Just as your books inspire authors, what authors have inspired you to write?
I have been an avid reader since I could read in First Grade. Reading all those Judy Bolton, Trixie Belden, and Nancy Drew books certainly inspired me to write mysteries. Over the years I've read many of the classics--Dostoyevsky, George Eliot, D. H. Lawrence, Kipling Camus, Hemmingway, Edith Wharton, and so many others too numerous to name. They all inspired me to write stories.
How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning? Do you have any name choosing resources you recommend?
The sound of a name is important to me, both the first and last name. And then, of course, I always check the meaning or derivation of my main characters' names. I love giving my protagonists interesting names along with nicknames. My newest sleuth is called Delia. Her mother, a Shakespeare lover, named her Cordelia.
What do you consider to be your best accomplishment?
Life-wise, I have to say my two sons; career-wise, it's having published as many books as I have.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I will be quite old in ten years and see myself retired.
What question do you wish that someone would ask about your book, but nobody has? Write it out here, then answer it.
How has being a high school Spanish teacher impacted your writing MURDER A LA CHRISTIE? I loved discussing and analyzing the books we read in my more advanced classes. This inspired me to have my characters discuss a few of Agatha Christie's books in MURDER A LA CHRISTIE. I linked these observations to what was going on in my characters' world.
How did you become involved with the subject or theme of your book?
I love Agatha Christie's books and the setting of so many of them--a small town where everyone knows everyone. Large manor houses. I liked the idea of people being brought together by a book club reading Christie novels while my characters are killed off like Christie's characters in AND THEN THERE WERE NONE.
What are some of the references that you used while researching this book?
I reread many of Dame Agatha's books in order to write MURDER A LA CHRISTIE.
What do you think most characterizes your writing?
My characters are three-dimensional and memorable.
Fun Links:
website: http://www.marilynlevinson.com where you can sign up for my newsletter
Amazon author page: https://amzn.to/3PrAtPM
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.levinson.10?ref=ts&fref=ts
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/161602.Marilyn_Levinson
X: https://twitter.com/MarilynLevinson
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/marilyn-levinson
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marilynlevinsonauthor/
What social networks and websites do you participate on?
I'm most active on Facebook because that's where most of my friends, fellow writers, and readers are. I love to do Author Takeovers for book-oriented Facebook groups the like Cozy Mystery Village and the Tattered Page Book Club
This or That
~ Tea or coffee? coffee
~ iOS or Android? iOS
~ Tattoos or Piercings? only pierced ears
~ Google or Bing? Google
~ Minecraft or Roblox? Minecraft
~ Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings? love both; Lord of the Rings, if forced to choose
~ eBay or Amazon? Amazon
~ PayPal or bank account? both
~ Grammys or Oscars? Oscars
~ Star Wars or Star Trek? Star Wars
~ Harry Potter or Hobbit? hobbit
~ Bond or Bourne? Bond
Book Blurb:
Professor Lexie Driscoll is conducting the first meeting of the Golden Age of Mystery Bookclub in her best friend’s swanky mansion when a friend is murdered. More members are knocked off as Lexie unravels secret after secret, leading her to believe she's living in Christie's novel, “And Then There Were None.”
Using Miss Marple’s knowledge of human nature and Hercule Poirot’s cunning, Lexie must save her club and reveal the killer.
Tropes: amateur sleuth, quirky characters, red herring, https://amzn.to/4b5TSP0 book club, reading group
Book Buy links:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4b5TSP0
retailers: https://books2read.com/u/3y6yWp
Author Bio
A former Spanish teacher, Marilyn Levinson writes mysteries, novels of suspense, and books for kids. Her books have received many accolades. As Allison Brook she writes the Haunted Library series. Death Overdue, the first in the series, was an Agatha nominee for Best Contemporary Novel in 2018. Booked on Murder, the eighth book in the series, will be published in August, 2024. Other mysteries include the Golden Age of Mystery Book Club series, the Twin Lakes series, and Giving Up the Ghost. Her suspense, Come Home to Death, was released in April, 2024, and her suspense, Dangerous Relations, will be republished in 2025.
Marilyn's juvenile novel, Rufus and Magic Run Amok, was an International Reading Association-Children's Book Council Children's Choice and has recently come out in a new edition. Rufus and the Witch's Drudge, the second book in the Rufus series, has been released this month. And Don't Bring Jeremy was a nominee for six state awards. Her YA horror, The Devil's Pawn, came out in a new edition in January, 2024.
Marilyn lives on Long Island, where many of her books take place. She loves traveling, reading, doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku, chatting on FaceTime with her grandkids and playing with her kittens, Romeo and Juliet.
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