Celia Miles, Author
Author Celia Miles presents her fourth mystery in the Marcy Dehanne Grist Mill Series, set in Western North Carolina. “My long-time interest in water-powered grist mills through the years hasn’t flagged though I’ve declared this is my last in the series,” says Miles. “Still, I like Marcy Dehanne and may not relinquish her.”
Despite the complexity of mystery plots, Miles admits that she does not plan the books beforehand. “Cliché-ish as it sounds, “ she says, “once the story gets going, the characters lead, the plot evolves, and I wait and write to see what happens. Writing a cozy mystery is both fun and formulaic—the clues have to be plausible and the case resolved. The challenge is creating and keeping the readers’ interest in characters as they solve the murder.”
And, of course, a satisfying ending is part of the bargain between author and reader. “Genre novels offer readers a sane and temporary ‘escape’ through windows into other times, places and situations where they know that love, justice and goodness will ultimately prevail,” says Miles.
The Secret at the Little Lost Mill, May, 2022, mystery, paperback, $14.95, by Celia Miles, and published by Stone Ivy Press. Miles will appear at Mountain Made gift shop in the Grove Arcade on Saturday, October 1, from noon to 3 p.m. To learn more, visit CeliaMiles.com.
