Diane A.S. Stuckart is the New York Times bestselling author (writing as Ali Brandon) of the Black Cat Bookshop Mystery series. She’s currently writing the Tarot Cats cozy mystery series published by Midnight Ink. A Texas native, Diane received her BA in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma and now lives in the West Palm Beach Florida area with her husband, dogs, cats, and a few beehives.Stuckart's new book is Fool's Moon, the first Tarot Cats Mystery.
Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Stuckart's reply:
I’m always so envious of pages-long writing lists posted by readers. Once upon a time, I used to be like that, reading a dozen or more titles a month. But now that I’m a writer withVisit the official Diane A.S. Stuckart website.little spare time, most of my reading consists of online advice columns (of course, we serious column readers all go to the comments section for the real skinny on the problems du jour). Still, I manage to squeeze in the occasional book or two every few weeks.
Most recently, I’ve been flipping through the just-released Naked Tarot by Janet Boyer. Subtitled, “Sassy, Stripped-Down Advice,” I picked up this book for some no-frills interpretations of the Tarot—needed, since my human protagonist in my new Tarot Cats Mystery series is a Tarot card reader. While I’ve studied up on Tarot on and off for many years, I’m more of a deck collector. This book gives me lots of ideas on how mycharacter, Ruby Sparks, can confidently deal with her Tarot clients despite being a relative newbie as a reader.
A few weeks ago, I jumped into the literary wayback machine and read (for the very first time!) Dashiell Hammett’s The Thin Man. I’d seen bits and pieces of the various Thin Man movies over the years. My particular interest in the book was to get a sense of the Charles’s dog, Asta, for a blog piece I was writing on animal characters in mystery novels. Not only did I learn that “book” Asta is a female Schnauzer, and “film” Asta is a male wirehaired terrier (why? why?), I also discovered that the “book” Charleses drink like fishes. (Somehow, I didn’t remember that much booze flowing in the movies.) But my amazementat the copious flow of literary alcohol aside, I left with major respect for Hammett’s crisp yet poetic prose that so cleanly evokes his classic characters and situations.
Finally, I recently had the chance to read and blurb a non-fiction book by a writer friend of mine. Writing the Cozy Mystery: Expanded Second Edition will be out in November. It’s written by Nancy J. Cohen, a prolific author of cozy mysteries. This slim (130 pages) volume is packed with great advice for the beginning cozy writer, breaking down the genre into its basics and clearly explaining mystery writing concepts. For a highly accessible how-to writing manual, you can’t go wrong with this book.
Coffee with a Canine: Diane Stuckart & Ranger, Delta, Oliver and Paprika.
--Marshal Zeringue
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