Meet Author Lucinda Gerlitz

On writing an award-winning cozy mystery, what attracted her to the crime genre, and what etiquette rule from the past should make a comeback

Please give a warm welcome to cozy mystery writer Lucinda Gerlitz! Lucinda and I met through a class offered by the online chapter of Sisters in Crime. Her first novel, The Chess Player, won two Claymore awards from the 2023 Killer Nashville conference and features an older etiquette teacher as amateur sleuth. Here, we chat about her writing, research, and the inspiration behind her novel.

Business is so slow in the whistlestop town of Pinewood, NC, that seventy-four-year-old etiquette teacher Dorietta Mosely is about to lose her beloved Victorian home to foreclosure. When her gentlemanly chess partner, Alvin Blevins, is accused of murdering his ex-wife and offers a reward for anyone who can identify the true killer, Dorietta is forced to investigate to try to save her house and lavish garden.

Julie Blevins has come back into Alvin’s life only to tell him that she wants more money—a lot of it. When she is found dead after a public argument about her demands, Alvin becomes the village’s prime suspect.

Dorietta’s career has always required that she set an example of strict propriety. But she is forced to lie, pry, snoop, and even eavesdrop in her attempts to clear Alvin’s name. Alvin also shows romantic interest in Dorietta, which she finds frightening due to her feelings of guilt over her husband’s long-ago death. When Alvin’s life is threatened by the true murderer, will Dorietta be able to conquer her fear in order to save him?

Award winning writer Lucinda Gerlitz, photo from Lucinda’s website

So let’s talk a little about your book. What was your inspiration for The Chess Player?

I was actually writing a different book, with an ex-cop as my sleuth. I wrote a short scene for it from the POV of an etiquette teacher named Dorietta Mosely, and had so much fun with her that she practically demanded to have her own book. I had mentioned that she played chess with a gentlemanly, septuagenarian partner, and the ideas grew from there.

What kind of research did you do while researching this novel? 

I have always enjoyed reading etiquette books, since they give an entertaining look at the social customs of different time periods. I actually have quite a collection of manuals, which range in coverage from rules for seemly church behavior in the 1800s to the proper procedures for starting a punk rock band. So I researched a lot of fun and funky etiquette tips that my teacher/sleuth could drop into conversation. 

I also wanted to get the details of the murders and the police’s participation right, so I’ve attended several Citizen’s Police Academies, read books on poisons and murder weapons, and watched Forensic Files religiously. I have a lot of fun trying to plan the perfect murder, and also figuring out what tiny little detail will give my murderer away in the end.

Are you like your protagonist Dorietta in any way? Which character are you most like? 

Dorietta is a good bit older than me, but we are both as Southern as they come. In fact, a member of my critique group says we sound like cornbread when we talk. We both have a touch of perfectionism, since Dorietta feels like she has to set an example of good manners at all times, and we’re both slightly introverted. So, I would say she is the character I am most like. But Dorietta develops some sass as she investigates the murders, since she has to learn to snoop, pry, and eavesdrop—all of which she used to think were inappropriate. 

Your novel features chess players. I know you do crossword puzzles and Wordle (I do, too!) but do you play chess? If so, how and when did you learn? 

I learned to play chess in elementary school and was a member of the chess club for a long time. But I am truly terrible at it, and haven’t played in years. I had a picture in mind of my killer putting a pawn in the victim’s mouth as a clue, though, and the chess angle grew from that.

Do you have future plans for other books featuring Dorietta?

Yes, I’m working on a series that I tentatively call Etiquette Can Be Murder. In the next book, Dorietta gets involved in the Ladies Auxiliary’s talent show and has to solve a murder that results from the competition.

Competitions can be brutal! So let’s talk about a certain competition that you recently won. First, congratulations on winning Claymore Awards for your novel! That's exciting, since the contest has hundreds of manuscript submissions each year. Were you nervous about entering? 

Thank you! To be honest, I only entered to get a critique of my first 50 pages. Killer Nashville offers comments from an industry professional, and it’s a relatively inexpensive way to get advice from an agent, editor, or published author. My manuscript was automatically entered in the contest, and I was thrilled to find I was a finalist for Best Cozy Mystery.

How did you feel when you learned you'd won second place for Best Cozy Mystery in the unpublished novels category? 

Actually, I won for Best Cozy Mystery (first place) and was second runner-up for Best Unpublished Manuscript (third place).

