My fav Mystery Author Mignon Ballard

DAY ONE

Born close to Halloween, Mignon Ballard grew up sharing ghost stories with her sister and friends in the local cemetery. A native of Calhoun, Georgia, she earned a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia, and is the author of seven Augusta Goodnight mysteries and nine other novels, as well as the script and lyrics of Bandstand Tales, a musical history of Fort Mill, SC, where she lives with her husband, Gene. The first in her new mystery series, Miss Dimple Disappears, set during WWII and featuring Miss Dimple Kilpatrick, long time first grade teacher at Elderberry, GA, Grammar School, is due from St. Martin’s Minotaur in November 2010. Mignon will be giving away a copy of Miss Dimple Disappears to someone who leaves a comment and contact information (name-at-email-dot-com) by Friday morning.

Welcome, Mignon. What can you tell us about yourself and your road to publication in a couple of paragraphs?

How long do you have? I was usually the only child in the class who applauded when we were given a writing assignment. As a teenager, I had a few poems and stories published in church magazines, and majored in newspaper journalism in college. I credit that training with providing me with the tools I consider essential to good writing.

My first four book-length manuscripts never made it into print but I did receive some encouragement from editors, and after selling several short stories for children to national magazines, I received my first book contract for AUNT MATILDA’S GHOST, a mystery for young readers. When the advanced copy arrived, I was so excited I took it with me to the A&P and rolled it around the store in a grocery cart, just as you would a child! Eight years later, I sold RAVEN ROCK, my first mystery for adult readers, to Dodd Mead. This was followed by five other stand-alone mysteries and my one mainstream novel, THE WAR IN SALLIE’S STATION. My angel, Augusta Goodnight, made her debut at St. Martin’s in ANGEL AT TROUBLESOME CREEK in 1999 and has since assisted in solving mysteries with her heavenly advice and quirky expressions, along with yummy culinary concoctions, for the following six books in the series. In addition, a brief Christmas fantasy, THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE, was published by Bella Rosa Books in 2007.

Now I have stepped back into the early World War II years of 1942 to join Miss Dimple Kilpatrick and her fellow roomers at Phoebe Chadwick’s boarding house, along with some of the other quaint inhabitants of small town Elderberry, GA, to help solve a mystery that could make a difference in the outcome of the war. MISS DIMPLE DISAPPEARS will greet readers Nov. 23, 2010, to be followed next fall by MISS DIMPLE RALLIES TO THE CAUSE. They will also be available in Kindle.
Won’t you join us?

I loved the Augusta Goodnight series. How hard was it for you to switch gears and start a whole new series?

I do miss Augusta, but she’ll always be a part of me –especially the part that loves to eat – but I think my readers will find themselves again at home with Miss Dimple in Elderberry, Georgia. The small town characters who people the book are much like those in the angel series, and Lucy Nan Pilgrim and her friends in the Thursday Morning Literary Society (That Now Meets on Monday Afternoons) would fit right in. I hope will readers will as well.

Could you introduce us to the main players in Miss Dimple Disappears?

If you were not taught by a teacher like Miss Dimple, chances are your parents or grandparents were. Strict, yet tenderhearted and caring, she’s dedicated to the importance of learning and possesses the spark that makes it interesting. Beyond her prim demeanor and old fashioned dress, is a woman of compassion with a keen insight into the intricacies of human behavior.

Miss Dimple shares a rooming house with her landlady, Phoebe Chadwick, as well as several other people, and readers also become acquainted with young teachers Annie Gardner and Charlie Carr who find romance in the chaos of wartime. Charlie’s mother, Jo, and her lovable Aunt Lou help add humor to a story set during a period of conflict and sacrifice. And if readers will follow me into the streets of Elderberry, they’ll meet formidable Emmaline Brumlow, whose son, Hugh, is currently seeing Charlie; young store clerk Jesse Dean Greeson, who, because of his poor eyesight, was turned down by the Selective Service; and eight-year-old Willie Elrod, who believes everyone’s a spy.

I love your story about walking the cemeteries with your sister and making up stories when you were growing up. How do you think that time in your life affected your story-telling today?

My parents were both story-tellers, as were all my aunts, and on Sunday afternoons I was fortunate to be able to listen as they talked, all competing, of course, for the floor. Surrounded by their love and laughter, I felt the need to share stories of my own. I grew up in a slower time. We didn’t have television, a recreation center, nor were “play dates” arranged for us. If I complained about being bored, my mother introduced me to the dust rag or the kitchen sink, so I avoided that. We invented our own entertainment, sometimes telling ghost stories, or playing “funeral” in a neighbor’s musty basement – (We were a strange lot!) - or hanging from the branches of a friend’s magnolia tree reenacting the Tarzan movies we’d seen. I always had to be Cheetah!

Research and attention to detail make or break the historical novel. Share with us your best strategies for research and fact-checking. Have you caught yourself up on any unusual details or fantastic source material that you’d like to share?


I was a child during World War II so I remember a lot about it from that viewpoint as it covered most of my grammar school years. You couldn’t buy balloons or bubblegum, everything was rationed, and we could only purchase a few pairs of shoes a year. We collected aluminum and newspapers and saved the foil from wrappers to make tinfoil balls. Everyone was extremely patriotic and we sang patriotic songs almost every day in school. (I still know most of the words.)

The details of battles, such as who fought where and when, I had to find out by research. I had already read a lot about the period because an earlier novel, THE WAR IN SALLIE’S STATION, was set partially during that time, but for this one I found the Internet the best source for fact-checking. Google has become my best friend! Also, I read just about everything I could get my hands on about WWII: published letters and memoirs of those who served, biographies, encyclopedias, and old newspaper accounts. I’ve tried to include as many of the songs and expressions of the day in areas where it seemed appropriate, and a friend gave me a cookbook from that era that has proved helpful. I read a book about the military service of the late actor Jimmy Stewart during that time, as well as other accounts of pilot training and was fascinated with the intense instruction cadet pilots had to go through before they received their wings. I’ve always liked Jimmy Stewart as an actor, but now I admire him even more.

Did you learn anything about the era you’ve researched that surprised you?


Come back tomorrow to learn Mignon’s answers. I was intrigued by her answers – very interesting! And don’t forget to comment with your contact information to enter the drawing for a copy of Miss Dimple Disappears.