It’s In Her DNA: Mystery Author Darlene Dziomba Can’t Help Being Funny
Can anyone resist a mystery author whose description on her website is: “Writing Mysteries. A dog is my muse. Humor is my guide.”? As a lover of dogs, humor, and mysteries, I know I can’t. And whether you meet Darlene Dziomba in person or read one of her mysteries, I promise you that you will laugh! As she celebrates the release of her fourth Lily Dreyfus mystery, It’s a delight to welcome Darlene back to my blog:
First off, congratulations on the release of your fourth book, ASSAULT AND GOBBLERY, in your Lily Dreyfus Mystery series. Can you share with our readers a bit about your latest release and what inspired the series?
Thanks, Lynn. Sometimes I have to pinch myself and make sure that I’m not dreaming when I see or hear the words fourth book.
I volunteered at a no-kill animal shelter in Voorhees, NJ. I learned a lot about the behind the kennels operations by talking to the staff as I went about the work during my shifts. As a lifelong mystery reader, it occurred to me that I had never read a book where the protagonist worked in an animal shelter. In a moment of utter craziness, I decided I should write that book.
For Assault & Gobblery, I read a small article in a local paper about a wild turkey that took up residence on one block of a nearby town. The neighbors fell into two different camps: one to have the turkey relocated to a farm, the other to have the turkey euthanized. The turkey was picked up by animal control before a rescue organization could be arranged to trap it. After reading the article, my second thought was, “I could build an entire mystery plot around this.”. My first thought was, “Darn it, they killed the poor turkey.” 
I decided to set the turkey of my story in a community garden. I knew this would provide a wealth of characters and personalities. As an animal lover, Lily Dreyfus is horrified at the thought of euthanizing an animal. She jumps in to resolve the fowl problem before there is any loss of life.
Unfortunately, before Lily can save the turkey, there is the loss of a human life. Her friend, Kelly, is suspected of murder when a body is found in her garden plot with her hori hori knife sticking out of its chest. Never one to shy away from a difficult assignment, Lily digs into the lives of the other gardeners to shovel up the truth.
The last time I interviewed you, you’d just released the second book in the series, UP CLOSE AND PAWSONAL. How has Lily grown and changed since then?
Lily was dropped into investigating suspicious deaths when her boyfriend Pete was found dead in Clues From The Canines. In Up Close And Pawsonal she was still a pretty reluctant sleuth. Her curiosity drove her forward, but she was still a bit tentative. Now, if something does not seem quite right, Lily feels compelled to find the answers.
Lily’s love life has grown. She is in a committed relationship, feeling the pressure from family to meet the man in her life and pressure from said man to move their relationship to living together.
The biggest change in Lily is that she is no longer a person who is completely in charge of keeping her emotions buried. Readers will find her taking actions that no one would ever expect from her. And she finds there are consequences when you cannot keep your emotions in check.
As I’ve said before, I absolutely love your description on your website: “Writing Mysteries. A dog is my muse. Humor is my guide.” Have you always been funny?
I think humor is woven into the Dziomba DNA. We all seem to be able to find humor in every situation.
When I decided to write a series set in an animal shelter, I had never even thought of writing a book. I had read thousands of mysteries, but as you know reading a mystery and the ability to write a mystery are very different. I joined a Writer’s Workshop and took a multitude of classes from SinC. I got to about 40,000 words and was really stumped as to how to move forward.
I went to see a librarian with whom I had worked to get some advice. He has a very well-published daughter, so I thought he’d know something about the industry. He offered to introduce me to some other librarians who liked to read mysteries to get some advice. This is how he introduced me, “If the book is half as funny as Darlene is you’ll laugh your socks off.” (Socks wasn’t the word he used, but I thought it best to keep this a clean interview!)
I know that you had a long career in Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. Did you also always know that you wanted to write?
I never thought about writing until I had the idea for the Lily Dreyfus series. For me, it is still crazy that in an instant I decided to try and write a book. However, I am so glad that I took that chance. People tell me that my entire personality is more energetic now that I am embracing this creative side.
