The Body Conscious series was born out of dark humor, in the same vein of light-hearted humorous cozy mysteries. I thought having a murder occur in a funeral home where everyone working there was already used to being among the dead added a quirky element to the mystery.
That being said, even though the story is entirely based in a funeral home, I’ve never worked in or even visited a funeral home. I do work in the medical field, which does help with understanding medical terms and how things are generally run in a medical facility. It probably also contributed to my interest in writing on the subject in the first place.
My main character, Lily Reynolds is a smart, feisty mortician running a family business who ends up falling for the detective on the murder case. In order to figure out how she would feel about working in a funeral home and the tasks she would be doing on daily basis I searched the internet for articles written for people who are curious about the process of embalming and the tools used in the process. I would find interviews of morticians explaining why they enjoy their jobs. I was struck by how compassionate people felt about this profession and the care taken for their clients. I tried to take the morbid association out of the profession and make it seem more accessible to the average person.
For example, in Chapter Two, Detective James Rivers goes to the funeral to ask Lily some questions about the case. Lily is in the middle of a workday and asks if she can work while they talk. She tells him,
“That’s fine, but I need to finish Mrs. Sherry’s makeup. Can I work while you talk?”
He hesitated for a moment.
The true test of how he really felt about her job, she decided.
In this scene James represents how the most people would react to Lily’s job and I wanted to use it as an opportunity to educate and humanize the role for readers. Through scenes when he’s watching her work she sets the tone for how she treats each client. For example, he says,
“I’ve never seen anyone put makeup on a body.”
“Mrs. Sherry’s family told me she wore a lot of blush, and my job is to have her look as she did when she was around them. I think that it’s important to the family to have their last moments with their loved one feel like it did when she was alive.”
James’s eyes searched her face as if she’d said the most fascinating thing he’d ever heard.
For some reason, I typically write about topics that might make me somewhat uncomfortable—I write about cults in the second book, Body Snatched. I’m thinking maybe it’s a form of therapy? I’ll let you decide. Body Conscious and Body Snatched are available now at all major retailers from The Wild Rose Press.
Body Conscious
Mortician, Lily Reynolds is used to seeing bodies, but not the type murdered in her own funeral home. As Detective James Rivers zeroes in on her as the town’s number one suspect she must rise above the accusations and rumors to solve the case herself while keeping her attraction to the troubled detective at bay.
James has a past. The last time he let someone into his life she wound up dead. Vowing never to let that happen again he has sworn off dating for good. Until he meets Lily. In his gut he knows she’s not the murderer but pressure to solve the case puts him on the wrong trail while he struggles to keep Lily off the case.
Can she solve the case on her own or will their scandalous romance get in the way of proving her innocence?
Buy link:
https://books2read.com/anadiamondauthor
When Ana Diamond isn’t writing about tough gals finding love in unexpected places, she’s at work by day in the medical field. She writes romantic cozy mystery novels with feisty strong women and alluring men who can’t resist them. Her books are fast paced, entertaining and heartfelt all at once.
Ana is a 2020 Tara Contest Finalist for Body Conscious and 2015 Melody of Love contest finalist. She lives in New York with her husband, two children and two needy but wildly entertaining kitty cats.
Social media:
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