Fallen Angel Reviews would like to welcome Leslie Caine, author of Death by Inferior Design and many more wonderful books. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer a few questions for us today. For those who are unfamiliar with Leslie or would just like to find out more about her and her books check out her delightful website at www.lesliecaine.com.


The idea behind your Domestic Bliss series is just extraordinary. Where did you come up with a mystery series meets interior design idea?

Thank you so much, JoAnn! Actually, the idea came to my agent. I’d emailed her to let her know I’d been nominated for the Reviewers’ Choice Award by Romantic Times, and she sent back her congratulations and asked if I knew anything about interior design, ala “Trading Spaces,” and I wrote back: Absolutely…and that’s a great idea for a new series! Six weeks later, I was signing a three-book contract with Bantam/Dell.

Where do you come up with your design ideas that are creatively placed into your Domestic Bliss series?

I’m a certified interior designer. The series gives me a wonderful excuse to peruse furniture stores and fabric stores to my heart’s content. I also shamelessly pick the brains of two very talented interior designers I’m fortunate enough to know.

Erin Gilbert is a character readers will fall in love with. Did you model her character after someone you know?

Thank you! She’s a combination of my younger sister and my two interior-designer friends, with fictionalized elements thrown in for good measure.

Inferior by Design is the first in the Domestic Bliss Series. Can you give readers a little teaser as to what we can expect from future books in the series?

My next book, False Premises, will be out in July of 2005, and I’ve got to admit that I’m really looking forward to that one’s release. In it, Erin Gilbert learns that her new friend and client is none other than the con artist who all but destroyed Steve Sullivan . . . and let’s just say that trouble ensues. I’m just now writing the third book in the series, Manor of Murder, in which Gilbert and Sullivan stir up the proverbial skeleton-in-the-closet—and perhaps an accompanying ghost—at a mansion that they’re readying for the annual historic-homes tour.

You have a pseudonym Leslie O’Kane for your past books. Why did you choose to publish the Domestic Bliss Series under Leslie Caine?

My two previous mystery series are shorter, lighter books than the books in the Domestic Bliss series. I didn’t want to mislead readers into thinking that this was another “dog book” or another “humorous Molly book,” and I felt that two series under one name was fine, but that three would start to get confusing.

You have had several releases in the past, but is there anything that sets this series apart from your others, the Mollie Masters series or Allie Babcock series?

These are truly bigger, better books. Much as I love my previous series, I intentionally wrote them as light entertainment. In Death by Inferior Design, I’ve created truly complex characters who give me a deeper understanding of myself as I see how they cope with the trials and tribulations I present to them. Also, I get to indulge in my love of home décor, and readers with similar interests will find that a welcome addition.

Of all your books do you have a favorite? What about a favorite character?

In all honesty, my favorite book is always the last one that I’ve finished, and it’s no exception that False Premises has now overtaken Death by Inferior Design as my very favorite out of my twelve published mysteries. My least favorite book, by the way, is always whatever book that I’m currently writing. Whenever I hear an author rave that: “This book just seemed to write itself!” I’m always certain that this person is behaving like a brand new mother; she or he has simply managed to forget all the truly painful parts in the long, arduous process of bringing a book to life.

My all-time favorite character is Audrey Munroe, the indefatigable landlady Erin lives with and who has a Martha-Stewart-like local television show. I absolutely love having her in my head!

On the day of a new release do you do any specific ritual or celebration?

Alas, no. My first book, Death and Faxes, came out when my sixteen-year-old son was just seven, and on the release day he asked if we could go see my book in a store. I took him to the store that is now High Crimes, and we looked at the book’s prominent window display. That was a truly special moment. Nowadays, I do nothing, and friends and family members are always saying to me a couple of weeks later, “You mean the book’s already out?! Why didn’t you tell me?!” The truth is, writing is a constant process, week in and week out, and whatever good things are happening with a latest release, I’m fairly consistently agonizing over a problem in the current book that I’m writing.

Is there anything your fans might be surprised to find out about you?

Hmm. I designed my office myself but keep it in a complete mess. Before I became a writer of murder mysteries, I repaired computers for IBM. I’ve got a daughter in college and a son who’s a high school upperclassman, and they’re both awesome! (I don’t know how surprising that last is, but I rarely miss an opportunity to brag about my kids.)

Are there any authors you like to read?

Dennis Lehane, Michael Connolly, Francine Mathews, Jonnie Jacobs, Anne Tyler, Gail Godwin, Anna Quindlen . . . I just realized that I could keep this up for pages and pages, so let me alter my answer: Yes. Many.

Do you have any suggestions/advice for any aspiring authors?

Keep writing. Realize that the average length of time for a writer to produce publishable work is six years and three completed manuscripts.

Is there anything you would like to add to the interview?

No, I’ve tended to yak on and on as it is. Thanks, though!

Leslie, thank you very much for interviewing with us.

Thanks so much for asking me, JoAnn. It’s been a true pleasure!

Interviewed by:
JoAnn