Kitty Wins the Irish Sweepstake?

Today on the Mystery Scene blog, Oline Cogdill writes more about Death Was in the Picture and how the early 1930s setting of the book reflects on the current economy:

Hopefully, “in this economy….” will not stop you from buying books, preferably mysteries, and mystery-oriented magazines.

So it should come as no surprise how Linda L. Richards’s newest Kitty Pangborn novel Death Was in the Picture feels so contemporary, even though the novel is set in 1930.

You know, it’s funny, when I wrote both this book and 2008’s Death Was the Other Woman, all of the financial aspects of writing books set during the Great Depression were so much more like fiction. Writing and researching both books was really entering a very foreign world for me. What a shock to see so many of the things I’d been writing about come true, in a way. Oh not the details of reality, of course. But the matters of spirit that touch us when things are difficult. I got a lot of that right though, to be honest, I wish I didn't know that for sure. Sometimes it feels too much as though I had a crystal ball while I wrote. Scary!

Here’s one thing I know: I wish Kitty’s financial woes in a world of economic uncertainty were still as novel to readers as when I wrote the books. For the next one, should I mix things up and have her win the Irish Sweepstake?

Cogdill’s piece is here.