Cans of Cola Just Don’t Cry follows a writer living in the Florida Keys who is researching a cold case from her childhood when she discovers a baby chimpanzee locked in a crate on her dock. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The setting had to be somewhere on the water, a place where a boat could drop off a delivery, so I chose the Florida Keys, which are beautiful. The main character has just bought a house that was idle for several years. She doesn’t know her dock has been used as a drop-off point for animal traffickers. Ha, surprise, surprise!

I enjoyed the depth of the main character, Nola. What was your process to bring that character to life?

That was easy. Nola is a lot like me. She’s intrigued by a cold case from her past, where she witnessed some very suspicious behavior from one of her neighbors. He was in it up to his neck. I once saw some very unusual activities, possibly criminal, though probably not, taking place as I rode past the home of one of my family’s acquaintances, so I know what it’s like to have a strange situation kind of take hold of you and not really let you go. It’s always fun to wonder just what the heck was going on there!

I found the title of this book interesting and not at all what I was expecting for a cozy mystery. How did you decide on the title of this novel?

The title just came to me one day after I saw a documentary on how animal traffickers smuggle these poor baby chimpanzees in crates. It showed this tiny, tiny creature, crawling around and making little “eek eek” noises like it was crying or whimpering. I thought, what if the box with the chimp is left in the wrong place, for the wrong person to find, and she hears it crying? That’s when it came to me: Cans of Cola Just Don’t Cry!

What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?

I’ve got two more books in the works at the moment, both cozy mysteries. Well, maybe one of them is a little less cozy than the other. One is set during World War II in my parents’ old hometown, Elizabeth, New Jersey. The other I actually just started writing just this afternoon. I’m not sure where I’ll set it yet, but it’s going to involve a murder at a wedding and a lot of wacky relatives.

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