Suspense, Twists, and Mystery with Mary Nunn Maki

What makes a mystery story impossible to put down?

In this episode of the Nutmeg Lit Fest Podcast, we sit down with author Mary Nunn Maki, writer of An Unexpected Death, to explore the craft behind suspense, plot twists, and unforgettable storytelling.

Mary shares her journey into mystery writing, how she builds tension that keeps readers engaged, and the creative process behind developing compelling characters and layered narratives.

Whether you are an avid reader, an aspiring writer, or someone who simply loves a good mystery, this conversation offers insight, inspiration, and a deeper appreciation for the stories that keep us guessing.

In this episode, we discuss:
• The inspiration behind An Unexpected Death
• Building suspense and pacing in mystery writing
• Creating characters readers connect with
• The writing process behind a compelling plot
• Advice for aspiring authors

 Featured Book: An Unexpected Death by Mary Nunn Maki

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Welcome to the NetMek Litfest Podcast where stories speak. This is a space that celebrates authors, storytellers, poets, and creatives from Connecticut and beyond. Here we are lifting voices, sharing stories, and spotlighting the creativity that brings our literary community to life. Whether you're a writer, a reader, or simply someone who loves a powerful story, this podcast is for you. Get ready for conversations that inspire, connect, and celebrate the magic of storytelling. This is NetMag Litfest Podcast. Hello, hello, hello. We are back. We are excited. The weather is nice, right? I'm like the joy, right? We can go outside, we can read our books, we can do all those good things. So this audience already knows the drill. Every book has a story behind it, and every author has a moment when they decide to tell it. And this, my friends, is the Nutmeg Lipfest Podcast where Story Speak. I'm your host, Janae Hernandez, and this podcast is a celebration of authors, their voices, their journeys, and the stories they bring into the world. Each week we sit down with writers to talk about the path to the page, the moments that shape their work, and the stories they are excited to share with readers. Today I am joined by Mary, author of An Unexpected Death: A Compelling Mystery that introduces readers to Caitlin. Ooh, I can't wait to get into it. And the twists, secrets, and challenges she must navigate. Mary works, Blend Suspense, character-driven storytelling, and the emotional complexity that keeps mystery readers turning pages. Mary, welcome to Netmeg Lipfest Podcast. I hope I did you justice, but just in case I didn't, share a little bit about us. About you, not us. We know about us, right, readers?

SPEAKER_00 2:22

We know about us. So I appreciate you too. So I could do that. But you want to know a little bit of my background. Yes. I grew up in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, near the Ithaca area.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

And uh right now I'm living in Connecticut. And the um what's inspired me to writing, well, I started writing because I'm also a family historian. Oh wow. Really? So I'm a genealogist, and that's how I kind of started because a lot of people think that genealogy is names and dates, and it is, but to me, it's the stories, the people, they're real people. I'm trying to bring them to life. So I started writing in like uh 1997 when I was doing my genealogy just in Word, as putting their stories together.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

And then uh writing mysteries started in 2008.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

So we have a little gap there. So what was the transition? What happened? Like what sparked, what what got us going? How did we get from point A to point B?

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Point B was because of 2008. And for those who remember what happened in 2008, we had a financial collapse here in this country. And people were losing their homes, losing their jobs, and the people that were responsible for that were not being held responsible. And that made me very frustrated, even angry. And I learned through genealogy that writing helps you make sense of things. Yes, it does. So I started writing a book, and I love mysteries and I love puzzles, so it was a natural, and uh, but I got to the dreaded middle, as writers know what that is. Yes, when things just kind of come to a halt, and it did, it came to a halt because I had the wrong kind of time period and the wrong protagonist, and so it sat until 2014. What? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Wow. So I have another question. This has prompted another question, and I've already warned Mary Friends um how this works. So mine is always going. What are you your worst critic? Like, what what was the reason for having it sit so long?

SPEAKER_00 4:48

I think because the characters um know and they tell you, they work with you, and they're just I couldn't move the plot along. Or actually, I have two plot lines. I have two plot lines in every book, and they are uh social and environmental issues of the day. So every fact that I put in or number that I put in the book, any of the books, is true to that moment of writing.

unknown 5:17

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

And so it just uh I don't know, it just I couldn't make it go, and it's because I had some major issues with characters and plot.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Now you I hear you say that you like to you talked about your characters in like real life form. Is that is that your motivation then to keep going, to develop them? Like, what sparks that? Like, how did we come up with Caitlin?

