Spotlight on Alice K. Arenz and Mirrored Image

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ALICE K. ARENZ is the winner of the 2010 ACFW Carol Award for Mystery, and she has been writing since she was a child. Her earliest publication was in the small, family-owned newspaper where her articles, essays, and poems were frequently included. In the mid-nineties, her writing earned her a stint with a well-known New York literary agency, and although it failed to produced the hoped for results, her determination to become published eventually led her to Sheaf House.

Arenz also writes cozy mysteries under A.K. Arenz. The Case of the Bouncing Grandma, 2008, was a finalist in the 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year contest. The second in the Bouncing Grandma Mystery Series, The Case of the Mystified M.D., was the winner of the 2010 ACFW Carol Award for mystery and was the February 2010 ACFW Book Club choice.

She lives in Missouri with her husband and two Himalayan cats.

Mirrored Image
by Alice K. Arenz
Published by Sheaf House

ABOUT THE BOOK

Their faces were the same. Will their fate be as well? Eccentric newspaper columnist Cassandra Chase's uncanny resemblance to a murder victim gives Detective Jeff McMichaels the haunting suspicion that there is a link between the two women--a link that may only exist in the murderer's mind.

Readers, buy your copy of Mirrored Image today!

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

1. What gave you the inspiration for this story?

I can’t really answer that other than by saying that in one way or another, God gives me the inspiration for everything I write. I know that sounds trite and simplistic, but it’s how I feel – how it’s always been for me.

On Friday, Oct. 1, the company my husband works for gave me a “launch” signing, as they have for each of my books. It was all pretty awesome, especially when the CEO’s wife and mother came in and bought several books and took photos. As incredibly wonderful as that was, I’d have to say that even more incredible was the chance to speak to a “seeker” about my writing process.

It was obvious he wasn’t sure about the “God thing,” but I didn’t let it phase me. I told him about when I wanted to write a cozy like I’d seen a fellow ACFW member write. I’d sat down in front of my computer and started praying. By the time I’d said amen, I found I’d written the first three chapters of The Case of the Bouncing Grandma. I told the gentleman that Chris (hubby) could attest to this fact – to which the man quickly turned to Chris for confirmation. By the time he left that room, I knew I’d made a positive impact on him. At least, I’d like to think I had.

Now, I can’t tell you what exactly led me to write Mirrored Image – I wrote the first incarnation of that story in 1986 – the year the story is set in. But, every year since then, I’ve felt God lead me back to that manuscript, to bring it out of storage and re-write it yet again. My daughter Kelly has been its first editor since she turned 15 – and that’s been twenty years. So Mirrored Image is as much hers as it is mine.

2. How much of your own experiences influenced your characters? What aspects became traits that were theirs and theirs alone?

Very little, when you come right down to it. I observe, read, watch TV news magazines, and then let whatever might form, form. As for traits, other than Cassandra’s love of The Monkees, the rest of their traits are all their own.

3. If your hero/heroine were an ice cream flavor, what would he/she be and why?

I’m not really into ice cream – I know, I know, shameful, huh?

4. Are there any themes in Mirrored Image that you hope the reader sees? Are there any themes that weren't overt but developed as the story progressed?

I’d have to say it all revolves around secrets, truth, and forgiveness. I’d say those are pretty much standard. I don’t want to say more to spoil things.

5. What were your most difficult parts to write? Your favorite?

The most difficult thing about writing Mirrored Image has been all the re-writing over the years – but that also turned out to be the best of the best. I’ve watched this manuscript go from an almost accepted 400 pg. manuscript in 1986 to what it is today, and it was worth every minute I’ve put into it over the years.

6. When is your next book coming out and what is the story?

My next book is called An American Gothic, the tag line is – She came to Foxxemoor to write a mystery, not become part of one. Lyssie Daniels is an aspiring novelist – it’s her “gothic” that begins each chapter, mirroring the action that’s to come. Right now, the book is scheduled to release in Oct. 2011. The prologue is in the back of Mirrored Image.

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Thank you, Alice, for being in the spotlight with us.

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