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MUGSHOT
Kaitlyn Dunnett
aka Kathy Lynn Emerson |
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MUGSHOT
Kaitlyn Dunnett
aka Kathy Lynn Emerson |
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Why a pseudonym? A few words on that and other subjects from “Kaitlyn Dunnett” (aka Kathy Lynn Emerson)
The sleuth in KILT DEAD is professional Scottish dancer Liss MacCrimmon, who has suffered a career-ending knee injury and returned to her hometown, Moosetookalook, Maine, to recover and figure out what she's going to do next. While there, she expects to help her aunt run Moosetookalook Scottish Emporium and to work the store’s booth at the annual Scottish festival. What she doesn't expect is murder. I’ve created a cast of eccentric townspeople to both help and hinder the detecting and am looking forward to bringing many of them back in future books in the series. There will be at least three of them. In fact, the sequel to KILT DEAD, titled SCONE COLD DEAD, is already written.
There is a cat in this series. Did you doubt it? “Lumpkin,” a big yellow Maine coon cat who likes to bite ankles, is loosely based on one of the cats who currently owns me. He’s named after the Lumpkin family in the books of mystery writer Charlotte MacLeod, a fellow Mainer and lovely lady who is greatly missed.
For those of you looking for Moosetookalook on a map, you won’t find it. Nor is there a Carrabassett County in Maine. I invented both, squeezing that extra county in between Franklin County (where I live) and Oxford County. The Western Maine Mountains, however, are real. This area of the state is nowhere near the coast. This is “the other Maine.”
For more information on the Liss MacCrimmon series, Kaitlyn Dunnett’s website is www.kaitlyndunnett.com. Kathy Lynn Emerson’s website, with information on all the other books written under that name, is www.kathylynnemerson.com
Here are some early reactions to KILT DEAD:
"Kaitlyn Dunnett delivers high-kicking fun with characters as colorful as the tartans . . . a delightful new series."
Dorothy Cannell author of Withering Heights
"A blithe and bonny mystery from Kaitlyn Dunnett! Cozy mystery readers should pour a cuppa and settle down to savor the flavor of the Highlands, the wee dram of Scottish folklore and the small town skullduggery that season this clever debut."
Nancy Martin, author of the Blackbird Sisters Mysteries
"Strong local color and a surprise ending will make this a hit with the cozy crowd."
Publishers Weekly
"This breezy and assured debut mystery is more fun than a highland fling!"
Mystery Guild Club Review
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There are many reasons to use a pseudonym, but in this case it serves to distinguish between two very different styles of writing that just happen to be produced by one person. As Kathy Lynn Emerson I currently write historical mysteries and nonfiction. In the Face Down Series, set in sixteenth-century England and featuring a gentlewoman who is an expert on poisonous herbs as the sleuth, the next entry is Face Down O’er the Border, due in stores in September. The third Diana Spaulding Mystery, No Mortal Reason, came out in March, and the fourth and last book in the quartet, Lethal Legend, will be published next March. The books in that series are all set in 1888 in the U. S. Next spring will also see the publication of How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries: The Art and Adventure of Sleuthing Through the Past.
But KILT DEAD, in stores now (August, 2007) is set in the present. It’s a very light, “cozy” mystery. I’m hoping readers will find some parts humorous. At any rate, to make it perfectly clear that this book is NOT historical, I’ve taken the name Kaitlyn Dunnett. Kaitlyn is the name I always wanted to have instead of Kathy Lynn—yes, it’s really Kathy, not short for anything! Dunnett, although a lovely pun, was actually chosen to honor one of my favorite writers, Dorothy Dunnett, who wrote both historicals and contemporary mysteries.