Today we welcome DROP DEAD SISTERS author Amelia Diane Coombs to the blog. Welcome Amelia. First, tell our readers a bit about yourself.
My name is Amelia Diane Coombs, and I’m the author of the dark comedic mystery, Drop Dead Sisters, as well as four YA novels.
Where you’re from, where you live? Is writing your full-time job?
I’m originally from Northern California and currently live in Seattle, Washington. I moved up here a few months before the pandemic (awful timing!) but I love the area. I live in a hundred-year-old house with my husband, who’s a musical composer and artist, and our “super senior” cat, Sofiya.
How long have you been writing?
Forever is such a copout answer, but it’s also a truthful one. I’ve been writing since I was a kid; I even wrote a truly tragic “romance” in the seventh grade that will, luckily, never see the light of day. I shared some of my writing online anonymously in high school, and didn’t get the nerve to share my writing with anyone in person until college, when I applied to a creative writing course.
What does your typical writing day look like?
I live and die by my daily routines, whether or not I’m writing. But usually, I settle down at my desk around ten or eleven in the morning, and I’ll work until I hit my word count for the day (sometimes an arbitrary goal, or sometimes it’s to keep me on track for a deadline) or until I stop for dinner. If my deadline is tight, I sometimes work up until nine or ten at night.
Tell us about your latest release? Where the idea came from? Perhaps some fun moments, or not so fun moments?
Drop Dead Sisters is my adult debut, and it’s a dark (but hopefully funny!) mystery about three estranged sisters who come together to cover up a murder at their parents’ wedding anniversary celebration at a campground. I really have to credit my agent for helping me come up with this idea, since we worked together on crafting the pitch before I began drafting. While I’ve never covered up a murder, I’m the youngest of three, like Remi, the main character, and I’ve spent most of my summers camping in Northern California.
Could you share one detail from your current release with readers that they might not find in the book?
The event Remi recalls several times throughout the book, where she was almost drowned by a childhood friend in a pool, actually happened to me when I was younger. I seriously doubt the intentions were as malicious as they were in Remi’s situation, but it was a very frightening and weird experience that has stuck with me over the decades.
If you could be one of your characters for a day which character would it be?
Honestly, Buffy, Remi’s dog! I’ve always wanted to Freaky Friday swap lives with my cat, and I figure this would be similar enough. Our pets live such plush, easy lives. It’d be great.
If you could spend the day with your character, what would you do? What would that day look like?
I’d spend the day with almost any of the characters, but Remi and I would definitely get along. I think we’d spend the day talking about our childhood traumas and our sisters over a good cup of coffee!
Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write?
I’m not sure if influence is the right word, since I like to think I have my own unique writing style and voice, but since this was my first adult mystery, I read pretty widely in the genre to familiarize myself with it. I absolutely love Elle Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan series, as well as Jesse Q Sutanto’s Auntie’s series.
Do you have a secret talent readers would be surprised by?
I’m shockingly good at those prize claw machines at arcades and bowling alleys.
I’ve honestly never met anyone who could beat ‘the claw’. Thats impressive! Thank you very much for joining us today Amelia.
Reader’s here’s a look at Drop Dead Sisters
“Compulsively readable, Drop Dead Sisters is perfect for readers who love shows like Bad Sisters and Dead to Me. A mystery about three estranged sisters who accidentally kill someone? Yes, please.” —Mindy Kaling
Three sisters reunite on a family vacation and rekindle their relationship the only way they know how—by covering each other’s tracks in a real-life murder mystery not even they can figure out.
Remi Finch has spent the better part of her adult life avoiding family—especially her sisters. They just don’t click. Besides, her unconventional upbringing and major anxiety have convinced Remi that she can’t build a relationship with anyone. Period.
When her parents plan a family reunion camping trip to celebrate their anniversary, Remi’s willing to reconnect, if only because she doesn’t have a choice. But then a dead body turns up at their campsite, and their sisterly bonding kicks into high gear.
No one knows the whole story, but the Finch women are prepared to cover up the pieces before anyone tries to put them together. It’s a precautionary measure, probably unnecessary. Nobody else was there, so how could they have seen anything?
Between old grudges and new dynamics, a handsome park ranger, and a body that won’t stay hidden, Remi is about to learn that nothing strengthens family ties quite like crime.
