
Hi
everyone, I'm Rory McCain - you may already know me as the sketch artist and
private investigator in the "Portrait of Crime" mystery series. Today
I'm borrowing a journalist's hat to interview Jaye Saylor, owner of Crystal
Clear, the new crystal and gemstone shop in Sedona,
Arizona.
Rory: "So Jaye, what made you decide to move
to Sedona?"
Jaye: "I don't think I ever decided to move there. I just followed
my best friend Sierra who vacationed here and refused to come back home. Of
course her name wasn't Sierra back then. She likes to change her name to suit the
circumstances in her life. She's what some folks call a free spirit. Of course
I've heard less charitable people say she's one card shy of a full deck. But when it comes to being a friend, there's no one better.
Rory: What does Sierra
do for a living?
Jaye(laughing): She
opened a bakery called Cravings, even though she'd never baked anything before
in her life. She has a really optimistic "can do" spirit. As it turned
out, she has a lot of natural ability too, which explains why I've gained a few
pounds since moving here.
Rory: "How do you like living in Sedona?"
Jaye: Unfortunately, Sierra and I got off to a
rocky start, which is bound to happen when a murder victim winds up in your new
backyard.
Rory: Who was the victim?
Jaye: The owner of the only other full service
bakery in town. As you can imagine, that immediately made Sierra suspect number
one with the local police. So we had to take it upon ourselves to find the
killer and clear her name.
Rory: There's a lot
of talk about Sedona's psychic vortexes. Do you believe these
energy fields exist?
Jaye: I'm not sure I believed in them initially,
but it's the only way to explain some of the strange things that have happened
to us here.
Rory: Well that sounds
intriguing - care to elaborate?
Jaye (with a
mischievous smile): No, I wouldn't want
to spoil the fun.
Rory: Have you made any
new friends here?
Jaye: Yes, most of the
people who live here year round are wonderful. Quirky, but wonderful.
Rory: Can you tell us about some of them?
Jaye: There's Daniel Yazzi. He's a full-blooded
Navajo. Great guy and easy on the eyes as the saying goes. He grew up on a reservation to the north where
most of his family still lives, but he and his cousin live in Sedona now.
They've built up a good business taking tourists on Jeep rides through the Red
Rock. (Jaye laughs) And then there's Edith and Esther, eighty year old
fraternal twin spinsters. They're as different looking as any two people can
be, but they've spent their whole lives dressing alike and pretending to be
identical.
Rory: It sounds like
you're really settling in there, Jaye. May I come back and talk to you again
some time?
Jaye: Sure, anytime. You might also like to interview Sierra, Daniel, the twins, or some of the
other characters who live here. Please invite your readers to stop by my
crystal shop on August 20th to find out how we cleared Sierra's name, as well as a
lot more about all of us in A is for Amethyst, from Berkley Intermix. The cover for the first book should be up on our website soon - sharonpape.com
I can't wait to read more!
ReplyDeleteI love the Portrait series and own a number of them personally. I can't wait to get my hands on this new series and check it out. Sharon is a wonderful author who makes her characters come alive and are always a fun read.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the interview, now I really want to read the new book :) I love Amethyst, and a paranormal cozy.
ReplyDelete