Gay Toltl Kinman's guest appearances

Gay Toltl Kinman

Destination Mystery

Mysteryrat’s Maze Podcast

Jennifer J. Chow

Nancy Cole Silverman

Nancy G. West

Ellery Adams

Jeri Westerson

Dennis Palumbo

John Gaspard

Sybil Johnson

Josh Pachter

Jenny Milchman

Frankie Y. Bailey

Kat Martin

Elizabeth McCourt

Michael Robertson

Debra H. Goldstein

OwlTail

This is a special bonus episode which is a bit different—it is an excerpt from the audio book of Death in Rancho Las Amigas written by Gay Toltl Kinman. The audiobook is read and produced by actor and mystery author Harley Jane Kozak. The full audiobook is available on Audible. You can learn more on the author's website. In each episode, we share with you mystery short stories and mystery novel first chapters read by actors from the San Joaquin Valley. If you enjoyed this episode please review or rate it as that helps more people be able to find us! Also, consider subscribing so you never miss an episode-both to this podcast and to the podcast newsletter. If you would like to help support this podcast and Kings River Life financially, and get some fun perks, check out our Patreon Page. You can also purchase some fun Mysteryrat's Maze merchandise on Redbubble. You can find more mystery fun on our websites Kings River Life Magazine and KRL News and Reviews.

This is a special bonus episode which is a bit different—it is an excerpt from the audio book of Death in Rancho Las Amigas written by Gay Toltl Kinman. The audiobook is read and produced by actor and mystery author Harley Jane Kozak. The full audiobook is available on Audible. You can learn more on the author's <a href="https://gaykinman.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">website</a>. In each episode, we share with you mystery short stories and mystery novel first chapters read by actors from the San Joaquin Valley. If you enjoyed this episode please review or rate it as that helps more people be able to find us! Also, consider subscribing so you never miss an episode-both to this podcast and to the podcast newsletter. If you would like to help support this podcast and Kings River Life financially, and get some fun perks, check out our <a href="https://www.patreon.com/kingsriverlife" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Patreon Page</a>. You can also purchase some fun Mysteryrat's Maze merchandise on <a href="https://www.redbubble.com/people/lham/shop?asc=u" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Redbubble</a>. You can find more mystery fun on our websites <a href="http://KingsRiverLife.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kings River Life Magazine</a> and <a href="https://www.krlnews.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">KRL News and Reviews</a>.

Death in Rancho Las Amigas by Gay Toltl Kinman

Author Gay Toltl Kinman is my first children's mystery writer, with ten books so far in that arena. But she is also a playwright, a teacher, and an incredibly prolific writer of both fiction and nonfiction.We talk about so many interesting things, I'll see if I can squeeze them all in the show notes. First off, here is Gay's Author Page on Amazon and here is the link to some pics of Gay on her many adventures -- including one taken in Alaska by the real Alison, the inspiration for her series. And let's not forget to link to Hearst Castle, the inspiration for her first YA novel, Wolf Castle (fka Castle Reiner). Gay's second mystery series for children, The Adventures of Lauren MacPhearson, is also inspired by another granddaughter. Both the real and fictional Laurens barely spoke at all, and yet both have had marvelous adventures. For more information on Elective Mutism (now called Selective Mutism), check out the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.Gay worked with miniature books at the spectacular Huntington Library, and that experience was the inspiration for The Mystery of the Missing Miniature Books. If you like mysteries where you learn something new, this one fills the bill. I had never imagined there were so many rare and antique books under four inches tall. Here's a link to the Huntington's own collection, but if you want more details, check out the Miniature Book Society.It's impossible to talk about children's mysteries without a nod to Carolyn Keene. Both Nancy Drew and The Dana Girls mysteries were written under that name. And I gave a shout-out to Shoshona Freedman.When we talked about Gay's work as a playwright, she gave a shout-out to South Coast Rep and Cecilia Fannon. Here is a link to the video The Read, the cold reading Gay talks about, of her play on Grace Nicholson. Up next is her book on women heroines, featuring never-before-published material from letters and journals, and includes a vignette on Julia Morgan, architect of the Hearst Castle.Which brings us back full circle to Gay's original inspiration. We did it!As always, if you'd rather read than listen, here is a transcript. Enjoy!-- LauraTranscript of Interview with Gay Toltl KinmanLaura Brennan: My guest today is Dr. Gay Toltl Kinman. Her career is nothing short of epic: ten children’s books, a YA gothic novel, several adult mysteries, two nonfiction books, numerous short plays and short stories, three Agatha Award nominations and an EPPIE win. Add to that over one hundred and fifty articles in professional journals and newspapers, book reviews, a children’s book column, a teaching load that includes law, library science and writing, and I simply don’t know how she has time to chat with me.But I’m glad she does. Gay, thank you for joining me.Gay Toltl Kinman: Well, thank you for asking me.LB: I barely know where to start here, so let's first talk about you. You have a Master of science in Library Science, right?GTK: Right.LB: Did you always want to be a writer?GTK: Yes, I did. Because my mother was also. But it seemed to me so lofty and esoteric to say that I wanted to be a writer, so I don't think I ever said that I wanted to be anything specific because I didn't really know what I wanted to do. But I knew eventually I wanted to write.LB: What was the impetus there, for that first book?GTK: I was reading a lot of Gothic novels at the time. And I had an idea for a story, because I like Hearst Castle very much and we been up there a few times, and I just thought that whole setting was so fantastic. And I was working full time, and I said well I'm going to put aside Saturday morning and I'm going to write. I tried to do that but it's just impossible.So I did write it. It was originally called Castle Reiner, and then we changed it with the second publisher of the book, we changed it to Wolf Castle because it involves wolves. So I wrote that,

