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BIO
Mary Kay Andrews is the author of the New York Times bestselling SAVANNAH BREEZE and BLUE CHRISTMAS (HarperCollins) as well as HISSY FIT, LITTLE BITTY LIES and SAVANNAH BLUES (HarperPerennial).
A former reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she wrote 10 critically acclaimed mysteries, including the Callahan Garrity mystery series, under her "real" name, which is Kathy Hogan Trocheck.
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INTERVIEW
 March 21, 2008
Mary Kay Andrews, the author of such bestselling novels as SAVANNAH BREEZE and BLUE CHRISTMAS, spoke with Bookreporter.com's Carol Fitzgerald and Terry Miller Shannon about her latest release, DEEP DISH. In this interview, Mary Kay explains how she developed her love for cooking at an early age and recalls meeting television personality Paula Deen while researching the production process of TV cooking programs. She also reveals the stories behind a few recipes included in the book and shares some of her favorite comfort food dishes to prepare while writing.
Bookreporter.com: DEEP DISH has two chef/cooking show hosts. Which did you conceive first?
Mary Kay Andrews: I conceived of Gina first, and Tate came up quickly after that.
BRC: Moonpie, Tate's dog, is such an endearing character. Is he based on a real-life canine?
MKA: Moonpie is based on our English setter, Wyatt, who really is my husband's sidekick on their quail- and dove-hunting expeditions.
BRC: Your books have so much humor in them. We always call them smart witty fiction. We read them and smile, thinking, “that line was perfect” as we chuckle away. When you are writing, do you laugh out loud? And do you write with the right comedic timing right from the start, or is this something you tweak over and over?
MKA: Occasionally, I'll admit, I do crack myself up. Mostly, I smile and keep going. I guess my sense of comedic timing is the result of long practice, and the sharp editing pen of my terriffic editor at HarperCollins, Carolyn Marino.
BRC: You say in your acknowledgments that you were able to watch Paula Deen "in action." We see a picture of the two of you in the photo gallery on your website. Tell us about that. Besides meeting her, have you been part of the TV audience for her show?
MKA: Watching Paula Deen's show being taped was crucial to my understanding how a television cooking show is produced, not to mention a ton of fun. She's very funny, warm, generous and genuine. In short, she's the real deal, and freely answered all my questions. I haven't been in the audience of "Paula's Party," as that show got underway after I'd finished my research for DEEP DISH.
Q: Do you watch any Food Network shows regularly? Any favorites?
MKA: I love Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, and find Rachael Ray really entertaining too.
BRC: How did you learn to cook?
MKA: I'm the second oldest of five kids, and my mother always worked outside the home, so I started learning to cook by mastering cinnamon toast, which was a staple for sick days, and from there went on to grilled cheese sandwiches and spaghetti. As a newlywed, THE JOY OF COOKING taught me a lot about technique and fancier dishes my mom never would have bothered with.
BRC: What do you tend to cook (or order) while you're writing a book? Do you have any particular comfort foods when you are writing?
MKA: When I'm deep into a book I'll do a pot roast in my slow-cooker, or ask my husband to grill something quick when he gets home from work. When I go away to write, my secret obsession is spaghetti with meat sauce. It's fast, cheap, easy to do on a one-burner stove, and filling. I'll eat it nearly every night for dinner, along with cheap chardonnay. If I make my page quota, I get chocolate!
BRC: Cooking and writing are both creative acts; we wonder if they're inter-related in your life. Do you find that one leads to the other? Or that you can't do one when you're doing the other? (For example, are you unable to cook complicated recipes while you're deep in writing a book?)
MKA: I find that when I've passed a milestone with the book, I'll go into a frenzy of cooking and baking, trying new recipes, inviting lots of friends over. But if I'm slogging along, gritting it out, I stick to quick, tried-and-true basics, or go out for a quick bite in the evening.
BRC: Are shellcrackers a real fish, and have you ever eaten them?
MKA: Shellcrackers are a freshwater panfish, like bream. My husband is the fish person in the family --- I stick to my tuna salad.
BRC: Are any of the dishes/recipes in the book yours, or do they have some significance to you or your family? Is there such a thing as Coca-Cola pot roast?
