This week we have G.M. Malliet here! She won an Agatha award for her debut novel, Death of a Cozy Writer and was nominated for an Anthony and Macavity. Death of a Cozy Writer was also chosen by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Books of 2008.

On to the questions…

Dream vacation destination?

That tends to be the last place I’ve visited, which is nearly always somewhere in Europe. I really need to branch out more, but we’re planning on Tuscany for next year.

Current favorite song?

I wish I could say “Anything by Beethoven or Verdi” but my tastes are actually pretty low-brow (ABBA is secret vice, for example). If it wasn’t recorded in the 70s and 80s, I’ve probably never heard of it. I also love “Orinoco Flow” by Celtic Woman (“Let me sail, let me sail”) and I can actually recite most of the words, should there ever be a call for that.

Favorite Hitchcock movie?

Rear Window. It’s really a very touching movie in its way—I’m thinking of the scenes with the “spinster.” Also Strangers on a Train.

Least favorite thing to do?

Write. But it’s also my most favorite.

First job?

My first job was in high school organizing tee-off times at the local golf course. This is where I learned all golfers are crazy. They would take a 4 a.m. tee-off time if it were available, even if it meant playing in total darkness.

Favorite sandwich?

An Italian sub.

Older/younger/middle/only child?

Youngest.

Godiva or M&M’s?

Godiva. (Spend that money if you’ve got it: Life is too short.)

Early bird or night owl?

Hmm. Both. I frequently suffer from insomnia and so might be found up at all hours, which is why Stephen King’s book by that title is to me the scariest book ever written.

Do you have a nickname?

My husband calls me Fiona and I’ve long forgotten why. I call him Reginald.

Now that we’ve gotten to know you a little better, tell us about your book. What event or idea inspired the book?

I wanted to write the kind of book I love to read—traditional, British, humorous, nothing gory or violent. Robert Barnard, Agatha Christie, Caroline Graham, Martha Grimes, and P.D. James have been my favorites for many years.

What essential items/things/atmosphere do you have to have around you to write?

Absolute quiet is essential. No turmoil, no T.V. If there is music playing (in a coffee shop, for example) it needs to be unobtrusive, and without lyrics. That is usually not the case, and I’ve been driven out of Starbucks more than once by the music. At home, I have a photo on my desk of me with P.D. James that is a source of inspiration—it was taken at a St. Hilda’s College, Oxford, conference where she was the guest of honor. (If you are going to emulate someone, emulate only the very best.) Also a Christmas card of a “cozy cat” (he’s dressed in a little Santa Claus suit…this is very hard to describe) from a friend of mine who was an early supporter of my first book, Death of a Cozy Writer.

What kind of research did you have to do?

I don’t research so much as fact-check to make sure I don’t have something utterly wrong. But since I write books with U.K. settings, if I can’t research in person, I often call upon friends over there with specific questions about things. For my third book, Death at the Alma Mater, which has a college rowing theme, I was lucky enough to be able to call on Thomas Edwards and David Livingston, both Blue Boat veterans, for input. (The Blue Boats hold the super athletes competing in the annual Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge on the Thames.)

What’s your writing style? Outline or no outline?

Every book has been different in this regard, but I have never done more than a vague outline, and then generally when I’m already well into writing the book. You get too wedded to your original idea, otherwise, and sometimes that idea needs to be discarded.

What do you wish you’d known about either the craft of writing or the business of publishing when you first started writing?

I wish I’d known to just plunge into it, and not worry so much in advance about where I was headed with a piece of writing. The destination is irrelevant: Just trust in yourself and make a start.

What’s up next for you? What are you working on now?

Happily, I have a deal with Thomas Dunne Books/Minotaur for the first two books of a brand new literary mystery series. This series stars Max Tudor, a former MI5 agent turned Anglican priest, who seeks respite from his violent past in an idyllic village in Southern England called Nether Monkslip. His new-found peace is shattered when murder finds its way into the sleepy village.

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Thanks, G.M., and congratulations on the new series!