Episode 50: Kellye Garrett

Destination Mystery

The copy was straight to the point. Wanted: Information on the hit-and-run murder of Haley Joseph. Tuesday, August 18th, 11:30 p.m., Vermont Ave near Hillside St. And across the bottom, right over her press-on French manicure, $15,000 reward. I peered closer at the billboard, looking for a hint that this was a brilliant marketing scheme for some new movie. I was tempted to call the number, sure I'd hear some prerecorded message letting me know what time and day it would be airing on Lifetime. But I realized this was real. The address was right up the block. They wouldn't put the cross streets on there if it was for some silly movie. Haley Joseph had died. -- Kellye Garrett, Hollywood Homicide Such a delight to chat with Kellye Garrett, whose marvelous debut, Hollywood Homicide, launches the investigative career of Dayna Anderson, a semi-famous, mega-broke black actress. A cozy sensibility combines with a fresh voice and an insider's look at Hollywood to create a terrific new series. Kellye will, in the near future, be giving away an annotated copy of the novel -- and in the meantime, she's posting the annotations online. So if you needed another reason to visit her website, well, that's a fun one. ;) We talk about a lot of authors we like, including Alexia Gordon, whom I had the pleasure of interviewing. You can find our chat right here. Kellye gives a shout out to her fellow Chicks on the Case, where she blogs, including Ellen Byron (whose Destination Mystery interview you can listen to here), Cynthia Kuhn, Vickie Fee, Lisa Q. Mathews, and Marla Cooper. She also admires Sue Grafton and Janet Evanovich, and one she terms "an old-school favorite," the beloved Joan Hess. Me, I give a shout out to Steph Cha, who also has a series about a woman who grows into being a private eye, and set in Los Angeles, although her series has a far more Noir sensibility, as does Danny Gardner's debut novel. Kellye also mentions V.M. Burns, whose book is not yet out (though you can pre-order) and I am thrilled to say that I have an interview scheduled with her for her launch day in November, so stay tuned! So many books! So little time! As always, if you'd rather read than listen, the transcript is below. Enjoy! -- Laura Transcript of Interview with Kellye Garrett Laura Brennan: My guest today is Kellye Garrett, whose debut mystery, Hollywood Homicide, is the first in a cozy series featuring Dayna Anderson, a former actress hot on the trail of a hit-and-run driver. Library Journal’s August Debut of the Month, and full of warm friendships and quirky characters, Hollywood Homicide is a lighthearted mystery that delivers surprises, twists, and an insider’s view of Hollywood. Kellye, thank you for joining me. Kellye Garrett: Thank you for having me. LB: Hollywood Homicide is your first novel, but being a novelist is not your first writing career. KG: Right. I've been writing professionally my whole career. I started off as a magazine editor for a publication called Vibe Magazine. And then I wasn't really happy just writing about people doing cool stuff, I wanted to do cool stuff myself. So I went to film school at USC, and then I spent eight years in Hollywood working in television, I did some developing, and I also was staff for the TV show Cold Case for a year. After that, you know, Hollywood is not the most secure place, for job security -- LB: No, I tell people that if they want job security, Hollywood is not the place to be because your contract in television, your contract is actually in weeks. KG: Yes, it's one of those things where you could, your show could be canceled tomorrow and you could not work again for years. And so when I turned 30, I wanted more job security so I came back home to New Jersey and I started over into more corporate writing. And so now I'm a communications writer for a media company in New York. LB: I remember Cold Case. I loved Cold Case. KG: People,