Interview with Kate Huntington: Psychotherapist, Fictional Character and Reluctant Amateur Sleuth #FabulousFridayGuestBlogger

/ Kassandra Lamb

by Kassandra Lamb

Missing on Maui FINAL

I write a series of novellas called the Kate on Vacation cozy mysteries that parallels my main Kate Huntington Mystery series. I recently released the story of yet another of Kate’s vacations that got a bit more exciting than she’d planned.

That started me wondering how Kate feels about all this murder and mayhem in her life, so I sat down to have a chat with her. Here’s what she had to say:

Kassandra Lamb: You have a real propensity for stumbling over dead bodies, Mrs. Huntington. How do you feel about that?

Kate Huntington: Please, call me Kate. And honestly I don’t care for it all that much. I do like solving mysteries, but I wish there weren’t so many corpses involved. It gets kind of stressful after a while.

Kassandra: Have you always liked mysteries?

Kate: Yes, I loved puzzles as a kid, and I guess that’s part of what drew me to psychotherapy as a profession. I like to help people of course, but I’m fascinated by the puzzle that is the human psyche.

Kassandra: So in this latest adventure on Maui, except for the whole people-going-missing thing, how did you like Hawaii?

Kate: I loved it! Hawaii is absolutely gorgeous. And the people are very friendly. And the food! The mahi-mahi and the fresh pineapple… And once Skip was able to shake free from his work and he and the kids got there, we had so much fun.

Kassandra: Speaking of Skip and the kids, what’s the deal with your name? I notice you still use Huntington, which was your late first husband, Ed Huntington’s name, but sometimes you go by Huntington-Canfield, which is quite a mouthful.

Kate: Well, I’d already established my reputation as a therapist as Kate Huntington, so I use that name professionally. My daughter is my first husband’s biological child, so her name is officially Huntington-Canfield. At her school and in some other settings, I use the hyphenated name. And sometimes I just go by Kate Canfield.

By the way, why are you asking me this? You’re the one who saddled me with these cumbersome names. Why couldn’t you have made Eddie’s name Smith? Then I’d be Smith-Canfield. That rolls off the tongue so much easier.

IllTimedEntanglements rev 2015

The book in which Kate and Skip Canfield fell in love. ❤

Kassandra: Sorry about that. When I wrote the first book, I hadn’t planned on you remarrying after Eddie’s death. You were supposed to be a young widow, raising your daughter and helping your clients, and solving mysteries on the side. But then Skip Canfield came along and… *sigh*  He’s such a hunk. I guess neither one of us could resist him.

Kate: *grinning* I know I couldn’t.

Kassandra: Getting back to this latest adventure in Hawaii, what did you think of the wedding planner, Pali Moon? Did you know she’s the protagonist of another mystery series, the Islands of Aloha Mysteries by JoAnn Bassett?

Kate: No, I didn’t know that, but I guess I’m not too surprised. She really has a knack for tracking down clues. If she and I didn’t have several thousand miles between our homes, I’m sure we would have become good friends. We really hit it off.

Kassandra: According to Skip and Lieutenant Wong (he’s from JoAnn’s series too), you two got into plenty of trouble together.

Livinlahainaloca

Kate: We sure did. *laughs* But seriously, you need to stop doing that to me. I know the percentage of psychopaths is increasing in the U.S. population, but you’ve had me encounter far more than my share!

Kassandra: Hmm, I’m afraid I can’t make any promises there. This is a mystery series, you know.

Kate: Still, can I get a little rest, at least for a year or two.

Kassandra: Well, I’ve started a new series, so I was going to let you off the hook until around the end of the year, but then…

Kate: *shakes her head* All this murder and mayhem is getting old.

Kassandra: I know, and in the last full-length novel, Suicidal Suspicions, you were starting to feel pretty burned out as a therapist too. How are you doing now?

Kate: A little better. I cut back my client hours some, and I’m looking into some other things I can do. I might teach some classes at Towson University.

Kassandra: For real? I used to teach there.

Kate: I know. That’s what gave me the idea. And the governor asked me to head a task force on preventing PTSD in police officers in Maryland. But that hasn’t gone all that well so far. I was on a ride-along with an officer a couple of nights ago, and well…

Kassandra: Oh, no. You didn’t stumble over another corpse, did you?

Kate: No, he wasn’t dead, just seriously injured, but the really bad part is that I know him.

Kassandra: Oh no! I’m so sorry.

Kate: No, you’re not. You sent me there!

Kassandra: Well, yeah, I did. But I didn’t quite realize how much all this was affecting you. I’ll try to go easier on you.

