Rootless Branch--Seven Questions

This is the second book in A Tree's Response trilogy. The first book, Frail Branch, is available for purchase on Kindle.

1. What is the working title of your book?  Rootless Branch, A Tree's Response, Book 2 (Southern Pines Mystery) The title comes from a quote in Their Eyes Were Watching God--'You know, honey, us colored folks is branches without roots and that makes things come round in queer ways. You in particular. Ah was born back due in slavery so it wasn't for me to fulfill my dreams of whut a woman oughta be and to do . . . Ah wanted to preach a great sermon about colored women sittin' on high, but they wasn't no pulpit for me.'

(The former tittle was Mysterious Wisteria.)

2. Where did the idea come from for the book? I don't remember about this particular book. This series has been rattling around in my brain while I worked on my In the Shadow of the Cedar books. There is an Agatha Christie book that has a similar killer, but not the same setting, story line, or other characters. That may have been the germ of the idea.

In the case of the trilogy, A Tree's Response, of which this is part 2, I believe the story line came out of necessity. The thought process is something like--who will be murdered? If that person is the one murdered, why? Who would be the one most likely? It was (an overused word, but one that I think fits here) an organic process.

3. What genre does your book fall under? Cozy mystery although it is partly romance, partly Southern fiction, and maybe a few other things.

4. What's the synopsis of your book? 

A week after the murderer of Matthew Drake has been apprehended, a woman shows up at the estate, claiming to be Mildred Drake Denton, Matthew and Randall Drake's runaway sister. She carries a copy of Matthew Drake's will in hand, stating she is the sole heir. With her are her five young children, with strange names and stranger attitudes. Red Bud, Rose Petal, Mary Gold, and Wisteria May hold secrets that they do not themselves comprehend. The occupants of the house, including Zeke Hunter and Grace Phillips, are forced to vacate the premises. However, the next day Mildred is found dead, having tripped and fallen on the grounds near an abandoned well. Accidents do happen but the sheriff's department suspects murder. Mildred may have been killed by one of the people evicted from the estate. Or she may have stumbled onto one of Uncle Matthew's secrets. Or perhaps may have simply stumbled by her own clumsiness. Her children hold the answer to their mother's death, but they're not talking, except for Wisteria whose puzzling words may lead to her own demise.

5. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? If things continue on track, a month, although I've been gathering information for several months now.

6. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

A Bloodhound to Die For by Virginia Lanier 

7. When will your book be published? If all goes as planned, Rootless Branch will be published in February, 2016.