Mystery author GG Calpo chats with me today about her new cozy novel, Hook, Line, and Murder.
During her virtual book tour, GG will be giving away a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn participant. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!
Bio:
A retired CPA and lawyer, GG Calpo now writes cozy mysteries and urban fantasies. She blends her experiences as a Filipino American immigrant with the everyday stories of life around her. She spends her time reading, crocheting blankets and sweaters for her five grandchildren, watching mystery TV shows and taking long walks in her neighborhood. She resides in Central New Jersey, with her husband and two corgis, Whiskey and Nugget.
Welcome, GG. What inspired you to write this book?
How did I get here? It took two years and ten months. It started at four in the morning one spring day when I had given up on sleep. No surprise there. My family was shrinking. I had lost my mother, my father and my brother during the past six years. To top that, my sister was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, and she wasn’t doing well. I’d lost too many of my family, and I couldn’t face losing another. But that morning, sitting by the pool, looking at the Spanish moss dangling, silvery-gray, off the trees while a pair of egrets winged their way to land gently on the grounds, I thought of something else. What if I wrote a book and put my sister in it? I got out of my chair and grabbed my laptop. Opened it, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Meagan Brightbook is a retired kindergarten teacher, just as my sister was. The towns of Whitman’s Port, Sands Neck Point and The Village of Codling Bay are fictional, but they’re inspired by real north shore communities my sister loved. Sweet Buns is fictional as well, though I’m sure you’d find one on any Main Street. What propels Meg forward is her caring, her sense of family, her love of life, her curiosity and empathy. And she carries the rest of her gang along in her wake. She carries me on as well. Which is good, because I lost my sister on September 15, 2025. But I’ll always have her forever within these books.
What exciting project are you working on next?
I’m working on the second book of the series, which continues the story of Meg and her friends as they solve another murder and find another clue as to who killed Meg’s husband and son. The second book also delves deeper into how Stefan overcomes personal challenges.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I always had stories running through my head, even from an early age. The more fantastical the story, the better it was. I loved reading science fiction and fantasy. I was amazed at writers who built whole worlds, civilizations, in their minds. But I didn’t put pen to paper until 2018. I was nearing retirement, and I had the time to indulge. Even then, I didn’t want to call myself a writer. It felt like hubris. But the day The Wild Rose Press offered me a contract for my book, I finally took a deep breath and said, “lady, you’re a writer now.” It was the best day of my life.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I’m retired, so writing is what I do now. I know that the general advice for writers is to set aside time each day to write. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work for me. There are days that my brain refuses to work. I don’t think it’s writer’s block. I know what I want to write. It’s just the words won’t string themselves together. And then there are the days that all I could do is write. I’ve given up trying to figure out my schedule. I write when I can, and I dream of plots and plot twists when I can’t. It all works out in the end.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I’m half and half as a writer. Meaning, I plot half the time, and I fly by the seat of my pants on the other half. I tend to plot, in very vague, broad terms, two to three chapters at a time. For example, I’d say there’ll be a death in this chapter, then the gang will decide to investigate, and so-so will have a personal challenge to overcome while the gang solves the crime. That’s it for the plot. The rest unfolds as I write. So, the plot lines, for me, are the meat and potatoes I throw into a Dutch oven while the plot twists (which come up as I dream up scenes) are the seasonings I splash around as I write.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be so many things: a marine biologist, a brain surgeon, an engineer, an artist and a writer. But I ended up being an accountant and a lawyer. I think these childhood dreams, together with the practicality of the careers I ended up choosing, ground me in my writing. I can let my imagination fly but still tether it to reality, which, I think, makes for a compelling plot and plot twists.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I hope they enjoy the story of Meg and her friends and that when they turn the last page of Hook, Line and Murder, they will have fallen in love with the gang and not want to say goodbye.
Links:
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Thank you so much for featuring HOOK, LINE, AND MURDER.
Thank you Lisa! Enjoyed chatting with you. I’ll be dropping by on the tour from time to time. Excited to meet you all!