MKA: The brunswick stew recipe is mine, one I developed to use up leftover smoked pork butt and chicken. I've had Coca-Cola pot roast, but never fixed it myself. You've gotta realize, I live in Atlanta --- we put Coke in just about everything except our cornflakes.
BRC: We’re so intrigued by "Reggie's Simply Sinful Tomato Soup Chocolate Cake" recipe. Where did that originate? When did you discover it?
MKA: I love those old-timey spiral-bound church and community cookbooks, and have several in my personal collection. Lots of Southern cookbooks have the tomato soup chocolate cake recipe with cream cheese frosting, and I just read in a New York Times story about James Beard that he'd included a similar recipe in one of his cookbooks. I can tell you from experience --- since four different stores have baked it for my signings, that it's pretty doggone tasty.
BRC: What are you working on now, and when can readers expect to see it?
MKA: The WIP ("work in progress") is called THE FIXER UPPER, and concerns a young woman who loses her job at a high-powered Washington, D.C. lobbying firm when her boss is indicted along with a Congressman in an influence-peddling scheme. With no job and no money, she heads south to a small town in middle Georgia where she intends to fix up and flip her father's grandmother's family homeplace. I think it's scheduled for late next summer.
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INTERVIEW
 August 20, 2004
Bookreporter.com Co-Founder Carol Fitzgerald recently spoke with Mary Kay Andrews, whose newest book is HISSY FIT. In this interview Mary Kay talks about her love of interior design and some of the pieces she has collected over the years from tag sales and auctions. She admits that, although she is a sweet, Southern belle in everyday life, she has been known to throw a hissy fit of her own when extremely agitated. Mary Kay also describes the sequel to SAVANNAH BLUES, which will focus on the character of BeBe Loudermilk and is scheduled to be released late next summer.
BRC: When you started writing HISSY FIT did you see the scorned bride-to-be first or did the story actually take shape another way?
MKA: I actually had the title HISSY FIT before I had a plot to go along with it. The story of the bride-done-wrong seemed to follow pretty naturally. And I'd known a man who bought a house and decorated it for a woman, hoping she would move into it, so the pieces seemed to fall together pretty naturally.
BRC: Reading about Keeley decorating Will Mahoney's house, we sense that you were loving this part of the writing. We could feel you salivating over each find and seeing the house coming together. When you wrote, did you sketch the rooms or do any kinds of drawings to use as reference?
MKA: I'm a nester by instinct, and a voracious reader and clipper of design magazines like Verandah, House Beautiful and Country Home. I did some quick (bad) sketches, and actually shopped at the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center with an interior designer friend for some of the pieces Keeley buys in HISSY FIT.
BRC: The fact that Will has come to town to revitalize the local bra plant is a great subplot. Why bras? Is this any sort of a social commentary on the fact that so many manufacturing jobs are now moving overseas?
MKA: At first I was going to have Will buy a struggling textile factory, and then, one night, it came to me: bras! Once I started doing the research, I discovered, to my dismay, that almost no bra manufacturing still takes place in the U.S. So I needed to write about those job losses in a meaningful way. Living in North Carolina now, I see almost daily stories about the losses of jobs in textiles and apparel manufacturing, which once accounted for a huge number of jobs here and in the rest of the South.
BRC: Your knowledge of period furniture as well as decorating detail is one thing that makes your books such great reads. Do you have any formal training in decorating or interior design?
MKA: I had to laugh at the notion of my having any formal training. I'm just like a lot of my friends, women who get joy out of making their surroundings beautiful. I love the hunt, and I love seeing beautiful, liveable homes. My husband says I'm a house voyeur.
BRC: If you were not writing, would you want to become an interior designer, or is it more fun to write the houses of your dreams without the clients to interfere with them?
MKA: As a teenager, I was attracted to interior design, but then, writing carried me away. Still, I'd love to be able to buy at "To the Trade" prices and places, just like the real pros can.
BRC: Reading your books, we know there are going to be great laughs. We would love to know, do you laugh as you write these books as much as we do when we read them?
MKA: I don't laugh as much as I chortle. Or maybe snigger. I'll admit to sniggering.
