The Snow Job (Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries) by Dianne Ascroft | Author Interview

Thanks for taking the time to share a bit about yourself with my readers and me!

Tell us a little about yourself.

Hello, everyone. I’m Dianne Ascroft. I grew up in Toronto, Canada and moved to Britain just over three decades ago. I’ve been gradually downsizing from city to town to countryside until I’m now settled on a farm in rural Northern Ireland with my husband and the wildlife that roam our fields. These include a herd of deer, a pheasant we call Freddie, and a pair of hares that frolic in front of our house. We used to share our space with an assortment of our own strong–willed animals, including two goats and two tortoiseshell cats, but all of them have passed on. I miss them, but I’m glad that our cats live on as the models for Lois’s pets in the Century Cottage Cozy mysteries.

My life is fairly quiet, and other than the odd day trip, I spend most of my time on our farm. I enjoy the outdoors so when the household chores are completed (my least favourite part of life) and I’m not writing, I go for long walks in the countryside. I also love to curl up in the evening (or any time, really) in front of the fire and read.

How long have you been writing?

Ever since I was a child, I’ve jotted down stories that came into my head, but I only started writing seriously about twenty years ago when I decided I needed a new hobby after I stopped playing the bagpipes.

Did you always want to be an author? What made you choose the cozy mystery genre?

I’ve always loved books and reading but it took many years before I considered writing my own stories. Once I decided to put pen to paper, I wrote Second World War fiction, set in Northern Ireland, for several years. Then about five years ago I wanted to have a change of pace. I had an idea for a mystery series and I knew a small town in Canada that would be the perfect setting for it. I think that part of the enjoyment of reading a cozy mystery is losing oneself in a pleasing setting. So, I fictionalized the small town that I knew and the first novel in the Century Cottage Cozy Mystery series evolved from there. I wanted to create a place that beckons readers to step in and stay a while, and characters that readers would remember. Cozy mysteries allow me to explore the characters and the place, as well as the mystery at the heart of the story. Writing stories set in my homeland Canada has also been a nostalgic journey for me and I enjoy every minute of it.

What are you reading now?

I always have a ‘stack’ of books waiting on my Kindle. I have varied reading tastes. I like to read a mix of cozy mystery and historical fiction, as well as the odd contemporary fiction in between. I even throw in a western romance now and then. I’ve just finished Taken from Dunhaven Castle (Cate Kensie Mysteries Book 7) by Nellie H Steele and I’m currently reading an historical fiction, Under the Blanket of War (The Man from MI5 Book 4) by Jana Petken.

Do you have a favorite place to write?

I do much of my writing at a desk in the corner of the spare bedroom in my house but my favourite place to write is at the dining room table, often with a cup of tea on the table beside me. My husband is next door in the living room so, if he misses me, he can pop his head through the doorway to reassure himself that I’m still there. There’s a small window on the wall opposite and a patio door beside me so the room is bright and cheery. But, since they look out onto the side lawn and the farmyard respectively, the view doesn’t distract me – unless, of course, a hare hops through the farmyard and stops to glance around, Freddie the pheasant pecks at the patio door to let us know he wants something to eat, or a cow escapes from a field and comes wandering over for a nosy at me through the patio door (all these things have really happened – some more often than others).

What’s on your desk (if you write at one!)?

My desk is a bit messy so you never know what you might find on it, but there’s usually my laptop, a desk lamp, a pen and a mouse mat that I designed (it’s a scene set in a fantasy library). I have a pile of papers to my right, which include the plot outline for the book I’m working on and other notes for my writing, and a dictionary and thesaurus in the top left corner. The latter two items are rather redundant as I almost always check words in an online dictionary and thesaurus, but I keep them there anyways. I also have a couple of coasters with pictures of cats and cows on them that I keep handy for the cups of tea I brew at regular intervals. Hanging on the wall beside the desk is a picture of a cat with the caption, ‘A Cat Makes a Purrrfect Friend’. It was given to my grandmother by a couple of my friends many years ago and it came to me after she passed on.

What is the first book you remember reading as a child? What was one of your favorite books you read as a child?

Dick and Jane grade school readers and Dr Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham stand out vividly in my mind from my earliest years. Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight was definitely one of my favourite childhood books.

Do you like audiobooks, physical books, or e-books better? Why?

I have a Kindle and, in recent years, I mostly read e-books because my husband says we don’t have room for any more bookcases. But I’ve always enjoyed reading physical books. I have to admit that I rarely listen to audiobooks. The car journeys I make aren’t frequent enough or long enough to spend much time with an audiobook. It would take me ages to finish a book and I wouldn’t like waiting to find out how the story ends.

If you had the opportunity to live anywhere in the world for a year while writing a book that took place in that same setting, where would you choose?

Through the years I’ve travelled in Canada and the USA, and I’ve been to quite a few places in Europe and Australia. There were many places that I really liked and would love to go back to, but as I get older, I sometimes miss where I originally came from. So, I think I would spend the year in Canada. I think that a yearning to experience Canada again is part of my original motivation for writing the Century Cottage Cozy mysteries. In my mind, I regularly get to go back to where I came from, and enjoy small town life in Ontario and its sense of community.

What or who has influenced you the most as a writer?

I think every book I read has an influence on my future writing and there’s loads of authors that I enjoy and learn from. But I really admire Diana Gabaldon’s storytelling skill and her ability to interweave stories that unfold over several books. I’m also inspired by Laura Bradford’s ability to write compelling mystery plots, and the way Leighann Dobbs weaves a believable magic world and engaging characters into her stories. They all write so well and I try to learn from what they do.

Do you have any author friends who support you while you’re writing? Do you belong to any writing groups?

I have friends in several writers’ groups locally and online, and I get lots of support from them. Fermanagh Writers, our local writers’ group, meets weekly and I try not to miss meetings. Listening to others’ work and sharing my own helps me hone my craft. I’m also a member of Sisters in Crime, and our SinC UK/EU group Once Upon A Crime is an active, encouraging bunch of women. We have online writing parties each week to spur on our writing. We also keep in touch via a WhatsApp group so if I have a question or want to run an idea by them, they are only a few taps away.

Finally, what are you working on now? Can you tell us a bit about it?

In December I released The Snow Job, Book 3 in the Century Cottage Cozy mystery series. It’s set in January 1984, and follows Thanksgiving and Theft (a novella) and The Heritage Heist (Book 2), both of which were set in the previous October, in the Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries series.

Would you like to know a bit about the story?

Winter is setting in and middle-aged widow Lois is getting ready for the local town’s biggest Scottish event, the annual Burns Night supper. When one of the committee members dies in suspicious circumstances, Lois is drawn into the hunt for his killer. Her friend Connie found the victim and Lois tried unsuccessfully to revive him. So, how can Lois refuse to help when her friend Marge decides to do some digging into what happened, even though she promised her partner Bruce that she would stay out of police matters?

It’s still early days since I released The Snow Job, but I’m already busy sketching the plots for Book 4, and also for a Christmas short story in the series for an anthology which will be released later this year. I’m excited about the ideas I have for both these stories.

Thank you again for taking the time to answer my questions!