Divabetic Exclusive: Best-Selling Author Tonya Kappes Interview

USA Today Best-Selling Author Tonya Kappes stars in Divabetic’s newest Mystery Podcast, ‘Kill Me Madam’ available on demand with this LINK.

Tonya Kappes has written more than fifty Southern Cozy Mysteries, all of which have graced numerous bestseller lists, including USA Today and two of them have been selected as a Woman’s World Book Club pick. Best known for stories charged with southern charm, emotion and humor and filled with flawed characters, her novels have garnered reader praise and glowing critical reviews.

We caught up with this busy best-selling author to ask her a few questions about her books and to learn more about her passion for diabetes advocacy.

Q: I don’t even know where to start with questions because you’re such a busy author.  Why don’t you tell us about your Mail Carrier Cozy Mystery series.

Tonya Kappes (TK): I really wanted to create an older sleuth since most Cozy Mystery sleuths are in their 20’s. And…it’s easier to give the sleuth, Bernadette, some real life issues since she’s older and has seen more of the world than a 20 year old. With that said, I knew I could make the sleuthing a little more fun by her using her knowledge and her skills as a mail carrier to help sniff out the killer. Trust me…your mail carrier knows a lot of secrets you’d never want anyone to know. I knew that would be a great angle for a sleuth too.

Q: You mentioned on July’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast that your involvement in Divabetic’s Annual Mystery podcasts, over the past eight years, inspired your main character, beloved mail carrier, Bernadette Davis’s health issues. Can you explain?

TK: As you’ve been doing the mystery podcast and weaved information about diabetes self-care, I realized how I could easily inject real-life issues into Bernadette’s story. It makes her more relatable as an everyday person. For examples, I made her a widow with a not-so-great dead husband because relationships can be stressful and not always rosy behind closed doors. And what 50-something woman hasn’t gone through a socially awkward menopause moment? Bernadette’s moment might just be during a stakeout, but her health provides a shared connection of a genuine situation.

Q: Share a diabetes self-care tip you’ve learned from one of  Divabetic’s past Mystery podcasts?

TK: My dad has diabetes with severe neuropathy. I’ve learned how much you need to take care of your feet, which leads to making sure your blood levels are good, which leads into your diet. These tips have made me more educated when I go to his doctor appointments with him and talk to his doctor. It’s made me a better advocate. In fact, he will tell you that now he’s feeling better than he has in twenty years. He’s had diabetes for twenty-seven years.

Q: You were known as a storyteller, but not as a writer or reader. How did you become a best-selling author?

TK: Gosh, that’s hard to answer. I like to think that my interactions with my readers and my gratitude for them has played a big role.

Q: What do you love about mysteries? Specifically, Cozy Mysteries? 

TK: I love the small town, quirky characters, and the gossip that goes into solving the crimes.

Q: When did you realize that you’d actually made it as a writer? 

TK: Have I?

You can find Tonya Kappes all over social media and at Tonyakappes.com.

 

Encore Presentation of Gingerbread Men Prefer Blondes Mystery Podcast

Enjoy this Encore Presentation of Divabetic’s 6th Annual Diabetes Mystery Podcast, Gingerbread Men Prefer Blondes.

Our mystery is set in the fictitiously decadent world-renowned Gingerbread Men Cookie Baking Competition in New York’s Central Park Zoo. Mr. Divabetic’s healthy culinary misadventures continue in this year’s escapade as he enters the competition with headless cookies and pureed kale hot cocoa for the judges to sample. As if this dreadful combination wasn’t bad enough to land him at the bottom of the throwdown, his mother, Mama Rose Marie, is accused of poisoning one of the celebrity judges! Things go from bad to worse when the snake phobic Mr. Divabetic hears about the giant python’s escape.

Now, the happy healthcare host must decide to face his fear of snakes and recipe rejection or throw in his apron and risk getting caught up in another murder investigation. Can Mr. Divabetic and his team of amateur sleuths hunt down the real killer and get Mama Rose Marie out of jail? Will he be the next murder victim? Can he ever create an edible recipe?

 

The cast of Gingerbread Men Prefer Blondes features Mama Rose Marie, Best-Selling Author Tonya Kappes, the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach (Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE and MaryAnn Nicolay BA, DTR), The Happy Diabetic Chef Robert Lewis, Seveda Williams, Coach The Cure’s Trisha Artman, Jillian Walsh, Wendy Radford, Dave Jones, Lorraine Brooks and Max Szadek.

Throughout this podcast we will be featuring music from the original Broadway cast recording of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes courtesy of SONY MUSIC.