Author Speed Date

The idea of speed dating is that you get 10 minutes to sit down with a prospective date and get to know them. In that spirit, we present Author Speed Date. A quick 10 minutes for you to get to know some of our clients. Today we'd like you to meet Avery Aames.

BookEnds Author Speed Date

Name (the one you’re published under): Avery Aames

Speed date Bio (one or two lines): Avery Aames is the national bestselling author of A Cheese Shop Mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime. Avery likes to read, cook, garden, and do amateur photography.

Web Link: You can visit Avery at www.averyaames.com. She also blogs at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen, a blog for foodies who love mysteries, as well as at Killer Characters, a blog overtaken by cozy authors’ characters.

Next Book, pub date: Lost and Fondue, May 3, 2011

Agent: Kim Lionetti

About Me

Real Name or Pseudonym: Daryl Wood Gerber, aka Avery Aames

Currently Reading: Buffalo West Wing by Julie Hyzy

Next on Your Reading List: A Crafty Killing by Lorraine Bartlett

Facebook or Twitter (include account name): Twitter: @AveryAames as well as @DarylWoodGerber.

Facebook: There's a page for Avery Aames as well as Daryl Wood Gerber.


Three authors living or dead you would want to have dinner with: Lisa Gardner, Agatha Christie, Robert Crais

Jet-setter or armchair traveler: A little of both. ☺ I’ve hitchhiked by myself around Ireland. Not sure if that’s a jet-setter, but it’s a risk-taker. I’ve also jumped out of a perfectly good airplane.

Glass ½ full or ½ empty: Half full always.

Tea or Coffee: Decaf coffee; way too much energy zipping through my bloodstream on a regular basis. A little wine with my cheese, too. Say cheese!

Live to write or Write to live: Live to write. I love crafting stories. I always have. I also act, so I hear voices in my head. Please don’t tell more than five of your closest friends.

About My Writing

When (time of day) I write: Morning is best. But I’ll squeeze in writing any time I can. Love coffee shops.

Writing soundtrack: I listen to instrumental Latin and classical music.

Character Inspirations: Those darned voices. They keep knocking at the inside of my brain and telling me what they want to do and say.

Plot Inspirations: Newspaper and Internet real-life stories make me think outside the box.

Setting Inspirations: Where I’ve lived. Where I’d like to live. Where I believe the story should be set. I wrote four stories set in Lake Tahoe. I believe I nailed the last one, a suspense novel. Right now, I write about Ohio because The Cheese Shop is set there and the pastoral, fictional tourism-driven town of Providence fits in the location.

Plotter (carefully plot books) or Pantser (write from the seat of my pants): I like to plot. I like to have road maps when I drive, as well. However, I like to take detours, so if one of my characters (the voices) starts taking another route (circuitous most often), I’ll follow for a while. And if I get jazzed by some outside-the-box idea, then the plot can morph. I’ll fix the outline, however, before I go too far. I always like knowing who did it and why. That’s very important to me.