The Broken Spine by Dorothy St James ~ Character Interview

Posted January 23, 2021 by karenbaron in Blitz, Blog Tour, Book Excerpt, Character Interview, Contest - Giveaway, Mystery, Series, Spotlight / 1 Comment

The Broken Spine

Series: A Beloved Bookroom Mystery #1

Author: Dorothy St. James

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Pages: 320

Release Date: January 19, 2021, by Berkley

Summary:

The first in an exciting new series featuring Trudell Becket, a spunky librarian who will stop at nothing to save her beloved books and catch a killer!

Trudell Becket, book-loving librarian, finds herself in a bind when the library where she works is turned into a state-of-the-art bookless library. In a rare move of rebellion, Trudell rescues hundreds of her library’s beloved books slated for the recycle center. She sets up a secret book room in the library’s basement and opens it to anyone who shares her love of the printed book.

When the town councilman, who was the vocal proponent of the library’s transformation into a “futuristic technological center,” is crushed under an overturned shelf of DVDs, Trudell becomes the police’s prime suspect for his murder. She was the only person in the library at the time of his death, or so the police believe. But that’s not true. For the past month, Trudell had been letting a few dozen residents into the building through the basement entrance so they could read and check out the printed books.

But if she tells the police about the backdoor patrons who were in the library at the time of the murder, she’d have to explain about the secret book room and risk losing the books. In order to protect herself from being arrested for a murder she didn’t commit, Trudell–with the help of a group of dedicated readers–decides to investigate. She quickly discovers you can’t always judge a book by its cover.

Interview with Trudell Becket

How did you and your author meet?

Hi, I’m Trudell Becket, assistant librarian for the Cypress public library. I met Dorothy at a coffee shop. She was tapping away on her computer while listening in on others’ conversations, which I don’t think is polite. [Author’s Note: In my defense, it’s nearly impossible to not listen in on conversations at Starbucks. The tables are too close together to completely ignore what others around me are saying. And if snippets of those people’s lives happen to end up in my books, it’s entirely their own fault.]

Dorothy needed a librarian for the book she was writing, and I stepped out of the swirl of conversational dramas taking place at the coffee shop and jumped onto her peaceful blank page.

Why did this writer decide to feature you in a book?

She’s not listening, is she? No? Good. I’ll whisper this just in case—I believe she has a nasty mean streak. [Author’s Note: I do not.]

Anyhow, here I was on her nice, quiet blank page, enjoying myself, but Dorothy was determined to make a book out of it. She started crafting a lovely Southern town. It seemed like such a nice place. She put me in a historic library that looks like a cathedral. They used to build buildings like that back in the early twentieth century, even in rural areas of South Carolina. I thought I’d reached nirvana, until Dorothy started messing around with things. First, was the library’s modernization. A bookless library? Hah! She didn’t think I’d sit back and let her get away with that, did she? And then she had someone put a period at the end of the town manager’s existence (as they like to say in historical romances.) What was I to do? I couldn’t just sit around and let her get away with that. I had to act. So, I did.

Do you have any friends or family helping you out?

I have two girlfriends who I trust with my life.

Tori Green, the owner of Perks Coffee Shop, has been my best friend since kindergarten. She’s outgoing and fashionable and breezes through men like they are sweets in a box of chocolates. And she has always stood beside me and helped me get through any hardship.

Flossie Finnegan-Baker is nearly forty years my senior, but she’s perhaps the most fascinating woman in town. Despite being wheelchair bound, she’s a world-traveler and a bestselling author. She dresses in bright colors and always speaks her mind. I got to know her over the past several years, because she spends most of her days at the library doing research or writing her latest novel. Naturally, she was quick to step in and lend a helping hand when trouble came to our library.

Do you have a regular job and investigate on the side, or are you a full-time detective?

I’m a librarian. Helping patrons get what they need from the books within the collection is my passion. Finding patterns and order in a chaotic world is my superpower.

What is the funniest thing that happens to you or another character in this story?

[Author’s Note: This is a terribly serious book. There’s a murder, for goodness sake. There’s also a frank discussion about how much technology we should allow into our lives. No one in it acts funny.]

Is Dorothy gone? Good. Don’t listen to her. She’s been cranky all day. I think it’s because she can’t go to the coffee shop to write. The Broken Spine isn’t a serious mystery. It’s a fun book. I think the funniest thing that happened to me (which wasn’t all that funny at the time) was when a stray cat sneaked into library when I was breaking into the building through the back entrance. I had a devil of a time trying to catch that skinny scamp. I didn’t get my hands on him until two days later! Not wanting to have to explain how that darn cat had gotten into the library, I told the police that he was my cat, which was kind of unbelievable since he was growling and biting my arm at the time.

Have you solved other cases, or is this your first one?

This is my first mystery. And let me tell you—besides the danger part—we had fun! I’ve read mystery novels all my life. It was a dream come true to finally get a chance to become a young Miss Marple or an old Nancy Drew. Everyone in town used to think I was some shy, slightly stupid girl. They’re not thinking that anymore!

Do you have a gift or special talent?

Since I’m a librarian, I like to put things in their proper places. I have a gift for order. When something seems out of place, I see it. And I feel a tugging at my soul to go and put things back into place. I think that’s why I’m so good at solving mysteries. It’s not in my nature to walk by and ignore them.

Who is the most important individual in your life?

