Debra Sennefelder is having a great year.

The Sandy Hook resident has three books being published in 2019. Two have already been released — Murder Wears A Little Black Dress on January 22 and The Hidden Corpse earlier this week — while the third, Three Widows and A Corpse, is scheduled for late October.

Those follow her debut, The Uninvited Corpse, which was published in March 2018.

The author of the Resale Boutique Mystery series (of which Little Black Dress was the first title) and the Food Blogger Mystery series (the other three titles) is an avid reader who appreciates a range of genres. She enjoys mysteries and “cozies,” as she calls them, as well as traditional suspense, women’s fiction, and romance, she recently told The Newtown Bee.

Cozy mysteries have become her genre of choice for writing.

“The best way to describe them is to offer the example of Murder, She Wrote, Ms Sennefelder said, referring to the long-running CBS television show that starred Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher, a popular writer who also solved an alarming number of homicides in her hometown of Cabot Cove, Maine.

“You have a close setting, a small town — think Agatha Christie and Miss Marple — and a returning cast of characters,” she explained. “You’ll find there’s no bad language, it’s quaint, and there is usually a sweet romance. There’s no foul language and no onstage violence.

“You might not want to live in Cabot Cove, though,” she added, laughing.

Ideas for books, settings, and characters come from myriad sources, Ms Sennefelder said over coffee.

When elderly neighbor Peggy Olson knocks on the door of Hope Early, the protagonist in The Hidden Corpse, and tells Hope that her smoke alarm is going off and she needs help, it mirrored something that happened to Ms Sennefelder.

“When Peggy goes to Hope for help,” she said, “that was based on a visit from my next door neighbor’s mother, who came to our house looking for help.”

That visitor to the Sennefelder home did not speak much English, but Ms Sennefelder was able to discern the words “smoke” and “noise.”

“That inspired that scene,” she said of an early moment in the brand-new release. “The peppers and onions in the bowl on the counter, on the book cover? That’s what she was cooking,” she added.

“I take bits and pieces from people and conversation, but people and places in my books are not really based on anyone,” she said.

Ms Sennefelder and her husband have lived in Sandy Hook for 25 years, she commented. A full-time writer, she works in her home office, following a self-created routine that has helped her keep on track for every release. Writing is done first, in the morning, and then administrative work is done after lunch — “the marketing, promotion on social media,” she explained. “It keeps me focused; it keeps me on track, and so far I haven’t missed a deadline.”

Hope Early has a similar procedure in the Food Blogger Mystery series. In The Hidden Corpse, the food blogger and amateur sleuth talks about the importance of not only blogging about food and sharing recipes, but also the work that goes into being a full-time writer. There is a scene in the book during an author event hosted by the town library when Hope quickly shuts down a man who challenges how difficult her career is:

“Since she went full-time with her blog, she’d been dealing with the same question. What do you do all day long? Even though she and her fellow bloggers had just laid out the major components of blogging and shared that each task took a significant amount of time, Jerry was still under the impression all they did was cook and snap photographs. Answering on the defensive would be handing Jerry exactly what he wanted, a rise out of her so she’d embarrass herself.

“‘I do have a sweet gig. I earn a living doing what I love, and a lot of my day is spent cooking or photographing. I’m blessed.’ Hope relaxed, satisfied with her response to the rude question.”

Ms Sennefelder knows of what she writes. A former food blogger, she still takes photos of her food. She continues to enjoy cooking and baking.

She also shares some of her recipes in the closing pages of her Food Blogger Mysteries titles. Just like Hope, Ms Sennefelder doles out a family recipe on occasion, as well as “others I work on and try to develop,” she said.

As readers follow Hope’s footsteps, they can also enjoy some of the same food the blogger shares with friends and family. Six recipes, from sides to entrees and even a few desserts, are shared in the closing pages of The Hidden Corpse.

A Second Career

It isn’t just a great year that Ms Sennefelder is having. It’s a great second career.

“One of the things I tell people when I am invited to speak to groups is to follow your dream,” she said.

Being laid off in 2017, after 21 years in a career, would have been terrifying for most people. Ms Sennefelder wrote her own ending in the wake of that forced life change.

“This is my second career,” she said, smiling. “Go for it. If you have a dream, you never know what’s going to happen.”

Ms Sennefelder will continue to celebrate her second successful career with a pair of public events in April.

On Tuesday, April 9, she will be at Byrd’s Books, 178 Greenwood Avenue in Bethel (byrdsbooks.com; 203-730-2973), for a program scheduled to begin at 7 pm. She will be discussing and then signing copies of The Hidden Corpse.

Less than a week later, she will be part of the Kensington CozyClub MiniCon. An afternoon event focused on cozy mysteries, the annual event will feature nearly two dozen Kensington authors who discuss their genre, meet readers, and sign copies of books.

This year’s event is scheduled for Saturday, April 13, from 1 to 4 pm, at Cambridge Public Library, 440 Broadway in Cambridge, Mass. Sherry Harris, president of the Sisters in Crime National Board and author of The Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery series, will emcee.

Additionally, Hope Early has at least two more mysteries ahead of her.

“I just signed the contract for two more Food Blogger books. I’m working right now on the fourth book,” she said. The first draft for the new title has been done, and Ms Sennefelder is also working on the outline for her next Resale Boutique book. “Between now and November, I will be working on the recipes for the Food Blogger book.”

Readers can dig in to any of Ms Sennefelder’s already released titles until then. They are good, enjoyable reads.

Copies of the Food Blogger Mystery and Resale Boutique Mystery titles are available most places books are sold, including online and through Kensington Publishing Corp, Ms Sennefelder’s publisher.