Interview with Joan Livingston
- authorvalpenny
- Sep 13
- 5 min read
It is a delight to have my friend Joan Livingston return to the blog to discuss her new book, Finding the Source. The series of Isabel Long mysteries is one that I have enjoyed from the very start and this new book is equally as good as all the others. Thank you for taking time to discuss your new novel with me, Joan.
Interview Here
1. What made you decide to write novels?
I was inspired by a childhood and teenage years steeped in imaginative play. I was a big reader of novels, so why not create my own?
2. What inspired you to write this genre?
After an author friend wrote a mystery, I was inspired to write one myself. That was Chasing the Case, which turned out to be the first in my Isabel Long Mystery Series. Obviously, I got hooked on the genre. I’ve always been a fan of reading and watching mysteries, especially those from the UK. As for writing, I enjoy the puzzle of creating my own — and in the case of my series — solving it along with Isabel Long. Frankly, I don’t know whodunnit until Isabel does. That certainly was true for Finding the Source, her eighth case.
3. Do you write any other genres?
Yes, I write literary fiction for adults and magical realism for young readers.
4. How do you get into the mindset of your characters to write?
Without sounding like a nut, I channel my characters. They live inside my head and become as real to me as the people I know. I thank my oh-so-many years of daydreaming as a young person for this ability.
5. What research did you have to do for this book?
This book is set in the fictional hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. Since I live in the real ones, I know my setting extremely well, especially since I once covered it as a journalist. But because the victim in Finding the Source is a book seller, so I had to do a little research about that business. By the way, the cover was inspired by the original one for The Great Gatsby, a clue in this case.
6. Where do you get your inspiration?
As a child I was big into imaginative play with my sisters. As an adult, I use that train of thought for creative writing. Actually, there is an interesting inspiration for Finding the Source. On the day of my mother’s funeral, I was approached by a man I didn’t know outside a library who told me his mother had been murdered a long time ago and her case was never solved. I borrowed that story although I make the character a homeless man who stops Isabel to tell her a similar story. That’s her next case.
7. There are several books in this series now, do you have more planned or what’s next in your writing career?
Finding the Source is number eight. I already have an idea for the next one. I honestly don’t know how many more I will write in the series, but in the last, Isabel will solve a mystery from her childhood. As for other books, I just completed The Unforgiving Town, a dark mystery that is not part of this series. It is a sequel to The Sacred Dog, but I wanted to use the characters and setting in a different genre. I have two more books in my Twin Jinn Series to complete. The series, for middle grade readers, features a family of genies living secretly, or so they hope, among humans. I also have a work in progress that I set aside to concentrate on The Unforgiving Town. And, as if that isn’t enough, I teaching myself how to write screenplays of my books. Who know what else will inspire me?
8. You keep a social media presence as well as writing books. From an author’s perspective, how does benefit both you and your readers?
Social media is a way to get the word out about my writing that doesn’t cost me anything but my time and energy. It’s also a way to engage with readers and other authors. My favorite these days is Substack.
9. What genres do you like to read and what you reading just now?
I like any book that makes me forget I am reading. I do prefer books that are character-driven. Right now, I am finishing Wally Lamb’s latest, The River is Waiting. I am eager to discover another.
10. What else should my readers know about your books and your writing career?
I always wanted to write fiction, but I encountered a block that lasted over twenty years, which coincided with my responsibilities as a parent. I broke that writer’s block when I became a freelance reporter for a newspaper. I wrote my first novel after I became a newspaper editor. That was in 2000. I kept writing, finishing one novel, then going onto the next. Finding the Source is the 17th book of mine published. I am a hybrid author, in that Bloodhound Books, based in the UK, publishes a few of my books, but I self-published the others after my previous publisher, darkstroke books, closed. When that happened, I taught myself how to format for paperback and Kindle; my artist son, Ezra, designs the covers, including the one for Finding the Source.
The Blurb
A homeless man. His murdered mother. A book could be the clue.
Isabel Long’s next case begins during a chance encounter with a homeless man, who says he was 12 when he found his mother murdered in their home.
Abby McKenzie was a well-liked seller of vintage books who owned a store in the hilltown of Dillard. That was 43 years ago and the case was never solved.
One obstacle is that several of the suspects are dead, including an avid book collector, a former town official who stalked her, and the man who last saw her alive. Another is that, once again, Isabel must deal with Dillard’s police chief, who ran interference in her other cases.
But that doesn’t deter Isabel nor her mother Maria, her partner in solving crime. She just needs to find the source who will unlock this case.
The Author
Joan Livingston is the author of novels for adult and young readers, including the Isabel Long Mystery Series, featuring a longtime journalist who becomes an amateur P.I. solving cold cases in rural New England. Finding the Source is the eighth book in the series.
Joan draws upon her own experience as a longtime journalist in Massachusetts and New Mexico to create Isabel Long, a sassy, savvy widow who uses the skills she acquired in the business to solve what appears to be impossible cases. She also relies on her deep knowledge of rural Western Massachusetts, where she lives, to create realistic characters and settings.
The Links
WEBSITE
SUBSTACK
GOODREADS
THREADS
X
BLUE SKY
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