Earlier
this week, Joan Leotta reviewed the new book, Joy to the Bones. Today, she has
an interview with the author, Carolyn Haines.
An Interview with Carolyn Haines by
Joan Leotta
Author,
Carolyn Haines, was gracious enough to expand on the small paragraph that
appears in the back of Joy to the Bones through an interview for this blog.
I found her replies to my questions a lot like a guide to starting and
finishing a mystery series.
Q: What
made you decide to stop writing this very successful thirty-odd book series? Are
you planning another mystery series?
CH: Age
made me decide. I have always felt awful that Sue Grafton never got to finish
the alphabet books. I also wanted the resolution of what happened to Sarah
Booth’s parents to be the final book. At 73, I wanted to make sure it ended the
way I envisioned. I owe Sarah Booth and the gang that much. They have been
loyal friends and characters.
No,
I am not writing any other series at this time. I’m going to venture into
supernatural thrillers, I think. Just for a change. I love humorous mysteries,
but I am keenly feeling the loss of Sarah Booth and her friends in my life.
They have been with me for over 30 years, a big part of each day. I love what I
call British horror (no gore). And the challenge of melding that into the
structure of a thriller fascinates me. And if I’m going to do it, I’d better
get in the saddle and ride.
Q: So,
this new book you are working on, is that going to be a singleton then? Will
you expand your use of supernatural characters like the” haint”, Jitty, or will
aliens take over the page? Or maybe you will use both or haven’t you decided
yet?
CH: I
am co-writing with Daryl Marcus, a former student of mine. He and I both love
horror. We are writing a book with space to go into a series or one that can be
a single title, depending on what the publishers are looking for.
It
melds the world of the Fae with a very real South Mississippi local and a
serial killer. It’s a handful, but we are enjoying the process.
Q: Back
to Sarah Booth! One of the things that made reading Joy to the Bones so
much for me is how much I immediately related to Sara Booth. She is feisty and
fun in ways that made me wish I could sit down and meet her. Is she a lot like
you?
CH: Sarah
Booth is very much like I was when I was 34--except she is far more limber! I
do have a 501c3 animal refuge where I take care of old, unwanted animals in
their final years. I've done this my whole life. I have, right now, eight dogs,
twelve cats, and two horses. A few crows hang about, but no ravens. I love this
so much, but I am getting older now and I am responsible enough to know I have
to stop taking in animals. Sarah Booth also adores her friends and, boy,
have I been blessed in the friend department. A lot of my friends have died in
the last decade, and that is a huge, huge loss. And ending Sarah Booth is
another emotional blow. As crazy as it sounds, she was a best friend to me.
Q: Are
some of the larger issues Sarah Booth addresses, also issues that you find
interesting and have worked on?
CH: There
is much emotional truth in the Sarah Booth books. She focuses on issues that I
am interested in, afraid of, or concerned about. She has more courage than I
do. But she is connected to the land, the natural world, and the people around
her, just as I am. I wrote a book in 1994, SUMMER OF THE REDEEMERS. In
that book I gave Bekka the emotional fabric of my childhood. Not factually
true, but emotionally true. Horse crazy, wild in the woods, ghost stories,
adventures not far from home. But Sarah Booth is more the grown up me, only a
better version.
Q: So, Summer
of the Redeemers was a single book, not part of any series? Did the
experience with that book lead you to Sarah Booth?
CH: It
was a two-book contract with Dutton for SUMMER and then followed by TOUCHED.
Learning plot and structure took some time, and I loved writing both of these
books. They could both be classified as Southern Gothic mysteries, but I didn’t
know that when I wrote them. They were published as general fiction.
Q: Would
you share a bit about how you developed Sarah Booth over the course of the
series and how you handled the timing/aging of your cast of characters? When
she started out, how old was Sarah Booth? How old is she when the series ends? And
if the books cover only a few years, how did you work in the twenty- year past death
of her parents?
CH: When
the series opens, she is 33. Thirty-one books later, she is only 34 and ½. It
is criminally wrong that when I started the series I was 45 and now I am 73?
