Ms.
Spencer has published thirteen romantic suspense or murder mystery novels, with
two more on the way. She has two fabulous grown children and an incredible
granddaughter. She divides her time between the Gulf Coast of Florida and a
tiny village in Maine.
Beverley: Which
genre or genres do you write or prefer to write? And why?
M.S.: I
write cozy murder mystery, romantic suspense, and some
action/adventure/romance. By “cozy” I do not mean my heroine runs a bakery or
keeps a cat or lives in the English countryside. It refers to an amateur sleuth
who must deal with a puzzle, for example, a corpse in a locked room. I love
creating a complicated path to the solution with lots of red herrings and
twists and turns.
Beverley: Who
influenced you the most in deciding to become a writer?
M.S.: I
always wanted to be a writer. I think if you’re as voracious a reader as I was,
you eventually find yourself needing to make that leap into creating your own
story, putting your own words on the paper.
Beverley: What gets your creative juices flowing?
M.S.: Often when I’m surfing the internet I’ll come
across an intriguing or crazy item & it triggers a story line. I learned of
the “Ghost Hotel” that way. The Pit & the Passion: Murder at the Ghost
Hotel, takes place on Longboat Key, Florida, where in fact there stood the hulk
of an unfinished Ritz-Carlton for decades. Begun by John Ringling of circus
fame, it languished from 1926 to 1964. So…what would you find at a ghost hotel?
Anyone?
Beverley: Do you have a favorite cartoon character? Why?
M.S.: Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes. He’s both adorable and
horrible, and his imagination soars higher and wider than anyone in the world.
I love Pogo too, of course.
Beverley: Who would you love most to meet 'in person' and
why?
M.S.: I have been a widow for 10 years now, and although
I’ve tried various methods of finding a new fella, I have been unsuccessful.
So, rather than choose some celebrity or writer or professor, the man I’d most
like to meet is the one of my dreams.
Beverley: If you had an unexpected free day what would you do
with it?
M.S.: Well, I used to go exploring—find a nature trail or
historic site. Florida is chock full of fascinating places. I’d like to go to
Weeki Wachee Springs and see the mermaids, or to Tarpon Springs to see the
sponge divers. Then eat a lovely, looong Greek lunch. But I’d probably seize
the day by sitting at my laptop and writing.
Beverley: What are you working on now?
M.S.: I’m working on a story now set in Maine—in the same
town as The Penhallow Train Incident. I am not much into series, but I love the
denizens of Penhallow and Amity Landing so much I had to let them live on in a
new story.
The working title is Mrs.
Spinney’s Secret. The story opens with Cassidy Jane Beauvoir, proprietor of
Mindful Books and chairman of the Board of Overseers of Amity Landing,
confronted with a Hollywood cabal that wants to make a movie in her tiny
village. Her objections are overridden by the townspeople, and her initial
misgivings must vie with a growing attraction to the film’s director Jasper
MacEwan. Unfortunately, both the movie and their romance are hindered by a
series of incidents—some fatal, some simply painful. The two must set aside
both their differences and their romance to search for answers not only to the
mystery, but to the whereabouts of a long lost hoard of English gold.
Monsters and mystery lurk
deep in the Amazon—a tale of passion and obsession.
Orion—along
with Ursa Major and Ursa Minor—is one of the most recognizable constellations
in the sky. Most people zero in on the three stars that make up his belt, but
the brightest star in the constellation is Rigel—his left knee or foot.
Orion
was the son of Poseidon, who gave him the power to walk on water. He was a
great hunter. In the excerpt below, Petra tells Emory why she wishes on Orion’s
foot, and he in turn warns her to be careful of him.
Oddly enough, I came up with the title for Orion’s
Foot: Myth, Mystery, & Romance in the Amazon, separately from the
actual inspiration for the book. I was sitting outside on a beautiful night and
saw Orion—I’m sorry to say one of the few constellations I can identify. I
thought, what a neat title for a book. There you have it.
