And our Sue's Clues Mystery Author is:

JENNIE KLASSEL is an author sure to be around for quite some time. She combines humor and romance in such a way that the reader can't help but be satisfied and happily looking forward to her next release. Jennie has led an adventurous life and now resides in New England. She has taken time from her committments to give us the following interview.

Visit her website to learn more about her and her books at http://www.jennieklassel.com/

1. At your site you have a section titled "Life's Little Detours." I'm thinking it should be more like "Life's Little Adventures." You've seen and done much more than most of us ever will. Can you elaborate a little on some of it? What exactly were you doing while traveling across Asia in a Land Rover? How did you end up building kayaks in North Carolina?

I recently came across a journal I kept at age sixteen. At the risk of embarrassing myself before your entire readership, here's one entry: "I'm rather angry that I am allotted only one lifetime in which to do everything I want to do . . . I shall disdain security -- I know this -- but someday I shall crave and cry out for it. Till then I want to wallow in the exhilaration and recklessness of freedom and anticipation." Yikes! Talk about vainglory, not to mention really bad writing!

But oddly enough, I did just that for more years than I or my family and friends care to remember. I managed to live a fairly predictable life right up through college; then, like that famous bear of song, I went over the mountain to see what I could see. I headed for "swinging London" to study acting, and four years later set out with my former husband on the legendary "hippie trail" across Asia -- to see what we could see. Thank goodness we saw it then because it's going to be a long, long time before any Westerner is going to see it again: Iran, Afghanistan, the Khyber Pass, wonder upon wonder. It turned out after two years in Singapore that he wasn't as into wallowing in the exhilaration and recklessness of freedom and anticipation as I was, and we parted company. We're still good friends. I rattled around for several years, went off to New York to become an actress, hated the life, and met a wild Czech boat builder who was living in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, and who turned out to be a little too reckless even for me. I skulked back to Boston, and eventually lost my mind entirely and started writing romance. It's been a great life, and I have to say that I'm still angry that I'm only allotted one.

2. What part of "Joizy" are you from? Small town, big town? Do you miss it? You must miss the beaches since beaches in New England are so different.

I was born in beautiful downtown Newark, grew up in Livingston and South Orange, and left at age seventeen without regret. Give me the urban core or the country -- I am not a suburban person. In Jersey, you didn't go to the beach, you went "down the shore," where you blithely smeared on baby oil (!!!) to achieve that perfect tan, and hunted in giggling packs for cute guys. By the way, my nickname in college was "Joizy."

3. I have a couple of questions about your medievals. I've read all but SHE WHO LAUGHS LAST, but I hope to change that soon. First question: In GIRL ON THE RUN I loved the fact that you created an imaginary country and characters but kept to the facts of the time. Is there any particular reason that you chose not to set the story in an existing country or include actual historical persons?

I have to admit that I cribbed the concept of blending the historical and the imaginary for SHE WHO LAUGHS LAST from Gaelen Foley's terrific "Ascension" series about the royal family of an imaginary island nation in Napoleonic times. The method provides structure by using historical fact, but allows a measure of freedom to explore character that isn't possible using actual historical people. I also wanted to inject a measure of fantasy into GIRL ON THE RUN, and since I happen to have studied Greek in college and love the Mediterranean world of the Odyssey, I created the Dominion. I had great fun writing both books.

4. In GIRL ON THE RUN, Merlin's character was important to the story. It was interesting that, rather than growing older, he was actually going backward in age. I remember wondering at the time if you were planning on doing another book with Merlin at a different age in a different time period? Or maybe a sequel telling what happens with Brother Absalom after he gets to where he is going, forsaking his priesthood or just as a secondary character?

One of the many myths about Merlin is that he lived backwards in time, and I rather liked the idea that he knew all about my characters' futures (his past) without knowing about his own future (my characters' past). I hadn't thought of following Merlin into his own future, but I would very much like to know what becomes of Brother Absalom in the 21st century. He is, hands down, my favorite secondary character in any of my books and deserves one of his own.

5. Your first contemp, IT HAPPENED IN SOUTH BEACH, will be released soon and is receiving great reviews. Can you tell us about the book?

On one of my stranger days, a book title popped into my mind: Tilly Snapp, Sex Detective (eventually renamed IT HAPPENED IN SOUTH BEACH by my publisher). But then I had to write a story to go with the title! And since Alice in Wonderland is one of my top five favorite books, I came up with the story of a somewhat repressed writer from Boston (definitely not autobiographical!) whose life is turned upside down when her eccentric aunt is murdered and she inherits a boutique in South Beach that specializes in antique erotic "accessories." Much like Alice, Tilly tumbles down a rabbit hole and discovers a fantastical new world -- and a Tilly she never knew existed.

6. You've mentioned that the great screwball comedies of the 1930s and '40s were the inspiration for IT HAPPENED IN SOUTH BEACH, taking them to the 21st century. Any particular movies? What characteristics were important to bring into the novel?

Where to begin? Bringing Up Baby, with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. It Happened One Night, with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. His Girl Friday, with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. These are hilarious films about the battle of the sexes: down-and-dirty, no-holds-barred, every man and woman for themselves -- and eventually for each other, of course! What makes them "screwball" is the clever juxtaposition of sophistication and slapstick. I've tried to bring that sense silliness and outright lunacy to IT HAPPENED IN SOUTH BEACH.

7. What can we expect in the future from you? Any works in progress you can tease us with?

I'm working on a sequel to IT HAPPENED IN SOUTH BEACH, and I have another title in mind that will need a story to go with it. I'd also like to do another medieval. Do you think there's a market out there for screwball medievals?

8. Are you surprised at the success you are having? How has life changed in general?

I am astonished, bewildered, and generally discombobulated by this new career of mine. When my daughter first dared me to write a romance, I said, "How hard could it be?" How's that for vainglory?