The math isn’t mathing (sic) for me. The whole series arc covers 1and ½ book
years--though twenty-eight “human” years.
The
car wreck (that caused the death of her parents)happens off screen and years in
the past. The books pick up when Sarah Booth is grown and has just returned
home to Zinnia from NYC. The thirty-one books cover roughly, twenty months.
Q: Has Sarah
Booth’s cast of friends been consistent since the beginning of the series? Was Sarah
Booth always a PI? If not, when in the series does Sarah become a PI (this last
book of yours is my first read in the series) How does that choice of
profession help shape her?
CH: Yes,
the primary characters are in the first book and continue throughout. But the
relationships grow and change. In THEM BONES, Sarah Booth does a
really bad thing out of desperation. She steals Tinkie’s little dog, Chablis.
(Jitty supports this plan) and ransoms her back to Tinkie. Tinkie is so
impressed, she hires Sarah Booth to solve a mystery. In the third book, SPLINTERED
BONES, Sarah Booth and Tinkie begin working together to solve mysteries.
Prior to being, a detective, Sarah Booth was in NYC attempting to be a stage
actress. Things didn’t work out. (The not working out of her acting career is
what prompted Sarah Booth to return to Zinnia)
Q: What
prompted you to make the word “Bones” your title “Signature.” Can you tell us a
little about how the titles help shape the series and, in your opinion, do the
titles help add to its success?
CH: THEM
BONES was the first title and when Random House bought the first book at
auction, they wanted a 3-book contract. I thought Bones would be a good way to
brand the books. And it’s an easy word to work with for titles. Yes, I think
titles are really important.
Q: You once
mentioned that Zinnia, MS is modeled on your own hometown. Are there any
specific places in Zinnia that have real life counterparts with deep meaning
for you?
We
had a terrific restaurant in Lucedale, my hometown, called The Coffee Pot.
Millie’s Cafe is loosely based on that diner. It was a treat to go there for a
hamburger steak and coconut pie.
Finally,
Q: Is
there anything else you would like to tell your readers, fans of the Sarah
Booth Delaney mysteries??
CH: I
love to write both light/humorous fiction and also dark fiction. I have a 4-book
series called the Pluto Snitch: series which is set in the 1920s and deals with
a woman who can talk to the dead and is hired to solve mysteries involved
paranormal elements. The first title is THE BOOK OF BELOVED and is set in
Mobile, Alabama.
I am
in mourning for Sarah Booth and the gang. They have been such a big part of my
life—28 years. It’s hard to voluntarily let go of these stories which I love
telling. But the art of life is knowing when to let go.
Thank
you so much, Carolyn, for your willingness to spend time on these Questions! I
am sorry the series is ending since I just discovered it, but I plan to start reading
the whole series starting with the first, Them Bones, and work my
way back to Joy to the Bones, number 31—that should keep me busy
and happy for quite some time.
I do
hope you enjoy the books. I have loved every minute of writing them. And thank
you for your time in doing this interview. I really appreciate it. --Carolyn
Joan Leotta ©2026
Joan Leotta
offers encouraging words on page and stage. Internationally published as
essayist, poet, short story writer, novelist, she’s a multiple nominee for
Pushcart and Best of Net. Publications include Synkroniciti, MacQueen’s
Quinterly, One Art, Gargoyle, The Lake, Lothlorien, Ovunquesiamo, The
Mackinaw, Ekphrastic Review, Yellow Mama, Impspired, and Alfred Hitchcock
Mystery Magazine.
She also performs stories for youth and adult audiences
with programs that highlight food, kindness, family, and strong women. Her one
woman show as Louisa May Alcott focuses on Alcott’s development as a writer of
many genres and her time as a Civil War nurse. She also teaches storytelling
and writing and has done so for the North Carolina Poetry Society, NC Writers Network, ND Humanities, and
the London Arts-Based Research Center. Contact Joan at Joanleotta@gmail.com
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