Edale Lane is an award-winning author (Rainbow Awards, Imaginarium Awards, Lesfic Bard Awards) who is realizing her dream of being a full-time writer.
Your 17th book, Heart of Murder, comes out on February 1. What was the inspiration for the story?
I started the first novella in the Lessons in Murder series almost nine years ago when I switched careers from schoolteacher to over-the-road truck driver. My salary shot up, but time with my loving partner became relegated to phone calls and internet dating as I was always away from home. So, I wrote this little story with surrogate characters for us infused with lots of steamy sex scenes and e-mailed her installments. I always thought I’d do more with the characters, but once Heart of Sherwood broke out to avalanches of success, I locked myself into writing historical novels until this past summer. An author friend was sponsoring an email list-building promotion for brand new, never published mystery books and I only had a month to compose something to be included. I pulled out the Jenna and Randi story, reworked it and fleshed it out, cut all the horribly hokey sex scenes, and “Meeting over Murder” was born. The next books in the series flowed like a snowmelt stream and more are on the way.
What motivates you to write?
I started writing stories as a child and never stopped. They are inside me, compelling me to write them, to give them life on the page.
How do you select the names of your characters?
Lots of research. I make lists from baby name sites, names I’ve heard and liked, then see how they sound aloud together with other character’s names, to hear if they have a ring to them. For main characters, this is a much more complex process which includes determining where their families came from for the proper ethnicity, and so forth. I also want these primary characters to have memorable, unique names if possible. I think I hit gold with Daring Duplicity’s leading woman, Stetson Goody, and her alter-ego Xavier Wellington.
If you were a doll, what accessories would you be sold with?
A pickup truck, a samurai sword, a French horn, gardening tools, and a dog (or six!).
What have you done in life that has given you the most satisfaction?
I have lived a varied and long life so far, with such an array of studies, jobs, hobbies, and adventures. I’ve been a mom and Grammy, a wife and partner, a teacher, musician, farmer, construction worker, truck driver, writer, and the list could go on for days. I think it isn’t what I’ve done that has given me the greatest satisfaction in life, rather who I am inside, who I have carried with me through my many roles. I strive for excellence in everything I set my hand and mind to accomplishing, and to see all the wonderful outcomes of such dedication—my happy, successful children, my precious grandchildren, my loving 25-year relationship with my wife, the countless honors and awards which have been bestowed on me, and mostly the lives I’ve touched with a word of encouragement or a helping hand. To know I am living my best life and loving every minute of it fills me with satisfaction words cannot describe.
Start the series with Meeting over Murder
Pre-order Heart of Murder
Download a free Victorian sapphic mystery, Arson & Lace: The Wellington Mysteries Prequel