BRC: We know you love to shop at tag sales, hit the auctions and collect, which now, of course, all fall under the heading --- research. What's your favorite recent "find"?
MKA: My favorite recent find would have to be a beautiful mahogany 1850s secretary I bought last weekend at the Metrolina Antique Show in Charlotte. I've been looking for a piece like it for months, and was elated to find it at a reasonable price. Of course, I had to bargain the price down!
BRC: Is there one day that is truly memorable for you for junking and collecting? If so, can you tell us about it?
MKA: I love to junk when I'm out on a book tour. Years ago, I was in San Diego, on a Sunday, with no signings. I jumped in the rental car, drove to Long Beach and went to the outdoor flea market there. I bought little things I could pack in my suitcase, but it was a great day. And last Friday, my friend Mary and I had a fantastic time at Metrolina. It was my first time, and I made some major scores --- like a chandelier for a hundred bucks, and an oil painting for $49.
BRC: Do you watch any decorating shows like "Trading Spaces" or "Merge" or antiques shows like "Antiques Roadshow"? Any faves?
MKA: I'm an HGTV junkie. Love Kitty Bartholomew's show and "Curb Appeal."
BRC: I gave some thought to your name when I was in Dallas recently and there were 11,000 Mary Kay reps in town at the same time. I know your pen name came from your children's names, but we could not help but notice that you share the same name as the ladies with pink Cadillacs. Care to comment on this? Anything subliminal going on with your name?
MKA: Stupid me, I didn't even consider the Mary Kay implications when I chose my pseudonym. I don't think there's any subliminal meaning there, but who knows?
BRC: We have to ask. Can you, ahem, pitch a hissy fit of Olympic proportions if necessary, or do you always keep your emotions in check?
MKA: In real life, I'm an easy-going, polite, Southern belle. But yes, if you get me sufficiently riled up, I WILL pitch a hissy, especially if my family is involved.
BRC: Many authors tell us that they scribble notes for future books and hold onto them in folders or notebooks. What's your style for this?
MKA: System? You're supposed to have a system for this stuff? I make notes in journals, then lose them. If I have a system, it's telling my agent about my brilliant ideas. If he likes them, then I pursue them.
BRC: You are working on a sequel to SAVANNAH BLUES. What can you tell readers about this book, and when can they expect to see it?
MKA: I'm working on the sequel to SAVANNAH BLUES right now. This time the story belongs to Weezie's best friend, BeBe Loudermilk, and most of it takes place out at Tybee Island with, of course, suitable junking and design expeditions. Look for it late next summer.
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AUTHOR TALK
 July 10, 2003
Mary Kay Andrews is a former journalist who reported on the trial made famous in MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL and is the author of ten critically acclaimed mysteries, including the Callahan Garrity mystery series. Her latest book is LITTLE BITTY LIES, an entertaining Southern novel that comes on the heels of her Edgar Award-winning SAVANNAH BLUES. In this interview Mary Kay reveals why she decided to use a pseudonym for these two books. She also discusses the common themes and characters in her fiction and gives us a sneak preview of her next book.
Q: Is that your real name?
MKA: No. I haven't used my real name since entering the witness protection program. Actually, Mary Kay Andrews is a combination of my children's names-Mary Kay for my daughter Mary Kathleen, and Andrew for my son, Andy.
Q: Why a pseudonym? Have warrants been issued under your own name?
MKA: After publishing ten mysteries under my real name, I started hearing voices. The voices told me to write a completely new kind of story, and call myself Mary Kay Andrews. They did not tell me to shave my head, move to Mars or start a new religion, fortunately. Truthfully, since SAVANNAH BLUES and LITTLE BITTY LIES were so different from my previous work, I decided to publish them under a pseudonym. And it's been very liberating to become someone else-if only for a few hours a day. As far as I know, there are no outstanding warrants-under either name.
Q: What's the deal with divorce? You seem to write about it all the time/Are you divorced?/Can i have your husband if you don't want him anymore?
MKA: I'm a middle-aged woman living in modern America. Divorce is as rampant as kudzu in my world, and it's such a life-changing occurrence I find myself writing about it. A lot, it seems. I, however, am still married to the first and only Mr. Mary Kay, so don't be messing with my man. I mean it. I wrote ten mysteries, so I know lots of ways to kill somebody who needs killing.
