This post is part of a virtual book tour orgnaized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Kirsten Weiss will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Welcome to It's Raining Books. Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?
I grew up on a steady diet of Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes stories, then graduated to Agatha Christie. I loved the fun, the escapism, and the puzzle of cozy-style mysteries, so I naturally gravitated toward writing them. But for me, the mystery is the structure. What really makes it fun is the characters—what’s going on in their lives, how a murder disrupts it, and how they react to bring their world back into balance. Because at the end of a cozy mystery, the world has changed, but it’s always brought back to balance. There’s something hopeful and comforting about that.
What research is required?
It depends on the book. In A Deathly Display, Maddie and Herb are taking a seminar series in museum curation. I was fortunate enough to find an online curation class, and I was able to take some of the wisdom from that class and weave it into the novel. It’s also set in central-California wine country in the spring, so I got to enjoy visiting wineries there and taking lots of pictures and video to remind me of what it looks like!
Name one thing you learned from your hero.
Just do it! Maddie is an optimist at heart, and she takes action. It doesn’t always get her where she expects, but she’s constantly moving forward, and I like that attitude.
Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?
I don’t know if it’s odd or interesting, but I like to write first thing in the morning. I’m fairly useless in the afternoon, and have found that’s a much better time for me to do things that don’t require long, intense focus.
Are you a plotter or pantser?
I fall somewhere in between. I usually plot out the first half of the book, and then when I reach the end of my plotting, I’ll plot out the next chapter the day before I have to write it. It gives my subconscious room to breathe.
Look to your right – what’s sitting there?
A big pile of books! Some I’ve read, and some on my TBR list!
Anything new coming up from you? What?
I like to work on several projects at once—editing a book and writing a new book at the same time. Currently I’m editing Big Deal, book 4 in my Big Murder Mystery series featuring a woman who’s an ex-bodyguard. It’s probably my wackiest cozy mystery series. Meanwhile, I’m writing Refuge of the Witch, which is book 4 in my Mystery School series. It’s witchy and metaphysical and set at a wolf sanctuary (I had a LOT of fun researching that book!).
Do you have a question for our readers?
What is your favorite cozy mystery trope?
A killer stalks her sister.
A mysterious painting holds the key.
Can Maddie unravel the mystery before Melanie meets a deadly fate?
When Maddie and Herb attend a curation class at the upscale Domus Vinea museum, the mood turns darker than a gothic portrait after Maddie’s opera-singing sister, Melanie, discovers the museum director’s body. Now, with a cunning killer targeting Melanie next, Maddie must act fast.
Racing against time, Maddie and friends investigate a gallery of suspects, including a dashing vintner with a haunted painting that may hide a deadly secret. If Maddie can’t crack the case, and fast, her sister’s life could end in one fatal stroke.
A Deathly Display, the latest in the Paranormal Museum series, blends quirky sleuthing, small-town chills, and paranormal thrills with a dash of humor. Perfect for fans of cozy mysteries!
Grab A Deathly Display and start reading this hilarious whodunit!
For readers who crave a cozy mystery about a woman finding belonging through small-town wine-country sleuthing and the gentle absurdity of everyday hauntings. Perfect if you like breezy pacing, light supernatural quirks, and warm humor over gritty tension—think vintage charm, quirky neighbors, and just-enough chills to keep pages turning without losing sleep. Book 11 in the series.
Read an Excerpt
Stuffing the brochure into the pocket of my navy hoodie, I walked to the window. The gentle blues of twilight streamed through it, making a trapezoid on the museum’s wooden floor.
A narrow, carved piece of wood stuck out beneath the sill. There appeared to be two wooden hinges at its base. It was another door. Curious, I pried the top open.
The slender strip of wood popped off the wall. I caught it before it could hit the floor and froze, squatting, door cradled in both hands. Horrified, I gaped at the piece of carved wood.
“You broke it,” Herb hissed. “You broke the house on our first visit!”
“I didn’t break it. It fell off.” Frantically, I tried to work the door back into the hinge.
“What are you doing?” Bran asked from behind me.
Heart pounding, I spun to face him and hid the slim little door behind my back.
“Are you hiding something behind your back?” Bran cocked an eyebrow. Now, he looked like an angry Roman general, the trimmed stubble on his jaw more threatening. Not even his jeans and blue button-up eased the effect.
I blinked, sweating. He’d caught me like a kid elbow-deep in a cookie jar.
About the Author:
Kirsten Weiss writes laugh-out-loud, page-turning mysteries, and now a Tarot guidebook that’s a work of experimental fiction. Her heroes and heroines aren’t perfect, but they’re smart, they struggle, and they succeed. Kirsten writes in a house high on a hill in the Colorado woods and occasionally ventures out for wine and chocolate. Or for a visit to the local pie shop.
Kirsten is best known for her Wits’ End, Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum, and Tea & Tarot cozy mystery books. So if you like funny, action-packed mysteries with complicated heroines, just turn the page…
Website: http://www.KirstenWeiss.com
Twitter: http://www.x.com/SBPM_Museum
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirstenweissauthor
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kirstenweissauthor
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KirstenWeiss-Writer
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/243649538-a-deathly-display
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4p2g97b
Apple Books: https://bit.ly/4nIZMuW
B&N: https://bit.ly/4oL69zv
Google Play: https://bit.ly/43i6bWH
Kobo: https://bit.ly/3WDUrtY
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/a-deathly-display-a-small-town-murder-mystery-a-perfectly-proper-paranormal-museum-mystery-book-11-by-kirsten-weiss
Universal Book link: https://books2read.com/u/3J1MPQ
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