SPEAKER_00 5:46

I came up with Caitlin because I she's a little bit like me, very strong sense of justice, and so consequently she falls into these different situations, but I had to make her a graphic designer because where why could that way she could travel? Laptop will travel, she could still work, but she could be in these different places and where she runs into situations, and so that's um and that's what drives the the books, uh is the characters. That's true. And if I can skip down a little bit because we're going through these characters, um, Elizabeth George said that when people talk about your books, they're talking about the characters. That's true, that is true. And so I was I published my first book in 20 this uh um unexpected death in 2015. My first presentation was right after that in the development that I lived in Virginia. I was scared to death. I mean, just scared to death through this. I was asked to do it, go to another development right after that. And so I'm in there early. My husband's setting things up for my PowerPoint, and these book group people came in and they, you know, said hi to me, whatever. And then all of a sudden, I'm sitting here by myself and they're in a group and they're talking about my characters. You know, it's like you know, this was a soap opera or something, you know. I mean, they were just talking about them, and it was like the strangest feeling to know that I develop characters that people care about. Yes, and talk about, and they like them, and then sometimes they don't like like the minor characters who are doing not good things, um, and they'll say, I'm so glad you, you know, got him. I'm so glad she did this. It's really funny, it's really interesting.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

So, in the true sentence of the chicken or the egg, what comes first for you? The characters or the plot?

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Well, on the first book, I have to say the plot. Okay. Because that came out of, you know, my feelings, my emotions. But once I developed Caitlin and her partner Ethan, who's a police officer that she teams up with and stays with, uh, then it was the characters that were driving. And I had to come up with plot lines to um to do and and one of the books, uh, I think it was Fatal Dose. I didn't want to do one of those plot lines. It wasn't in my comfort level at all. And the um characters that I developed made me do it.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

They spoke to you. They said they say we need we need to do this.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

We need to do this, we need to do this, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Any hidden characters for future books?

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Well, right now I'm um writing on, I'm writing the fifth, Caitlin Jameson Mystery. And so I've got, and it's a spin-off, some of the characters are a spin-off of the fourth one, which is Deadly Secrets. And it's it's um, I made up a town in the Adirondacks on Lake Champlain.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Tell us about it. I need to know how we got there.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

How did we come up with that? Please share. Well, she was um travel, well, this is fourth book, remember, she was traveling uh to visit a friend. And uh my daughter lives in the Adirondacks, and now we've got a lot of readers up there because they love the setting. And uh I thought, well, this is a cool place to, it's a really cool place to put it, but setting, and as we know, setting is also character. Yes, so it was it was prime, it was prime, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

So writing a suspense requires careful pacing and planning. What is your process when building a mystery story?

SPEAKER_00 9:41

That's an interesting question because um I've done everything. Uh I have um plotted and I have pants, which you know, and uh and then now I'm a plancer, which means I do try to do some sort of outline. Right now I'm trying the three-act play way of developing because you you think of you think of your book as a three-act play and how you set it up. And so this is the first time I've really tried this, okay, but it's really neat because it kind of puts the books into sections and you can keep tweaking it as you go along. And so I found that I've tried all the other two, and I found that the combination works best for me because you can't plan so tight that your characters don't have any wiggle room. Because I'm so once your characters, and this I tell everybody that I have a um presentation, I tell everyone that once you develop your characters, they will take over the story.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Agreed.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

And you have to keep your eye on them. I mean, it's sometimes it's really good where they take you, other times they can take you down a rabbit hole. So you have to keep, you know, a little bit of control of your characters because they will go off. And one I was gonna one of the things I want to say is one of the one of the times um, well, this has happened since, but I ignore it now. But one of my first experiences, I was you know writing and doing the you know, the conversation, everything, and then I left the book for several days. And I came back and I had to read what I had written before to get myself oriented back into the story. And I was reading what the characters were saying, I stopped, and I said, I didn't write this. This is not me, this is not how I would say it.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Really?

SPEAKER_00 11:40

And then I realized that I had gotten what I call in the groove. You get so deep in your characters that they take over and they say things that you would never say.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Yeah, you would never say. So you really connect with your writing, you really become your characters, and it really is not Mary. It's kind of like an alter ego, like you become Caitlin and Ethan and and write as if they were really telling the story.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Is that how you get and you get that through edits, yes, too, because you kind of you know do this story thing, but then when you go back in, you really have to get into your character and get into their head, their emotions, and and that's what makes a power uh story so powerful.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

So I have a question for you. Mary that first picked up the pen and started writing, and married today, what advice would you give each other?

SPEAKER_00 12:44

I would say to oh, there's so much advice. Yeah, really think into your character, really to get into your character and do the the plansing, you know, do some planning, but let your characters go. And don't worry about the thing, the thing that happens, I think, with the first book is I was so careful about making every sentence correct, you know, and uh all the grammar and all that kind of stuff. And it's sometimes you just need to let it flow and then go back and the edits and you know worry about that later. You know, I tell uh fellow authors don't get so stuck on a misplaced apostrophe because what readers really want is a story, yes, they want a good story, and that's what you need to concentrate on.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

I appreciate that. Um, as a as a new author, I I get stuck on the grammar, even though we have editors, we just does this sentence make sense, you know, how does this sound when you you make a very good point of writing in the language and just becoming the characters and having normal conversation? Because that's what readers actually want to read. They want to be, you know, taken away somewhere and not worried about how is this drafted, is the comma in the right place.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

That is that is exactly that is very good advice, and also um read read it aloud, read it aloud, because then um writing is music, yes, and if you have the words right, it will be sound like music, but if there's a wrong word or a wrong you know paragraph or whatever, you'll hear it. So I always read it aloud.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Mary, you have some phenomenal gems. Listen, I'm taking notes. I am taking notes. So, what themes or ideas were most important for you to explore through Caitlin?

