From the Booking Desk:

Another special Composite Sketch today. You know how sometimes the characters in a book feel like real people? Like you would most certainly be friends with them if they were. That is how I feel about Lexy Campbell! This is mainly because I hear the voice of her creator, Catriona McPherson, whenever I read Lexy’s adventures. A new mystery featuring Lexy and her cadre of friends will be released next week, so be sure to pick up a copy of Scot on the Rocks so that you too can follow along as Lexy no doubt finds herself in more crazy situations. But until then, let’s take a moment to get to know Lexy Campbell just a bit better.

Name: Lexy Campbell
Location: Creek House(boat), Last Ditch Slough, Last Ditch Motel, Cuento, CA

This person from my personal life is such an inspiration:

Slim pickings. Just kidding. It’s a seven-way tie for first place.

My friend and neighbour Roger Kroger is a paediatrician. He saves babies! And he puts up with his husband, Todd Kroger, who is . . . also inspiring in his way. Todd’s brave in the face of a psychiatric condition I don’t want to name, in case he reads this.

Numbers three and four are Kathi and Noleen Muntz, who own the motel. Kathi battles germaphobia every day and comes up smiling. Noleen smiles less, snarls more, but my God is she ever a tiger for her friends.

For example, Devin. He’s a college kid who lives in the motel since he was bullied out of his student flat. I thought he was high for the first six months. Turns out he’s just even more laidback than the rest of California. He’d make Hawaii look like Brooklyn, actually.

Della, who lives on the ground floor of the motel, isn’t laidback at all. And neither would you be, with ICE the way it is. But she’s sharp and funny and a fantastic mom to number seven: Diego. Six years old, eyes bigger than Disney, soul older than rocks. I didn’t know how much I loved kids till I met Diego. Now I can’t sleep for my clock ticking.

One of the people I admire most in the crime fiction community is:

Harsh. I know the Cuento cops are not the straightest arrows in the quiver, but some of the stuff they write up must true. It can’t all be fiction. And Detective Molly “Mike” Rankinson, is admirable. Kinda. Sometimes. She’s had to work twice as hard to get half as far, in a man’s world. The thing I value most about her is that she cannot stand me. Hoooooo boy, she hates me. And it’s weirdly refreshing, because California friendliness still freaks me out most days.

STALKER ALERT! If this fictional character were real, they would likely need to get a restraining order against me:

Seriously? You need to ask? That’s like asking what’s the best film about a girl, a dog and a tornado from the 1930s. Jackson Brodie, of course. Oh, Jackson – with your bad knees and your wry ways. I’d be a better girlfriend than Julia any day. I’d live in Whitby. (Actually, I’d live in Whitby even if Jackson isn’t thrown in. I love life in the Golden State but why can’t anyone learn to batter a haddock?)

People are always surprised that I am a fan of this individual (singer, actor, or artist):

Slipknot. Laugh all you like. When it’s out of your system. I’ll explain. [pause] Okay. I’m a therapist – marriage, family, life, all that. And so I’ve got plinky-plonky music plinking and plonking away all day in my consultation room, to soothe people. The background sound of my office is basically anaesthetized Enya. So out-of-hours I need a little change. Also, since Jackson Brodie is fictional, I would not run away screaming if that there Corey invited me out for tea.

My personal catch phrase is (or should be):

“Huh. I didn’t know that.” Usually in relation to discovering things like: cool whip and miracle whip are two different condiments (blergh); why all churches are the first; or the fact that “up in your grill” doesn’t mean being pushy at a barbecue.

Catriona McPherson, multiple award-winner, multiple Mary Higgins Clark award loser, was born in Scotland and lived there until immigrating in 2010. She writes the Dandy Gilver series, set in the old country in the 1930s, as well as a strand of darker (not difficult) psychological thrillers including the latest STRANGERS AT THE GATE.

After eight years in the US, she kicked off the humorous Last Ditch series, which takes a wry look at her new home. The ebook of number three, SCOT ON THE ROCKS, is coming out early what with one thing and another. It will be available on 3 August.

Catriona lives on 20 scruffy acres in NorCal, with a black cat and a scientist.

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