Exchange With Norma Huss - The Grandma Moses of Mystery

I'd like to welcome Norma Huss, one of my fellow authors from the brand new e-book 25 Years in the Rearview Mirror, 52 Authors Look Back.  Norma is stopping by as part of the 25 Years in the Rearview Mirror Blog Tour. If you enjoy magazine columns and 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' books, then we're sure you'll enjoy our collection of essays, designed to warm your heart, raise your spirits and compel you to examine your own life. Get a full listing of authors, essay titles and retailers here: http://stacyjuba.com/blog/25-years-in-the-rearview-mirror-52-authors-look-back/

Welcome Norma! I'm going to let Norma introduce herself in her own words: (She's pretty cool!)

I’m Norma Huss, but I like to call myself the Grandma Moses of Mystery. Have you heard about the original Grandma Moses? She began painting at the age of 80, became famous, and continued until she was 102. My first mystery, Yesterday’s Body, was chosen by a small publisher just before my 80^th birthday. Since my mother is now active at 102, I figure I have the genes to do the same. I’m now 82 and have self-published a second mystery, as well as a second edition of the first, plus my father’s adventure memoir we compiled together many years ago. I’m working on sequels and a stand-alone YA now. Being one of the 52 authors included in 25 Years in the Rearview Mirror is just icing on the cake.
 

Like Tracy, I don’t place my mysteries where I now live. My setting is one that plays a part of my past, a part that definitely has a 25 years ago component. In 1987 my husband and I were comfortable enough in our sail boat that we could explore the bay. We even took friends and relatives on day or weekend trips. We’d survived three sometimes fearful years as absolute newbies learning how to navigate, set sails, and keep a 36-foot boat going where we wanted to go without hitting bottom—or anything else.

I’d started writing before that. I had a few stories and articles in children’s magazines. Then, as my children grew older and were no longer my inspiration, I tackled adult fiction, the kind I really liked to read—mysteries. Had a couple of short ones published, but I loved the long form. Novels were where it was at. First I wrote, I don’t know how many, long mysteries for children without publishing success. Then I turned to mysteries for adults. Where should I set my first manuscript?

I live in Pennsylvania in the area well known for the Amish and other plain sects. Fertile ground for farms, and plotting. I tried that locale, but somehow, I couldn’t bring it off to my satisfaction. Besides, there were already some excellent mystery series set right in my home area. But the Chesapeake Bay? Twenty-five years before, and up until 2007, my husband and I enjoyed the bay and beyond. Yep, that’s where I’d set my mysteries. So maybe my memories were not completely accurate. Maybe I preferred to forget more than a few of them. Maybe the towns, villages, and beaches I remembered had changed. But that’s what imagination is for. Invent a town. Invent a village. Invent a marina. Invent a boat.

Except for that last one. Some years ago I saw a boat I fell in love with. I took pictures. I met the owner. I invited myself inside for a tour of the small trawler. And, I asked permission to use her boat, Snapdragon, in a murder mystery. She agreed, with one exception. I won’t tell you what that exception is, except to say, she should have insisted on a few more exceptions. Because I mistreated that lovely little boat, from making it dirty in the beginning—so my heroine could work cleaning it, to—nope, not gonna tell you any more. So, after setting my first book in a town bordering Chesapeake Bay, I invented another spot and set my latest mystery in a fishing village, a marina, and aboard a boat that my heroine had to share with a ghost. 

Here’s the cover blurb for Norma's new mystery, Death of a Hot Chick.

Violent death comes suddenly to Smith Harbor, the Chesapeake Bay fishing village with intertwined and last relationships.

Cyd Denlinger wants to forget her late, philandering husband, keep her family from running her life, and regain her commercial boat captain’s license. What she doesn’t want is to be involved with an old flame OR a ghost. But the nagging ghost offers a trade that’s hard to resist.

“Find my killer!” she demands. In exchange, Cyd will own the boat Snapdragon. Easy for a ghost to offer something she can’t use. Not so easy to solve a murder. Not too safe either, especially when Cyd wonders: Was the killer’s target his victim or her boat? 

Norma's links:
 website: http://www.normahuss.com

Amazon author page: http://amazon.com/author/normahuss

Smashwords author page: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/NJHuss

Goodreads blog: http://tinyurl.com/cjhbcrf

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php

Facebook author page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php

How about heading over to Norma's blog now and seeing what she posted about me? Today we did an exchange, so its double the fun! 

This has been part of the '25 Years Ago Today' Blog Tour - 

Follow the 25 Years in the Rearview Mirror Blog and Radio Tour schedule here and enter for some neat 'My Memories Suite' digital scrapbooking software: http://stacyjuba.com/blog/25-years-in-the-rearview-mirror-blog-tour/

And don't miss the chance to join the 25 Years in the Rearview  Mirror Yahoo Group, a fun and inspirational group that discusses the past and will help you to stay on track for the future. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/25YearsRearviewMirror/