Some stories hook you with a clever premise. Others keep you turning pages with voice, charm, and just the right amount of trouble. Tammy Barker’s Framed for Murder does all three.
In this AutoCrit Author Interview, we sit down with Tammy, one of the Grand Prize winners of the Novel90 Writing Challenge, to go behind the scenes of her delightfully twisty novel. Her novel follows Misty Walkinson, a high-society museum docent who secretly works as a cat burglar for the rich and powerful.
We talk about what inspired the story, how Tammy brought Misty to life, and why she believes writing a messy, complicated heroine is half the fun.
Come meet Tammy and get the inside scoop on Framed for Murder in this can’t-miss interview.
Tell us about your book? Can you share a synopsis?
Misty Walkinson is a high society Bostonian museum docent by day, and a cat burglar for the rich who want unattainable art by night. When she finds a dead body doing her side-gig, she has to convince a homicide detective she didn’t commit murder, while making sure the art theft cop doesn’t discover she’s a thief.
What inspired you to write this story?
This story started as a joke. I am in several cozy/traditional mystery writing/fan groups on Facebook (the main social media for these stories). Last August, all of the admins from one group went on their yearly hiatus for a week. When the cat is away, the mice will play, right? As a budding writer, I spent the week asking one question each day of what the mystery fans would like to read (or write) in a future book. I asked
- What kind of occupation would you give your amateur sleuth?
- Where would you pick for a setting?
- What is the name of the city, little town, country?
- Is it a real place or would you want to make one up?
- What time of year does the story take place in if that’s important (I.e. if the house painter in Mass, maybe tricky in the winter if the character is an outside painter?)
- Where did the victim die?
- What killed them?
- How is your amateur sleuth involved in this mess?
- What is the relationship between your sleuth and law enforcement?
- And while we are at it… Does your sleuth have a sidekick?
- What might be some motives for the murder?
After that week, I told some authors I know what I did. They really liked the idea I came up with, and one even said if I didn’t do it, he’d steal the idea from me.
What motivated you to enter the Novel90 Writing Challenge specifically?
I had been doing NaNoWriMo for almost 20 years. Some years I succeeded, some years I failed, because inevitably every November some personal issue happened, including the one year when my fiancé had heart surgery. NaNoWriMo is actually how I found out about AutoCrit.
I heard about your challenge and said hmmm, giving me a month to plan, a month to write, a month to revise, and then give it to beta readers the first week in January? That’s my kind of challenge. I am a planner after all.
And let’s not forget about the swag. I bought every piece of Team Planner swag you had to offer, and a couple of the general ones too. And when you came up with the “Old Guard” swag after the challenge was over I so purchased it, and even bought something for a Discord friend who did the challenge along side of me and finished too.
What role does community play in your writing/publishing process?
Community plays a huge part in my writing process. I use people to bounce ideas off. I am one who observes surroundings and am always picking up ideas or random snippets. I learn of new-to-me authors and am trying new genres. I learn things from other writers and published authors.
My most important community is my NaNo region. We have had a Discord channel for several years, and we chat, ask questions, help each other out with our expertise in certain subjects year-round. Although I am almost isolated, as I am one of two active mystery writers in a group of over 600 (about 200 of us are very active).
What was it about Novel 90 that helped you cross the finish line for this project?
For me? It is all about the deadline. I never finish anything unless I have a very specific deadline. So it was that “invisible ticking time-bomb” that helped me finish. Although it was hard to do.
I was supposed to have a two-week trial for work, leaving November 29th. Which meant I would have less than half my usual time to do the November writing because of prepping for the trial and exhibits every day. Then at 5PM on November 27th I get a phone call from the attorneys saying the trial has been delayed, and I would be traveling on January 3rd instead. So now, my editing time was shortened, because I had to spend December re-prepping for the trial.
If it hadn’t been for the deadline, I would have given up.
Tell us about the moment when you learned you won the Grand Prize for Novel 90 Team Planner! What did that mean for you?
Let me first put egg on my face. I submitted my story on January 1st and promptly forgot about it. Seriously, I forgot I even entered.
I was shocked when I found out I made the short-list. I got the email the exact same time one of my Discord friends (Greta) made the announcement on our channel. One of the problems of a full-time job with personal internet, emails, etc., being forbidden.
Fortunately, the winner’s announcement was made after I got off work, so I was able to watch it. I wasn’t expecting to win, I just wanted to hear about some of the wonderful titles that made me want to learn more. When my name was announced, I literally pulled a Macauley Culkin from Home Alone when he put his father’s aftershave on his face. I really didn’t believe I’d won. I knew a mistake was made. With me competing against B Griffin Meiling’s Ash Menagerie and Denna Taylor’s Much Ado About Marriage? No way. I think it took about 3 days before it sunk in.
What did it mean to me? It’s all about the bragging rights. Money and prizes are nice. But for me, it’s all about the pride of accomplishing something and being able to say “I did it!”
Are you working on any new writing projects? Can you give us a sneak peek?
Hmm, that’s a loaded gun question.
I have a traditional murder mystery novel about a radio advice personality in Las Vegas, (Call in for Murder), with two publishing houses, waiting for an answer while I look for a new agent (I got dropped back in February). This is the start of a mystery series I am calling The Neon Desert Mysteries Series. The second in the series is with an editor right now, but I think it’s stalled.
Framed for Murder is still with beta readers. I will probably see if anyone on the Autocrit bubble finds it a good match to be my editor for it this summer or early fall. I am considering indie- or self-publishing it, probably next year, unless I get an agent who likes that story.
I have another novel called The Butler Didn’t Do It, also with beta readers, and will need to find an editing home as well. It’s about a butler who becomes an amateur sleuth when his clean household is soiled by a murder at an after the Oscars party, in Connecticut. The sidekick on this one is the local goofy bartender, who is the go-between for the sheriff, because a butler is not allowed to “gossip” about his principals.
And I do have one partially finished draft of a story called Murder and Mourning, about a female senior citizen who is a professional mourner in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I mean, come on, where else would you find retirees who play golf, are rich, and have nothing else to do other than murder their neighbors? I really need to re-read it and get this one finished.
Well, that sounds amazing. Where can we follow your work?
I am not really great with the social media at my age. But I am on Facebook under Tammy Barker in Northern Virginia, just started a writer’s Facebook page called Tammybarkerwriter, and I have a skeleton website tammybarkerwriter.com that my friend Greta is going to help me get up to speed and active, hopefully this summer.
For more of our conversation, be sure to check out the full interview on our YouTube channel. Registration is now open for Novel 90: Summer Edition and the 2nd Annual Novel 90 Writing Challenge! We hope to see you there!
