Ask the Author: Tonya Kappes

“I'll be participating in the Mystery and Thriller week here on Goodreads! Be sure to ask my anything! #MysteryWeek” Tonya Kappes

Answered Questions (21)

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Tonya Kappes Not real sure about that right now :) The best way to keep informed is by joining my newsletter which you can do by going to my website tonyakappes.com
Tonya Kappes Hey! It’s not for sale or available to pre-order yet. You can sign up for my newsletter for the latest updates at tonya kappes.com
This question contains spoilers... (view spoiler)
Tonya Kappes OH yeah! We are on book 7 now.
Tonya Kappes It is available now.
Tonya Kappes Yes! The 9th book releases in October.
Tonya Kappes Yes! The 9th book releases in October.
Tonya Kappes NO!!! Two bachelor degrees, four children, and two different jobs later.....and in my late 30's, I wrote my first book. You're only as old as you feel. Age is only a number. Like retirement isn't a number of years, it's the number you need in the account to live....
If you want to write a book, follow your passion. Nothing should stop that.
Tonya Kappes Oh gosh!! Everywhere. No joke. The other day I was standing in line a the Dollar Tree, I might've been eaves dropping, though I'd never admit it...and it just so happens that I got a really GREAT murder plot from a story this lady was telling in line....See~everywhere!
Tonya Kappes Write every day. When that novel is complete, let it go and write another one.
Tonya Kappes Hey girl!! I have to have some sort of white noise on. I usually have on my IHeart Radio on the computer turned down low but enough for white noise.
Tonya Kappes The first house my husband and I bought after we got married was over one-hundred and fifty years old. We were the third owners of the house. That's not that many. The house is on the historic registry in our community. We had to get a special permit to be able to enclose a screened in porch to make into my office.

After that was when everything went crazy! Items in my house started to disappear. Strange items like my clothing iron and a 35mm camera. As soon as I would replace an item, the original item would show up in our kitchen cabinets that we use every single day.

The water faucets would turn on at different hours of the day, including the outside one. It was crazy. Of course we thought it was just because the house was old. But...then our dogs would be chasing something that wasn't there and at the same time. They'd also watch and follow nothing around. That's when we realized that this was more than just an old house. There had to be a spirit or dare I say ghost among us?!

For a year we accepted all the strange things that'd happened around us and kinda gotten used to it. I'd even named it, Mrs. Meyers, only because I'd found out the previous owners wife had died there.

A year later we put our house up for sale because a better, older house was put on the market down the street and we bought it. Houses in the area sell like hot cakes. Ours had been on the market almost four months. So many people went through our house but we couldn't sell it. It was the strangest thing. It was a darling house and priced perfect.

It wasn't until I'd gone to see a physic did I find out my ghost was Martha Meyers, the daughter of the previous owner. She too had died in the house of a childhood disease. She use to love the screened in porch that I'd bricked up into my office. She was angry I'd done that but love my dogs and my new born little boy. She scared off any would be buyers because she didn't want us to leave.

I was told that I had to take her to her grave or take her to the next house with me. NO WAY!

Like a nut job, at least I looked like a nut job, I had a very candid conversation with my ghost, my new born, and my dogs. I told Martha that we were moving and I was taking her back to her grave (which I did find her grave!) because she couldn't go with us. No joke, I drove my ghost to the cemetery and dropped her off. Dogs and new born in the car.

Three hours later my house sold. Thanks to Martha, I learned I had some sleuthing skills.
#MysteryWeek
Tonya Kappes I currently just finished the Ghostly Southern Mystery Series for HarperCollins, four books in all. I'm working on a new series for my agent to shop about a witch in a mortal world, of course a hunky cop too ;)
Tonya Kappes I don't really believe in writer's block. When I'm "stuck" I will start to write long hand and it might not be the best written words for the manuscript but I can always go back and cut the words. It really does jumpstart my writing and kicks me back on track.

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