inventing my characters. So I used myself and people I knew! Becky, the main character was me (albeit a much younger me!) Her sidekick Jeff, was my step-daughters ex husband (A bit of a gaming geek). The cat looked like one of mine. Lynn and Annie, were my sisters-in-law. Even the ghost was a man my daughter had seen about our house! The world was my home seaside town, mixed with Torquay. I created the seaside town I would love to live in. Somewhere fun with lots to see and do. I think setting is really important. As a reader I want to be whisked off to a magical place, an escape, a place to dream of, so I set out to paint a place many people would like to visit. Whilst having parts of it that are real, so it appears believable. In fact I loved the town of Branden Bay so much that when I decided to write a 1920’s series, I set it in the exact same town, although without the ghosts as it’s not paranormal. In my mind, Branden Bay really exists!
I also think that it’s important to try and remain authentic. This is tricky when it’s a far-out world, distanced from what a lot of people would consider ‘real’, especially when we’re talking paranormal. However, I have a friend who is a paranormal investigator and I’ve spoken to her a lot about ghost hunting equipment and about her experiences.

Which authors or specific works have influenced your writing style and approach to the cozy mystery genre? How do you keep your work original while paying homage to the classics of the genre? 
My main influence for a love of mystery comes from my childhood, my favourite cartoon was Scooby Doo and author was Enid Blyton. As an adult, the main author I have read is M C Beaton and her Agatha Raisin series. I loved it so much especially the characters, that you follow through the series. I also loved that Agatha was far from perfect and had her faults, it made her feel real. And also the setting. The Cotwolds was always so beautiful and well painted. M C Beaten always had romance in there, that is something which I do too. Using the romance as a sublot which runs through it. Whilst a few people have said that mystery readers get fed up when there’s romance in the books, it’s what I get asked the most when I start a series…. ‘Are they going to get together?’

What’s next for your series? Do you have plans for new directions or spin-offs, and how do you keep the series fresh and engaging for long-time fans? 
I’ve finished ‘season 1’. In Season 2, Becky will be a lot more confident and not only has she accepted her gift, but the police also have. So, it’s a new direction and I’ll be back to it later on in the year. Once I have fulfilled the pre-orders I have put up for my new historical cozy series. 

What advice would you give to aspiring authors looking to break into the cozy mystery genre, especially those interested in writing series and selling them in box sets? 
To make sure you stick to what the readers like. This was my first series and it’s ‘paranormal light’ and it actually seems to appeal to people who don’t normally read paranormal, as there’s a lot of regular detective work, due mainly to Becky not wanting to use her gift. There is no magic in them as her gift is for receiving messages from the ‘other side’. She’s solving the murders as quickly as she can, to get rid of the ghosts! So, I’m not sure I hit it right myself, as I fall between paranormal and a culinary cozy! So, if I was advising a new author, I would say read well in the subgenre and try to stick with the norms. This makes life a lot simpler. I took this advice myself and have had amazing success recently, with my historical cozy series ‘Lady Ellen Investigates’ the first book is called ‘Murder at Millar’s Hotel’. For this, I did a lot more research into genre expectations.
As far as box sets go, I would say don’t be too worried about boxing them up and losing sales of individual books. I have not found that to be the case. Readers of single books and boxsets are often two different types of customer, so you are often reaching ‘new’ people rather than selling cheaply to the same people.

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Lady Ellen seeks respite in the charming seaside town of Branden Bay, whilst her home, which was used as a convalescent home for war veterans, is being refurbished to its former glory. Her peaceful break takes a dark turn when she unexpectedly crosses paths with her arch-nemesis, the enigmatic Major Albert Coltrane. Major Coltrane is found lifeless, his face submerged in his own soup after a heated and public confrontation with Ellen who finds herself accused of murder. Determined to clear her name, she forms an unlikely alliance with Lottie Penny a hotel chamber maid and Captain Ernest Hamilton, a former patient at her convalescent home.

Victoria LK Williams
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