Guest Post: B. T. ALIVE

Murder Feels Awful: A Fake Interview With B.T. Alive:

Q: Welcome! I am SO EXCITED to be here today with award-winning funny cozy mystery author, B.T. Alive! Thanks so much for joining me, B.T.!

BTA: My pleasure! I’m enjoying making you up.

Q: What? Excuse me?!

BTA: Nothing. Sorry.

Q: I thought you said---

BTA: Weren’t you going to ask me about my funny cozy series? Starring Mark Falcon, the Empath Detective?

Q: I was! Weird, how did you know? Are YOU an empath? Do you have psychic powers?

BTA: Alas, no. That I know of. Besides, an empath can’t read thoughts. That’s more telepathy. Sometimes Mark can read thoughts, especially with his trusty sidekick Pete. But mainly he’s an empath. He feels people’s emotions.

Q: Wow. How does feeling emotions help Mark solve mysteries?

BTA: In theory, he can just interview suspects until the murderer seethes with secret hate, and he feels it. In practice… it’s a lot more tricky.

Q: Really? Why?

BTA: Imagine if you couldn’t even walk into a restaurant without getting bombarded by everyone’s secret feelings. Excitement, fear, rage… backache… Mark has to “shield” most of it out just to stay sane. But shielding can miss the vital clue.

Plus, feeling emotions is much more ambiguous and mysterious than if he could just read people’s thoughts. Mark might feel a wave of rage from a suspect, but he still has to investigate to find out why they felt that way… and why they tried to hide it.

Q: But can’t he read Pete’s thoughts?

BTA: Sometimes. Much to Pete’s dismay.

Q: Ha! But wait… do I have to believe in psychic powers to enjoy these mysteries?

BTA: Not at all. In fact, Mark’s pretty skeptical himself. Or wishes he could be.

Pete, on the other hand, yearns to believe… he’s been working at this New Age gift store and he’s like, yoga’s great and all, but when do we levitate? When he finds out Mark is an actual, real-life empath, it blows his mind.

Q: So empathy isn’t common in this world?

BTA: Not at all. Mark has never met another empath… yet.

It’s all set in this little Virginia town that feels a lot like you’d expect. I love paranormal stories where the mysterious power is as plausible as possible…

Q: Why Virginia?

BTA: Because I live in rural Virginia. And I’m super lazy.

Also, it’s gorgeous out here.

Q: Nice! So, with this series, reviewers are raving over the fast-paced action and the surprise endings—

BTA: Oh, stop…

Q: —how do you write such twisty, exciting plots?

BTA: I try to do my plotting in a roller coaster.

Q: I thought so!

BTA: What? I was kidding—

Q: But they also seem to love the hilarious banter and zany characters. How can readers dive right in to this fantastic new series?

BTA: Get Book 1, Murder Feels Awful. Right now, it’s only 99 cents, as a special gift for this Whodunnit Summit.

Q: Wow! B.T. Alive, you’re so nice!

BTA: Well… you too.