Writers Read: Paula Munier

Paula Munier is the USA TODAY bestselling author of the Mercy Carr mysteries. A Borrowing of Bones, the first in the series, was nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award

and named the Dogwise Book of the Year. Blind Search also won a Dogwise Award. The Hiding Place and The Wedding Plot both appeared on several “Best Of” lists. Home at Night, the fifth book in the series, was inspired by her volunteer work as a Natural Resources Steward of New Hampshire.

Along with her love of nature, Munier credits the hero dogs of Mission K9 Rescue, her own rescue dogs, and a deep affection for New England as her series’ major influences.

A literary agent by day, she’s also written three popular books on writing: Plot Perfect, The Writer’s Guide to Beginnings, and Writing with Quiet Hands, as well as Happier Every Day and the memoir Fixing Freddie: The True Story of a Boy, a Mom, and a Very, Very Bad Beagle.

Munier's new Mercy Carr mystery is The Snow Lies Deep.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

This is my favorite time of year, so I was delighted to finally get to write a mystery set during the holidays. The Snow Lies Deep is my seventh Mercy Carr mystery (although you can read them in any order) and it was inspired by all the wonderful winter novels I’ve read and loved. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

This lovely fairy tale of a novel is set in Alaska in 1920. A childless homesteading couple scrape out a living in a remote area cut off from the rest of the world in the winter. They celebrate the first snowfall by building a snow child together—a symbol of their longing for a child of their own. The rest is magic…or is it? No spoilers, you’ll just have to read it…. I am a sucker for novels set in the wilderness, especially ones so beautifully written, as this Pulitzer-Prize nominee was. I loved this book!

61 Hours by Lee Child

I love, love, love Jack Reacher, my go-to when I travel and/or when I need to be reminded how to write good action. I’ve read them all and I keep rereading them. This is number 14 in the series, and it finds Reacher stuck in the middle of nowhere in South Dakota during an epic snowstorm. Read this, and you will feel the cold, the ice, the isolation, and the threat from within and without this embattled town on the frozen prairie. And of course it’s Reacher to the rescue. As well is should be.

Light on Snow by Anita Shreve

Anita Shreve is a wonderful storyteller, and I’ve read all her novels, but this is my favorite. Twelve-year-old Nicky lives with her father at the edge of the forest in New Hampshire. Her mother has died, and her father has retreated into his grief. One cold December day they discover an abandoned baby in the woods, and rescue her. Their lives will never be the same again, and Nicky will learn more than she wanted to about the power of love, the hard work of redemption, and the all-too-human flaws called adults in charge of her world. A book that begs to be reread the moment you reach The End.

Merry by Susan Breen

Dickens meets Maeve Binchy with a Gift of the Magi twist in this charming story about a American woman named Merry who is determined to heal her far-flung fractured family on a once-in-a-lifetime Christmas vacation in London. She has to sell her cherished signed first edition of A Christmas Carol to finance the trip, but she’s convinced it’s worth with the sacrifice—but the ghost of Dickens disagrees, and haunts her every step. This is a feel-good Christmas novel heartwarming enough to move Scrooge himself. God bless us, every one….

In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming

I love every book in Julia’s fabulous Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mysteries, but this first award-winning volume in the series is my lodestar as a reader and a writer. With its irresistible premise—someone leaves a crying baby on the stairs of Clare’s church on a snowy night in December—and compelling character-driven action, December—it’s everything you want in a mystery. And when you read it, you know you’ve got nine more—and counting—books I the series to go. I’ve read this entire series more than once—and enjoy every book every time.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The classic that made Dickens very rich, not to mention famous forever. I reread it every year, and then I watch the great film The Man Who Invented Christmas, which all is about how Dickens wrote the classic that made him very rich and famous forever. All you need is some popcorn and hot chocolate….