It’s been a while, guys– but I’m back with this month’s Author of the Month interview! This month’s author is Julie Eberhart Painter, the multi-talented, genre-spanning author of such cozy mysteries as “Kill Fee,” thrillers like “Mortal Coil,” and 20th century historical romances as “Tangled Web.” She’s here today to talk with us about her latest novels– as well as mynah birds, “Prime Suspect,” Casey Anthony, and how her own scandalous and mysterious family background informed her own bestselling books.

# # #

Hi Julie! Where are you from? What’s your background? What led you to become a writer?

As an adopted person, my story is a mixed blessing, my life is still a mystery. I look to my middle aged children for the answers to my background now. I was born in Wilkes-Barre, PA. After three months of foster care, I was sent to Germantown in Philadelphia and adopted at nine months of age by some very creative people who’d been married 14 years. Which means that most of my parents’ contemporaries were old enough to be my grandparents. My adoptive grandmother was born in 1876 and lived to be 105. She had a big influence on my interests.

What are some of the jobs you’ve worked? Did they inspire you in any particular way?

I was trained as a musical comedy performer, and more practically as an Interior Designer. I didn’t enjoy that career, but it came in handy later when we relocated 17 times and had to redo our homes.

While I was in college, I worked at Fordhook Farms at the Burpee Seed trials in Doylestown, 38 miles northeast of Philadelphia. The “field hands” those two summers were all college students. We were brown, happy, untiring and compatible, yelling word games from field to field while we pollinated and emasculated tomatoes. This was the time that the Big Boy tomato seeds were developed. Until this summer of 2011, that was the hottest, driest summer in PA history. I learned a lot about working with people. We had a ball.

I’ve also been a duplicate bridge director like Penny in “Kill Fee” and worked with the elderly in nursing homes and later with a hospice in bereavement groups.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

For consistent literary skill: Joan Didion; Annie Proulx; Anne Tyler; Pat Conroy; Greg Isles and Dean Koontz. For story Greg Isles; Harlan Coben, Anita Shreve; Anne Rivers Siddons; and John Grisham; Scott Turow; and James A. Michener. Some of those folks cross over depending on their mood while they were writing. Anita Shreve can be quite literary upon occasion, especially when describing water.

What drew you to writing mysteries/thrillers? Did TV shows or movies have anything to do with it?

Although I watch forensic mysteries and police procedurals on TV, they are the entertainment, not the motivators.

As an adoptee, my life is a mystery. I look to my middle aged children for the answers to my background now. There is suspense in all genres. Taking it to the next level turns it into a mystery. I’ve also written a few family suspense stories where murder is not the issue, although it can be a big temptation. “Tangled Web” is one of those stories.

What do you think of many of the police procedurals on the air today (i.e. “CSI,” “Prime Suspect,” and “Law & Order: SVU”)? Do you think the writing and acting is better or worse than the shows you grew up with?

I grew up with radio: “Mr. Keen,” “Tracer of Lost Persons” and “Boston Blackie,” later on TV. The writing on those shows was terrible—very unrealistic dialogue. But they were escapes from our humdrum, safe lives after the War and before TV. The acting has evolved with a less intense presentation style.

I don’t like “Prime Suspect.” I like most of the others. They are all well written. My objection to PS is the overdeveloped attitude. I prefer a Cary Wells type on “Unforgettable” to the hatted star of PS. Women with deadly attitudes are not my style. I adore the little old lady on “NCIS: Los Angeles.” If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t watch that show. Women should be strong and capable, but not confrontational physically. As a tall woman, just standing up is enough to cool the jets of those who would give me trouble. Being unrelenting without being offensive works better than putting GI Jane in the workplace.

Do you ever read true crime? You mentioned Casey Anthony in “Kill Fee.” What are your thoughts on that case?

I don’t enjoy true crime. Briefly, I think Casey is a sociopath, created by her obsessive mother and her brutal but charming father the cop. She was a victim—still no excuse for what took place. The prosecution’s rush to judgment with only circumstantial evidence is why the conviction was lost. Casey’s lawyer bumbled his way though the case that the prosecution fumbled right into his hands.

