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Debbie De Louise is a reference librarian at a public library. She’s the author of seven novels including the four books of her Cobble Cove cozy mystery series. Her latest release, Sea Scope, is a psychological mystery. She lives on Long Island with her husband, daughter, and three cats.  Today Debbie has stopped by with a character from her book Sea Scope to share a few insights into the book and the characters within.

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Debbie: Hi, Julie. Welcome to Cynthia Morgan’s blog. Please tell the readers a little about yourself and your role in my book, Sea Scope.

Julie: My pleasure, Debbie. As you know, I’m not the main character of the book. That honor belongs to my niece Sarah Collins. However, I play a large role in the story. After all, most of the action takes place at my home, Sea Scope, that is also an inn. I’m a portrait artist as well as an innkeeper. That’s where Sarah gets her artistic talent from, although she illustrates children’s books instead of penning portraits.

Debbie: That’s very interesting, but isn’t it also true that you’ve had many lovers but have never married?

Julie: That’s correct. My longest relationship was with Bart Donovan. He fancied I was in love with him. I think he was on the verge of proposing when I broke it off.

Debbie: And why exactly was that? Did it have anything to do with Sheriff Donald Marshall?

Julie: You might say that. Of all the men I’ve known, Donald was the one who came closest to winning my heart. In fact, he still may, as we’ve been reunited. I met him during the investigation into the murder at my inn twenty years ago.

Debbie: How awful! Who was murdered and how?

Julie: I can’t talk too much about it because I know your readers don’t like spoilers, but the victim was a young college student, Michael Gamboski, who was staying at the inn that summer. Glen and Sarah found his body by the nearby lighthouse. His death was termed suicide, but, after my niece returned to Sea Scope, strange things started happening that made us consider his death was murder.

Debbie: Please tell us about these strange happenings.

Julie: We began receiving messages written in crayon from my dead nephew, Sarah’s brother, Glen Brewster. Glen died two years ago in a motorcycle accident in California where he was a practicing psychologist. When Glen lived at the inn as a child, he liked to play a game that involved crayon clues.

Debbie: Boy, this sounds like an interesting story if I must say so myself. What about the rest of the family and those who lived at Sea Scope when Michael died?

Julie: I wish I could say nice things about the others, but I didn’t get along with everyone. Glen’s father, Martin, killed himself a year after they moved away from Sea Scope. I never liked Sarah’s mother, Jennifer, much. She drank a lot when she was at Sea Scope and hasn’t stopped. The people I liked best were Wanda and Wendy Wilson. Wanda was like a daughter to me more than a maid. Her daughter Wendy, was friends with Sarah and Glen. The only problem with Wanda was that she was flirtatious. She had Wendy out of wedlock. Russ Donovan, Bart’s son, also spent time at the inn. I think Sarah was attracted to him, but she married someone else after her family moved to New York from South Carolina.

What disturbs me about Derek is that he refuses medical treatment to help Sarah conceive when she desperately wants a baby.

Debbie: What a cast of characters. Is there anyone else in the book we should know about?

Julie: There is one other character. Her name is Carolyn Grant. She’s a children’s book writer and Sarah’s friend. She accompanies her to Sea Scope because Derek is teaching summer classes and can’t join Sarah.

Debbie: Would you have an excerpt to the book that you would like to share?

Julie: Yes. Here’s one that features me and my cat, Al.

As Al circled her legs emitting short cries that signaled his hunger, Julie checked for mail. There was one letter inside the box. It wasn’t in an envelope and bore no stamp. Someone had dropped it off. She figured it was an advertisement, but when she unfolded the paper, she saw that it was a note written in childish handwriting. Each letter had been marked with a different crayon.

“Do you really think you should reopen the inn? How many more deaths do you want on your head?”

Your nephew, Glen

She gasped. Al sensed her dismay and stopped crying, his body alert to danger; the fur on his back starting to rise.

Glen was dead, buried in the family cemetery nearly two years ago.

Debbie: Thank you so much for the great interview, Julie.

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Do you have an amazing character from your book you’d love to share with a broader audience?  Perhaps two characters interacting with each other or one interviewing the other.  Drop me a line via my contact info to learn more about authoring a guest post all about them! 🙂

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~Morgan~