Amy Reade is…On the Writing Block!

Sherry Ickes
Jul 7
5 min read

Wow! The heat outside sure has me in the mood to just sit and read a book with an ice-cold drink in my hand (like lemonade 🍋). And that’s why it is time for us to meet a fellow Sisters in Crime author…

Amy started her career practicing law in New York City, but it wasn't long before she realized it was much more fun writing fiction than legal documents. It took her a while, but she finally decided to polish up the manuscript she had been working on and send it out.

That manuscript became her first standalone book, Secrets of Hallstead House. From there she went on to write two more standalone Gothic-style mysteries, then along came Malice, a contemporary Gothic series set in the United Kingdom. Next came a cozy series, the “Juniper Junction Cozy Holiday Mystery” series. That series ended with seven full-length novels, a short story, and a novella (exclusive to newsletter subscribers).

She lives in New Jersey with her family, just a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Amy loves to travel, cook, and read, though not necessarily in that order.

Who are two authors that have inspired your writing?

If I absolutely had to limit myself to two authors who have inspired my writing, I would choose M.C. Beaton and Daphne du Maurier. Their styles are completely different, but both women were brilliant authors with truckloads of lessons for today’s storytellers.

M.C. Beaton wrote funny, smart cozy mysteries (the Agatha Raisin series, Hamish Macbeth series, Regency mysteries, and standalones). The books are full of quirky, three-dimensional secondary and tertiary characters, and the plots are inventive and memorable. I find myself reading them over and over, even though I know whodunit.

Daphne du Maurier is my favorite Gothic writer. She had remarkable skill in crafting suspenseful, atmospheric stories with unforgettable characters. Her writing techniques are hugely instructive to writers who want to pen mysteries or suspense novels in which the setting becomes a character in its own right.

How much research do you conduct for your storylines?

The amount and types of research I do depend on which series I’m working on.

My “Libraries of the World Mysteries” straddle the past and the present, using special library collections from around the world to solve and connect two seemingly unrelated crimes. The books require research about libraries (so far, the Library of Congress and the Jefferson Market Library in NYC, and book 3 will feature a library in England) and especially about their special collections. I’ve visited Greenwich Village in NYC several times over the past year to learn more about the Jefferson Market Library and its unique reference collection devoted to Greenwich Village history. For the series, I’ve also researched social mores of the 1920s and immigration to the western territories in the 1860s. The first book in the series is Trudy’s Diary. The second book, which will be released this fall, is The Forgotten Muse.

My “Cape May Historical Mysteries” are a collection of standalones set throughout the history of Cape May, New Jersey, so every book requires an entirely new body of research. As times change, so do medical practices, policing, language, clothing, communication, trade, travel, technology, and anything else that affects the day-to-day. For the first book, Cape Menace (set mostly in 1714), I researched the early topography of Cape May, pirate activities at the time, and herbal medicines, among other things. For the fourth and most recent book, Murder at the Chestnut Wig (set in 1852), I learned all about the Underground Railroad in Cape May, as well as the gambling industry at that time.

My cozy mysteries (featuring a jewelry store owner) are set in the mountains of Colorado and require research on flora, fauna, climate, gemstones, the jewelry business, and other topics that include state laws on everything from kidnapping and murder to extortion and theft.

Research is one of my favorite parts of the job! It’s never dull, and I’m constantly learning new things.

Who is your favorite mystery sleuth? (Books, TV, amateur and professional alike)

I don’t even have to think about this one. It’s Nancy Drew.

She had everything a sleuth needs: a keen mind (see what I did there? Keen/Keene? lol), an inquisitive nature, smart clothes, a great car, two awesome friends who are always willing to help her out (well, almost always. At least George is—Bess is more timid), the perfect book boyfriend, a father who knows almost everything, and the housekeeper/mother figure, Hannah Gruen. What more does she need?

Do you prefer pen and paper, or computer for writing?

I wrote my first novel longhand, after also outlining it longhand in grim detail. After that I learned to write directly to the computer and, not surprisingly, it made a huge difference in the amount of time I spend on the physical act of writing.

With that being said, though, whenever I’m struggling with a plot point or a timeline snafu, I unfailingly turn to pen or pencil and paper to suss it out. And going old-school works. Every. Single. Time.

I also use pen/pencil and index cards to plot my stories, and I find my thoughts materialize and organize themselves faster that way.

There’s something about that mind-hand-paper connection that crystallizes my thinking, and I’ve read about plenty of studies proving that it’s a thing.

What is Trudy’s Diary about?

An anthropologist discovers a dark secret from the past when she’s drawn into the contemporary investigation of a shocking double murder. Delve into this “irresistible” mystery within a mystery from bestselling author A. Dianne Reade.

Nebraska Territory, 1865. Young bride Trudy sets up house with her new husband and his children, only to discover that the man she married is not the man she thought he was. Caught in her husband’s web of fear and control, time is running out for her to save herself and the children in her care.

Washington, DC, present day: Anthropologist Daisy Carruthers finds herself ensnared in the investigation of two murders when one of her best friends falls under suspicion. When Trudy’s diary comes into her possession under peculiar circumstances, she becomes obsessed with the young woman’s story. Her efforts to learn more about Trudy lead her to the Library of Congress, where a special collection helps her to unearth the truth about what happened all those years ago and shed light on the diary’s horrifying ramifications.