Valerie (V.M.) Burns is an Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, and Next Generation Award finalist. She is the author of the Mystery Bookshop, Dog Club, RJ Franklin, and Baker Street Mystery series. As Kallie E. Benjamin, Valerie writes the Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery series. She is an adjunct professor in the Writing Popular Fiction Program at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA, and a mentor in the Pocket MFA program. Born and raised in northwestern Indiana, Valerie now lives in northern Georgia with her two poodles. Connect with Valerie at vmburns.com.
Interview by BWG Member Debra H. Goldstein
BWG: I was first introduced to you at a conference as V.M. Burns writing the Mystery Bookshop Mystery series with the first book, The Plot is Murder. Then, I discovered that you author, under different names, several mystery series. Please tell our readers your names and the various series so they can find them:
VB: When I started writing, I wanted to make things easy for readers to find me. Unfortunately, someone had taken the website for Valerieburns.com. So, I started my writing career writing as V.M. Burns. I wrote three cozy mystery series as V.M. Burns: the Mystery Bookshop Mystery series, RJ Franklin Mystery series, and the Dog Club Mystery series.
Around the same time that I started writing the Baker Street Mystery series, I was able to purchase the domain for Valerieburns.com and use my name. Later, I received a contract from a different publisher who wanted me to use a different name. So, I wrote the Bailey the Bloodhound series as Kallie E. Benjamin, which was a combination of family names, including my great-grandmother (Kallie), my mother (E for Elvira), and Benjamin (my dad). However, all roads lead back to me.
So, whether you look for ValerieBurns.com, Vmburns.com, or KalleEBenjamin.com, you will end up at the same place.
BWG: What drew you to writing in the mystery genre? Although you have written short stories and articles dealing with different aspects of crime fiction, you are well known for your cozy mystery work. In fact, you were the 2024 Bouchercon Conference Cozy Guest of Honor. Would you define what a cozy mystery is and how your books fit that genre?
VB: A cozy mystery is a subgenre of mystery that typically features an amateur sleuth, no sex on the page, no graphic violence, and no bad words. For anyone who has ever watched Murder, She Wrote, that is the quintessential example of a cozy. I write cozies because those are the books that I love to read. It’s a puzzle where the author creates a murder and weaves in clues and false clues (red herrings), and the reader is in a race with the sleuth to figure out Whodunit before the end of the book.
BWG: Until recently, you wrote while still being employed in the corporate world. How did that influence your writing? Have you included or killed any characters from work or your personal life?
VB: Working in the corporate world can be extremely stressful. One way that I learned to manage my stress was that when my coworkers upset me, I killed them in my books. Over my long corporate career, I have developed a long list of victims. I always change the names, but I leave the initials. It has been therapeutic.
BWG: Your books always include dogs. Why is that and how do the dogs in your various series differ?
VB: I have two toy poodles, Chloe and Kensington (yes, I named her after one of my publishers). I love lots of different breeds. Dogs are an integral part of my life and I love including them in my books. That allows me to experience the joys of various dog breeds without actually having to own them. Both of my toy poodles together weigh less than 20 pounds. Baby, the English mastiff in my Baker Street Mystery series, is 250 pounds. I do a lot of research about the various dog breeds in my books and try to provide a good depiction of the pros and cons for each breed. So, while a big dog like Baby or slightly smaller dog like Bailey the Bloodhound are sweet dogs, there is a serious drool factor that I don’t have with poodles.
BWG: Tell us about your interaction with readers. What do they say?
VB: For the most part, readers have liked my series. The best feeling in the world is when I open my email and see that someone sent a nice email from my website. First, it means that readers have found my website, but also that they took the time out of their busy lives to let me know that they enjoy my books. I used to work in customer service for a major appliance manufacturer. Sadly, people rarely call customer service to say that they love their appliances. We only heard from people when something didn’t work. As an author, that is often the same. People write to say they found a typo, or an error. So, when I get a message that is positive, it means the world to me. Writing is a very solitary business. I sit alone at my laptop and write day after day. So, I love hearing from readers. I especially love nice comments.
BWG: One of your series interweaves modern and historical times, explain that and tell us what kind of research it requires?
VB: In my Mystery Bookshop Mystery series, Samantha Washington and her late husband dreamed of opening a mystery bookshop. Sam also dreamed of writing British historical cozy mysteries. When her husband dies, Sam realizes that life is too short not to follow your dream. So, she quits her job, buys a building, and opens her mystery bookshop. She also writes a British historical cozy mystery that is set in England in 1938, before the start of World War II. Each book in the series includes a contemporary mystery that Sam is solving with the help of her grandmother, Nana Jo, and her friends from Shady Acres Retirement Village.
Fortunately, living in the twenty-first century, I find researching events in the 1930s a lot easier. I have access to books, movies, newspapers, and films documenting the time frame. I can also find a ton of information on the Internet, which can be both good and bad. Thanks to the Internet, I can research weather, moon cycles, and headlines from a specific date/time. I can also spend hours down a research hole looking up images of fashion or popular radio programs from bands in 1938 England.
BWG: When do your next books come out? How can readers keep up with you? Are you working on anything new?
VB: My Next Deadly Chapter, the tenth book in the Mystery Bookshop Mystery series will release on February 25, 2025. Hounding a Killer, the second book in the Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery series will release on May 6, 2025. Icing on the Murder, the fourth book in the Baker Street Mystery series will release on July 29, 2025.
The best way for readers to keep in touch is by signing up for my newsletter.
I’m also available on the following social media sites:
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