Do you admire or dislike Nancy Grace?

Nancy Grace annoys and disgusts me. I can’t believe she can keep a job. However, her determination and lack of false pride on “Dancing with the Stars” showed a different side of her. I gained some respect, but I’d never watch her tabloid delivery of the “news.”

One of the most interesting things about “Kill Fee” is the huge cast of characters, from kooky environmentalists, peppery senior citizens to swanky, swing-dancing lawyers. What inspired such a colorful cast?

A colorful past. One of my many career possibilities was show business. I studied ballet for eight years and worked for Paul Whiteman as a teen when he had his hit TV variety show for teens. (For you younger folks, Paul Whiteman was THE big band leader of the 20s and 30s who commissioned George Gershwin to write “Rhapsody in Blue.”) His doorbell in Rosemont, NJ played the first five notes of that “Concerto.”

With older parents, married in 1923, I grew up with their culture instead of my own. I am the anachronism in the room. As to the many characters, having moved around the country and through the world of duplicate bridge, I have met these folks in various forms. It wasn’t hard to recreate them and add a few embellishments.

You seem to have a special love for the 1930s and 40s– you have a romance, “Tangled Web,” set among the Pennsylvania Welsh mining community during that period. What draws you to this time period?

In “Tangled Web,” I am Jenny, the adopted child. I grew up in the house described during that exact era. Writing about it from the unwed mother’s point of view was a gift from the muse. At age 60, I decided to search for my birth family’s history. My mother’s death could not be proven, so I was given the non-identifying information that’s in the book. I adjusted some description. I was told by the social worker who made the arrangements for me to have my information that my mother, whose real name I’m not supposed to know, was raped on the way to a party. I couldn’t bring myself to write that. I also learned that she was engaged to a prominent politician who was not the father of her child, me. She went to the home for unwed mothers in Wilkes-Barre. The scandal about the home that’s mentioned in the book is accurate according to the historian at the Times-Leader newspaper in Wilkes-Barre.

Do you ever read historical mysteries? Would you consider writing one?

I wouldn’t write one, but I have read several. My first one was “Woman in White” by Wilkie Collins, a classic.

What books are you working on right now? What are your future projects?

Having lived in the south for 30 years, I’m tweaking a book that shows the differences between the two cultures, north and south. By mixing the cultures, I can use the characters to point out interesting foibles of each without being insulting to either. But the story is king. This is the first time I have featured a male protagonist. I was inspired by the male nurse who saved my life a year and a half ago. There was a recruitment ad on TV asking, “Are you man enough to be a nurse?” This fellow was, and he had such an interesting life story—writers are always interviewers. I wanted to rewrite his story making him a South Georgia boy, the hero of his own life. It’s a realistic, logical story, with lots of events that shape him, his daughter, and the love of his life, a Yankee pathologist with a very different family background.

I also blog on guest sites such as MFRW (Marketing for Romance Writers), and www.thewritersvineyard.com. I write short stories for online magazines. I have one coming out this month in COCKTAILS Magazine. My flash fiction appears on Bewildering Stories. I’m a reviewer for an online review site.

Do you own a mynah bird?

You had to ask! No. The idea came to me from two key events in my life. First: I had three Godparents, spinsters who had an attic full of talking birds. Sundays after church and brunch with them, I was allowed to roam the house. I found the birds in cages in the attic and talked to them. It was a scene out of “Great Expectations.”

The second encounter with talking birds happened in New Jersey while taking riding lessons. The “Lady” of the house had a verbose green parrot. She’d been married three times. The parrot, like Bilgewater the foul-mouthed fowl, was always a husband behind. Yelling out: “Hello Beety, and Mr. CLARK,” her second husband’s name. Green parrots are not know for a large vocabulary, so rather than use a grey parrot who is, but doesn’t look good on a book cover, I researched talking birds. The Indian Hill Mynah bird is known for swearing, mimicking humans and using barroom conversation. Bilgie got the part!

Share on Facebook