Liz Ireland is…On the Writing Block!

Sherry Ickes
Feb 3
5 min read

As we are now officially in February, a Valentine’s Day-themed mystery sounds like a perfect way to spend a cold evening indoors. And this author just happens to have a new release that fits the bill. Let’s take a look at Liz…

Liz Ireland, aka Elizabeth Bass, has been navigating the changing seas of publishing for over thirty years, during which time she’s published more than fifty works of romance, women’s fiction, and mystery. As Liz Ireland she writes the Mrs. Claus cozy mysteries, in which recently married April Claus investigates naughty elves and sneaky snowmen in the ultimate cozy village, Christmastown. Originally from the United States, Liz now lives on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

What is your ultimate goal as an author?

My goal is to deliver the kind of reading experience that I look for in a book: to be so taken in by the story and characters that I feel completely absorbed into a fictional world. That’s why I feel so anxious before the first reader reviews come in. I’m always worried that I’ve missed the mark, or didn’t do the story justice. It’s so frustrating that no book ever turns out quite how you envision it when you write that first paragraph. But when I receive feedback that readers enjoyed the story, that’s a real thrill.

And of course, my overarching goal as a professional writer is to keep going. My career has had a lot of ups and downs, but I’ve been very lucky to have found a publisher for all but a few of the books I’ve written for the past thirty-five years. Being traditionally published required me to be flexible and accept a few professional heartbreaks along the way, but I really thank my lucky stars for the opportunities I’ve been given, and for the publishing professionals and enthusiastic readers I’ve met.

Do you always know who the killer is, or do your characters surprise you in the end?

I am a plotter. I always have an outline written before I start drafting a book. I know who the murder victim will be, how they’ll meet their demise, and at the very least I’ll have a strong list of suspects.

Most of the time, though, who the killer really is becomes clear as I’m about halfway through the story and all the characters are fleshed out on the page. The suspects’ personalities deepen as I write and I’ll realize who has the most interesting motive. Occasionally the original person or elf I’d planned to pin the crime on just feels too obvious to me and I switch murderers. So while I try to carefully outline—and it’s great when a book unfolds just as I’ve envisioned it—I try not to feel hemmed in by my own synopsis.

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

It’s tough to narrow this down to just one answer, because there are so many mystery series I love. I started watching cop and detective shows back in the 1970s—one of my earliest crushes was Kojak! But if I had to choose a favorite television detective, it would probably be Foyle from Foyle’s War, because he has such a wry sense of humor but also approaches his work with heart and a sense of righteousness, even when he’s having to make really difficult, gray-area judgments. The series lost its way a little bit at the end because the writers insisted on arranging love interests for his sidekick Sam that were completely wrong. (Sam should have stayed a spinster, as so many women of her generation were after the war—this is a hill I’ll die on!) But Foyle never stopped being Foyle—whip smart, quietly pugnacious, and slightly enigmatic.

(Image of Foyle’s War from the ITV Television Station in the United Kingdom; owned by its respective company.)

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

My favorite way to write is to compose a first draft with pen and paper, and then to transfer the daily handwritten pages to computer. This is probably the most cumbersome method devised since chiseling on clay tablets, but there’s something about sitting at my small writing desk with just a pad of paper that focuses my thoughts. I also love that there’s no internet connectivity involved—no chance to fall down endless research rabbit holes or get distracted by the news or social media. It’s just me and the story.

Another bonus is that this two-step method allows me to do a little revising each day as I type the pages that I’ve drafted by hand. So by the time I finish a first draft, it feels a little cleaner than my first drafts that are written directly onto computer.

Once I finish a computer draft, I print up the pages and edit them by hand the old-fashioned way, with a pencil. This is how I worked as an editor for years, and I can’t break myself of the habit. And as anyone who’s ever read an email from me can attest, my eyes don’t catch mistakes on computer screens.

What is Mrs. Claus and the Very Vicious Valentine about?

As Valentine’s Day approaches, love is in the air with April Claus’s friend, Claire, getting married to Jake Frost—but when a cold-blooded killer strikes, it sends shivers through Santaland…

It’s the wedding of the winter—Claire and Jake—and April and Juniper will be bridesmaids. Everyone’s feeling the love. Even the reindeer who pull April’s sleigh are feeling the Valentine’s vibes: both Wobbler and Cannonball fancy Flouncy, a doe from the Vixen herd. As for April, of course she couldn’t be happier being married to Nick (aka THE Santa Claus), but now that they’re no longer newlyweds, has their romance been a bit backburnered?

As the bridal party assembles at the Order of Elven Seamstresses for a fitting, Juniper’s new boyfriend, Sterling Redwinkle, stops by with a corsage. While he’s pinning it on Juniper, he’s pricked by a rose thorn and collapses. Though he’s rushed to the Santaland infirmary, he dies within hours. It turns out the thorns were covered in deadly poison. But who was the killer’s target—sweet Sterling or the now heartbroken bridesmaid?

With Ivy the florist immediately the chief suspect—even being called “Poison Ivy” by naughty gossipers—it’s up to Mrs. Claus to uncover the North Pole poisoner in time to salvage Claire and Jake’s wedding at Castle Kringle…