The most important person in my life would have to be my mother. Yes, Mama Eddie is headstrong. Yes, she often finds fault with my life choices and clothing choices. And yes, she frightens me. But she’s my mama, and I love her to pieces. I stand in awe of her ability to charm nearly everyone she meets. She’s survived a small-town divorce and has risen above it to be one of the most respected women in town. I’m proud to call her mine.

What is your ideal vacation?

I would love to travel. I’ve never been West of the Mississippi. I’ve never left the country. I’ve only left South Carolina a few times. That’s one reason why I love Flossie so much. She’s been everywhere. She has such exotic tales to tell.

My ideal vacation would be to jet off to the other side of the world and just get out on the street and experience…well, everything! Then, I’d have stories to tell as well.

If you could change anything about your life, what would it be?

I would fix my love life. I don’t think I’d like to have as much experience as my friend Tori. She’s been married four times. But I would like to have walked down the aisle at least once. I would like to find someone who likes me and understands and shares my love of books. Is that too much to ask? I hope not. Perhaps all y’all can write letters to Dorothy and get her to fix that about my life. Write tons of letters. Please?

Excerpt

No one in the moderately sized rural southern town of Cypress would ever suspect their stalwart assistant librarian of breaking into the library where she worked. Why would they? A bronze plaque hangs on my kitchen wall. It was personally presented to me by Mayor Goodvale. He declared me an asset to the town. I’d received the award because I always performed my job with the highest level of pride and professionalism. For the past thirteen years I put the town and library first, often to the detriment of my personal life.

An even bigger honor occurred a few years ago when Mrs. Lida Farnsworth, the town’s head librarian, whispered (she always whispered) while we busily returned books to their shelves: “Trudell Becket, I couldn’t be more pleased to be wrong about my first impression of you. I would have hired any other candidate for the position. But, alas, the only other person who’d applied was that drunkard Cooper Berry. I honestly didn’t think you had it in you, honey. But, bless your heart, you’ve become the model of a perfect librarian.”

And she was right. I was perfect. Until . . .

Well, let’s just say someone needed to do this.

As a general rule, librarians don’t speak in loud voices. Librarians don’t exceed the speed limit when driving to work. And librarians certainly don’t dress head-to-toe in black ninja-wear while attempting to pick the library’s backdoor lock.

Yet, librarians can always be counted on to get things done.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I muttered to a lanky brown cat with black tiger stripes. It had emerged from the darkened back alleyway to stand next to library’s cool pearly-pink granite wall and watch me. “Someone needs to protect those books before they all end up destroyed. They’re sending them to the landfill.” The small metal flashlight clenched between my teeth caused the words to come out garbled. Both of my hands were busy working the lock.

A textbook for locksmiths that I’d borrowed from the library’s reference section sat open to the page featuring a diagram of a lock. Since I didn’t own a lockpick kit—why would I?—I’d improvised with a few sturdy paperclips bent to resemble the tools depicted on the book’s previous page. Every little sound, every scrape and rumble in Cypress’s quaint downtown, boomed in my ears. I jumped at the soft cough of a car engine. And with that cat watching me, I felt an itchy need to scurry into the nearest mousehole to hide.

But I couldn’t run. I had to finish what I’d set my mind to finishing.

After what felt like a million thundering heartbeats while I fumbled with the paperclips, the lock clicked. The door opened. I rose on shaky legs, gathering up the reference book and the stack of flattened moving boxes I’d brought with me. My gaze darted to the darkest corners of the alleyway before I slipped inside.

Just as the door started to close, the cat that had been watching with such a judgmental glare shimmied between my legs and into the library before the heavy metal back door clanked closed.

“Hey!” I called in a harsh whisper because shouting in a library simply wasn’t done. Whispering seemed even more important in the middle of the night as I sneaked inside on my clandestine mission.

The brown cat ignored me. With a yeow loud enough to have me instinctively hissing, “Shhhh!” the little beast darted upstairs and disappeared into the shadows of the stacks.

“Tru, you’re in for it now,” I muttered before dropping the stack of boxes. I sprinted after that darn cat.

Mrs. Farnsworth would have a heart attack if she discovered a flea-bitten kitty wandering among her books in the morning. I needed to get him out. The head librarian was already on edge with having to deal with the changes coming to the library. If I didn’t know the tough older woman better, I would have suspected she was busy plotting a murder.

About the Author

Mystery author Dorothy St. James was born in New York but raised in South Carolina. She makes her home on an artsy island community in South Carolina with her husband, a crazy dog, and fluffy cat. Though writing has always been a passion for her, she pursued an undergraduate degree in Wildlife Biology and a graduate degree in Public Administration and Urban Planning. She put her educational experience to use, having worked in all branches and all levels of government including local, regional, state, and federal. She even spent time during college working for a non-profit environmental watchdog organization.

Switching from government service and community planning to fiction writing wasn’t as big of a change as some might think. Her government work was all about the stories of the people and the places where they live. As an urban planner, Dorothy loved telling the stories of the people she met. And from that, her desire to tell the tales that were so alive in her heart grew until she could not ignore it any longer. In 2001, she took a leap of faith and pursued her dream of writing fiction full-time.

* Dorothy St. James is the alter-ego of award-winning multi-published author, Dorothy McFalls. She enjoys writing in several different genres. Her works have been nominated for many awards including: Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, Reviewers International Organization Award, National Reader’s Choice Award, CataRomance Reviewers’ Choice Award, and The Romance Reviews Today Perfect 10! Award. Reviewers have called her work: “amazing”, “perfect”, “filled with emotion”, and “lined with danger.”