Monday, September 28, 2015

Scene of the Crime with Betty Hechtman!




I learned to knit at a young age, and won ribbons for my work at the county and state levels of 4-H. The problem was... I never really enjoyed it. I stopped for about thirty-five years, and within the past year I've started up again. It must be the right time in my life because I'm loving it, and when I ran across Betty Hechtman's first Yarn Retreat mystery, Yarn to Go, I discovered that the author's blend of yarn-overs, knit-togethers, and murder was a great addition to my reading and stitching. I look forward to reading her other Yarn Retreat mysteries, and I may even branch out into her crochet mysteries because you know me-- I can't resist luscious settings, believable characters, good mysteries, and... yarn!

Betty Hechtman
I know you folks tend to be the strong silent types, so I've rounded up some links so you can learn more about this talented woman and connect with her in other ways:




Now that you know her social media links, let's get to the fun part-- the interview!



What was the very first book you remember reading and loving? What makes that book so special?

Charlotte’s Web.  It gave me a whole new perspective on spiders and probably had something to do with why I eventually became a vegetarian.


Outside of your writing and all associated commitments, what do you like to do in your free time? 

No surprise, I like to crochet and knit.  I also go to the gym for indoor cycling and Zumba classes.  I am always up to go for a walk somewhere.

Or go anywhere for that matter.  I love to travel.





If I were to visit your hometown, where would you recommend that I go? (I like seeing and doing things that aren't in all the guide books.)

The Museum of Science and Industry

I really have two hometowns – Chicago and L.A.  There is a fabulous museum near my place in Chicago.  The Museum of Science and Industry is in a building left from the 1893 World’s Fair.  When I was a kid and it was free to get in, I often went there every Sunday.  A lot of my favorite exhibits are gone, but there are still all kinds of neat things to see and touch.

To me, L.A. is all about outdoors.  There are so many places to suggest.  We like to go to Manhattan Beach and take a long walk.  There is a pier and lots of amazing houses to look at.  You can usually see Catalina in the distance. 


You have total control over casting a movie based on your life. Which actor would you cast as you?

She doesn’t look like me and is a lot younger, but who wouldn’t want Sandra Bullock to play them.  I understand she knits.


Who is your favorite recurring character in crime fiction?

I wanted to be Jessica Fletcher. She was a famous writer with lots of friends and lived in an adorable town.  And she could solve a murder in less than an hour.
 


 

If you could have in your possession one signed first edition of any book in the world, which book would that be? Why that particular book?

Probably Charlotte’s Web.  I know it took E.B. White years and years to write his books and the stories must have meant a lot to him.  The  idea that he actually touched the copy I had would mean we had a connection.


How did you celebrate when you first heard you were to be published? What did you do the first time you saw one of your books on a shelf in a bookstore? 

This probably sounds silly, but I didn’t have to do anything to celebrate but sit there and think how happy I was.

The first time I saw Hooked on Murder on the shelves was in a big Borders in downtown Chicago.  The book wasn’t supposed to be out yet, so when I looked where I thought it would be, I was shocked to see it was already there and face out besides.


 Name one thing on your Bucket List.


 I’d like to go on a river cruise in Europe.



You've just received a $100 gift card to the bookstore of your choice. Which bookstore are you making a bee-line for?



I’d go right to 57th Street Books in Chicago.  Both President Obama and I did book signings there.  He got a better turn out.  It is in the basement of an apartment building across from my old elementary school. 


An extremely reliable source tells you that a thinly disguised you is a character in a book that's currently high up on the New York Times Bestseller List. What kind of character do you think you are?

I don’t give up.  When I hit a wall, I just turn and go in a new direction. 




Available Now!


 
Betty, thank you so much for spending this time with us. It is a pleasure to be able to get to know you a little better.


May your book sales do nothing but increase!

 

 


 


 

 

 

 

5 comments:

  1. Lol! Cabot Cove is the one place you never want to go, because all of Jessica Fletcher's neighbors run the risk of becoming the next murder victim...and we also hold it up as an example of what happens if you stay too locked into one place in a mystery series.

    Very nice interview. Thanks!

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    1. You're welcome!

      Just for giggles, I've been watching Murder She Wrote on Netflix, and it didn't take them very long to start shipping her around the world. I think the problem lies more within Jessica herself rather than the setting because wherever she does, you're guaranteed to trip over dead bodies!

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  2. Oh, this is bringing up my childhood in Chicago. I loved the Museum of Science and Industry, which was free then as the author mentions. We went there all of the time. I remember walking through the huge replica of the human heart, hearing its beats and watching chicks hatch, etc.

    And I'm so glad to see that 57th Street bookstore. I grew up on 54th Street and it is probably nearby. It would be worth it to me to go there just to see the bookstore, museum and V.I. Warshawski's South Side haunts.

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    1. I learn something new each and every day. For some reason I had it in my head that you were a native New Yorker, Kathy. I didn't realize we have ties to the same state. :-)

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  3. I was born in New York City, but lived in Chicago from age 6 to 13, then back to New York, Queens that time until I moved to Manhattan at 22, then to Brooklyn, then back to Manhattan where I've been for decades -- and loving it.

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