Please welcome Daphne Du-Maurier Award-winning author Kate George:

Death Can Be Funny                                                                             

There are people in the world who think my taste is questionable and my choice of mixing humor and murder is downright wrong. But here’s the thing, I like the contrast between a lighthearted tone and a serious subject. I enjoy making people laugh.

Here’s a little background: Like most people in the world I’ve had my ups and downs. Several years in particular, while I was dealing with a family member’s health issues, were more challenging than usual. I was pretty unhappy. But during that time I discovered an author that made me laugh. It was such a relief to laugh, I decided if I was ever going to write again the writing would be driven by my sense of humor.

I am writing again, and it is driven by my slightly wacked sense of humor, but that doesn’t make it easy. It’s challenging to get the ratio of humor to danger just right. Believe it or not there are people in the world that like their murder straight up, and others who prefer their laughs not be sullied by death. Not that I will ever please everybody. In the immortal words of Fitzwilliam Darcy, “That’s not possible for anyone.”

What I can do is strive to get the balance right. Keep the pace lively. Make my protagonist a little off center, quite irreverent but strong. Create a believable plotline and crimes that are sufficiently severe.  The villain? Self-centered and unconcerned with others. Totally without conscience – a sociopath. And in the end? Our protagonist must save herself. She can have a love interest, and he can help with the take down, but it has to be clear that if our love interest wasn’t there, she’d be capable of doing the job herself – and make you laugh at the same time.

The newest Bree MacGowan, Crazy Little Thing Called Dead, is a little more serious than the first two books in the series. Bree loses almost everything, and is pushed beyond her normal boundaries. But the humor remains. Hopefully it’s a book that will let you experience a range of emotions from dark to light.

Kate George is the author of the Bree MacGowan Mysteries:  Moonlighting in Vermont (2009), California Schemin’ (2011) and Crazy Little Thing Called Dead, which will be available September 30, 2012.

Ms. George lives in the wilds of Central Vermont, coming to terms with mud roads, ice storms and occasionally moose and black bears. Find free short stories at http://www.kategeorge.com.