Author Spotlight: Kara Lacey
Author of the Camera Club Mystery Series
Caught on Camera is Kara Lacey’s debut cozy mystery. Image credit: Kara Lacey.
Kara Lacey is the author of the Camera Club Mystery Series. This cozy mystery series features an amateur sleuth who uses her keen photographer's eye and the help of her friends in the Stonebridge Keep It Snappy Camera Club to solve murder mysteries.
Cozy Crime Reads Interview with Kara Lacey
What attracted you to the cozy mystery genre?
My mom was always a big cozy mystery reader. Although I grew up with Agatha Christie novels lying around the house, it wasn’t until I was in my thirties that I asked her for some recommendations. After reading a few, I was hooked!
What are a few of the essential elements that make a cozy stand out to you as a reader?
The most important elements for me are the community and the way the protagonist interacts with it. I love colorful, but believable, characters. A well-drawn setting will always draw me in. If the writing makes me want to visit that community—to sit in the coffee shop, or bakery, or library, or bookstore—I’ll be hooked. I also love a protagonist who is relatable and makes mistakes. I want to care about them and what’s going on in their life.
Do you have a favorite amateur sleuth?
There are so many good ones. The ones who got me hooked were Goldy Bear (Diane Mott Davidson), Faith Fairchild (Katherine Hall Page), and Ruth Galloway (Elly Griffiths). Since then, I’ve read so many cozies, I couldn’t begin to choose a favorite.
What inspired your first cozy mystery?
My home in Vermont. There’s something about living here that makes me want to capture it in both photos and words. I knew right away that if I ever wrote a book, it would be a mystery, and it would be set in a fictionalized version of my village. I also knew my main character would be a female, middle-aged, and a photographer.
One afternoon, I was having a cup of tea with my mom, and out of the blue, I told her I was going to write a mystery. I think my revelation surprised me more than it surprised her. She asked me what it would be about, and I gave her the basics. Vermont. Photography. Middle-aged protagonist. Without batting an eye, she said, “I’d read that.” I was committed. I only needed to figure out how to make it happen.
How do you research and create the "cozy" elements in your books, like the settings and community?
That one is easy for me. Since I live where my books are set, my setting and community inspirations come from my daily walks, attending festivals, going to coffee shops, talking to friends… And, since I’m not originally from Vermont, I have a beta reader who is. She does an excellent job of pointing out anything I didn’t get quite right.
What is one key step in your writing process that helps you transform an idea into a finished book?
I probably have two.
My first is to plan it out. My ideas always start with a combination of my setting and my main character’s arc. What time of year is it? What’s going on in the community? What’s going on in my main character’s life? Why would someone be murdered? I like to have an idea of where the story is heading, so I’ll attempt to plot it out.
But—as I’m drafting, things will change. Often, the changes will affect something I’ve already written. Rather than go back to make changes while drafting (because I might need to change it all over again), my second key step is to keep short, easily reviewable scene summaries, as well as a running list of things I know I’ll need to pay attention to while revising.
Once my messy first draft is on the page, I can review both my notes and my scene summaries to determine where changes need to be made. Nothing is sacred—I revise heavily.
What advice would you give aspiring cozy mystery authors who want to start writing their first novel?
Read lots of cozies. Read lots of craft books. Read more widely. Basically, read, read, read. What type of character or setting resonates with you? The cozy genre has grown so much over the last few years. Don’t worry too much about hard and fast rules.
Jump right in. Put your own spin on it. And most of all, have fun!
How can readers connect with you online?
Website: https://karalaceyauthor.com
Substack: https://karalacey.substack.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/karalaceyauthor
Facebook: https://facebook.com/karalaceyauthor
Caught on Camera
Caught on Camera is the first book in the Camera Club Mystery Series by Kara Lacey.
Shortly after moving home to Stonebridge, Vermont and the serenity of the Green Mountains, Bobbie Brooks finds something not so serene: a member of her camera club dead beneath the village's idyllic covered bridge.
Bobbie is determined to uncover the truth about what really happened. She starts sleuthing, and with her keen eye and the help of her camera club, she uncovers shocking secrets, blackmail, and multiple motives for murder.
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