Author Gay Toltl Kinman is my first children's mystery writer, with ten books so far in that arena. But she is also a playwright, a teacher, and an incredibly prolific writer of both fiction and nonfiction. We talk about so many interesting things, I'll see if I can squeeze them all in the show notes. First off, here is Gay's Author Page on Amazon and here is the link to some pics of Gay on her many adventures -- including one taken in Alaska by the real Alison, the inspiration for her series. And let's not forget to link to Hearst Castle, the inspiration for her first YA novel, Wolf Castle (fka Castle Reiner).  Gay's second mystery series for children, The Adventures of Lauren MacPhearson, is also inspired by another granddaughter. Both the real and fictional Laurens barely spoke at all, and yet both have had marvelous adventures. For more information on Elective Mutism (now called Selective Mutism), check out the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Gay worked with miniature books at the spectacular Huntington Library, and that experience was the inspiration for The Mystery of the Missing Miniature Books. If you like mysteries where you learn something new, this one fills the bill. I had never imagined there were so many rare and antique books under four inches tall. Here's a link to the Huntington's own collection, but if you want more details, check out the Miniature Book Society. It's impossible to talk about children's mysteries without a nod to Carolyn Keene. Both Nancy Drew and The Dana Girls mysteries were written under that name. And I gave a shout-out to Shoshona Freedman. When we talked about Gay's work as a playwright, she gave a shout-out to South Coast Rep and Cecilia Fannon. Here is a link to the video The Read, the cold reading Gay talks about, of her play on Grace Nicholson. Up next is her book on women heroines, featuring never-before-published material from letters and journals, and includes a vignette on Julia Morgan, architect of the Hearst Castle. Which brings us back full circle to Gay's original inspiration. We did it! As always, if you'd rather read than listen, here is a transcript. Enjoy! -- Laura Transcript of Interview with Gay Toltl Kinman Laura Brennan: My guest today is Dr. Gay Toltl Kinman. Her career is nothing short of epic: ten children’s books, a YA gothic novel, several adult mysteries, two nonfiction books, numerous short plays and short stories, three Agatha Award nominations and an EPPIE win. Add to that over one hundred and fifty articles in professional journals and newspapers, book reviews, a children’s book column, a teaching load that includes law, library science and writing, and I simply don’t know how she has time to chat with me. But I’m glad she does. Gay, thank you for joining me. Gay Toltl Kinman: Well, thank you for asking me. LB: I barely know where to start here, so let's first talk about you. You have a Master of science in Library Science, right? GTK: Right. LB: Did you always want to be a writer? GTK: Yes, I did. Because my mother was also. But it seemed to me so lofty and esoteric to say that I wanted to be a writer, so I don't think I ever said that I wanted to be anything specific because I didn't really know what I wanted to do. But I knew eventually I wanted to write. LB: What was the impetus there, for that first book? GTK: I was reading a lot of Gothic novels at the time. And I had an idea for a story, because I like Hearst Castle very much and we been up there a few times, and I just thought that whole setting was so fantastic. And I was working full time, and I said well I'm going to put aside Saturday morning and I'm going to write. I tried to do that but it's just impossible. So I did write it. It was originally called Castle Reiner, and then we changed it with the second publisher of the book, we changed it to Wolf Castle because it involves wolves. So I wrote that,

Episode 20: Gay Toltl Kinman