Bookpleasures.com welcomes as our guest, Amy S. Peele author of Cut and her most recentnovel, Match: A Medical Murder Mystery,

Good day Amy and thanksfor taking part in our interview.

Norm:  Please tellour readers a little bit about your personal and professionalbackground.

Amy: Thanks for having meNorm. I’m the fifth of six children born and raised by a singlemother in Chicago area.

I became a nurse in 1974and fell in love working at academic medical center's – started mytransplant career at University of Chicago and ended it in 2014 atUniversity of California – San Francisco. I love to swim –practice chair and laughter yoga and mediate.

Humour and comedy areimportant to me – I believe having a sense of humour is anessential life skill to survive in this world.

To that end I went toSecond City’s Players workshop and studied Improv and graduated in1985.

My 35-year career inTransplantation was literally life and death so having some levityafter work was important to me. 

I’ve been married toMark Schatz for 34 years, met him through his mother who was atransplant colleague. We have two children – Gracie - 33 who livesin Eugene where she operates a cooking school – is a butcher, chefand farmer. Bennett is 30 and is a sound engineer at Dolby in SanFrancisco. Both are characters in their own right.  

Norm: Why do you write?Do you have a theme, message, or goal for your books? As a follow up,why did you choose to write mystery novels?

Amy: I have a very activeimagination and its fun creating characters and scenes on the pageand see how folks react to them. Writing is hard and I think it’sgood to do something that challenges your brain.

My Transplant mysterieshave been referred to as Mystery’s with a message and a side ofhumour.

Since I worked inTransplant for so long I always inform the readers about how tobecome a donor. Readers and reviewers have expressed that they got alook behind the curtain of the real world of transplant. I decided towrite mystery’s because I like to read them and figure out who didit and why? I also like to kill the people I didn’t like at workand use their organs for transplant – it’s very cathartic and Idon’t want to waste a kill. 

Norm: What did you findmost useful in learning to write? What was least useful or mostdestructive? 

Amy: Writing is a verysolo act. I’ve been part of a writing tribe with three other womenfor 21 years and I have found that to be very useful and supportive.

I’ve taken writingclasses at our local community college with a supportive kind teacherwho always made me want to write more. I continue to take classes onplot, scenes, and point-of-view. What wasn’t helpful were veryharsh comments while I was working on projects.

I’d welcome constructivefeedback. I also attended many Mystery writing conferences at ourlocal independent book store – Book Passage and the instructorswere so generous and kind. 

Norm: Do you write moreby logic or intuition, or some combination of the two? Pleasesummarize your writing process.

Amy: I start withscaffolding my story identifying which characters point-of-view I’llbe in and write the action that will take place.

It’s short but it’shelpful to review as begin to write my story. Many times, thecharacters take me to places where I hadn’t put in the scaffoldingand that’s where the fun begins. 

Norm: What helps youfocus when you write and do you find it easy reading back your ownwork?

Amy: What helps me focusis a deadline. Once I turn off all the electronics and start thewriting everything else fades away and I am in the story with thecharacters.

I also make a story boardwith photos of characters as if they were going to be in the movie.

I’m a visual learner andwriter so when I’m in my writing alone in my room I’ll sometimeslook over at the photos and ask the character what they would do –I know it may sound crazy but it’s fun. I do read some of my storyout loud to make sure the dialogue sounds authentic.

Norm: Do you thinkabout your reading public when you write? Do you imagine a specificreader when you write?

Amy: I don’t reallythink about my readers. I focus on the story and characters who arefun and a little complicated. I’ve gotten notes from my readerstelling me they want to hang out with Sarah and Jackie. 

Norm: How did youbecome involved with the subject or theme of Match: A MedicalMurder Mystery?

Amy: Transplant is in myDNA – I had such an amazing 35 year career which I was passionateabout that it’s an intense back drop for my characters. Initially Ididn’t want to write about transplant but as you know – they saywrite what you know. 

Norm: How did you goabout creating the character of Sarah, Jackie and Laura? Are theybased on anyone you know?

Amy: Love this question!One of my favorite movies is THE HEAT with Melissa McCarthyand Sandra Bullock.

When I started writing myfirst mystery CUT – I cast Melissa McCarthy as Jackie Larsen –Sarah Golden is a culmination of many of my nursing school friends &colleagues. Laura, Jackie’s wife, who works as the AssistantMedical Examiner in San Francisco is fashioned after a character fromSex and the City. 

Norm:  Does theline between truth and fiction sometimes become blurred for you?

Amy: The transplantdetails in my book are based on truth and the characters are a blendof real people I worked with and then I add dashes of fiction intheir personality’s and change their physical details.

Then there’s characterslike Biker Bob and Officer Handsome who showed up out of nowhere andwouldn’t leave.

Norm: What purpose doyou believe your story serves and what matters to you about thestory?

Amy: My story’s raiseawareness of all the folks waiting for an organ transplant and ifthey don’t get the call for an organ will die on the wait list orhave to stay on dialysis.

Awareness of thegenerosity of donor families who make the hardest decision rightafter they learned their loved one was declared brain dead. Lastly, Idedicate my books to these folks and their caregivers.

Norm: Did you know theend of your book at the beginning?

Amy: I did not know theend of the book at the beginning which was an adventure. The endingrevealed itself as I was actively writing. 

Norm: Where can ourreaders find out more about you and Match: A Medical Murder Mystery?

Amy: My WEBSITE  has more about me and my books. I always welcomecontact from curious readers.

Norm: What do yourplans for future projects include?  

Amy: My third book in theseries – working title TOLERANCE is scheduled to come out inFall 2022. I’m also writing a romantic comedy which has really beenfun – much lighter story line & silly characters that takesplace in Chicago.

Norm: As this interviewcomes to an end, if you could change one thing about the world whatwould it be? How would it change you?

Amy: That everyone woulddeclare their desires regarding organ and tissue donation so thatwhen their loved ones were approached they would know the answer. Inmy books and on my website, I have links so folks can sign up to be adonor if that’s their wish. 

Norm: Thanks once againand good luck with all of your future endeavours

Follow Here To Read Norm's Review of Match: A Medical Murder Mystery