by Katherine H. Brown

Hello and thank you for taking the time to “meet” me today!

I’m Texas author Katherine H. Brown and it is a pleasure to introduce myself and my cozy mystery books to you. I’ve been a word-lover since I was a little girl. As a kid, I used to write itty bitty stories and create cardboard book covers for them, practiced newsletter writing and formatting in elementary school, and sold them to my parents for fifty cents each (they had to buy separate copies even though they were married and we all lived in the same house, lol).

That love of words simply never faded although I did ignore it for a time while I tried to be a “responsible adult” with a day job that translated to sixty-hour weeks and a lot of frustration and anger. Fortunately for me, once we had paid off a vehicle and enough bills to make it possible, my husband fully supported me leaving the workforce to give my creative self a chance to explore writing. That was in 2018/2019 and I’ve never looked back. Now, I’m a thoroughly exhausted stay-at-home-mom, homeschooling a brilliant (biased, me? No way.) three-year-old who can already read and is beginning to practice spelling, and writing whenever she naps or other opportunities arise.

Enough about me, what about the books, right??

Being a mom and a Christian, I knew right away that clean books were my go-to genre as the example I wanted for my children. I’ve always enjoyed Nancy Drew, Mandie and the Secret Tunnel, Hardy Boys, plus the incredible authors, Joanne Fluke and Jana DeLeon, so mystery was a pretty easy leap.

Although I’ve never put recipes into my cozy mysteries, you will definitely notice that food sneaks its way into the descriptions. A lot. Some readers left reviews that they had to get a snack to keep reading my Ooey Gooey Bakery Mysteries because I constantly describe the treats that the two best friends, Piper and Samantha, create in their bakery between investigating murders and mysteries. Sometimes the snacks were things I loved, other times I tried making up zany creations. Once, I decided a summer pie needed to be invented so I gave my characters watermelon pie. Then a few days later, I googled it just for fun and found real recipes of watermelon pie!!! I was mind-blown. Also, that is a food I never want to eat, lol.
That makes sense though, food in a bakery-themed small-town mystery.

Kathleen’s new book that just came out!

Another little-known tidbit about me that translates rather humorously into my writing: I do not have any pets. None. Zero. I am not a dog person, not a cat person, basically not a “I must feed you and keep you alive person” except for my two daughters.

So, when I put pets in my books, I sometimes forget about them! It was not uncommon for me to text my sister when writing one of my Sassy Supplies Cozy Mysteries and tell her that I accidentally forgot the persnickety Persian cat Jinx for three chapters after sending him to work with the main character and I would have to go back and add in pieces to the story so the reader didn’t think he was abandoned. Have no fear, I do always get him back on the page and actually let Jinx defeat the villain once or twice to make it up to him!

While I write cozy mysteries, I love to read so very many genres, from high fantasy to swoony romance to historical fiction. I also read fairy tale retellings like nobody’s business – I’m there for all of them!

One day, while contemplating my love of fairy tale retellings, a new story idea popped in my head. A retelling, or more accurately full reimagining, of a Mary Poppins character. Thus, my steampunk mysteries were created! Friends, I had so much fun taking our feisty umbrella-flying main character and giving her steampunk inventions to head all over London and even to Buckingham Palace to meet with the Queen.

In my writing, the characters are always the heart of my books and I enjoy creating each personality and quirk, the conversations and wit. They are all so fun!

Thank you again for reading and supporting authors like myself!

Links for anyone wanting to know more or find a mentioned series:
instagram.com/katherinebrownkatie
goodreads.com/author/show/18681694.Katherine_Brown
bookbub.com/authors/katherine-h-brown
facebook.com/katherinebrownkatieauthor
amazon.com/Katherine-Brown/e/B078J72H8M

You can click here to purchase Kathleen’s new book.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Also listen to our new mystery podcast where mystery short stories and first chapters are read by actors! They are also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify. A new episode went up this week.

Katherine Brown is a wife, mother, Texas author, Jesus follower, lifelong bookaholic, and lover of all things chocolate. Katherine writes clean, witty books full of fun to know characters in the hopes of bringing as much joy and escapism to readers as she herself enjoys from so many fabulous books. She can be found behind a laptop or behind her energetic toddler most days and loves the memories being made between the pages of exhaustion.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.