Interview with Leslie Langtry, author of ‘Scuse Me While I Kill this Guy

Welcome to Sugarbeat’s Books – The Home of the Romance Novel

Today I’m welcoming Leslie Langtry to my blog. I’ve had the pleasure of reading one of her books – ‘Scuse Me While I Kill This Guy. This book had me laughing most of the way through. I posted my thoughts on this book yesterday – be sure to have a look at this review!

I asked Leslie if she would answer a few questions. Here are her responses!

Barb – Describe “Scuse me while I kill this guy” in your own words.

Leslie – ‘SCUSE ME WHILE I KILL THIS GUY is the story of Gin Bombay – a widowed soccer mom who works for the family business.  The family business is assassination.  In fact, the Bombays have been the first name in assassination since 2000 BCE.  So between dodging the evil PTA president, starting a Girl Scout Troop and making cookies for the Halloween party, Gin has to take out naughty terrorists and other assorted bad guys.  It doesn’t help when she meets hunky Australian bodyguard Diego Jones, and discovers there is a mole in the Bombay Family who is threatening to bring them all down.

Barb – Tell us a little about yourself.

Leslie – Today is my 22^nd anniversary with my smart and funny husband – Tom.  We have two kids who may be funnier than us, Meg and Jack.  We have three dogs, three cats and two guinea pigs because something is seriously wrong with us.  My favorite color is orange.  My favorite food is cake.  Any cake.

Barb –  Where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world?

Leslie – I love living in the Midwest – it makes travelling anywhere seem exotic.  I live in Illinois, but would love to live in Iowa again.  It was a great place to grow up.  But since our last move, I’ve decided we are dying in this house.  I really hate moving.

Barb –  Who are your cheerleaders? Who encourages you to continue writing?

Leslie – My husband, Tom, and kids, Meg and Jack are huge supporters of my work.  My critique partners – Susan Carroll, Kimberly Cates and Janene Murphy are amazing and I couldn’t do this without them.  Jana Deleon kicks me in the ass regularly to keep me writing – for which I am eternally grateful.  And I wouldn’t even be funny without my mom, Toni and sister, Jenny.  Growing up in Iowa with those two kinda clinched the deal on my sense of humor.

Barb – What is it you love most about writing? What’s the hardest part of writing for you?

Leslie – I love making stuff up.  Isn’t that the most amazing thing?  I make up a bunch of stuff, put it on paper, people ACTUALLY read it, and they think it’s funny and want more!  What’s not to love?  The hardest part is sitting down to write when the kids are sick, the pets are sick, or I’m sick/stressed/the kitchen is on fire/or I’m eating cake.  Apparently, stuff distracts me.

Barb –  Who is your favorite character in your new release?

Leslie – My newest release, PARADISE BY THE RIFLE SIGHTS, is a novella.  It’s the story of Paris Bombay – Gin’s cousin.  Every book in the series is of a different Bombay (I don’t have the attention span to make every book about the same character).  My favorite character in that book is actually Terri – one of the love interests.  I really got a kick out of writing her – she’s snarky and smart and doesn’t pull her punches.  I wish I was her, actually.

Barb –  Do you see yourself in any of your characters?

Leslie – A lot of people said they thought I was Gin Bombay – because she sounded so much like me.  That’s probably because it was my first book.   I must say my dad was very disturbed reading the love scenes because of that.  Of course, I’m 45 and have two kids, but he still had a hard time with it.  I also really identify with Missi Bombay from STAND BY YOUR HITMAN, because I’m kind of quirky and odd – like her.  I mean, come on!  She makes exploding Wacky Wall Walkers!  That’s so cool!

Barb –  What was your favorite scene?

Leslie – Of all my books, my favorite scene is in the second – GUNS WILL KEEP US TOGETHER.  GUNS is Gin’s brother, Dakota’s story.  I wrote a scene where they have to kill an evil zookeeper.  The bad guy takes care of bears and they use one of Missi’s inventions – a tube that sprays a mixture of barbeque sauce and bear pheromones so the victim is eaten by the bears, or “worse.”  My editor tried to get me to get rid of that sentence.  She actually wrote, “bear sodomy, ick.”  Of course, it only alludes to bear sodomy, so we kept it in.

Barb –  Where do you get your inspiration?

Leslie – From dreams and the news.  I have a bizarre imagination that manifests itself in dreams or makes me look at a news story and say to myself, “Sure, he rescued the dog from the fire…but what if the fire was in a dildo factory and 2 pandas were involved?”  Once my husband gave me an idea…that was nice.

Barb –  What book is currently on your nightstand?

Leslie – I just finished Max Barry’s MACHINE MAN, because I thought the book trailer was hilarious.  I’m now reading his book SYRUP.  I have a huge author crush on Libba Bray after reading BEAUTY QUEENS.  I read a lot of Terry Pratchett and John Scalzi too. And every woman who grew up in the ‘70’s must read Tina Fey’s BOSSYPANTS.

Barb –  Where is your work available?

Leslie – You can still buy paperbacks online and my ebooks are all available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.

Barb –  Are you working on anything new and if so when can we expect to see it?

Leslie – I just finished the novella and fifth book in the Bombay Series, PARADISE BY THE RIFLE SIGHTS.   I’m working on a funny sci-fi novel and hope to make that available soon.  I also just started a collection of short stories featuring Bombays through history.  That’s a lot of fun to write.

Barb –  Anything else you’d like to add?

Leslie – Thank you for having me!

Please drop by Leslie’s site to learn more about her books.  Follow her on twitter, like her on Facebook.