Q: Your novels are full of wacky southern characters. are they for real?
MKA: I write fiction, so my characters are totally a product of my over-active imagination. But of course people like Weezie and Mary Bliss, Daniel, BeBe and Katharine are inspired by the kind of people who live in my world-the South. And I've never lived anywhere outside the South, so I don't know what normal looks like.
Q: Family plays a big part in your fiction. is your family as screwed up in real life?
MKA: No. Yes. Well, Maybe. I come from a big, ethnic Catholic family, and that's probably why I use a pseudonym. So they can't sue. I will say that like the fictional Foley family, my family tends to put the "fun" in dysfunctional. But that's a Southern thing, I think. We don't just accept eccentricities, we celebrate them. Instead of hiding our kleptomaniac cousins in the closet, we tend to just cluck and say things like "Bless her heart, she never could resist taking that five-finger discount."
Q: What's your next book about?
MKA: So far, it's about 150 pages. See, I never could resist being a smart-ass. Actually, HISSY FIT is not about divorce. It is, however, about a 28-year-old interior designer named Keeley Murdock, who catches her fiancée in a compromising position with her best friend and maid of honor-at her rehearsal dinner. When Keeley throws the hissy fit of the century, the repercussions turn her world inside out. Watch for HISSY FIT from HarperCollins, summer 2004.
© Copyright 2003, Mary Kay Andrews. All rights reserved.
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PAST INTERVIEW
February 15, 2002
Bookreporter.com presents a special author interview with Mary Kay Andrews, author of SAVANNAH BLUES. Some fans may know her better as Kathy Hogan Trocheck who writes an edgy mystery series featuring Callahan Garrity. Besides being a popular author, Mary Kay/Kathy also belongs to two book clubs. Read on as she shares her experiences as a writer as well as some book club tips and ideas.
BRC: You have a wonderful story about how Sue Grafton influenced your first being published. Can you share this with us?
MKA: In 1990 I'd written one novel which I hadn't sold, and had started another. I signed up to participate in the Antioch Writer's Workshop when I spotted an ad that said Sue Grafton was teaching there. For $75, I got a manuscript conference with Sue, who advised me that my book was probably ready to sell. I mentioned that I'd started another book, which I was more enthusiastic about, but Sue advised me to put that book on the backburner and concentrate on getting my finished manuscript rewritten. But at an evening workshop she taught, we were invited to read from a "work in progress." I stood up and read five pages from a book I was calling EVERY CROOKED NANNY. The class loved it, and afterwards, Sue pulled me aside to say she'd changed her mind, that NANNY was a winner. I listened to her advice, sent five chapters to HarperCollins in July, and by October, I had a two-book deal. Sue graciously gave me a cover blurb for NANNY, and we still occasionally get together for a glass of wine and book talk. She is the best!
BRC: Mary Kay Andrews is a pseudonym for you. How did you come up with this name, and why did you not write SAVANNAH BLUES under your real name?
MKA: My pseudonym is a combination of my children's names --- Mary Kay for my daughter, Mary Kathleen, and Andrews for my son, Andy. Because BLUES is so different from my Callahan books, I wanted a chance to try for a whole new group of readers, people who like women's fiction, Southern fiction, and still, mysteries. That Mary Kay is a pseudonym for Kathy Hogan Trocheck is not a secret from my fans.
BRC: How did you come up with the idea for SAVANNAH BLUES?
MKA:I've always loved antiques, and the hunt, and have even been an antique "picker" like Weezie. Savannah was where my husband and I made our first home as newlyweds, and we've returned there often. I was always fascinated with the old plantations in the low country, so I just combined those elements for BLUES.
BRC: So, we have to ask --- how much is Weezie, the protagonist in SAVANNAH BLUES like you?
MKA: Well, Weezie is Irish Catholic, and so am I. Weezie lives to junk, and so do I. But the resemblance pretty much stops there. The fun of fiction is creating a character who's younger, thinner, sexier, and has more interesting problems than the author!
BRC: Tell us about your own "junking" trips. Do you haunt "sales" when you are on the road? If so, tell us about some of your favorite "finds."
