AN INTERVIEW WITH DEBBIE VIGUIE

The featured author, this month, is Debbie Viguie, author of I Shall Not Want, Book 2 in The Psalm 23 Mysteries series.

Welcome, Debbie, I’m so pleased to be interviewing you.

Thank you so much, Deborah, it’s a pleasure to be interviewed.  You have a great name, by the way!  ☺

Debbie, your bio states you’ve been writing for most of your life. When was it that you actually started?

I was nine when I really started writing.  I would play with my Breyer horses and then I would stop for an hour and write down the story I had just acted out with them.  I received my first rejection letter when I was twelve.

Please tell us a little about I Shall Not Want?

It’s the second book in my Psalm 23 Mysteries and it’s set during Thanksgiving.  Cindy and Jeremiah find themselves involved in another murder investigation when homeless people targeted by a new charity are also being targeted by a killer.  The charity pairs a homeless person with a homeless pet.  Not only are the people being killed but the dogs are also being stolen.  Cindy is forced to step even further out of her comfort zone as she gets involved with the charity work, the investigation, and hosting a misfit Thanksgiving at her home which is interrupted in the worst possible way.

What prompted you to throw together a church secretary and a Rabbi as your two main characters in this series?

I worked for two years as a secretary in a church and I can tell you it is one of the strangest, most wonderful, most insane places to work.  I would tell stories about what had happened some days that would leave family members laughing hysterically or shaking their heads in disbelief.  You know what they say, truth is stranger than fiction.  I also found it fascinating that early weekday mornings, with no one else around, a church can be a little spooky because we always associate it with lots of people and to see it otherwise is unnerving.  When I decided to write a mystery series, it seemed like the perfect zany setting.  My previous foray into Christian fiction had been set in a theme park.  I like interesting work places where life is slightly skewed from what it is elsewhere.

I find it fascinating that a close study of the Jewish religion always sheds so much light on the customs of Christianity.  I believe the more you understand the more texture and subtlety there is to be discovered.  I thought the Rabbi and Cindy could have great interplay in exploring these connections.  I also liked the idea of the hero being from another country and Israel is enticing to many Christians who wish they could journey there and travel in the footsteps of Christ.

What other books have you had released recently, and what can we expect in the future?

The Sweet Seasons series is set in a theme park and follows the misadventures of Candace as she gets her first job and learns about life and herself.  I actually laughed out loud while writing those books.  The first book in that series is The Summer of Cotton Candy.

The third book in the Psalm 23 Mysteries series, Lie Down in Green Pastures, comes out in the spring.  The story takes place during St. Patrick’s Day.

And I have a Christian vampire series coming out.  The first book is titled Kiss of Night.

How did you become interested in writing Christian Vampire books?

I read Dracula in high school and was really captivated by the story and the creative way it was written.  As a kid I loved monster movies and scary stories.  Frank Peretti’s Piercing the Darkness was required reading in my 12th grade Bible class in my high school and it excited me because it was seriously scary and had a Christian message at the same time.  In college I started noticing that in horror movies, the only religious characters were Catholic and I thought Protestants should also get some representation.  I also became deeply dissatisfied with a lot of the modern horror literature out there because it overemphasized things I didn’t care to read about (such as sex).  I began working on the idea for a Christian series where one of the main characters is a vampire.  Finally, my story and the marketplace were ready at the same time and I have to admit I was so excited when my agent sold it that I jumped up and down.

Debbie, please tell readers where you can be found on the internet.

Sure!  My website is:  www.debbieviguie.com.  I’m also on Facebook and Twitter.

Fun facts on the bio page of your Web site reveal you had three dogs, all named Feu Feu. What was your reason for this, other than liking that name?

Actually, the first Feu Feu was my mom’s and I knew him when I was very little.  My grandfather named him as the male version of a Fifi.  When it came time for me to get a puppy we carried on the tradition.  Feu Feu 2 died when I was in college and Feu Feu 3 came into our lives.  I miss them all deeply and look forward to the day when there is a Feu Feu 4. 

Were they all the same breed?

Yes, they were all white, male toy poodles.  Toy poodles are incredibly smart, tons of fun, and very fierce when they or a loved one are threatened.  For the record I’ve also had Snow E. (an American Eskimo), Laddie (a collie), and Wolfie (hmm…wonder what he was…).  Cats in my life have been Lady, Frisbee, Frisbee Too, and Schrödinger.

Well, that wraps it up, Debbie. Thank you so much for visiting my site. All the best with every one of your books.

Thank you so much!  It’s been a pleasure.

If you’d like to win an autographed copy of I Shall Not Want, use my Contact page and type “drawing” in the comments box. The deadline to enter is November 24th.

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