Meet Mystery Author Susan Bernhardt

Susan Bernhardt is an author living in Wisconsin. Like Kay Driscoll in her cozy mystery The Ginseng Conspiracy, Susan is a retired public health nurse who volunteers at her local free clinic. An avid reader of mysteries, she is a member of Sisters in Crime, Inc. Her other published works include “October 31st”, “Midsummer”, and “John and Madeline.”

Susan's town in northern Wisconsin was an inspiration for the quaint settings of her novel. She lives with her husband, William, and has two sons, Peter and David. When not writing, Susan loves to travel, bicycle, kayak, and create culinary magic in her kitchen. She works in stained-glass, daydreams in her organic garden, stays up late reading mysteries, and eats lots of chocolate.

          You can find her at:

          Website: www.susanbernhardt.com

          Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGinsengConspiracyBySusanKBernhardt

          Twitter: @SusanBernhardt1

          goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7255617.Susan_Bernhardt

          Cozy Mysteries Unlimited: http://cozy-mysteries-unlimited.com/content/ginseng-conspiracy-kay-driscoll-mystery-series-1

                  

 Interview

When did you consider yourself a writer?

When I started writing The Ginseng Conspiracy and had other works published in ezines.

Do you have a schedule when you write or do you write whenever there’s some peace and quiet? If you have a set schedule, share it with us.

I try to write everyday but often life gets in the way. I probably average 2-3 hours per day.

Any odd rituals that get you in the mood to write? Where do you write? What’s on your desk?

I write sitting on my sofa in the living room with my notebook on my lap. We have a wall sized window in the room with fabulous views of trees, birds, and my neighborhood. I keep my teacup filled on a table next to me. It's a peaceful place to work.

Tell us where the idea came from...how long it took to write...difficulties you may have encountered and how you overcame.

I write from real life experiences. Kay's family in The Ginseng Conspiracy is based on my family.

Many factors contributed to the idea of The Ginseng Conspiracy. We live three blocks from a college. Often I would see a professor walking past our home to the college talking into a recorder. The plotline idea just hit me. I decided to write a mystery about a college professor being murdered because of research he was doing on the local ginseng fields. While travelling, my husband and I met a couple from Wisconsin who owned a ginseng farm. They told us about a Chinese delegation coming to their farm and putting in a large order for ginseng. Wisconsin grows 95% of the American ginseng. These are just a couple examples of how the idea for The Ginseng Conspiracy evolved.

Pick three words that describe you as a person.

Passionate, persistent, adventurous.

Pick three words that describe you as a writer.

The same words would apply. I identify as a writer. Passionate, persistent, adventurous.

As a published author do you find the process of writing, editing, promotion getting easier? Also, how many published books do you have?

Some of my other works are published in ezines. The Ginseng Conspiracy is the first in the Kay Driscoll series, and is my first published novel. I am currently writing the third mystery in the series. The second mystery will be sent to my publisher in the next couple of weeks. I have found subsequent novels easier to write since being published. There used to be large gaps of time when writing. That is no longer the case. Promotion seems to be a bit easier than I first expected and so far I haven't run out of ideas.

How hard is it to step away from characters you’ve spent time with and finally pen THE END? Do you have an impulse to continue their story?

My cozy mysteries are a series. I haven't had this happen yet.

Do you picture a famous movie star when penning your hero? If so, name a few. Same for the heroine.

No. Kay Driscoll is me. I only picture myself.

What advice would you offer to new writers?

This first piece of advice is for any genre. Once you have an idea for your book, don’t just talk about writing, sit down and write out a first draft. Write anything that comes into your mind, no matter how far out it may be. You will do multiple edits, anyway, so free write.

          As far as mysteries, tension, tension, tension. There must be some level of crisis that causes conflict in each chapter.

The Ginseng Conspiracy – Excerpt

I supposed I should have kept going and minded my own business, but when had I ever done that? My curiosity kept calling me. I had told Elizabeth and Deirdre that Phil and I would meet them at seven-thirty. It was seven-fifteen, and I was just two blocks away. I had plenty of time to find out what was going on. It was a bit creepy, but I could just take a peek. Not knowing was killing me, so I made the decision to check it out.

