BOOKS BY MY FRIENDS: CAROLYN KORSMEYER
Little Follies: A Mystery at the Millennium
Welcome back to BOOKS BY MY FRIENDS, Carolyn! Please tell us about your new novel Little Follies: A Mystery at the Millennium.
JH: What’s the blurb for your book?
CK: A visit to Krakow intended to test a new relationship turns out to be fraught with danger when two Americans encounter a man pursuing a dark ambition in the waning months of the last millennium. Adam Kasper is a historian delving into the archives of an old museum; traveling with him is Joan Templeton, a journalist. Although they have come to Poland together in hopes that their new romance might flourish, Adam's work is all-consuming, and Joan finds better company with Rudy Vander Lage, a lecturer at the university who is coping with widowhood. By chance, they cross paths with Pawel Radincki, a man of unstable mind who hopes to transform his life by means both criminal and occult. Adam's obsession with his research leads him to commit a serious breach of academic protocol. Although their relationship is disintegrating, Joan decides to help him with a bold and risky plan, and she enlists the aid of Rudy. Neither realizes that the risks they take will stymie Pawel's plans and put Joan's life in danger. Theft, murder, and magic propel the plot, which reaches a climax at the turn of the millennium when relationships are realigned and follies laid bare.
JH: What inspired you to write this book?
CK: Little Follies took me quite a few years to write, so the inspiration behind it proceeded in stages. First was the setting: Krakow, where I taught for a term at its ancient university. It is a beautiful city with a complicated history and seemed ready made for a mystery story. Second was a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, which has a complex background of its own and inspired part of the plot. And third, I got so interested in my characters that I kept writing to see what they might do. That may sound strange, but I think many novelists experience something similar.
JH: What one thing do you love most about writing?
CK: Becoming absorbed in a fictional world that develops under your fingertips.
JH: What’s next for you in the way of writing/publishing?
CK: I’ve turned to writing historical fiction. My third novel, Riddle of Spirit and Bone (forthcoming in 2025) is a dual timeline mystery that takes place in 1851 and 2025. My current work in progress is inspired by a trip that my great aunt took to Japan and China in 1936. I’m using her travel diary to imagine what it was like for foreigners to visit that part of the world at the time, because it was filled with conflict and tension prior to World War II. Balancing the observations that my aunt recorded with the hindsight of the later historical record is challenging.
JH: How can readers contact you?
CK:
BIO:
Carolyn Korsmeyer is an academic philosopher turned novelist, a shift of writing that isn't as strange as it may seem, as she is interested in the various ways that ideas can be conveyed by different kinds of writing, whether academic treatise or fictional narrative. Her first novel, Charlotte's Story (2021) reinvents the world of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice from the perspective of Charlotte Lucas, beginning with her risky marriage and exploring the problems it encounters and the strategies she devises to solve them. More information about her writing, both philosophical and fictional, can be found at her website: www.carolynkorsmeyer.com.
JH: Thanks, Carolyn, for returning to BBMF. Your fiction is so intriguing, and I’m sure readers will want to check them out soon. Great news about the next book. Continued success with your writing and publishing!
All good things,
Joy
This article may contain affiliate links. Purchasing from these links helps me provide more awesome content for you. Thank you for your support!
Advertisement
Advertisement
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX