Sonoran Arts Network
October 2013
Interview
D.R. Ransdell
D.R. Ransdell
SAN: You tell us on your website that you are originally from Illinois. How did you
come to live in Tucson?
D.R. Ransdell: I got sick and tired of Illinois winters. I much preferred the climate in
Durango, Mexico, which is where I had my first job out of college. Friends there said,
why not go to Arizona? It's warm, and it has a high Hispanic population. I loved it here
from the get-go.
SAN: You teach English composition to non-native English speakers at the University of
Arizona, you play violin in the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra and in a mariachi
band, Black Cat Mariachi. And you write travel articles, a blog, and mystery novels. Do
you have to keep these different pursuits strictly separate from each other or is there a
thread that runs through them all and connects the music to the writing to the teaching in
your life?
D.R. Ransdell: My life has strange and wonderful connections. My mystery is about a
musician while my new YA novel is about travel. When I play music I often think about
characters I’m writing. When I travel, I take copious notes, which help me if I want to
write a scene about a place I've visited. I've always been curious about language learning,
so my main characters usually speak another language. Mariachi music is a way that my
whole life ties together: it's a form of folk music from another country that I sing in a
second language.
_Mariachi Murder_
SAN: his year you published your first mystery novel, Mariachi Murder. Was this story
inspired by playing in a mariachi band yourself? Why did you choose mystery as your
genre?
D.R. Ransdell: One fun aspect of mariachi music is that we don't play from written
pages. When we're performing a song for the millionth time, we're not necessarily paying
attention to it. We're paying attention to the people around us. Mariachi and mystery
seemed like a perfect fit. When we used to play at El Mariachi five or six nights a week,
we noticed a lot of interesting things--interesting customers, strange relationships
between them, curious dealings. When I started Mariachi Murder I didn't set out to write
a mystery at all. I didn't set out to do anything. I suddenly saw the first scene in my mind
(I was re-painting my house at the time). That scene demanded to be written down. Then
others followed.
SAN:Tell us about Andy Veracruz, the protagonist in Mariarchi Murder. What kind of
guy is he and how did he get mixed up in a murder?
D.R. Ransdell: Andy's a nice guy who tries to do the right thing, but he's too nosy for
his own good. He's also scared to death of commitment. When his boss's wife gets into
trouble, he wants to help her, but he's afraid to get too close. Then he's afraid not to get
close enough. He wavers, which is worse than taking wrong action per se.
SAN: Mariachi Murder is the first in a series with Andy Veracruz as the lead protagonist.
Many women who are mystery writers choose to a have female protagonist. Why did you
choose to write this series with a man as the main character?
D.R. Ransdell: In the mariachi band, I nearly always worked with about 5 or 6 guys.
Usually there was only one other woman, or sometimes I was the only one. I got used to
seeing things from my male friends' points of view. It was fascinating, actually, to
consider what it was like to be in their world. We used to have breaks between sets, and
that's when I collected lots of information about their perspectives, their goals, their
setbacks, etc. Andy is a conglomeration of the three or four players I’ve interacted with
the most.
SAN: Andy has a blog. What is it like to blog from the perspective of a fictional
character?
D.R. Ransdell: It's fun--it's like an extension of the novel. I'm not quick enough to have
books coming out all the time, but this way I can give glimpses of Andy's life in the
meantime. In the blog, as in the "real" life of the novels, Andy notices things. Sometimes
things he shouldn't.
SAN: Andy is going to Greece in your next mystery. Will we see him end up traveling
the world?
D.R. Ransdell: Andy won't be able to commit to any one place. He’ll have to keep
moving around, but he’ll be looking for places where he can get work doing what he’s
best at—playing music.
SAN: The questions on your website about Mariachi Murder …are those for book club
discussions?
D.R. Ransdell: Yes, I thought book clubs might be interested. I'm already on two lists of
book clubs for this coming year, one a group of friends who work for the State of Illinois,
and another a group from AAUW (American Association of University Women).
_Thai Twist_
SAN: Your upcoming novel Thai Twist (a Gina Campanello book) is described as a YA
(young adult) book and also as a romantic suspense novel? Or both? Can you tell us a
little about it? What do you mean by the subtitle, “A Cultural Romance.” Is this a new
series, too?
D.R. Ransdell: When I wrote Thai Twist, I thought I was writing a literary novel. It was
my publisher who said it would be perfect for YA Romance. In other words, most books
bridge a variety of categories, so you might categorize things differently according to
your point of view. At any rate, Gina goes to Thailand with low expectations. She doesn't
expect to find anything of much interest. Instead she starts falling in love with a country.
That's the cultural romance part. But she also falls for a native. So that's the more
traditional romance story, except that in this case Gina is from the U.S. and Sompong is
firmly rooted in Chiang Mai, the city of his origins.
SAN: What's the best thing about writing?
D.R. Ransdell: There are lots of best things about writing, but I suppose the very best is
that writing represents my own best possible contribution. Other people can write novels
just as good or better than mine, but I've had a lucky and unique set of experiences that
dictate the fictional worlds I create. No one else has had the same experiences, so no one
will write from my same perspective. My hope, of course, is that readers will find those
perspectives enjoyable and perhaps even informative. If Thai Twist makes readers more
curious about Thailand, curious enough to plan their next trip to Bangkok, I'll feel truly
blessed. The more people travel, the more they learn. The more they learn, the more they
want to know. What could be better than that?
_The Secret Lives of the Pink House Cats_
SAN: D.R. Ransdell is also the author of The Secret Lives of the Pink House Cats: Prose
Poems by Five Felines (2008).
Learn more about D.R. Ransdell and her books at:
http://www.dr-ransdell.com/
http://www.drransdellnovels.com/
Sonoran Arts Network copyright 2013