          I ducked into the dark alley and went around to the double back door of the store. The entire area looked shabby and desolate. I'd never been in the alley behind the stores before. This presented new territory for me. A smell of wilting trash prevailed. Trashcans on their sides spilled their ancient contents into the rutted pavement. Piles of old wood and broken pallets leaned against the side of the building. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to be here after all, but I continued on to satisfy my curiosity.

          I pulled open one of the unlocked doors, entered, and heard faint voices coming from behind an inner door down a hallway. Slowly, careful to not make a sound, I opened the inside door and just as silently closed it behind me. A curtain blocked my view into the room, so I moved forward to peer around its edge.

          Six people stood in a storage room in a circle, all of them wearing the same silk gossamer hooded robes. It was a bizarre scene. No party atmosphere here. Fresh footprints from the mystery people scattered around the thick dust on the floor. Cobwebs covered the walls. This was becoming much more like The Da Vinci Code than I would have liked. All that was missing was a body. I was beginning to think I had been right in the first place. I shouldn't be here. Way past having a bad feeling about this, the hair on my body stood on end. But I didn't move for the door. I was determined to stay and find out what was happening. The robed people all gazed down at the floor. Stepping onto a low box in front of me, I strained my neck to see what they were looking at. Lying on the floor was a person. Had someone passed out? I could see a man. He was someone I knew, the professor we saw on our morning walks, who passed our home on his way to the college, whom Elizabeth hadn't introduced me to yet. I couldn’t believe it. The professor was lying there, looked lifeless. My skin tingled. I held my breath as my heart raced.

          I stumbled as I stepped down from the box that I stood on. Backing away from the curtain, I swung the door open wide and ran toward the alley door. Footsteps sounded in the hallway as I slammed the back door shut. I grabbed a thick piece of wood lying beside the door, shoved it though the door handles, and raced through the dark alley behind the stores. I got about a block away before I heard the sound of splintering wood. It was only a short distance to get to the Vermilion Pathway where Elizabeth, Deirdre, and I walked each morning. I hoped to lose myself in the wooded area.

          I reached the pathway, removed my slippers to make it easier to run, and sprinted down a short distance before I made a sharp left turn up an embankment. I heard hurried voices coming in my direction on the path. Halfway up the embankment, I hid behind an old gargantuan oak tree I had often admired on our walks I pulled the skirt of my cloak tight around my legs and held my breath. My heart pounded so loudly in my chest, I thought for sure they would be able to hear it. The pursuing group passed without slowing, within twenty feet from where I hid. The moonless night concealed me. Why the chase? What had I interrupted? Everything spun out of control. I couldn't believe this was happening to me...in Sudbury Falls!

          I waited until I no longer heard their voices and then continued up the embankment and ran through backyards that were parallel to Main Street. I put my slippers back on. I needed to head for the safety of home where I could process the adrenaline-fueled events of the last several minutes. In the middle of the block, with no direct streetlights overhead, I dashed across Main Street and through two backyards. I kept in the shadows, running between the houses.

          This was a night of shadows. I could see a woman through her back picture window standing over at the stove as I ran through her yard. Her dog, tied up in the backyard, started barking as he saw me. But I was already gone before I heard her backdoor slam shut. I crossed Elm Street, hoping not to be seen in the streetlights. Eerie Jack-O’Lanterns leered out at me from the corner house. Phil and I had just laughed about them last night when walking home from Jo's, but now they were unwanted eyes watching me as I tried to move undetected through town. Their sneers looked fixedly at me as I passed. Stretches between the yards seemed longer. Running under brooding trees on Maple Street, I reached the entrance to the alley behind our house.

          I stopped in the shadows, searching the night for any signs of movement, making sure I wasn't followed. It was creepier back here than I expected. A cat screamed. I jumped and bolted down the alley, through our squeaky gate, and let myself in the back door, locking it behind me.

          I pulled my knees up to my chest and laid my head on them. What was going on? What had I just witnessed in the vacant store?

The Ginseng Conspiracy is available at MuseItUp Publishing and all online reputable vendors. For a complete listing please visit THE GINSENG CONSPIRACY