Author Spotlight: Natalie Summers

Natalie Summers writes paranormal cozy mysteries. Her mystery series include the Spelltide Bay Magic Mysteries, the Witches of Pine Lake Paranormal Cozy Mysteries, and the Magic Bean Paranormal Cozy Mysteries.

Cozy Crime Reads Interview with Natalie Summers

What attracted you to the cozy mystery genre?

My friends actually! Uhh like a lot of authors I started in romance and I did that for a couple years and kind of burned out. I was full time at the time, and needed to find a replacement, and I had a couple friends who were doing really good in cozy mysteries at the time. I was like what the heck, let’s go read some. 50+ books in a few series later and I was HOOKED. I love me some found family, discovering magic, how that magic plays a role in the murder - yes yes yes. I love the practical main characters and the love interests and the nosy relatives. It’s just so much fun. I also love the flexibility and how you can push things a little bit. So much fun.

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

They have to have reasons for what they do. And this is something I try to make clear in my own books, too. I really like the community aspect, whether it’s a found family or a biological family (or like mine, where they’re a mix of both). Can’t go wrong with animals, either! The other thing is when the author takes all the side things going on and ties them into the mystery somehow. I love when you hit that end point and everything twines together and you’re like ‘oh THAT’S what happened’.

Do you have a favorite amateur sleuth?

I dunno if I’d say ‘favorite’ but the ones that are most memorable to me are Julia from the Peridale Cafe Cozies, the first cozy series I read when researching the genre, and then Poet, from Amanda M. Lee’s Mystic Caravan series. That and her Moonstone Bay series are my paranormal cozy comfort reads!

What inspired your first cozy mystery?

I was living in Arizona at the time and hadn’t seen a cozy set there (there’s some now!) and I was like, you know what, I wanna do one. And with the monsoons in Arizona comes crazy weather and I’d read a book series featuring a ‘weather witch’ when I was a kid. I was like, you know what, that sounds cool as heck. It took a bunch of iterations (I still have the sketchbook with all of my notes) but eventually Amalie was born.

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

So most of my ideas are born from the sleuth and then I sort of develop the world around her. Like my current series, I’ve long been fascinated with the plight of the Southern Resident Killer Whales up in the San Juan Islands. I grew up in Washington state and got to go up to Friday Harbor around my sixteenth birthday and see them. 10/10 one of my favorite memories. I’ve also come across the concept of akhluts, an Inuit legend that involves orcas that turn into whales. Bam. These whales are endangered because they’re actually mythical shape-shifters. Okay, now I need a main character that interacts with them. I made her part undine. Now she needs a family (found or otherwise), she needs a mentor, she needs her animal sidekick, etc. For the actual location, it’s usually based on a fictional version of a real place, sometimes with maps, sometimes from mental memory. I might have spent a lot of time looking through tour pamphlets, haha! But yeah. Everything usually starts with that one seed, whether it’s a main character (I have a B&B in mind with a specific concept for my next series, for example), a location, or what, and I build around that. My goal is that everything ties together and just, well, feels cozy.

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

Oh god what a question. Okay so I have a really finicky writing process and I’ve TRIED to find better ways so many times but my brain says nah we like this bajillion-step process instead. Probably the most critical step is when I take the army of notes in this sketchbook and put them on these color-coded dry-erase index cards I have, and then put those cards in what I hope is story order. It’s the hardest step, the longest step, and often I have to go back and forth a few times, but here’s really where I see the ‘big picture’, how the story works, etc.

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

Read! Read read read. It gives you a good sense of the genre, it gives you a good sense of the boundaries, what readers like, etc. It also depends if you’re writing for yourself or wanting to make a living. But either way, reading will rarely steer you wrong. I also really recommend finding a community, whether it’s a good author discord or just other like-minded people you can chat about writing with. You got this! It’s hard, but it’s worth it!

How can readers connect with you online?

You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and TikTok! I’m /nataliesummersbooks on all of those, I think. Oh, and I have a newsletter that gets sneak peeks and bonus opportunities like a new prequel, beta reading opportunities, and ARC stuff! You can sign up for that at nataliesummers.com!