NANCY KAMP:  You have a number of popular mystery series going.  What made you chose an Apparition American, the ghost Bailey Ruth, as your newest sleuth in Ghost at Work?

CAROLYN HART:  Sheer fun.  I grew up loving the Topper books and movies.  I always wanted to write about a ghost and realized there were no current lighthearted ghost books.

NANCY KAMP:  Annie Laurance Darling of your Death on Demand series has a rich husband who adores her, an easy island lifestyle, pets, a bookstore that makes enough money to support an assistant, and she eats like a gourmet pig (she speaks to the inner eater of spoonfuls of chocolate syrup in us all).  Yet we still like her.  Is all that biking enough to keep off the weight, or does Annie have a few dieting tips you’d like to share?

CAROLYN HART:   Hey, this is fiction.  Of course, she eats whatever she wishes and never gains a pound.  Also, she and Max are forever young and vigorous on their sea island.

CAROLYN HART:  Broward’s Rock was inspired by the Hilton Head of the nineteen seventies.  I’m glad I used a fictional sea island.  I still love Hilton Head but two million visitors a year have created traffic jams and a huge amount of development.

NANCY KAMP:  Dead Days of Summer from the Death on Demand series was particularly well received.  What is your favorite book of those you’ve written and why?

CAROLYN HART:  Dead Days of Summer and Southern Ghost are my favorites in the Death on Demand series.  Death in Lovers' Lane is my favorite of the Henrie O series.  I am very excited about the second book in my ghost series, Merry, Merry Ghost.  A Christmas title, it will be published in October 2009.  Ghost at Work set the stage for an exciting tale of family grief and troubles during the season when families come together.  Letter From Home, my crime novel set in Oklahoma in the summer of 1944, will always be a favorite.  It was a departure for me and a great challenge to write.

NANCY KAMP:  Right after I read the wonderful Letter from Home, I read Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye.  I noticed a couple of editing errors (repeated words) in the first few pages of The Long Goodbye, but nothing like that distracted me in Letter from Home. As an editor, I see material that needs a major rewrite before publication is possible.  Any words of wisdom for would-be authors?

CAROLYN HART:  Hopefully, an author will have a friend or family member check a manuscript and the galleys.

NANCY KAMP:  Could /did a 13/14 year old work on a newspaper during WWII and inspire the character of Gretchen in Letter from Home?

CAROLYN HART:   I didn’t work on a small town newspaper at that time but was working on school newspapers.  I always planned to be a reporter and it was that love of journalism which is reflected in Gretchen.  Given the manpower shortages during the war and a small town newspaper, Gretchen could have had such a job.

NANCY KAMP:  I didn’t want Gretchen to go away.  You told me once you had no interest in a sequel.  Is there anything that could change your mind?

CAROLYN HART:   I never say never, but I feel that I told the portion of Gretchen’s story that I knew.  Besides, I am currently committed to write one book in the Death on Demand series and one book in the Bailey Ruth [Ghost at Work] series every year and that is all I can manage.

NANCY KAMP:  People read for all kinds of reasons, but they simply enjoy your books.  What kind of satisfaction does bringing pleasure to so many give you?

CAROLYN HART:   Great delight and thankfulness.  I feel blessed to be able to write the books and I am grateful to the readers who make it possible for me to write.

NANCY KAMP:  Any reader knows you either love mysteries or have the greatest research staff in the world.  How did you hit on the device of referring to other writers and their characters throughout your books?

CAROLYN HART:  I love mysteries.  I have read them since I began with my first Nancy Drew. It is my privilege and pleasure to share a lifetime of mysteries with readers.

NANCY KAMP:  Your books are available through Amazon’s Kindle program.  Do you foresee the day when books on paper will be hard to obtain?  Is this a green issue?

CAROLYN HART:  I think printed books will remain for perhaps a generation.  I believe reading devices such as the Kindle are the future of publishing.  I don’t believe it is a green issue as much as it is an issue of growing comfort with electronic delivery and the availability of more books more cheaply for readers.

NANCY KAMP:  What can your fans look forward to in terms of books that will be published soon as well as those that are still works in progress?

CAROLYN HART:   Dare to Die, 19th in the Death on Demand series, will be published March 31 [2009].  A troubled young woman returns to the island to make amends, but a ruthless killer must make certain she never recalls one long ago foggy night.  Annie and Max’s lives are threatened and they are forced to discover the truth behind Iris’s return.

Merry, Merry Ghost., the second Bailey Ruth story, will be published in November.  A little boy is left on his grandmother’s front porch shortly before Christmas, prompting her to change her will.  A previous heir plans the perfect murder but Bailey Ruth is on the case.

NANCY KAMP:  What did I forget to ask that visitors to our site might like to know about you and your books?

CAROLYN HART:   [You should have asked,] "Why do you love mysteries?"

We live in an unjust world where cruelty and horror are reported daily in newspapers.  Mystery readers want to live in a just world, a fair and decent and compassionate world.  They know that every time they pick up a mystery, justice will prevail, decency will be applauded, and goodness will be celebrated.   That’s why readers read mysteries and that’s why I write mysteries.

NANCY KAMP:  To learn more about Carolyn and her books, visit her at carolynhart.com.