Welcome to the Blog Tour for An Ode to Poison by Lisa E. Betz, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
About the Book
Title: An Ode to Poison
Series: Livia Aemilia Mysteries #3
Author: Lisa E. Betz
Publisher: Breakthrough Christian Publishing
Release Date: October 21, 2024
Genre: Historical Mystery
What do death by poison, a ruthless senator, and a poetry party have in common?
They combine to draw Livia Aemilia into her most dangerous investigation yet. She must risk setting foot in the house of her worst enemy, Senator Tiberius Gracchus, to investigate the death of his wife. (Don’t worry, she has a plan.)
The victim’s sister is convinced Gracchus is the killer. If so, proving his guilt in Rome’s law courts could put a stop to his nefarious threats forever.
Livia is sure this investigation is God’s plan to protect her family from their malicious enemy. And maybe it will finally convince her husband Avitus that God is real.
The more Livia and Avitus dig, the more it looks like they will finally bring Gracchus to justice. Until another victim is poisoned, and everything they think they know is turned upside down.
PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop
More Books in This Series
About the Author
Lisa E. Betz is an engineer-turned-mystery-writer, entertaining speaker, and speaking coach. She inspires others to become their best selves, living with authenticity, and purpose, and she infuses her novels with quirky characters who thrive on solving tricky problems. Her Livia Aemilia Mysteries, set in first-century Rome, have won several awards, including the Golden Scroll Novel of the Year (2021). She and her husband reside outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with Scallywag, their rambunctious cat—the inspiration for Nemesis, resident mischief maker in her novels. Lisa directs church dramas, hikes the beautiful Pennsylvania woods, eats too much chocolate, and spoils her grandsons.
Connect with Lisa by visiting lisaebetz.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.
Author Interview
Welcome, Lisa! Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and giving my readers a chance to get to know you and your new book An Ode to Poison.
Can you share 5 random facts about yourself?
- I love Thai food, Indian food, and anything involving cheese and garlic.
- I’ve had to adapt to a gluten-free diet, which has been a learning experience of trade-offs and new cooking methods.
- My happy place is spending time in a green leafy forest rather than at the beach. Waterfalls make it extra special.
- I’m a cat person. That’s why I put a cat in my books. I grew up with cats, so I have been trained since childhood to understand my role (i.e. dogs have owners, cats have staff).
- I enjoy scuba diving and snorkeling (in warm water where there are lots of colorful fish). I have seen sharks, sea turtles, eels, squid, and stingrays.
You never intended to be a writer… can you tell us a little bit about what happened to change that?
I’ve always loved reading and making up stories and skits. My parents encouraged that love by reading to us and taking us to plays. That was the foundation of my love of Story. I’ve always admired authors, but I never imagined I would become one.
God gifted me with strong writing skills, but as a teen, I didn’t appreciate this gift. English wasn’t my favorite class, and I had no interest in journalism. Then, as the years went by, I began to realize I was good at writing and enjoyed the creativity of it.
The final catalyst was an ad I saw in a parenting magazine for a correspondence course in writing for children. That course ignited my interest in writing fiction and started me on a twenty-year journey to becoming a novelist. I thank a multitude of writers and instructors for guiding, inspiring, and encouraging me on that journey.
What drew you to historical mysteries?
Historical novels have been one of my favorite genres since long before I knew what that term meant. I have always been drawn to stories set in unusual historical periods, such as bronze-age Israel or ancient Rome.
It was my writing mentor who challenged me to write a mystery. At first, I scoffed at the idea, but eventually I gave it a try. It turns out my analytical engineer brain enjoyed the challenge of creating a mystery, carefully laying out clues and red herrings to construct a clever plot.
Putting the two together led me to write my first publishable novel, Death and A Crocodile, which won several awards including Golden Scroll Novel of the Year.
Can you share a little bit about the research that went into this story?
I’ve been leading Bible studies for over thirty years, so I’ve been studying about the New Testament history and culture for a long time. It was my interest in that era that led me to set my novels in first-century Rome.
When I decided to use ancient Rome as the setting for a novel, my research began in earnest. I was able to visit Rome five years ago. I spent two weeks in museums and walking the streets of Pompeii and Ostia Antica. There is nothing like actually being there to help an author imagine a setting.
I’ve collected two bookshelves of reference books on the period and spent many hours watching documentaries and scouring the internet for answers to obscure questions.
Since the newest novel deals with poison, I’ve read through many sites that discuss poisonous plants and their effects. I’ve studied writings from ancient Rome through modern times on herbs and their medicinal uses, including a reprint of a British herbal from the 1600s. For anyone curious about poisons, I discovered a marvelous book titled A is for Arsenic that features many of the poisons Agatha Christie used in her novels.
What was the most challenging part of bringing this story to life?
I was writing the first draft of this novel while I was caring for my ailing mother. The memories of working on this story will always be intertwined with the difficult final year of Mom’s life. I have dedicated the book to her.
The most rewarding?
My goal for this novel was to force my sleuth’s husband Avitus into a corner where he must choose between mercy and retribution. But Avitus is not yet a Christian. So why would he ever choose to extend mercy to the enemy he’s been dreaming of punishing for years?
That was the challenge of the story. First, Livia must wrestle with Jesus’s command to love her enemies. Then she must (with God’s help) convince Avitus to view mercy as an honorable choice instead of a weak and foolish one.
All without sounding preachy or trite.
I think I’ve accomplished it. I still get goosebumps when I read the last line of the novel.
If you could describe your main character(s) in just three words each, what would those words be?
Livia the sleuth: spunky, determined, resourceful
Roxana, her sidekick: streetwise, enthusiastic, kindhearted
Avitus, Livia’s husband: logical, conscientious, protective
Nemesis the cat (who is not a main character but insisted on being included): clever, independent, unrepentant
Fumo the dog (who isn’t going to be upstaged by a cat!): intelligent, empathetic, loyal
What do you hope readers will take away from the book?
I hope they will wrestle with the challenging concept of forgiving our enemies. Not faceless enemies in the abstract, but the real-life people who insult us or threaten us or impede our success.
If we were to suddenly find it within our power to exact revenge on someone who has mistreated us, what would we do? Would we choose mercy instead of retribution? In the book, Roxana wonders if it is humanly possible to forgive people, and why we would even want to. It’s a complicated topic.
Finally, I hope readers get a new insight into how the average Roman citizen might have viewed this strange new Jewish sect that taught that self-sacrifice, mercy, and humility were noble qualities rather than weaknesses to avoid.
Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Before you go, where can readers follow along to see what’s coming next?
Visit my website for more information on my books and my intentional living blog.
Website: https://lisaebetz.com/
More about Lisa’s books, including discussion guides: https://lisaebetz.com/books/
Author page: https://www.facebook.com/LisaEBetzWriter
The Livia Aemilia Fans Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/594885501698793
Tour Giveaway
(1) winner will receive a signed set of all 3 Livia Aemilia Mysteries in paperback!
Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight November 4, 2024 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on November 11, 2024. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
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"Pleasant words are as a honeycomb: sweet to the soul and health to the bones." Proverbs 16:24