Framed for Murder follows a cat burglar framed for murder who seeks help from an old acquaintance now running a B&B in a small mountain town. What inspired the setup of your story?

Two weird coincidences, actually. Poppy started out as a nameless character in the first book of the series, “The Starlight Mint Surprise Murder”. My editor said she’d like to see her in the next book and it was already in my head to do it, so it seemed like kismet.

Real life inspired the opening scene. My friend and I were staying at a nice hotel along the coast six or seven floors up, but the drop to the ground was a lot further because the resort was built on a hillside. In the middle of the night, a stranger parkoured across our balcony and just kept going. It was so bizarre I knew I had to use it in a book!

Mel and Poppy are old adversaries from Mel’s previous life as a police officer. What inspired the characters and their relationship?

I’ve always loved stories where enemies have to work together toward a goal and find out they’re not so different after all. From “Toy Story” to “Terminator 2” to “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “Good Omens”, it’s always such a fun dynamic when the two become friends. (Jack Sparrow and Crowley are part of the inspiration behind Poppy.) Or in the case of Les Mis (semi-spoiler alert if you’ve never seen Les Mis) finding common ground drives one of them to take drastic measures. For a while, Mel isn’t sure which way it’s going to go for her!

How did the mystery develop for this story? Did you plan it before writing, or did it develop organically?

One of the joys of being a mystery writer is that when real people piss you off, you get to kill them and not go to jail—LOL! So I knew who the victims were and how they were going to die before I started writing. I typically outline the story in broad strokes before I start, but it usually ends up taking on a life of its own about halfway through.

Where does the next book in the series take the characters?

It’s still a work in progress, but I believe Mel is going to drag Deputy Gregg Marks off the mountain down to her old turf in LA. They need to follow up on some clues to help Jackson out of a bind. Since Jackson and Gregg are rivals, I’m clearly obsessed with exploring enemies begrudgingly helping each other out!

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