A Conversation with Author Avery Daniels

It all began when a dying man with an arrow in his chest grabs her ankle — Arrowed: Resort to Murder 4 by @My_AveryDaniels
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What inspired the idea for your book?

I started with the idea of the murder weapon being an old bow and arrow and built the story around that.

If you were friends with a character in this book, what kinds of things would you do together?

Explore Old Towne Santa Fe, its restaurants and art galleries.

Do you have any quirky writing rituals?

I like to listen to music, in particular atmospheric music like a haunted mansion music for ambience when writing my tension filled scenes, or ambient coffee shop sounds. Once Covid is over, I’ll get to go to my fav coffee shop and write again. It is a little noisy since it is frequented by the local college students, but it has the best spicy hot chocolate – and wine (Hummus Pita is great too.)

What comes first for you — the plot or the characters?

Actually, neither. I start with the title (which is taken from the murder weapon: Iced was an ice sculpture, Nailed was a nail gun, Spiked was poison, Arrowed was a bow and arrow). Then it is an equal mix of plot and character as I determine the victim and the killer plus motive. Then I determine the resort, the suspects plus their motives and how they will deflect. Then more serious plotting with eight critical points in the story.

How do you interact with your readers?

I am pretty active on Goodreads with my friends and followers, and I have a newsletter that goes out one or two times a month. Once Covid is a memory, I look forward to doing some book signings and I hope to meet plenty of readers there as well.

If you knew you could not fail, what would you do?

Write a screenplay for a movie or a play.

What are you reading now?

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

What would the title of your autobiography be?

Lessons Learned

Describe yourself in as few words as possible.

Creative, introvert, complicated, earnest

If you had a secret room that opened by pulling a book on a shelf, what book would you choose?

Though the Looking Glass

It all began when a dying man with an arrow in his chest grabs her ankle.

During a heatwave at a Santa Fe resort, Julienne has the resort owner pressuring her to solve the murder. The victim is a high-profile businessman who made enemies rather than friends, leaving Julienne with a roster of suspects. She was supposed to be training the staff and spending quality time with Mason rather than investigating a murder. The heat turns up when an old girlfriend of Mason’s checks in and is determined to get back together.

Buy Links: Amazon

Avery Daniels was born and raised in Colorado, graduated from college with a degree in business administration and has worked in fortune 500 companies and Department of Defense her entire life. Her most eventful job was apartment management for 352 units. She still resides in Colorado with two brother black cats as her spirited companions. She volunteers for a cat shelter, enjoys scrapbooking and card making, photography, and painting in watercolor and acrylic. She inherited a love for reading from her mother and grandmother and grew up talking about books at the dinner table.

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