This month I've got a real song-and-dance girl, Flo Fitzpatrick. Flo's love of, and experience in, theater shines through in her writing; heck, I learned some cool stuff from reading her latest release, Haunting Melody! Flo was nice enough to stop by and chat, and she's got a real life ghost story to share, too. Welcome to the hot seat, Flo!

Caroline: Your heroine Melody gets sent on quite a ride in this book: 90 years straight backward in time, where (when?) she becomes a Follies girl. You obviously have a lot of love for the Ziegfeld Follies and musical theater; what was the most unusual thing you uncovered about the Follies in researching this book?

Flo: I wouldn't say "unusual" but more enlightening—and this is a serious issue—I'm still somewhat "gob-smacked" over race relations in that time period even in theatre, where one supposes a more liberal attitude would have prevailed. I read a marvelous biography about Bert Williams, who was one of the "name" performers for the Follies, and was also a talented songwriter. He was a headliner, a star— but unable to eat at restaurants with the cast. Far worse though, he was forced to perform in "blackface" with other white cast members who were performing in blackface. Just blew me away but left me with so much admiration for this brilliant man.

I also had to admire Ziegfeld for making Williams a headliner when there were people who would cheerfully have burned down the theatre since a black man was performing with white women. The mind reels.

Caroline: So where did the idea for this book come from—just your love of the Follies?

Flo: My last apartment in New York was haunted. (maybe!) The first indication was what I called the 'lights and locks' show. One particular lamp would turn itself off and on at will. Especially when it was raining. And the front door kept clicking as though someone was locking and unlocking, testing for security. But no one was ever there. And the clicking was always heard at 11 at night. Every night. No amount of sneaking to the door and throwing it open ever revealed a person, dog, cat, or battery-operated remote door clicker.

I saw a shadow once about two in the morning across the bookshelves in the hall—didn't feel cold but Hey! Can't have everything.

But the BIGGIE for evidence of haunting came after vacation. Three weeks away and no one coming in to water the plants, yet after three weeks, the plants were wet. Not just damp. WET. The windows were closed so there was no way any rain could have come cascading through! No leaks from the apartment upstairs. Did I mention the plants were WET??

I thought it was a great idea for a story, and Haunting Melody was born.

Caroline: That's partly really cool and partly really spooky. Thank goodness it happened to you and not to me.

Haunting Melody is written in first person, so while the heroine's thoughts are spelled out to the reader, the hero Briley is a bit of a mystery. Perhaps to the heroine as well, since they are from different times? What went into dreaming up a hero who could buy the time-traveling story Melody tells him?

Flo: I knew I wanted Briley to be smart and he had to have a wry sense of humor. He also had to be a musician, a "dog"person, and a WWI vet. I think it's the dog person that makes him open to Melody's story.

Caroline: Er… Not that I don't like a dog-loving hero, but why was that so important?

Flo: Dog people just naturally have to accept strange things in life after watching their mutts engage in bizarre behavior daily!

Caroline: Truer words were never spoken, I suppose. My dog is a lunatic…

I find the time travel concept fascinating. Melody doesn't have too much trouble getting back on her feet in the early 1900s. Did that unfold naturally as you learned about the times—that things weren't that different from now as we might think—or was it more due to the character you were creating in Melody?

Flo: I was very surprised at how similar that time period was, perhaps because so many inventions either had just come into use so people were already becoming somewhat nonchalant about electricity and cars and subways in New York! And backstage at a theatre hasn't changed much. The tech stuff has, the way dressing rooms are set up or the fact that people audition and the gossip and the rehearsals etc. are pretty much the same. So, Melody is comfortable in that atmosphere and that helps her adjust to the "new" time period.

Caroline: I never would have guessed. So where would you time travel to if you could?

Flo: Me? That's a tough one. I'm a history buff, so I think it'd be great fun to be able to just "pop in" and take a look at various historical periods, but I'm not sure I'd like day-to-day living in 1066 for example! But if forced to stay…either the 1940's (I know, that's weird, but I love the clothes and the movies of the period!) or Colonial America (probably because I never got over visiting Williamsburg and seeing the musical instruments made and eating fresh gingerbread!)

Caroline: I love the cover for this book. How did you get so lucky?

Flo: I love the cover. Cerridwen is really great about giving authors input into covers. I told the art department that I wanted something that hinted at the time period, that Melody was a costume designer, and I did not want a human in the picture. They delivered beautifully!

Caroline: So… Any inspirational pictures of Briley?

Flo: Not a one.

Caroline: You're letting me down here, Flo! Not even a slightly Briley-esque photo?

Flo: He's in my mind only. (sigh)

Caroline: Hmph. What are you working on now?

Flo: About three things at once. I've got the sequel to a mystery series my agent is shopping around. I've got two paranormal romances going as well. I work in "chunks," and will get about seven chapters of a book down, then go to the next idea…and finally decide "OK, THIS one gets finished now."

I'm also part of a new manuscript evaluation service, Athena Critique Service, with several other authors, so we've been working on getting that started. I switch between emails about "whaddya think about doing this?" to research on—gulp—serial killers and Shakespeare and bagpipes!

Caroline: Wow, that sounds interesting…and hard. Good luck!

Thanks so much for visiting, Flo!

Haunting Melody is on sale from Cerridwen Press as an e-book. You can also find Flo's other books, Hot Stuff and Ghost of a Chance, in bookstores everywhere.