I have also met so many brilliant and wonderful people by attending both writer and fan conferences. My world has expanded in many ways.
As an author who mainly writes stand-alone novels, I’m in awe of authors like yourself who write series. How do you keep your series fresh and engaging for your readers?
I try to bring in characters that bring up emotions within the reader. While I want everyone to like Lily, I know readers need more than just a likable protagonist. In Fire And Dalmatian there’s a character named Arthur. My good friend Merrily said to me, “You must have Arthur in another book.” She’s quite pleased that he makes an appearance in Assault & Gobblery.
I also try to keep the books humorous. I firmly believe laughter is as critical as suspense to keep the book from dragging.
In addition to getting inspiration from your own volunteer work at an animal shelter, do your own dogs give you ideas for your stories? Any other sources of ideas for your novels?
Lily’s dogs, Boone and Crockett, are modeled after dogs in my life. I had a beagle bassett hound mix named Tugger. Those character traits that make people laugh at Boone; I lived those traits with Tugger and so many more.
Crockett is modeled after my terrier mix, Billie. If someone so much as steps on my porch, Billie runs to the door barking. She sounds ferocious. Once a person makes it into the house, their biggest fear is being licked to death.
It is amazing how everyday events become plot lines. Fire And Dalmatian came from a house on my block burning down to the ground. For months afterward, we could smell burnt, wet wood. It was a horrific reminder that in minutes you can lose everything except the pajamas you wore to bed the night before.
The idea for Up Close And Pawsonal came from Governor Chris Christie trying to shut down the local police and fire departments to create County services. He was not successful.
I think the most important news source I read every week is a small local paper. It keeps me up to date with what is going on in the neighboring towns and gives me ideas for plots.
You recently made the transition to becoming a full-time writer. Has that been a big adjustment for you? Are you enjoying the change?
The transition was seamless for me. I went from logging into Teams to opening MS Word documents.
I tell people that retiring from my job at Penn was the best life decision I ever made. I was good at what I did. I don’t mean that to sound egotistical. I say it because there is a huge difference between being good at what you are doing and loving what you are doing.
We all have to make choices in life. I am grateful that I had a job that paid me well, provided me with investment opportunities for a 403B, and will allow me to buy health care benefits for the rest of my life. But if you asked me tomorrow if I would trade sitting in front of my computer in sweat clothes trying to figure out how to make a plot get from point C to point F for money or a title. I would say, “No, thank you.”
I love being a writer. There are frustrations, but I am incredibly happy.
A related question: Any advice for writers considering making the career shift to full-time writing?
In all seriousness, make sure that you have enough money to live and be a full-time writer. It is expensive to create, produce, and market a book. Four books in, I am still not breaking even on the costs. I am living off of years of diligently investing my salary, not royalties.
I also want to stress that I didn’t write a book and then say, “This is what I’m going to do now.” I conceived of Clues From The Canines in 2017. I retired from the University of Pennsylvania in 2024. All four books were written before I retired.
What’s next for you writing-wise?
Book 5 in the Lily Dreyfus series, Tail Of Deception, is about to go off to my editor.
I am working on a stand-alone suspense novel with a current working title of Hell Hath No Fury.
Gosh, I want to write a few short stories to have as Reader’s Magnets so that I can join BookFunnel promotions. I have started several but have not written anything that I think readers would enjoy.
Anything else you’d like to add, or wish I’d asked that I didn’t?
I see these memes on Facebook about it never being too late to try something new. I agree wholeheartedly. Some people may think I’m not successful as a writer because I just admitted that I have yet to break even on the cost of producing a book. There are more markers for whether something is a good choice. I hope that people read my interview and are then willing to try something they never thought of trying before.
Thanks so much for visiting today, Darlene!
Bio:
Darlene combined her passion for the written word and animals into the Lily Dreyfus series. The books are written based on her experience as a volunteer at the Animal Welfare Association, a no-kill animal shelter in Voorhees, New Jersey. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, the Membership Chair for SinC Grand Canyon Writers, and served as a mentor in the Sisters in Crime Mentorship program. Darlene lives in New Jersey with her four-legged best friend, Billie.
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