Interview with Picking Lemons by JT Toman

Picking Lemons:
A C.J. Whitmore Mystery

Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Cozy Cat Press (October 2, 2013)
Paperback: 194 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1939816221
E-Book File Size: 1384 KB
ASIN: B00GF4ZZA0

Synopsis

 Economic theories can predict many things – just not the death of a renowned Economics professor. When Professor Edmund DeBeyer is found dead in his office, strangled to death by his own Ph.D. hood, the police don’t have to look further than his colleagues in the Economics Department for suspects. After all, Edmund was the most despised member of the department. C.J. Whitmore, the department’s only tenured female, (who also has a penchant for wearing pink cowboy boots to class) resolves to get to the bottom of the mystery using economic principles. Comparing tracking down murder suspects to to selecting a used car, she attempts to discern the real deals from the “lemons.” That is, which suspects are really telling the truth and which are lying to protect their guilt. Will C.J. be able to pick the lemon before her clever adversary strikes again?

About This Author

J.T. Toman lives in Boulder, Colorado. She received her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University and has taught econometrics at the University of Sydney and the University of Colorado at Boulder. She also has a degree in zookeeping from Pikes Peak Community College and has cared for everything from butterflies to elephants. She now teaches math at Front Range Community College, and truly believes fractions are useful in everyday life.

In her spare time, J.T. Toman joins the rest of Colorado hiking, biking and skiing. However, much like her cats, she finds food more inspiring than scenery. J.T. particularly loves home- grown tomatoes, udon noodles and tall glasses of chocolate milk, but not at the same time.

Picking Lemons is her first novel.

Interview

What is your favorite genre to read/write?

Definitely murder mysteries! I think a good murder mystery is like an artichoke … you should spend a lot of time working away at the gnarly layers before you get to the heart of the matter. When I write a mystery novel, I actually start with the heart … the who did it … and add the layers on to it to create the novel. I really enjoy the intellectual challenge that writing a murder mystery presents, as well as the fun that comes in creating the characters.

I think like many people addicted to murder mysteries, I grew up reading Agatha Christie. I also love M.C. Beaton, Joanne Fluke, Janet Evanovich and Sue Grafton. There is a new series of mysteries that I am currently addicted to, an Australian series, called Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries by Kerry Greenwood (the first book in the series is titled Cocaine Blues). They are also a T.V. series available on Netflix. If you haven’t seen them and you love old fashioned murder mysteries, I can’t recommend them enough.

What is one silly fact about you?

Just one? That is limiting!

Well, in addition to having a Ph.D. in economics, I also have a degree in zookeeping. I know ... zookeeping. What was I thinking? My mother often wonders the same thing.

So not surprisingly, because of this degree, I have cared for a lot of different animals. I had an internship looking after elephants and giraffe and tapirs. And I was a wildlife rehabilitator for a while (in case you wanted to know, a squirrel is well enough to be released when you have chased it around the enclosure for an hour and not caught it!) But when I graduated, there was only one keeper job on offer within a half hour drive of where I lived with my husband. And it involved looking after spiders. Tarantulas in fact. Hundreds of them. All lined up in their Perspex cages, rubbing their fangs, waving their hairy legs, and staring out with their eight, beady eyes.

So the silly fact about me? I am arachnophobic.

Did I take the job? You bet!

What is the most rewarding thing about being a writer?

There are so many wonderful things about being a writer. Being able to work in your pajamas is a big one. Spying on the comings and goings of the neighborhood all day out my office window is another. Being able to stop work in the middle of the day and watch Law and Order while eating lunch is a huge bonus.

But if I was being serious, none of that compares to the thrill of creating something from my imagination that, hopefully, gives people joy.

Do you have a favorite comment or question from a reader?

I have to tell you, I am so excited to get any feedback from a reader. The fact that something I have written has moved someone to reach out to me at all is beyond thrilling to me.

As far as a favorite comment, I have had a few readers tell me that they felt they actually knew the professors in Picking Lemons … that the professors were the ones from their college … and that is a wonderful compliment. To know that the characters in a book feel so real to the readers that they feel they know them personally … that is what I hope every reader feels!

Where do your ideas come from?

Real life! Perhaps too much so ...

In Picking Lemons, one of characters Edmund DeBeyer is strangled with his Ph.D. hood. This idea came to me when a friend received her Ph.D. and was having a party to celebrate. She was standing before all of us, giving a very long, very boring speech, wearing her new gown and hood. As she was droning on, I looked at her and thought, “You know, I could end this agony if I just tightened your hood a bit…”

If you could sum your main character into five words, what would they be?

C.J. Whitmore just needs three words: Sassy … Smart … Self-centered

Author Webpage: jttomanauthor.com
Purchase Links: Amazon B&N

Tour Participants

January 26 – Kelly P’s Blog – Interview
January 27 – Queen of All She Reads – Review
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