Following Susan Cox’s Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel award-winning debut, The Man on the Washing Machine, comes her next quirky, charming mystery featuring San Francisco shop owner Theo Bogart.
We chat to author Susan Cox about her new novel The Man In The Microwave Oven, book recommendations, the best writing advice she’s received, and more!
With the current state of the world, what are you doing to cope with the changes we’ve had to make with our day-to-day?
Honestly, in common with a lot of writers, my day-to-day life hasn’t changed all that much. I still spend several hours a day in front of my laptop, either writing or participating in social media discussions, I still drink a lot of tea and I still spend a fair amount of time talking to the cat. I won’t say I’ve been unaffected by the covid-19 restrictions, because I can definitely feel everyone’s rising anxiety level. I will say I’ve been lucky and hope to stay that way.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
I was born in England, and spent my childhood there, but I’ve been largely educated here in the U.S. I had a high school English teacher who encouraged me to write poetry and essays; I found I enjoyed it and I never stopped.
The Man In The Microwave Oven releases on November 3rd 2020 and it is the second novel in the Theo Bogart Mysteries series. If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Part traditional mystery, part spy novel. Okay, that’s six words, but they’re all really good words.
For those who haven’t read the first novel, The Man on the Washing Machine, what can readers expect to find within the series?
In The Man on the Washing Machine readers meet my heroine, Theo Bogart, and learn she’s living undercover in San Francisco. When she witnesses a murder, the investigation nearly exposes her secrets and the secrets of her friends and neighbours in their close-knit San Francisco neighbourhood. Readers will get to know Theo, her irascible grandfather, the young juvenile delinquent she befriends and the mysterious stranger who’s destined to pay a large role in her life. Oh, and the man on her washing machine plays his part, too.
Now for those who have, what’s to come in The Man In The Microwave Oven?
Theo learns she’s not the only member of her family with dangerous secrets, and her life is complicated by a lawyer, who turns up dead; a spy, lately in from the cold, and a priest with a broken heart. Theo has her own problems–for one thing she’s still struggling to keep her identity a secret from her friends—but when suspicion for a second death falls on her beloved grandfather she risks everything to try and clear him.
Did you face more challenges writing the sequel in comparison to the first?
The manuscript for The Man in the Microwave Oven was actually stolen and I had to recreate it from scratch, and that was very challenging!
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
The best? “Keep your pen moving.” I can’t even remember where I first heard this, but I interpret it to mean once you set a goal—whether a daily word count or a specified number of hours at your desk–keep writing until you get there.
The worst? Oddly enough, I don’t think I’ve ever received any bad advice about writing. I may have sometimes ignored good advice, but that’s on me!
What’s next for you?
I’m writing a third Theo Bogart mystery and at the moment I’m trying to decide between two suitably sinister appliances to build my plot around!
Lastly, are you currently reading anything and do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
I’m a big Peter Lovesey fan and I’m reading his latest, The Finisher. I’ve also recently enjoyed the books of McGarvey Black (The First Husband) and Caz Frear (Sweet Little Lies), and I recently re-discovered the mysteries of Catherine Aird. Her Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan is featured in more than twenty books, beginning with The Religious Body.