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Well, like I said, I've picked a um a current environment. Well, environment is big. So that comes up in quite a few of my books, um, but also other social issues which are harder to deal with. Like this one character made me do something that I didn't want to do. Um so yeah, I try to pick current social and economic uh uh environmental issues that are would be interesting and um you know create a good plot line. And of course, actually, there's I say there's two plot lines, there's actually three because interwovenness is the relation. I mean, people people have relationships, are the relationships that Caitlin and Ethan are developing through the books.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Is that your kind of plot twist to make it a mystery?

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Well, the mystery, that's that's part of it. Um, people are now saying, you know, you know, get and men, men read were reading my books as well. So they're saying, you know, it's time they got together. It's time they got together.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

The men are telling you this.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Yeah, I can't, you know. Uh, and then also, when is the next book coming out? You know, it's like uh but yeah, um, but it's mostly the it's mostly the crime, which is kind of off scene, you know, uh as there's nothing gory going on in the books, but there is crime. Uh there's murder, usually, uh fraud, and and also, you know, environmental things happening to the environment that she's had to stop. And uh in the Deadly Secrets, which is the fourth one, she was battling these big um in Pontavan, which is a beautiful area, lots of organic farms and wineries, and this big, huge golf course conglomerate wanted to come and put right up the hill from all those chemicals coming into the soil. So it's that type of stuff that's fun. It's fun, yes, and uh it, you know, and and it touches my heart too.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

All the things for it sounds like a good reality series here. Uh, you know, murder, fraud in a good uh setting. You I mean you have something here. One of the things that we love to do, and I hope that you're ready, Mary, is we have a segment called From the Page, um, where we actually let readers read to us and you know give us a moment to share and voice directly through a short reading or passage that captures the heart of your work. So, Mary, whenever you're ready, we would love to hear a moment from the page.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

From the moment from the page. Okay. So this moment is when the the incident, the event has happened. Caitlin is, it's because it's her cousin, she's very emotionally involved in this, and there's nothing happening on the law enforcement scene. So she approaches this sheriff, but she's not met before, and gets after him. Uh-oh, let's go. Okay, Caitlin sat, but then quickly shifted to the edge of her seat to emphasize the point she was going to make. I'm here to offer my help. Before you tell me how kind my offer is, but you really don't need help, or can't have a civilian or certainly not a family member involved, allow me to make my case. I'm all ears, stated Ethan with a smile. It was refreshing to have a conversation with someone who didn't have a complaint. And Caitlin's enthusiasm was a pleasant respite from recent events. She says, I've lived in the town for a few years and know some of the old timers. They might trust me. I could gather information quickly because people would be willing to talk to me. I've been I've been gone a number of years, but I still have friends here, and I need to do something to help my aunt and uncle. I can't stay in the house listening to them grieve and argue. Do they argue a lot? I was talking out of turn. Every married couple has their disagreements. With the added stress, Ethan sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin, his favorite thinking position. He did not need extra help with this investigation. His office staff was, he did need extra help with this investigation. His office staff was stretched thin, meeting the demands of the storm. He had put out an APB, and the state police were on the case, but so far not a hint of a suspect. He was getting frustrated. Caitlin made a great offer, but it was not something he could legally consider. You know I can't do that. They would have my head on a platter if I allowed not only a civilian, but a civilian related to the victim to work the case, he said. Then I'll do my own investigation, Caitlin stated. She stood to go.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

Oof. We could have kept going. We could have kept going. What do you hope readers feel as they move through this story?

SPEAKER_00 19:41

I hope they like the story. I hope they enjoy it. Um, my first readers, my the roses read this book, were just spreading the word they couldn't put it down. Because as a first book, I was so proud and pleased that I got the pacing right. Because over and over they said we couldn't put it down. But I especially just want them to enjoy the story, and that's what readers are telling me. Well, they're telling me because they're continually asking when I'm coming out with another one.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

I you got a winner for me. I'm I'm I'm hooked. We definitely need to have this um for the book club read. I'm excited about this, Mary. I want to thank you for sharing your story, your voice, and your work with us today. And for our listeners, if you enjoy suspense, compelling characters, and stories that keep you turning the page. We encourage you to explore an unexpected death and spend some time with Mary's work on the page. Thank you for listening to the Nutmeg Metfest Podcast where Stories Speak. Mary, before we say goodbye officially, is there anything else you want to share for our listeners?

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Uh no, except that I did just finish my fifth book, which is not in this series. It's getting rave reviews. It's called Well, right up here. Let's let's see it, Mary. Let's see it. The Art of Murder. Yes. And uh people are just loving it, and so that's what's making me keep going. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

I love it. I feel like I have now two book club selections, which is why I love doing this. Guys, thank you for joining us. Thank you for listening. New episodes drop every Tuesday. Until next time, keep reading, keep discovering new stories, and keep writing stories. Bye everyone.