This episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features my interview with crime writer and travel memoir writer Sherry Knowlton.
Check out our discussion about crime writing, travel, and travel writing (with or without crime)!
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Download a copy of the PDF transcript of this episode here.
Debbi (00:54): Hi everyone. My guest today is the award-winning author of the Alexa Williams suspense novels, including Dead of Autumn, Dead of Spring, and Dead on the Delta. A lot of environmental stuff mixed in there. I love that. A retired executive in the government and health insurance industry, she draws on her professional background and her extensive travels for story material. Her most recent publication is a travel memoir called Beyond the Sunset. It’s my pleasure to introduce my guest today, Sherry Knowlton. Hi, Sherry. How are you doing today?
Sherry (01:36): Pretty good. Thank you so much for having me on the podcast.
Debbi (01:41): Well, I’m very happy to have you here, believe me. It seems like forever ago I read Dead on the Delta <laugh>, and I still remember the descriptions of the safari your protagonist went on. I was impressed with how you created a story that dealt with Alexa’s personal relationships as well as the political, economic and environmental issues associated with elephant poaching and other bad things. Can you tell us about the series and what inspired you to write it?
Sherry (02:18): Okay. <laugh>, the series as a whole <laugh> is called the Alexa Williams Suspense Series. And there are actually five novels so far.
Debbi (02:33): Ah.
Sherry (02:37): Dead on the Delta is a little bit unique, which we can talk about in a minute. But the first four are all seasons, as you said, some of them in the titles Dead of Autumn, Summer, Spring, and Winter. And those are all based in this local area where I live, which is southeastern Pennsylvania. Excuse me, I’ve got a bit of a frog in my throat. And I was inspired actually because I wanted to write about an actual incident that had occurred in the local area where the dead body of a young woman was found. And for years, nobody could identify who she was. And that always sort of touched a chord. And so it inspired me to write. And then each of my subsequent novels does have a theme, whether it’s women’s issues, environmental issues, Those are the, probably the two, the two big ones.
(03:46): When I wrote Dead on the Delta, I had run out of seasons <laugh>. So, which of course I didn’t think when I started with, you know, maybe I should have done something with more than four. So after I’d exhausted the seasons, I had to come up with both a new title and a new premise. And so I decided to send my protagonist Alexa Williams to Africa, to Botswana specifically to help her boyfriend who has been in all of the books, a lion researcher. So that it wasn’t too farfetched to suddenly pop her off to Africa. And I was inspired to write Dead on the Delta primarily because of, first of all, I’m a big wildlife conservationist. And second of all, my husband and I have traveled to Africa on safari multiple times and simply love Botswana. And so I wanted to write about an issue that was near and dear to my heart and a place that I love to visit.
I was inspired to write Dead on the Delta primarily because of, first of all, I’m a big wildlife conservationist. And second of all, my husband and I have traveled to Africa on safari multiple times and simply love Botswana.
Debbi (05:06): That’s awesome. I would love to go there. I mean, there’s so, there are so many places I would love to travel. Botswana is one of them. Did you have to do a lot of research into the politics and so forth when you were writing that novel in particular?
Sherry (05:25): Yeah, with Dead on the, I mean, all of my novels take some research even though I often write about topics that I’m familiar with and, you know, the idea of writing a novel about Botswana seemed very good. And then when I started to sit down and really get into the details, I thought, Okay, you know, going to Botswana for a couple of weeks here and there over the years isn’t quite being expert on the situation. So I really had to research the politics which in the middle of my writing ended up changing a little bit with a new election. I had to learn really more of the specifics of elephant poaching. And then I also realized that although the idea of being a lion researcher sounded really cool to me, I didn’t really know what they did on a day-to-day basis other than like, good stuff about lions. So yes, I did have to do a lot of research and I decided, and this was partly selfish, but my husband and I decided to go to Botswana again. And we actually spent a month there at doing research for the book, both on safari and then talking to people in the capital city there, learning about the politics and so forth and the government.
To read the entire interview, click here.
S. 8, Ep. 14: Interview with Crime Writer Sherry Knowlton