Guest Post: EVERYBODY LOVES GRACE by Nikki Knight, AKA Kathleen Marple Kalb

Please welcome Nikki Knight, aka the alternate ego of author Kathleen Marple Kalb, to the blog today. Her new book, Wrong Poison: A Grace “The Hit Mom” Mystery, came out from Charade Media earlier this month. She is also the SMFS Vice President. 

 

EVERYBODY LOVES GRACE

By Nikki Knight, AKA Kathleen Marple Kalb

 

            She scared the socks off one of my former publishers…but every time I tell someone about Grace the Hit Mom, they want to meet her. At least in book form.

            Some also want to hire her. I think they’re kidding. I hope.

            There’s something extremely appealing about the idea of a nice suburban mom who has a secret life as an assassin specializing in creepy men.

            I started noodling about Grace during a difficult and scary time in my life: my husband was in cancer treatment and I was querying a novel. The idea of a suburban mom like me with a powerful secret life entirely unlike mine was a fun escape.

            Grace pretty much grew on her own from that thread. Because I didn’t want her to be a crazed vigilante, I made her a member of an ancient order of lady poisoners who quietly set things right. She needed to be just like anyone else you’d see at the PTA meeting…with one significant difference.

            And when I started running the idea past family, friends, and beta readers, the answer was always the same: YES!

            My mother was the first person to meet Grace.

            A trained history teacher, she was especially drawn by the idea that if Grace’s sisterhood of poisoners has been around for a few centuries, they might have taken out any number of important figures. It was her idea – which made it into the book – to have Henry VIII on the lady assassins’ greatest hits list.

            Even though I eventually found an agent for a different mystery, an historical series that led to a lockdown debut (another post for another day!) my mother would occasionally ask me about Grace. She was sure everyone would love the Hit Mom as much as she did.

            Most of my mom friends certainly did. While I was writing an early version of Grace, I floated the idea with pals at school pickup. To a woman, they laughed out loud and said they’d buy it for sure.

            As appealing as Grace was to my mother, she was even more appealing to the school parents, because we were down in the intense daily work of caring for young children. It’s an incredibly stressful and exhausting time for most people, no matter how important and fulfilling it is.

            My beta readers, both newsroom colleagues, loved Grace too. She hit – sorry! – right in the journalist’s sweet spot of secret lives and dark humor.

            With all of that, I was really confident in Grace…and really riding for a fall.

            After the historical mystery was well in process, I found out that my publisher at the time was looking to expand their cozy catalogue. Armed with all the good reactions to Grace, I sent the proposal that would become WRONG POISON to my agent. He loved her too, and happily sent out the pitch.  

            The editor sent it straight back. I don’t know exactly what was said, but it was very clear that the idea of a cozy mystery with a killer mom as the amateur sleuth made their head spin – and not in a good way.

            That was my first real indication that Grace is a chemistry test.

            As a journalist, writer, and wife of a cancer survivor, I live in a world with some sharp edges. So do most of the people around me – even plenty of nice suburban moms. We sand those edges down with dark humor.

            It doesn’t make us bad or crazy. It makes us humans who’ve found a way to stand on the edge of the abyss without crumpling or falling over.

            I’m not going to apologize for that.

            I’m also not going to judge anyone who doesn’t get it.

            These days, with a pandemic and everything after under our belts, I suspect a lot more people live with sharp edges. Which may be why Grace works now.

            Or maybe most of us have always loved the idea of a killer mom…but we weren’t ready to admit it.

            My mother, Grace’s first and biggest fan, died in December, before Charade Books bought WRONG POISON. She didn’t get to see Grace turned loose on the world, to good reviews and plenty of wry laughter. But I know she’s smiling.

 

WRONG POISON: She's a nice suburban mom and an assassin...and Grace Adair’s secret life has just become a problem. When a death at the Library Book Fair turns out to be murder – by a poison used only by Grace’s ancient sisterhood, she knows she’s in trouble. Now, she’ll need all her skills as a PTA mom and former prosecutor to find the killer and protect her friends…and their secrets. Hopefully without using her other skills. About those other skills: Grace and her sweet senior pal Madge are members of a 700-year-old order of lady poisoners, sacred to the Archangel Gabriel and sworn to remove evil men who elude human justice. Think #MeToo with untraceable poison.  Call it a cozy with a twist. You’ve never met anyone like Grace…and you’ll never forget her.   

 

 

Kathleen Marple Kalb ©2023

Nikki Knight describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York City’s 1010 WINS Radio, she writes short stories and novels. Her stories appear in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Black Cat Weekly, online, and in anthologies – and have been short-listed for Black Orchid Novella and Derringer Awards. Active in writers’ groups, she’s currently Vice President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and Co-Vice President of the New York/Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime. As Kathleen Marple Kalb, she writes the Ella Shane and Old Stuff mystery series. She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat. https://kathleenmarplekalb.com/nikki-knight