Are you in for a treat??!! I think so! I've got Donna Mumma here talking about her new vintage release Dressed for Success…Turned out for Murder. It's all about a retro department store, murders, and a group of ladies that…well, I can't tell you everything! Wanna know more? Keep reading…and don't forget to stay for the book giveaway!
PT: Welcome to the Diamond Mine, Donna. What set you on the path of writing?
PT: It’s great to have your husband’s support! So where do
you hail from?
DM: I am a Florida native. I grew up in what used to be a
rural area in the center of the state and now live on the West Coast in the
Tampa Bay area.
PT: Now, you grew up on a dairy farm. Did you manually milk
cows or was it all automated?
DM: My dad used automatic milkers that had to be put on by
hand. Not as much work as hand-milking but still required a lot of tiring
labor. I had four older brothers who did that work. My chores were much
lighter, like feeding newly weaned calves and helping my mom around the house.
When my brothers were older and moved out, I did work at the dairy barn, but I
washed the cow’s udders before the milkers were applied. I learned fast how to
dodge cow-kicks and being smacked in the face by dirty tails.
PT: I so understand. I used to hand milk! Could you tell
some things you learned from growing up on a farm?
DM: When you grow up on a farm, you learn very early that
good and bad situations come along and you have no control over either one.
When things go wrong, you don’t have time to despair. Cows still need to be
milked and fed, fields need to be plowed, crops need to be planted or
harvested. Farms are great teachers of how to live on faith and trust in God
because trouble and tragedies come very quickly. If you’re going to make it,
you have to take on a “these things happen but tomorrow is another day and
God’s in control” kind of attitude. That has stayed with me my entire life,
though I have to remind myself who’s in control.
PT: What a great Biblical analogy! Since you were in
Florida, were you ever caught in a hurricane?
DM: Many times. Growing up in the interior of the Florida
peninsula, we would get the heavy winds and rains, sometimes tornadoes that
spun off from the hurricane, and you weathered through, then cleaned up once
the storms passed. Now that we live on the coast, we’ve been through several,
but it is a very different situation. We must deal with flooding, far greater
wind damage, and long-term power outages. If the storm is in the stronger
range, we evacuate to family members who live further north and inland in Florida.
The flood damage from Helene and Milton was the worst we’ve ever seen in our
area. Milton hit in the night, and even though we were inland, I’ve never in my
life heard winds scream and blow like that. We didn’t sleep much that night.
PT: Oh, my! But God protected you through it all. Let’s get
to books. Do you like writing historicals, contemporaries, or mysteries? Or
something else?
DM: I once declared that I would never write a historical
because I didn’t want to do all the research. But, God has a sense of humor,
and here I am writing my fourth historical mystery in the series. I’ve had more
fun than I ever thought and have thoroughly enjoyed the research journey. The
very first book I ever published was a contemporary seasoned with suspense, and
I have ideas for others set in current times. I also have an idea for a book
about spies working during the Cuban Missile Crisis that I hope to write
someday. My imagination enjoys the challenge of writing and creating an
adventurous mystery.
PT: What genre do you enjoy reading? Favorite place to
snuggle up and read?
DM: I don’t have a favorite genre but pick books on how much
the premise catches my interest. I like crime thrillers, true crime, mysteries,
women’s fiction, and action-adventure/science fiction or spy thrillers. As far
as where I like to read, anywhere that’s comfy, quiet, and comes with a fuzzy
blanket will do.
PT: A quiet spot and fuzzy blanket is a must! Do you have a
current favorite hymn and Bible verse?
DM: My favorite hymn right now is It Is Well With My Soul. I love so many of the old ones I grew up on, and my favorite tends to change according to what is going on in my life at the time. My favorite Bible verse is Hebrews 12 :1.
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” King James Version (KJV)
PT: I love the 1950s vintage look of your new book Dressed for Success…Turned out for Murder! Where did you get the concept of the
book and what Biblical truths are intertwined?
