Local author Donis Casey was the latest local author to entertain the Friends of the Scottsdale Public Library members with an hour long talk about her mystery novels on Friday, May 7 at Arabian Library.

The event was held outdoors on the patio with limited attendance due to COVID-19, and Casey spoke about how she got started writing, why she chose the mystery genre, and how she develops her characters across a series of novels.

Her Alafair Tucker mysteries feature a woman (Tucker) with 10 children, and each book in the series spotlights one of the children in the middle of the mystery. While most are set in 1910s Oklahoma, The Wrong Hill to Die On takes place in Arizona. Each book in the series also features recipes at the end related to the novel’s topic.

“It’s very hard to fool mystery readers, because if you read a lot of mysteries they know all your tricks,” Casey told the crowd. “That’s the fun of being a mystery writer is you have to try to fool the reader with a misdirect or a surprise.”

Casey also discussed her newest series, the Bianca Dangerous Hollywood mysteries. Her latest novel in this series, Valentino Will Die, came out earlier this year.

Due to summer weather, our next “Airtime with an Author” event won’t take place until the fall. These events are exclusive to Friends members, so be sure to join today so you don’t miss out on great local author presentations.