Petra Steele is wallowing in self-pity after being dumped at the
altar, when her brother Nick invites her to come to the Peruvian Amazon. Before
she even sets her suitcase down, she's confronted with a murder victim. In a
research station peopled with a quirky assortment of scientists, she is drawn
to Emory Andrews, a gruff, big man with a secret past. That is, until his
beautiful ex-wife shows up. More murders, more secrets, more mysteries ensue,
all in the deeply romantic, sizzling jungle.
Excerpt from Orion’s Foot
After
supper, she sought the hammock room,
hoping to see the capybaras again, but the lawn was empty. For once, the sky was clear, and she
wandered out and down to the dock to
enjoy the stars. Ah, there’s Orion.
Usually people chose Venus or Polaris, but Petra always wished on Orion’s left foot. Nick had
once asked her why. “Because it’s his foot that takes the first stride across space.”
“So what does that have to do with your
wishes?”
“Whenever I’m faced with a scary decision,
Orion gives me the courage to take the
first step.”
Nick had laughed at her.
As she closed her eyes and pondered her
request, a rustle sounded behind her.
“Don’t fall in.”
Petra
sprang forward and nearly did fall in, but a strong hand caught her around her
waist and pulled her back. She felt warm breath in her ear. “Emory!”
He
let go. “What are you doing anyway? You had one leg hovering over the water.”
“I
guess the stars distracted me.” She glanced at him shyly. “I was wishing on
Orion. Or rather, on his foot.” She pointed at the star twinkling below the
famous belt.
“Why
Orion?”
No need
to let on how weird I am just yet. “It’s…uh…the
only constellation I recognize?”
“It’s
probably the only constellation most
people recognize.” He looked down at her. “Okay, do you have a foot fetish, or
what? Why wish on the foot?”
Just
because Nick made fun of me doesn’t mean Emory will. “It
brings me luck.”
“Like
a rabbit’s foot, only better?”
She
didn’t answer. The thing that had been simmering in the back of her mind for
the last two days, obscured by the chaos of events, had made itself known. She
knew what she wanted to wish for.
“Petra?
Did you hear my question?”
Petra
lowered her eyes to Emory. “I don’t know about better—but it serves the same
function. See, everyone zeroes in on Orion’s belt, or his dog, or his manly
physique, but his left foot—Rigel—is actually the brightest star in the
constellation.”
He
inspected the night sky. “True. And?”
“Well,
it reminds me that when you have to take that first step into the unknown
you…um…put your best foot forward. I look at Orion striding across the cosmos,
and he helps me believe I can meet any challenge.”
Emory
was silent for a minute. Petra was about to take her leave when he said, “Did
you know that Orion claimed he was the greatest hunter of all time? Gaia sent a
scorpion to kill him.”
“Huh.
Who is Gaia?”
“Gaia
means Earth—she’s the goddess the Greeks called the mother of all life—the
primordial deity. The cool New Age kids all worship her. Don’t tell me you
aren’t into crystals and yoga?”
“No.
So why did Gaia want to kill Orion?”
“Because,
to prove his prowess, he announced he was going to hunt down and kill all the
animals in the world. Since Gaia is the guardian of every living thing, you
might say his threat kinda ruffled her feathers.”
“I’ll
bet. So she decided to kill him before he massacred her subjects. Did she
succeed?”
“No.
Another god—I forget his name—gave Orion the antidote. That’s why you never see
both Orion and Scorpio in the sky at the same time.”
“Hmm.”
“So,”
he said softly, “Orion is hardly the hero you want to set your heart on. All
the stories of him involve power, lust, and murder.”
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Now this is an interesting topic. What is the oddest character you have
ever dreamed up, and how did they fit into a story?
Lillian is a strong secondary companion who helps the story progress
with both the plot development and the growth and development of the heroine. She
plays matchmaker, and also brings a little of her own romance into the
story. 
