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Interview with Douglas R. Cobb, author of Lily Solves Them All

 

Tell us about your new book

Lily Solves Them All is the third novel in my series The Case Files of Lily and PAWS (Private Army of Warrior Sleuths). Lily E. Quince is the crime-fighting leader of PAWS, and she’s the first-person narrator of the series. She resembles a black-and-white brindle Cairn terrier, but that is the image she chooses to project into the minds of humans–she’s really a pterodactyl. In Lily Solves Them All, set in the fictional city of Centralia, AR., Lily, her “owner,” and best friend Celeste, and the rest of PAWS are challenged by their newest arch-nemesis, Professor Polynesia, to solve seven difficult cases using the methods of seven of the most famous detectives in literature and the silver screen. The seven detectives are Sherlock Bones, Nero Wolf, Miss Marvel, Hercule Parrot, Colombo, Sam Specter, and Inspector Bluesseau. If they are unable to solve even one of the cases, Professor Polynesia threatens to expose them in the media as being inadequate buffoons. As if the cases themselves aren’t hard enough to solve, Lily, Celeste, and PAWS face foes such as automatons, werewolves, vampires, witches, ghosts, and even aliens. Can Lily, Celeste, and their friends solve the seven cases and save the world; or, has Lily finally bitten off more than she can chew?

What genre is it?

MG/YA Mystery, but also Horror and SF, as there are Steampunk automatons, werewolves, vampires, witches, ghosts, and aliens in it.

What kind of readers will it appeal to?

Middle Grade (MG) and Young Adult (YA) readers, but also adults, as many of the references I use are pop culture ones that perhaps only adults will know about. Examples are ones like the movie The Maltese Falcon, Miss Marple, Nero Wolfe, Agatha Christie, Hecule Poirot, Colombo, Sherlock Holmes, and the Pink Panther movies. I count as one of my influences Roald Dahl, so my books have a somewhat twisted, but hopefully cool, sense of humor prevalent throughout.

How long did it take to write?

Almost four months. Lily Solves Them All is the longest of the series thus far, at a little over 96,000 words. It will be available soon in paperback, to give people a choice about which format to purchase, like the other books I’ve written.

What was the most challenging part of your creative process?

Trying to make each case and section better than the previous ones. Also, the research part is never, for me, very fun, though I learn a lot with each book I write. Trying to make sense of the Belgian legal system and the rules of rugby still give me headaches….

Tell us a bit about yourself

I am a native of Illinois, though all of my novels are set in the fictional city of Centralia, AR. I earned my B.A. in Rhetoric from the University of Illinois, a Masters in English from Arizona State University, and a Masters in Secondary Education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Little Rock is where I met my wife, Beth. We have two children, Ben, who is 22, and Kaitlin (Celeste in the Lily novels) who is 18. We currently reside in Barling, AR., a small town adjacent to Fort Smith.

Have you got a blog where readers can keep up with your work?

I have a book review site, What’s New In Book Reviews,  I have FB pages for my novels, also. The one for Lily, Unleashed, Lily and PAWS: The Ghosts of Summer, and Lily Solves Them All is at: http://www.facebook.com/LilySolvesThemAll. The one for my YA Horror/SF novel, My Brother The Zombie (The Zombie Revolution: Book One) is at: http://www.facebook.com/MyBrotherTheZombie

Where can people buy your book?

My ebooks/paperbacks are exclusive to Amazon, and can be bought at Amazon stores/Kindle shops around the world.

What’s next?

I will begin the 2nd. book in my series The Zombie Revolution soon, and I’ll probably have a Christmas novella featuring Lily, Celeste, and PAWS for sale at Amazon sometime before Christmas.

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  1. Pingback: Interview with L.S Hullinger, author of Alibi’s Ghosts | Indie Author Land

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