Kate: I’d appreciate that. You know I’m not getting any younger. I had a hot flash right in the middle of being interviewed by one of the detectives on the case. He thought I was sweating because I was nervous.

Kassandra: Oh, dear.

Kate: Don’t worry. I set him straight and then threw him out of my office. Well, not literally, but he did leave.

Kassandra: You go, Kate! That’s one of the things I love about you. You’ve gotten more and more kickass through the years.

Kate: Thanks, I think. I’d better get back to my office. I have a client due soon.

Kassandra: I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with me today. I enjoyed it.

Kate: Me too. Let’s do this more often.

Kassandra: You bet. It’s really good getting your perspective on things.

And there you have it folks, straight from the character’s mouth. 🙂

Thanks so much, Marcia, for letting me guest post again. And for anyone who’s interested, below are the deets on the new novella.

~ Missing on Maui, A Kate on Vacation Mystery, #4 ~

It’s an awkward situation at best, and a deadly one at worst.

Days before Kate Huntington-Canfield is scheduled to leave for her niece’s wedding on Maui, she receives a frantic call from said niece. Amy’s mother–Kate’s rather difficult sister-in-law–is at it again, alienating the groom’s family and even the wedding planner. Can Aunt Kate come early and run interference?

Soon after her arrival, Kate discovers that young women are going missing on the island, and Amy’s maid of honor is hanging out with a notorious local player. Is he involved in the disappearances?

Hawaii is supposed to be a relaxing paradise, but Aunt Kate is kept busy locating a new wedding planner (the delightful Pali Moon), refereeing between Amy and her mother and chasing down errant wedding party members… Oh, and facing off with a psychopath.

Amazon US      Amazon UK     Amazon CA      Apple     Kobo      Nook

30 thoughts on “Interview with Kate Huntington: Psychotherapist, Fictional Character and Reluctant Amateur Sleuth #FabulousFridayGuestBlogger”

  2. Enjoyed the character interview soooo much!
    Thanks, Marcia, for bringing to our attention such gifted authors!

    Best of luck, Kassandra, with your writing! All your covers are eye-catching. I like best the bottom one, especially the title.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  4. Thank you so much for such a great post, Kass! I laughed out loud several places. (I recognize this kind of conversation. Similar things are going on in my head all the time!) I really appreciate your being this week’s #FabulousFridayGuestBlogger, though I had to shorten the title of your post in order to tweet it. Sorry! It was too good not to share. Looking forward to reading this series, assuming I’m ever able to find time to READ again. Kate sounds very interesting, and who doesn’t love vacationing in fun places?

    Thanks again!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Delighted that you liked it, Marcia! I know I’m terrible about long titles. The first Kate book, now titled Multiple Motives, was originally stuck with the moniker, If You’re Not With The One You Love. Not only would that have been a copyright issue but it also made it sound like a romance instead of a mystery.

      Fortunately saner voices prevailed (my son’s mainly) before it reached the publication stage.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • The title was FINE for the post. For everything, really, except Twitter. I just cut a couple of descriptive words so I could tweet it, which I definitely wanted to do. I actually like your long book title, too, except for that copyright thang! (I ran into that with the air guitar scene in Wake-Robin Ridge. I wanted Mac to actually stutter his way through the first couple of lines of Bad to the Bone, but thankfully, I double checked, and no can do. The TITLE of a song is fine. Quoting lyrics requires permission, which is usually hard to obtain. Unless, of course, the song was written before 1933 or so. 😀 )

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  8. I loved the interview! I never heard of Kate and I didn’t know Kassandra’s work, but I now like both of them. I’m going to look up the series. Sounds like fun!

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  9. Woohoo! Glad you liked the interview. There are two series that parallel each other. One are full-length, more serious mysteries. The Kate on Vacation series are novellas about Kate’s tendency to trip over bodies while away from home as well. They are lighter, more fun reads. Light snacks to keep my Kate fans content while I write the next longer book.

    Hope you enjoy them!

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  10. Delightful! Character interviews are often my favorites–gives me a glimpse into the author’s heart and mind as well as the protagonist’s. Had to shorten the tweet, but pinned and shared. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • It was fun, huh? Tip: I removed the words “Psychotherapists, fictional character” from the tweet, and tweeted it that way. All the important stuff was still there, and if they clicked on the link, they can still read it. Sometimes you have to “tweak to tweet.” 😀

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  12. I think the problem with the tweet is that the program isn’t shortening the url, like Twitter itself or other programs will do. So my overly loooong title is repeated again in the link.

    Here’s a shortened link if anyone is willing to cut and past it. But I understand if you’re too busy to deal with it. http://bit.ly/1YysSOj

    Thanks, you all, for reading the post and letting me know you enjoyed it.

    Like

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