Interview: “A Dismal Death” by Debbie Mumford

In “A Dismal Death,” Debbie Mumford blends wit, warmth, and ghostly mystery as a seer, her stubborn ancestor, and a dashing sheriff uncover murder and magic in a town where the dead won’t rest.

Interview Questions

Did a real place or moment inspire part of your story?

My husband and I live in southwest Washington (the state, not the city!) and enjoy driving out to the coast every now and then. The fastest route involves crossing the Columbia River and taking the highway on the Oregon side, but we often prefer to follow the river on the Washington side of the Columbia.

Along the Washington drive is a rest area which is also a “high potential historic site” on the Lewis and Clark Trail. Its name: Dismal Nitch. Every time I see the road sign, I cringe. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a misspelling. It should be “Dismal Niche.” Yes. Yes. I know. Lewis and Clark named it, and spellings change over the years, but still… it’s just WRONG!

Obviously, the name lodged itself in my brain and Dismal Notch began to form. Mind you, it was a long process. I first saw that sign years ago! But Dismal Notch has been in the back of my mind ever since. When I saw the call for stories for “Haunted Waters,” I knew it was time to start writing about the place.

Delilah’s relationship with her ghostly ancestor is both hilarious and heartfelt. What inspired their dynamic?

I love writing voice-y characters, and Greater-grandpappy just flowed onto the page. He’s a ghost, the founder of Dismal Notch, and the reason the town’s population is decidedly “unnatural,” but I didn’t want him to be my point-of-view character. I wanted a living character for that position, so Delilah was born. But I knew I wanted him to be active and important. Delilah ended up being the foil for Greater-grandpappy’s antics even though she’s the main character.

Their dynamic developed as I wrote. Greater-grandpappy did what? How would Delilah react? Loving exasperation was often the answer. I think we all have at least one family member who has always been part of our lives and we love, but are also somewhat embarrassed by. Someone that we think, “If only they wouldn’t say things like that / act that way!” I know I do. My feelings toward him definitely colored Delilah’s feelings about her greater-grandpappy.

How do you see Delilah’s role as both witch and seer shaping her identity?

Delilah’s gifts are unique, just as her position in the Dismal Notch community is unique. She’s the only living member of the founding family, and she’s the only witch with a secondary gift… which may turn out to be the more important part of her heritage.

I wanted Delilah to be part of her unnatural community, but to also stand apart. Not in a snobby or condescending way, because that’s not who she is. She may be the town’s leading citizen, but she’s not arrogant. It’s just her place in her society, the role she was born to fill.

The romance with Sheriff O’Riley is great, and adds warmth to the mystery. How did you balance the supernatural with the romantic thread?

Pretty much all of my writing includes romance. I have to work to keep it from cropping up! I think love, or at least attraction, is such a basic human instinct that leaving it out diminishes the characters. In (hopefully) making my characters feel real and well-rounded I nearly always include someone who gives them a little tingle… whether or not I follow up on it and turn it into an actual romance.

As the saying goes, “love makes the world go round”… even for unnatural creatures!

What are you working on now—and what’s fun or exciting about it?

I’m so glad you asked! I had so much fun writing “A Dismal Death” that I wrote a novel to explore the town more fully! And I have a second one brewing in the back of my brain, which I’ll start as soon as I finish the novel that I’m currently writing—my second Sheriff Reynolds mystery.

“Dismally Dead” explores a bit of Delilah’s back story. After all, she’s a mature woman in “A Dismal Death” and I wondered about her life before the story. Who were her parents? Did she stay in Dismal Notch her whole life or did she leave to go to college? Had she been in love before? And what about Sheriff O’Riley? What’s his story? “Dismally Dead” answers a lot of those questions.

I’m also running a Kickstarter campaign to launch “Dismally Dead”—back it now!

About the Author

Debbie Mumford loves mystery. Author of the popular Kristi Lundrigan Mysteries series, Debbie enjoys writing quilt-themed cozies and soft-boiled detective fiction as well as speculative, romantic, and historical fiction. Her work has been published in multiple volumes of Fiction River, as well as in Heart’s Kiss Magazine, Amazing Monster Tales, and many other popular anthologies. She writes about detectives—whether amateur sleuths or professionals—dragon-shifters, and time-traveling lovers for adults as Debbie Mumford, and science fiction and fantasy for tweens and young adults as Deb Logan.

Find out more about Debbie at: debbiemumford.com

Read the Story

“A Dismal Death” appears in Haunted Waters, available now from Blackbird Publishing.

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