(Oops… Leave it to me to get a basic fact wrong!)

I was absolutely shocked. I actually told my husband there was no need for him to come to the awards dinner, because I was sure I wouldn’t win anything. He stayed home with the sick cat instead. 

When I won for Best Cozy, I didn’t have any kind of speech prepared. I babbled out some thanks and rushed back to my seat. Then when I came in second runner-up in the Best Unpublished Manuscript category, I was stunned into incoherence and had nothing left to say!

Thomas, Lucinda’s cat, “helping” her write. Photo from author’s website. You can see more photos of her cat on her Instagram page!

Do you frequently enter contests? If so, have you won any others?

I only enter contests that offer feedback on your manuscript, and I’ve only participated in a couple of those. Killer Nashville was my only win so far. 

What advice would you give to authors about entering contests? 

Be sure that any contest you pay to enter has a good reputation. There are a lot of scam writing contests out there. Paying extra for feedback is usually well worth the cash. I’ve learned a lot from the critiques. And if you make the short list and are attending the awards presentation, be prepared to give a short acceptance speech. 😊

Switching topics a bit … Some people find it strange that we murder mystery writers spend so much time thinking and writing about something as morbid as murder. What attracted you to this genre in particular? 

Like a lot of mystery authors, I started as a reader, devouring Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, and anything I could find by Agatha Christie. Then I moved on to thrillers, police procedurals, and true crime. Those can be pretty gory, but I think mystery writers actually focus more on the solution to the crime and bringing the criminal to justice than we do the morbid aspects of the murders. One nice thing about mysteries is that justice usually prevails, and by the end the world in the book is put back to rights. It would be nice if real life was that tidy.

Fun fact: I never actually expected to write a cozy mystery, but when Dorietta took over my life, that is what came out on the page.

Out of curiosity, do you have any loose connections to unsolved mysteries or crimes? 

None that I know of.

Who is your go-to mystery author? 

Elizabeth George, hands down. She writes really powerful British police procedurals, and I greatly admire her character development. I was lucky enough to attend a week-long writing class that she taught, and it made a huge difference in my approach to my own mysteries.

What is your favorite novel in the crime genre, whether it's cozy or thriller or anything in between? 

That’s a tough one. I’d have to go with A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George, since it was my introduction to her Inspector Lynley series and got me hooked on her books.

Do you read while you're writing and editing your work? 

I cannot read fiction while I am writing, and I miss it a lot. But I find I either compare myself to the other author’s work and get depressed over my own abilities, or I start to pick up the other writer’s voice and struggle to get back to my own. I do read non-fiction, and I am usually browsing a few etiquette books to get ideas for my newsletter.

Lucinda Gerlitz’s collection of old and new etiquette manuals. Photo copyright by Lucinda Gerlitz.

Dorietta is an etiquette teacher. Have you ever taken etiquette classes? If so, what was your experience like? 

The only formal etiquette training I have had were Cotillion classes in middle school, where we learned how to shake hands and how to dance the waltz and foxtrot. I can still remember the girls lining up on one side of a hot and sweaty gym and the boys lining up on the other, nervously waiting for someone to break the ice and ask for a dance partner. It was a good introduction to learning to handle uncomfortable situations, but that’s about all I can say for it.

Your newsletter is full of interesting etiquette facts, including things from other cultures and time periods. What is one "good manner" that has fallen by the wayside in modern life that you wish would make a comeback? 

I wish more people would pay attention to their companion at the dinner table instead of their phones. I just find it sad when I eat out and watch couples at other tables, where one is usually talking on their cell and the other is texting to keep from being bored. It gives me the sense that we are losing that human connection that comes from really listening to one another.

I agree! How can readers sign up for your newsletter?

You can sign up or read past editions at www.LucindaGerlitz.com/newsletter/.  I try to center the newsletter around unusual etiquette tips, as a nod to Dorietta’s business, and I just did a really fun essay on Japanese toilets.

That Japanese toilet essay was memorable and a lot of fun to read. Thank you, Lucinda, for letting me interview you for my newsletter and best of luck on your future publishing efforts.

And thank you, dear readers, for all the follows, likes, and subscribes. You are a great encouragement to me.

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A quick update on my own writing. I recently received encouraging feedback from a developmental editor about my novel-in-progress, and I hope to be in the querying trenches soon.

Meredith