Author Speed Date

The idea of speed dating is that you get 10 minutes to sit down with a prospective date and get to know them. In that spirit, we present Author Speed Date. A quick 10 minutes for you to get to know some of our clients. Today we'd like you to meet Avery Aames.

BookEnds Author Speed Date

Name (the one you’re published under): Avery Aames

Speed date Bio (one or two lines): Avery Aames is the national bestselling author of A Cheese Shop Mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime. Avery likes to read, cook, garden, and do amateur photography.

Web Link: You can visit Avery at www.averyaames.com. She also blogs at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen, a blog for foodies who love mysteries, as well as at Killer Characters, a blog overtaken by cozy authors’ characters.

Next Book, pub date: Lost and Fondue, May 3, 2011

Agent: Kim Lionetti

About Me

Real Name or Pseudonym: Daryl Wood Gerber, aka Avery Aames

Currently Reading: Buffalo West Wing by Julie Hyzy

Next on Your Reading List: A Crafty Killing by Lorraine Bartlett

Facebook or Twitter (include account name): Twitter: @AveryAames as well as @DarylWoodGerber.

Facebook: There's a page for Avery Aames as well as Daryl Wood Gerber.


Three authors living or dead you would want to have dinner with: Lisa Gardner, Agatha Christie, Robert Crais

Jet-setter or armchair traveler: A little of both. ☺ I’ve hitchhiked by myself around Ireland. Not sure if that’s a jet-setter, but it’s a risk-taker. I’ve also jumped out of a perfectly good airplane.

Glass ½ full or ½ empty: Half full always.

Tea or Coffee: Decaf coffee; way too much energy zipping through my bloodstream on a regular basis. A little wine with my cheese, too. Say cheese!

Live to write or Write to live: Live to write. I love crafting stories. I always have. I also act, so I hear voices in my head. Please don’t tell more than five of your closest friends.

About My Writing

When (time of day) I write: Morning is best. But I’ll squeeze in writing any time I can. Love coffee shops.

Writing soundtrack: I listen to instrumental Latin and classical music.

Character Inspirations: Those darned voices. They keep knocking at the inside of my brain and telling me what they want to do and say.

Plot Inspirations: Newspaper and Internet real-life stories make me think outside the box.

Setting Inspirations: Where I’ve lived. Where I’d like to live. Where I believe the story should be set. I wrote four stories set in Lake Tahoe. I believe I nailed the last one, a suspense novel. Right now, I write about Ohio because The Cheese Shop is set there and the pastoral, fictional tourism-driven town of Providence fits in the location.

Plotter (carefully plot books) or Pantser (write from the seat of my pants): I like to plot. I like to have road maps when I drive, as well. However, I like to take detours, so if one of my characters (the voices) starts taking another route (circuitous most often), I’ll follow for a while. And if I get jazzed by some outside-the-box idea, then the plot can morph. I’ll fix the outline, however, before I go too far. I always like knowing who did it and why. That’s very important to me.

Avery Aames on Perseverance

Avery Aames
The Long Quiche Goodbye
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Pub date: June 2010
Agent: Kim Lionetti


(Click to Buy)


A Writer’s Journey: Say Cheese!


Getting published is hard work. It takes tenacity. It takes passion. It takes friends who won’t let you give up. J. A. Konrath says: "What do you call a writer with perseverance? PUBLISHED!"

Are you just about to give up? Don’t!

Over the course of fifteen years, I wrote a number of books, both traditional mystery and suspense thrillers. I submitted these books to agent after agent and received a number of comments, like “This is so close, but it’s just not for me.” [Sound familiar?]

Two years ago, when I was ready to give up, my critique partner, Krista Davis (who writes The Domestic Diva Mystery series), suggested I write to the market. "Cozies are selling," she said. With nothing to lose, I decided to give it a whirl.

But before I wrote another full book, I wanted to make sure that the cozy hook that I’d chosen was a good hook. I approached agent Jessica Faust at Bookends, whom I had met at a writers’ conference. She had given me encouragement on previous work. I asked if I could submit cozy ideas to her to see if they would fly with a publisher. She agreed. I submitted professionally crafted bibles [my bibles included sample chapters, an overview of the series, character sketches, and a basic outline], but none captured her fancy. After a few tries, we agreed that maybe we weren’t of like mind, so I asked if she’d be upset if I approached her fellow agent, Jacky Sach, whom I had also met at a conference. Jessica gave her blessing.

I approached Jacky with the same request. Jacky agreed. I tried three, but she didn’t think any would appeal to a publisher, so I tried three more. Mind you, each of these took me a while to write, and mind you, Jacky was such a good sport! Again, I received encouragement from Jacky, but none of the ideas were “just right.” Because I knew of people who had been “hired” to write books based on a bible created by the publisher, I asked Jacky if she would keep me in mind if she heard of an opportunity. [Note: I used to write in Hollywood. I created the format for a series on TV called Out of This World. I had no qualms about writing somebody else’s idea.] Jacky said she would.

I didn’t waste another moment thinking about the possibility, and I returned to what I had been writing before I changed track – a suspense thriller. Note: I was still considering giving up writing, but I hadn’t decided what I would do next with my life, and sitting on the couch day in, day out was out of the question (for me). I polished my new novel and started the quest again to find an agent who would think it was the most brilliant piece of writing ever. I received requests for full manuscripts and was feeling pretty sure that something was going to break for me this time . . . soon. [Perseverance requires that you see the rainbow behind the clouds!] At the same time, I took a cozy writing class and a suspense writing class. I polished new chapters and ideas through my critique group. And, yes, I had the occasional mini-pity party. [Note: Don’t let pity parties last longer than twenty-four hours. It takes grit to stop a pity party, but you can do it.]

And then one day, out of the blue, I received an email from Jacky. She had a work-for-hire possibility. Would I be interested in auditioning for A Cheese Shop Mystery series? Of course I would! A cheese shop sounded tasty, fun, and felt like a perfect fit for me. I loved to cook. I used to cater. I almost sold wine and The Cheese Shop, per the publisher’s bible, had a wine annex. Last but not least, the grandmother who raised the protagonist was a sassy character who managed the local theater. It just so happened that I had acted in local theaters and on television and in film.

To audition for the job, I was asked to provide three chapters. I set to work, researching, tasting, and writing. Working within the publisher’s parameters provided a freedom I’d never felt before. I was writing something that had a strong hook and was already “wanted” by the publisher. In a matter of weeks, I turned in the chapters.

But I didn’t kid myself that I would be hired. I’d been rejected before. So I returned to my regular job of writing the next book.

When I was offered a three-book deal, I just about fell off my chair. I was going to be published, writing something I truly enjoyed!

In the future, I hope to sell one of my own stories, but for now, I write as Avery Aames, author of A Cheese Shop Mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime, and I’m thrilled and proud.

My advice: If opportunity knocks on your door, open it and: Say Cheese!

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Avery Aames, the author of A Cheese Shop Mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime, is the pseudonym for Daryl Wood Gerber. Daryl created the format for the popular sitcom Out of This World and has won awards for her screenplays. She also writes short stories and suspense novels. Both Avery and Daryl like to read, cook, garden, and do amateur photography. Avery blogs at Mystery Lovers Kitchen, www.mysteryloverskitchen, a blog for foodies who love mysteries, as well as at Killer Characters, www.killercharacters.com. You can visit Avery at www.averyaames.com.