MKA: My family claims I only go out on tour to find new junk. Which is only partially true. I always try to "junk" on the road. If I have time, and a car, and can find my way around a city, I scour the classified ads for estate sale notices. If not, I just ask around about good antique stores or flea markets. Years ago in San Diego I had a free Sunday, a gassed-up rental car, and a map --- which lead me to the outdoor flea market in Long Beach. I had a blast. Recently, down in Stuart, Fla. I found a great shop called "Claddagh" where I bought a sterling silver candle for $20, and a wonderful color postcard of Florida for $3. When I'm down in Savannah, I always make it to a shop called @Home, where I bought a wonderful ivory and silver cakeserver for about $25.
BRC: What do you like about meeting with your readers?
MKA: What's not to like? My readers are like friends I haven't met yet. It's great to connect with them and hear how my stories affect them. Two years ago I met a couple of elementary school teachers who travelled a long way to meet me at a book signing. They later emailed me, and I ended up going to their county in rural Georgia last spring to give two very successful book talks.
BRC: Do you consider yourself to be a "Southern author?"
MKA: Absolutely. I like sweet tea, cheese grits, pimento cheese and quirky relatives.
BRC: Weezie is such a wonderful character. Will we see her again in later books?
MKA: Right now I don't have plans to bring Weezie back, but we'll see. If my readers like her well enough, things could change.
BRC: Tell us about the book clubs that you belong to. How long have they been meeting? What are the differences between each club? How does each group select the books that are read?
MKA: I belong to two book clubs, both women only. My local book club --- loosely called The Chicks Book Club, has been meeting for about four years. All the members have in common a friendship with the woman who started the club, Melinda Ennis. And I just joined a new group, the Goddesses, which is centered around Yellow Springs, Ohio. All of these women have an association with the Antioch Writer's Workshop which I attended first as a student and, later, as a faculty member. Since I live in Georgia, and most of them are in Ohio, we're usually chatting online, and then they'll have the traditional meeting in each other's homes. I've promised to fly up for a meeting in the spring.
The Chicks select books in a random kind of way, sometimes one member picks the book, sometimes we all choose a book by vote. We just finished Doris Kearns Goodwin's NO ORDINARY TIME, a book about FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt in the war years. With the Goddesses we are having our first meeting sometime this month. I believe they're reading my new book, SAVANNAH BLUES!
BRC: Many readers have asked us if an online book discussion can be as lively as an offline one. They wonder if the meetings can be as social without the personal interaction and the munchies. Tell us about what you have found about this.
MKA: My Goddesses group has already had some fun discussions about the books we love and want to read. After New Year's, for example, everybody signed in to say what we'd read over the holidays. My own selection was JACKDAWS by Ken Follett. I gave it a rave.
BRC: When you tour to do book signings, do you ever meet with book clubs along the way? If so, how can our readers get in touch with you about setting this up?
MKA: I love to meet readers, and if people contact me by email and say they enjoy my books, I add them to my mailing list and send them a postcard to say where I'm touring. Frequently book clubs will make it a "Field Trip" to come to the bookstore where I'm signing. I know the Goddesses are planning on hooking up with me in Cincinnati when I sign at Joseph-Beth Booksellers there on March 4th. We'll probably go to dinner either before or after the signing. Readers can also check my tour schedule on my website, MaryKayAndrews.com.
BRC: What are some of the best books your clubs have read? And what are you reading this month?
MKA: The Chicks club recently read MAP OF LOVE, and we all loved it for different reasons. We had lively discussions about GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING and THE RED TENT, too. We haven't chosen this month's book yet, because one of our members' husbands had emergency surgery for cancer, so we're concentrating on helping her out with dinners and such.
BRC: What are you working on now?
MKA: The next Mary Kay is about Mary Bliss McGowan, who comes home one night to discover that everybody in her neighborhood is splitting up --- and her own marriage is the latest casualty. After she finds the note her husband has left on the back of a used envelope, and realizes that he's left her and her 16-year-old daughter penniless, she wants to kill him --- but decides to fake his death instead --- and serve her world-famous chicken salad at his funeral.
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