Lora Roberts

Long ago, children, before there was such a thing as AOL, I wrote my first mystery. I was inspired by local events in the quaint hamlet of Palo Alto, where a real estate frenzy raged and folks were tearing down nice old houses to build ugly monstrosities. (This was long ago, but some things never change.) I named that book Revolting Development, and introduced as sleuth someone who wasn’t seen much in mystery fiction in those ancient days: Bridget Montrose, overwhelmed mother of small children, pushing a stroller through the clean streets while she tried to figure out who had killed the real estate developer.

I always wanted to write another book from Bridget’s point of view, but then Liz Sullivan popped up in my mind and I wrote about her for a while instead. I used many of the same characters from Revolting Development, to avoid extra work. But in the back of my mind, I knew I would write more about Bridget some day.

Someday has finally come. Another Fine Mess finds Bridget coping with the unexpected success of her first novel, and totally blocked when it comes to writing the next one. An invitation to a prestigious writers’ retreat seems like the perfect thing. But tensions run high among the illustrious names invited to attend, and things are not what they seem. Though she doesn’t have to push the stroller, Bridget finds herself trying to figure things out so she can get back to working on her book.

In an especially nice touch of synergy, Perseverance Press, which published my first mystery, wanted to bring out Another Fine Mess. It was a pleasure to work with them again, and a real pleasure for me to find myself in Bridget’s head, as well as her kitchen, which has always been one of my favorite places, papier-mache dinosaurs and all.