I am so happy to have author Alice Loweecey visiting us today to talk about her writing and her new book Second to Nun.  I’ll admit it. I love books about nuns and priests, even former nuns!  I don’t know why I find these kinds of characters so fascinating. I used to love the old Father Brown series. I think I am particularly intrigued by a character who makes decisions based on faith.

Alice sat down an answered some questions for me. One thing I learned? She’s a middle school teacher! She needs prayers just for that alone.

Tell us a little about yourself.

Thanks, Teresa. I’m an Italian mom from a long line of Italian moms. We cook! We grow our own veggies and make homemade sauce. I have an Italian cheesecake recipe that I make only once every few years because it’s death by sweet, gooey goodness. 

I do have a Day Job, so I block out very early mornings and after supper in the evenings for writing. I have a degree in English Lit and have been a middle-school teacher, but I really use my degree and skills in freelance copyediting and my own writing. 

Like many writers, I have trunked books in addition to my Giulia Driscoll series (five and counting, whee!). One of them, The Redeemers, was published this past August with Dark Recesses Press. I use the pen name of Kate Morgan for it to separate it from my mystery brand.

I loved your Ouija board session in the story, the lighthouse and the woman in white. This is a great combination! How did you research this?

I have a vague recollection of fooling around with a Ouija board in grade school with a friend. Two Catholic school girls deliberately disobeying the nuns, oh my! Nothing came of it but much giggling and disappointment. I’ve seen many movies with psychics and demons, both real and fake (within the plots), so I knew when I created the haunted lighthouse I had to have a Ouija session. I do have to give credit to the TV show Supernatural for giving me the idea for the Woman in White. She wasn’t high up on my haunting list at first, but her multi-country legend fit my plot so well.

Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?

Stone’s Throw B&B was inspired by an actual historic lighthouse B&B my husband and I stayed at one summer. It was a fabulous place, filled with antiques and with a spectacular view. I knew when we walked in that a book opportunity had dropped in my lap, so I took dozens of pictures. When the time to outline Second To Nun arrived, I saw that folder of pictures and the bones of the plot followed a moment later.

Who is your favorite character to create scenes for in the book?

 I have so many colorful characters in Second To Nun, but my favorites are Solana and Cedar. They’re enigmas: Are they for real? Are they shysters? Just because they know how to run their psychic business doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not for real. I love characters who reveal layer after layer as I get deeper into the story. Cedar also has one of my favorite lines in the book: “I picked the wrong day to quit heroin.” 

Running a close second in the whole series is The Scoop, the local TMZ wannabees. They’re opportunistic, amoral, and indefatigable, and I visit so much deserved humiliation upon them.

How can readers find your books and are there more coming in this series?

My books are on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Kobo, and Google Play. They’re also in Barnes and Noble stores across the country, and in libraries as far away as New Zealand. Someday I want to visit all the places that have my books!

The next book in the Giulia Driscoll series is Nun But The Brave. Giulia’s been hired to locate a missing twin, and gets involved with Doomsday Preppers and The Scoop. It gets bumpy!