Interview with Author Carol Pouliot

 

A Francophile at age 11, Carol Pouliot dreamed of getting her passport and going to Paris. After a Master’s degree in French, she headed to France for her first teaching job. She taught French and Spanish for 34 years in Upstate New York. She also founded an agency that provided translations in over 24 languages. Carol is the author of acclaimed The Blackwell and Watson Time-Travel Mysteries, traditional police procedurals with a time-travel twist and a seemingly impossible relationship between a Depression-era cop and a 21^st-century journalist. With their fast pace and unexpected twists and turns, the books have earned praise from readers and mystery authors alike. Carol is the President of the Upper Hudson SinC chapter (the Mavens of Mayhem) and a founding member of Sleuths and Sidekicks. Sign up for Carol’s newsletter and learn more at https://www.carolpouliot.com and https://www.sleuthsandsidekicks.com/

Question: What is the title and genre of your novel?  Why did you select them?

Answer:  My latest book in The Blackwell and Watson Time-Travel Mysteries is RSVP to Murder. Actually, my best friend came up with the title one night while we were on the phone. It refers to an invitation to attend a Christmas party that my characters Steven and Olivia received.

My books are traditional police procedurals with a time travel twist and a seemingly impossible romance. I like the structure of a police procedural. I like knowing what my cop needs to do to solve the case. However, I wanted to add something different in my novels, something no one else was doing. I happened upon an article about Einstein one day. Einstein believed there was no past, present, or future, that all time happened simultaneously, and that time could fold over revealing another time. When I read this, I knew I had my twist! I chose 1934 and 2014 because I needed two times where some of the characters could appear in both Steven’s and Olivia’s lives. One character will be the key to the entire series.

Question:   What inspired this novel? How did it come about?

Answer: I love the classic English country house mysteries, especially those by Agatha Christie. I wanted to write a new twist on that wonderful subgenre. My cop, Steven, and his partner-in-crime, Olivia, live in Upstate New York, in the Mohawk Valley near the Adirondack Mountains. I thought an Adirondack Great Camp would be the perfect stand-in for a country mansion. The Great Camps were built around the turn of the last century by the nation’s wealthiest families, like the Vanderbilts and the Rockefellers. Their isolated location makes them the perfect setting for a murder. A bonus is the unpredictability of the weather in the mountains—a blizzard can develop without warning. In RSVP to Murder, Steven and Olivia find themselves trapped with a killer, in a house full of suspects, all with motive, means, and opportunity—and the very real possibility of a second murder. I have to say that I was thrilled beyond words when I saw several reviews compare RSVP to Murder to Agatha Christie’s novels. It doesn’t get any better than that for a writer.

Question:  Could you tell us a little bit about the heroine and/or hero of your novel?

Answer: Depression-era cop Steven Blackwell and 21^st-century journalist Olivia Watson live in the same house 80 years apart—he in 1934, she in 2014. One night, time folds over and they see each other. After proving they are who they say they are, they begin to explore the possibility of traveling to the other person’s time. Steven is not your average 1930s man. He was raised by a French artist mother, who instilled in him a curiosity about the world and an acceptance of people for who they are. He does not have the prejudices you might expect from a man of that time. Olivia has a nostalgia for the 1930s and is fascinated by Steven. She left her job as a newspaper reporter and now owns a research agency. She’s an independent woman who travels frequently. Even though they live in two different centuries, Steven and Olivia find common ground and forge a deep friendship.

Question:   Can you tell us about some of your other published novels or work? 

Answer: Doorway to Murder is where it all begins. I established how the time-travel would work and introduced the series’ characters. Steven is investigating the murder of the bank president. He reaches a point where he doesn’t know who he can trust in his own time, so he turns to Olivia for help in solving the case. In book two, Threshold of Deceit, Olivia leaves the house in 1934 for the first time and accidentally befriends Steven’s main suspect in the murder of the town’s ladies man. In each book, the danger in the time-travel experiments increases. In Death Rang the Bell, book three, Olivia attends a Halloween party with Steven in 1934 and witnesses the murder. This throws her right in the middle of the case. Not only is their secret at risk of being discovered, but Olivia faces the life-and-death decision of whether to break the number one rule in time-travel—don’t change anything that has happened.

Question:   What are you working on now?

Answer: Book five, working title Murder at the Moulin Rouge. This one is going to require a bit of research. I used to be very familiar with Paris during La Belle Epoque, but I haven’t taught those classes (dealing with the art and literature of that time) in many years. I need to immerse myself in that world again. Steven and Olivia travel back in time to help Toulouse-Lautrec investigate the murder of one of his models.

Question:   What made you start writing?

Answer: I’d been retired for five years and still thought of a favorite memory from when I was fifteen. I had earned a fair amount of money that summer. When my mother took my sister and me back-to-school shopping, I bought something for myself. This was the first time I’d done so and the experience was exhilarating—especially since I bought the sweater in the Addis Company, Syracuse’s answer to Saks Fifth Avenue. I remember that day as if it were yesterday! 

I had subscribed to Victoria magazine since its inception. The publication had a monthly feature on the last page called “Chimes,” and it was always a memoir. I had read enough of them to know that my memory would be a perfect fit. I decided to take the plunge and put my thrilling experience into words. As I wrote, I felt a wave of deep contentment wash over me. It was truly a transformative experience, one of the most satisfying things that I'd ever done. I knew at that moment I wanted to spend the rest of my life writing.

Question:   What advice would you offer to those who are currently writing novels?

Answer: Join a group of like-minded people. Joining Sisters in Crime (a professional crime writer’s organization) was the best thing I did for my writing career. It opened up the mystery community to me. I learned about the publishing industry, honed my craft, and made lifelong friendships. Writers need other writers for many things—to help with a research question, write a blurb, beta read, cross-promote, and simply to talk about a shared experience. Being part of the mystery community has been an extraordinary gift. 

Question:  Where and when will readers be able to obtain your novel? 

Answer: Online at:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=carol+pouliot&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/carol%20pouliot

https://bookshop.org/search?keywords=carol+pouliot

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?query=carol+pouliot

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?query=carol+pouliot

And any bookstore or library can order the books. 

Comments or questions for Carol are welcome here.