In SAVING GRACIE, we have a headless body in the local swimming hole, a missing person duct taped to a toilet, a runaway mental patient, and one confused police officer working to keep everyone safe. And a beagle. Did I mention the beagle?

We’re hooked. Explain – immediately!
There are two distinct plot lines: one with an older woman searching for her family, and the other with a young police officer investigating his first murder. Their paths intertwine in surprising ways, and just when you think everything is wrapped up and done, the story gets back up swinging.

What genre are we talking about here?
I’m not good at coloring inside the lines, so the story is part mystery, part suspense, part paranormal, and part romance, and it has enough humor to keep even me happy.

If you like something that doesn’t adhere to a formula, if you love character-driven novels, and if you enjoy solving puzzles that keep you guessing, you’ll love my book.

Tell us about your characters: we know there’s a police officer – presumably there’s someone named Gracie too?
Gracie is a mature woman (75 is not old!) who lives in a boarding house dedicated to people with special needs. She’s bull-headed and determined and may be a little bit nuts, and she occasionally runs errands for the dead.

Marcel Trudeau is a small-town police officer who is now faced with his first murder investigation. He’s not your typical leading man; he’ll be the first to say he’s average, from thickset frame to cowlicky brown hair to those extra ten pounds he’s never been able to shed. When evidence points to people he knows and loves, he has a tough time being a good cop when he’d rather be a good friend.

When we’re done with Saving Gracie, what should we read next?
FINDING SARA was my first book. It’s about a young woman who hears voices in her head, and it’s a bit darker than SAVING GRACIE.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a country girl. I love it up here in the wilds of New Hampshire, and I can’t imagine living someplace where the black bears don’t steal your bird feeders and there are places to swim that don’t involve bloodsuckers. I love horses and wildlife and woods and streams and mountains. I write for pleasure, and I get all excited when someone emails me to let me know they love my book.

I have the attention span of a gnat (and I’ve just insulted gnats), so my goal is to write books that I’d enjoy reading. This means the characters have to grab me, and there has to be a puzzle that needs to be solved, and there had better be laughter. Most importantly, I have to care what happens next, or I’ll slam the book shut and walk away.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
Nancydemarco.com is under construction and ought to be up and running sometime in May 2014. Until then, I have a blog at http://nancydemarco.wordpress.com.

On Facebook, I have an author page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nancy-DeMarco/254132218001350

On Twitter, I’m @NancyDeMarco.

What’s next?
I’m working on a sequel to SAVING GRACIE. And I have an ongoing project called THE GIRL WITH GREEN HAIR in which a disturbed fifteen-year-old walks into a police station and confesses to killing someone two years previously at summer camp. I’m afraid that one is tending toward darkness, but I hope my character finds her way back into the light.

How easily do new storylines come to you? If we give you four random words – Man, Woman, Mexico, Future – can you give us a brief storyline?
Manuel Rodriguez and his wife Suzanna appear naked and smelling of tapioca pudding one frigid day in Central Park. Both claim to be the victims of human sacrifice in Mexico City in the year 2338, and neither can stop saying, “But I was promised I’d wake up in a better body.”