Seasoned Southern Sleuths

Nancy: Kelsey and I shared a hotel room at a conference, and one evening we were relaxing in our jammies – me in my scotty-dog jammies and Kelsey in her moose pants – and we got to talking about my ex-husband. That spawned a conversation about a former family member that Kelsey and her momma had considered “taking care of.” As she chronicled the whole plan, I couldn’t help but laugh. Apparently, her mom volunteered to do the “taking care of” because she could get three square meals and free health care in prison. Kelsey’s response to her mom was “Good, because I look horrible in orange!” We went to bed late, late, late that night after hours of silly girl talk and giggles, but the next morning I just couldn’t quit thinking about that story and her momma—a granny!—going to jail. We both knew we had to write a story like that. 

Nancy: This wasn’t my first time to co-write a book, but it was for Kelsey. We really have a great writing relationship. We feed off of each other’s energy and there is no hesitation about tweaking or running with the other’s thoughts. It’s so natural that there comes a point where we can’t remember who wrote what.

Nancy: We use Scrivener and share a Dropbox folder to keep our files centrally located since I’m in North Carolina and she’s down in Georgia.

Kelsey: And now that Nan has retired from her career in the banking industry, we’re able to get together to work more often. About two-three times a year, we’ll meet and write up a storm, usually to the tune of 12,000 words a day. 

Nancy: Kelsey and I met at the 2009 RWA Conference in DC through a mutual friend. Three years later, I happened to mention on Facebook that I was headed to California. Kelsey saw the post and asked where I’d be. Turned out I was staying very close to where she lived at the time and we set up an evening to get together. Our real friendship started from there.

Nancy: I’m great with setting, and the sweet emotional stuff, but Kelsey rocks dialogue. It’s a great mix.

Kelsey: I’m very much a character-driven writer. My characters always come to me before the story does (the Grannies are a great example of that!). I’ve been told I’m decent with the dialogue and write a hot love scene (sorry, no Granny love scenes – we’ll always stop at the bedroom door there ;-) ). 

Kelsey: Will you throw rotten tomatoes at us if we say no? Seriously, we don’t fight. We know each person has the best interest of the series at heart, and the story is what matters most. That being said, I’m a big ol’ meanie and won’t let the characters wink or quiver nearly as much as Nancy would like.

Nancy: All of my books always have a little suspense in them. The grannies lent themselves to the storyline. Vigilante grannies just sprang to life.

Kelsey: I never expected to be writing cozy (because in my contemporary romances, I write rather… ahem… hottish love scenes). But this idea just grabbed us. Anything that makes me laugh this much HAD to be written. By me :-)

Kelsey: I write romantic suspense and contemporary romance, which means sassy heroines, down-to-earth heroes, and pretty darn sexy love scenes (get some ice water and a fan!).

Nancy: I write love stories from the crossroads of small town and suspense.

Nancy: Oh gosh, I love all them to bits. It’s funny because on the surface they are very stereotypical but as the series plays out y’all will get to know what’s ticking underneath and driving these gals. Today my favorite is Maggie, but tomorrow I’ll probably pick a different one :-)

Kelsey: You know, I’ll always have a soft spot for Abby Ruth. She is a Texan, after all. But I’m totally attached to all the grannies for different reasons!

Nancy is a native Virginian who relocated to North Carolina, and Kelsey is originally from Texas. Georgia was pretty much in the middle. It was a coincidence (a great one!) that Kelsey ended up moving to Georgia in 2012.

Oh honey, haven’t you heard of glamour shots?? Maggie is a nice size 16, and you can bet the grannies will come in all shapes and sizes. We were so lucky to meet up with Michelle Preast who took our descriptions and brought the grannies to life. We even have foot-tall paper dolls of all the grannies and that handsome sheriff that join us on our writing excursions.

Nancy: Sera does look young, and she is. Grannies aren’t all old ladies. Honey, these are not your momma’s grannies. These gals are more like Dirty Harry...over 50, female and from the south. I’m over 50...I still look pretty young too! Kelsey hasn’t caught up to granny-age yet but I’m sure she’s going to have that Abby Ruth style going on.

Kelsey: Haven’t you heard that 70 is the new 50?? And if that’s the case, then Sera gets a 20-year pass as well, so it’s not surprising she looks like she’s in her 30s or 40s! 

Kelsey: Blame it all on me. I have an incurable potty mouth. However, hopefully you noticed the language used in the stories fit the voice of the character using it.

Wait and see.

Nope. It’s a real car.

Nancy: Not mine.

Kelsey: Mine either – none of our grannies has my grandmother’s big boobs (we like to call them muffins in my family).

Teague is now starring in his own set of novellas - you can find them with the other Seasoned Southern Sleuths books!

The series currently includes five full-length books and two novellas about Teague and Jenny. Although we don't have any new Seasoned Southern Sleuth stories in progress since we're both working on other projects right now, we never say never!