'Murder on 34th Street' with Mariah Fredericks

Continuing the Christmas feeling when it comes to all things books and now I would like to welcome author Mariah Fredericks. Mariah, welcome to the show. Oh, thank you for having me. Of course. So before we kind of take a deep dive into one of your latest releases, tell us a little bit about who you are and what really sparked your interest into becoming an author. You know, it was the only thing I ever wanted to do, and probably because of that, it was the only thing I felt I did well. When I was a little kid, I was that kid who made up stories for every doll in the dollhouse. So, you know. This one's going to murder that one. And I just always loved narrative. It's imperative. Uh, so... I decided very early on, I think I was 11 years old when I attempted to write my first novel. It was half a page typed. Um, that was not the beginning and the end. Uh, so I wrote in high school, I wrote in college, and while it took a lot longer to achieve publishing success than I had, you know, I thought I'd come out of college and obviously my first book would be published and, you know, I would just settle into my career. Well, it took four books. So So, I was a young adult for many years and then I came up with a story that just had to be a historical mystery, and that was Death of No Importance. And so you have a new book, like I said, out that came out in October. It's called Murder on 34th Street. And the cover of it gives it like back in like the Gatsby times a little bit with like a little bit of Christmas thrown in there. So tell readers a little bit about what's involved in this new story. Well, in this story, we are in 1932 at Macy's. It's the day before. The big Thanksgiving Day parade and an intrepid young assistant in the personnel department comes into work to find a note on her desk from the store Santa Claus saying he has received a threat that Santa will not live to see Christmas. So, of course, she has to leap into action to save the nice man who plays Santa Claus, Harry Gardner, Santa, and the Macy's shopping season. Well, I feel like everybody needs to read this before we have, like, the big parade here. So it's like, hmm, is there going to be a murder? I hope not. But, you know, like, read it for the suspense of it. So what would you say was, like, the best and most fun part about writing this story? I love screwball comedies of the 30s, so being immersed in that particular snappy voice that we know from Rosalind Russell and Bringing Up Baby and things like that was an enormous... Joy, it was a very fun, it was a funny book to write, and I hadn't done funny in a little while, so it was great to get back to laughter and romance and the holidays, and then just dealing with the history of the parade itself, you know, these hundred-foot balloons that they, you know, released into the air at this time. Um, yeah, huge fun. Yeah. And it's always fun when you're able to throw like a little bit of mystery and to like the Christmas time. Cause it kind of keeps people like on the edge a little bit with like a little bit of suspense while everybody's like running around like, Oh, it's Christmas. Like, yeah, but I'm kind of helping solve a murder, you know, like in my own brain. And so how long is a typical writing process for you when it comes to stories like this? It usually takes me about nine months to write the rough draft, and then my excellent editor takes it and says, oh, okay, let's rework this, that, and the other thing, and you forgot, you know, to do anything in the middle part, and then so we spend another two months revising. So yeah, it's about a year all up. Okay. And then before I let you go, is there anything else that you would like to say to fellow book lovers out there, especially as we enter into, you know, like the Christmas and Thanksgiving season? Um, well, it's a very stressful time, you know, it's one of those times when you want everything to be perfect, the food and the gifts and the ugly sweaters and all of that, so it's good to read about something going really wrong, like a dead body, during the holidays, because then you can say, well, that didn't happen, maybe I burned the turkey, but that didn't happen, nobody died, yeah. And it's always fun too, because it's like, if you're around family, you don't want to be bothered with it. Like, you know, I'm going to go read my book. Cause that'll give me something to look forward to around this time. Thank you so much for sharing your story and the journey behind it and for taking the time to come and chat with me and fellow book lovers out there. Oh, thank you so much, Sydney.