Author Spotlight: Lacey Moone

Lacey Moone is the author of Voted Most Likely to Murder, a mystery novel about a high school reunion that comes to an abrupt end when someone finds the dead body of the class jock. The story’s protagonist is Belinda Bishop, a single, unemployed journalist. When she’s not working at her parents' seaside cottage and RV park in Nova Scotia and dreading her upcoming high school reunion, Belinda is thinking about the killer story she needs to get her career and her life back on track.

Cozy Crime Reads Interview with Lacey Moone

What attracted you to the cozy mystery genre?

AI love cozy mysteries, they are my favorite genre to read and watch. I love the themes of community and chosen family, and the idea that anyone, regardless of background or education, can help bring justice to those wronged and make a difference.

What are a few of the essential elements that make a cozy stand out to you as a reader?

New and interesting whimsical settings, quirky characters, and quick-witted banter. I love reading about amateur sleuths with uncommon professions/backgrounds who apply their specialized skills to murder investigations.

Do you have a favorite amateur sleuth?

I have way too many to pick just one, but these are my top five favorites (in no particular order):

• Beth and Seth Lloyd (Food Truck mysteries by Carmela Dutra)

• Bippity, Boppity and Boop (The Black Cat Detectives by Kit Gray)

• Lana Lee (The Noodle Shop mysteries by Vivien Chien)

• Erica Bloom (Otter Lake mysteries by Auralee Wallace)

• Delilah O’Leary (Deep Dish mysteries by Mindy Quigley)

What inspired your first cozy mystery?

I’d had the character of Belinda Bishop, a messy over-zealous woman with lots of intuition but zero ability to read a room, kicking around in my head for a couple of years, but I didn’t know what to do with her. Then one day, I was talking to my husband about wanting to read more mysteries set in Nova Scotia (I’ve always thought of the Maritime provinces as the Cotswolds of Canada lol), and he suggested I write one. Everything snapped into place in that moment, and I knew exactly where Belinda belonged.

How do you research and create the "cozy" elements in your books, like the settings and community?

My fictional village, Little Blue Harbour, is loosely inspired my hometown, so I drew a lot of inspiration from my own experiences growing up there. I also come from a very sarcastic, funny family so you can blame them for my sense humor. :)

What is one key step in your writing process that helps you transform an idea into a finished book?

Chapter outlines, especially when writing mysteries. I have a bad habit of becoming too focused on the jokes and one-liners than the plot, so I try to think of each chapter as a television episode where one new clue or revelation needs to happen.

What advice would you give aspiring cozy mystery authors who want to start writing their first novel?

Write what you love to read because between edits and rewrites, you’re going to be reading it a lot. By the final draft of Voted Most Likely to Murder, I was pretty sure I could quote the entire thing from memory!

Where can readers connect with you online?

You can also find me on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Blue Sky, and X. For more news and other author events, subscribe to my quarterly newsletter, the Foghorn!