DM: The idea for Dressed for Success…Turned out for Murder, along with the other two books in the series came from my being
captivated by a picture of two stunning models dressed in 1950s style dresses,
hats and gloves that I saw in the dressing room of a store. I immediately began
think about who were these two women, what did they do, and where did they get
those beautiful clothes? Later, when I was researching for book 1, The Women of Wynton’s, I discovered that the picture I’d seen was actually a cover
photo for an issue of Vogue magazine from the 1950s. From there, I started
thinking about what if there were four women, and they worked in a department
store, didn’t like each other much, and they somehow got caught up in a murder
that forced them to come together in order to solve it? The idea grew from
there. In this current book, we focus on one of the women of Wynton’s, Mary Jo
Johnson, a young wife and mother who wants nothing more than to quit working at
Wynton’s and return home to take care of her family full-time. Just when it
seems her dream is coming true, tragedy strikes, and she must stand tall and
fight for what she loves most, with the help of her friends.
The Biblical truths I tried to weave in came from Proverbs
31, as well as our being called to stand by friends when they are going through
tough times, sharing their struggles and uplifting them whenever we can. There
is also a character in the book who was meant to be a great example of why no
one should be like the quarrelsome spouse mentioned in Proverbs.
PT: You have me intrigued! Gives us a hint of the most
exciting scene in Dressed for Success…Turned out for Murder.
DM: There are a couple of scenes that I think would fit
this. In one, the ladies have banded together to search for a piece of vital
evidence. This search takes them deep into the wilds of Florida where they
happen upon an active moonshining operation. The owners of the still show up,
and the ladies must deal with the situation while avoiding being the next names
listed in the daily obituary column in the local newspaper.
PT: Ah, readers, this sounds like a book we won’t want to
miss! Now my favorite part. Tell 5 things about Donna Mumma that have nothing
to do with writing.'
DM:
1. My
favorite breed of dog is a rough collie, like Lassie. We currently have a
handsome white and sable boy named Duke.
2. I do not
drink coffee.
3. I love
classic Christmas movies and start watching them Thanksgiving night.
4. I play two
musical instruments, piano and saxophone.
5. I think
soup and French fries make a perfect meal combination, second only to tomato
soup and grilled cheese.
PT: Do you have another 1950s vintage book in mind or are
you heading in a different direction for you next book?
DM: I’m currently writing the final book in The Women of
Wynton’s series, titled A Bad Penny Returns. It is set in 1958, and
centers around the character Gigi, who is dealing with the reappearance of her
ex-husband plus the death of one of her beloved cosmetics clients. Mayhem and
murder abound, causing Gigi to be the most likely suspect. Her friends jump to
her aid to prove her innocence while searching for the truth. The ladies are
also seeing the beginnings of the civil rights movement in Florida as Wynton’s
Black employees decide to stand up to the unfair system going against them at
the very store they all work for. These characters are also witnessing the
first great development boom in Florida, and all the swindlers who turned up to
take advantage of those looking to move to a tropical paradise. The winds of
change are beginning to blow at Wynton’s Department store, and each of the
ladies finds herself in a new situation none of them ever imagined.
PT: Now that’s a hook right into a reader’s heart! Thanks so much for being on The Diamond Mine of Christian Fiction, Donna. We can’t wait to dive in to Wynton’s tangled mystique! Want to know more about Donna? Keep reading!
Donna has graciously offered not one, but two books! Both Women of Wynton's books, First Comes Marriage...Then Comes Murder and Dressed for Success...Turned out for Murder are being offered as giveaways! Leave your name on the contact for or leave a comment with your email to be entered!
Donna Mumma perfected storytelling in her first
grade classroom, spinning tales exciting enough to settle a roomful of antsy
six-year-olds. She is an award winning author of both
fiction and nonfiction who loves to blend history, mystery, and a touch of
faith in her stories. A native Floridian, she now lives on the Sunshine
State’s west coast, sharing life with her family, and her energetic collie,
Duke.
Visit her at www.donnamumma.me
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