All I Ever Wanted Was a Turret by Miranda James

JENN McKINLAY: I was fortunate enough to meet Dean (Miranda) James at my first book signing at Houston's renown Murder By The Book mystery bookstore back in 2010. We had an instant bond as we're both librarians and it's been a real joy to watch both of Dean's fabulous series, the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries and the Southern Ladies Mysteries, do so well in the world of traditional mysteries. It's my pleasure to invite him here today. Take it, Dean!

MIRANDA (DEAN) JAMES: Ever since I discovered Nancy Drew and immersed myself in her adventures, I have been fascinated by hidden rooms and secret passages. Ditto with old houses, especially multi-storied ones. When I was eighteen months old, my parents and I moved into a newly-constructed house, built by father’s cousin. Our house had only the one floor, alas, so I had to get my old-house fix through reading. I think this probably helps explain why I got hooked on romantic suspense novels when I was thirteen. Victoria Holt, Phyllis Whitney, and Barbara Michaels often had mysterious mansions full of secrets in their books, and I read blissfully through them all.

Later on I became fascinated with English history – all those kings and queens and castles. Those castles had towers and turrets and all manner of secret spaces with them. I also remember a Judy Bolton book with a turret, probably the first time I ever encountered the word. After that I desperately wanted a turret of my own. I’m not sure why the notion appealed to me so much, but I was never a terribly practical child.

Then of course there are the classic English mystery novels set in villages and mansions in the countryside. I discovered those around the time I went to college, and though there weren’t as many turrets or hidden rooms, there was enough aura of mystery to keep me intrigued.

I suppose it’s no wonder, then, that I have included old houses in a number of my books – particularly in the Southern Ladies series. The heroines, Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce Ducote, live in the ancestral antebellum home, Riverhill. They and their home first appeared in Out of Circulation, the fourth Cat in the Stacks book. When I put them into their own series, I set the book almost entirely at Riverhill. Subsequent books have also featured antebellum homes, and in the latest, Fixing to Die, the house is in Natchez, Mississippi. Natchez is a town with a fascinating history, and some say it is one of the most haunted towns in America (the other being Savannah, Georgia).

Old houses and spirits – an irresistible combination, at least to me – and that was the beginning of the story. Now, the spirits in this book are not the murderous kind you’ll find in other types of books. This is a cozy, after all, but not all spirits are malicious. I had great fun with this story, and I believe readers will be able to detect the influences of my early loves, like Nancy Drew and Barbara Michaels. I couldn’t put in a turret, though, because antebellum homes in the South don’t have them. The architectural style doesn’t permit.

So I’ll have to find my turret somewhere else.

Fixing to Die: Available Oct 3rd!!!

The New York Times bestselling author of the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries and Digging Up the Dirt returns with the latest Southern Ladies Mystery...

It’s autumn down south, and An'gel and Dickce Ducote are in Natchez, Mississippi, at the request of Mary Turner Catlin, the granddaughter of an old friend. Mary and her husband, Henry Howard, live in Cliffwood, one of the beautiful antebellum homes for which Natchez is famous.

Odd things have been happening in the house for years, and the French Room in particular has become the focal point for spooky sensations. The Ducotes suspect the ghostly goings-on are caused by the living, but when a relative of the Catlins is found dead in the room, An'gel and Dickce must sift through a haunted family history to catch a killer.

What about you, Readers? What's fascinating feature do you most long for in a house?