Paging Dr. Quincy — Welcome Guest Heather Blake

I hope some day you all get to meet Heather in person. She is lovely. The way we met was a bit unusual. Dru Ann Love and I were secretly planning for Dru Ann to come surprise Aimee Hix for Aimee’s launch party in February 2018. Dru Ann asked if someone else could come too. That someone was prolific, talented author Heather Blake and she became an instant friend. Heather is giving away a book. Look for details at the end of the blog!

Heather: As a teenager, I wanted to become a medical examiner when I grew up.

This was some thirty years ago, long before the days of Dr. G, CSI, and Forensic Files, when becoming a medical examiner wasn’t a profession many young women aspired to. But it’s what I’d wanted, what I absolutely had my mind set on. And it happened to be a goal wholly inspired by Quincy, the fictional doctor from Quincy, M.E., the 70’s TV show.

Every day after school, I’d race home to watch reruns of the show. All in the span of sixty minutes, less, really, if you consider the commercials, Quincy figured out a victim’s cause of death. A potential plague? He was there to save the world just in the nick of time. A murder? He and his eccentric assortment of cohorts solved the crime with ease. I loved every minute of it.

At UMass Lowell, I was a biology major, but it didn’t take long to figure out that I wasn’t cut out (ha-ha) to become a medical examiner. One mention of dissecting a cat had me rethinking my career plan. Slicing open people? Fine by me. Critters? No way. (By the way, I’m not sure what that says about me other than cozy mysteries and I are a great match.)

As it happened, life interrupted all my plans. Before that year was through, I’d left school, become a wife and then a mom, all of which, at eighteen, was a lot tougher than anything Quincy ever had to do.

Looking back I can clearly see it wasn’t Quincy’s job that had intrigued me. It was the puzzle-solving. The mystery. The characters, the plots, the twists and turns. Once I realized that, it was only a matter of time before I started my mystery-writing career.

These days Quincy, M.E. can still be found in reruns (or you can buy the whole series on DVD like I did—I still love every minute of it). And I dearly hope that the show continues to inspire young women to become medical examiners—or mystery authors.

Readers: What did you want to be when you grew up?

Heather is giving away a signed trade paperback copy of To Catch a Witch, the eighth book in her Wishcraft mystery series, featuring lovable witch Darcy Merriweather. To enter, simply leave a comment, and Heather will randomly choose a winner on February 24^th at 9 AM. Good luck!

Bio: Heather Blake, aka Heather Webber, is the author of more than twenty-five novels. She loves to read, drink too much coffee and tea, birdwatch, crochet, and bake. She lives in southwestern Ohio, and is hard at work on her next book.