Kathleen Kaska’s Books Offer Great Stories and a Worthy Cause

A warm welcome to my guest, author Kathleen Kaska. Kathleen is an author with a cause. She writes fiction and non-fiction, using both as gateways to causes dear to her heart.

Kathleen, please tell us a little about yourself.

I’m a Texas gal. Except for an eighteen-month hiatus living in New York City after college, I lived in the Lone Star State continuously for fifty years. Since then Texas has been hit and miss—a little hit, but a heck of a lot of miss. There was a time when I thought I would happily die in Austin, Texas. Butcircumstances and weather—especially weather—changed that. Now I spend most of the year on Fidalgo Island in Washington State with a view of the bay and the mountains. When I get homesick, my husband and I listen to Willie Nelson. Soon, we are dancing the two-step, imagining we are at our favorite honky-tonk in Tokio, Texas, where the mayor is believed to be a dog. Who wouldn’t miss that?

My daughter and her family live near Houston. I visited them in July once. Never again! Only winter visits.

Tell us about the books you’ve written. What was the first seed of an idea you had for your book? How did it develop?

I write two mystery series: the Sydney Lockhart Mystery Series and the Kate Caraway Animal-Rights Mystery Series. I got the idea for my Sydney Lockhart mysteries when my husband and I were at the historic Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas, a place we often stay. On one of those trips, I met Sydney Lockhart while unpacking. She walked out of the bathroom and told me she was not happy because there was a dead man in her bathtub. Then she told me her story. All I had to do was write it down. By the end of that week, I had the skeletal structure for the series which is set in the 1905s in different historic hotels. The stories are light and humorous but with a noir feel to them. Think of Janet Evanovich meets Raymond Chandler.

I started writing the Kate Caraway Animal-Rights Mystery Series because I wanted to write a series with a social cause—a cause I was passionate about.  I strongly believe in and support animal rights.  At that time, I came up with the idea, I was living in Austin, where I volunteered as a rehabber for Wild Life Rescue, an organization that raised and cared for injured and orphaned wildlife.  I used that experience as the premise for my books.

What a worthwhile cause wildlife rescue is! Sydney showed up in your life much like Jesse Graham showed up in mine. I assume that like Jesse, Sydney vocalizes what she wants written, too.

Kathleen, what do you keep in mind as you write? An overarching question? A theme? The last line of the book?

Since I write series, I have to remember that not every reader starts with the first book. I have to give just enough background information so the reader will understand how my characters have grown, developed, and changed. The theme for both series is strong women standing up for their beliefs. I love reading about women going above and beyond the norm, accomplishing great undertakings, and overcoming unbelievable obstacles. Writing the last line is a magical moment for me because it encapsulates the entire story, often providing readers with a hook for the next book. What makes it so magical is that I don’t know the last line until I write it.   

I love your themes. In my most recent Finger Lakes Mysteries series book, The Silenced Ones, the theme is women being silenced by the Church patriarchy since the time of Mary Magdalene.

For your non-fiction book, what most inspired you to write this book? A person or people? A place? Something else?

My love of birds, wildlife, and nature, and my admiration for people who make a profound difference, led me to write the biography The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane: The Robert Porter Allen Story. I like to describe Bob Allen as the Indiana Jones of the birding world. He was an ornithologist who worked his entire life as a field researcher with the National Audubon Society and was successful in saving several species of endangered birds, not only the whooping cranes.

Thank God for people like Bob Allen. We need them more and more these days.

Is there anything else you would like readers to know about you?

In reading the Sydney Lockhart series, I want readers to sit back, laugh, and enjoy the ride. After reading my Kate Caraway series, I hope folks will consider supporting a social cause, whether it’s saving whales, rescuing dogs, or improving the environment.

Murder at the Pontchartrain, the latest Sydney Lockhart mystery was just released.

Please visit my website, kathleenkaska.com, and sign up for my newsletter to receive information on my upcoming releases and to read my latest blog post, “Growing Up Catholic in a Small Texas Town.”

I will definitely read that post. I grew up Catholic in Rochester, NY. My mysteries are set at an all-girl Catholic school. We can compare our experiences.

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