Winona’s writing breakthrough came many years ago when she won First Prize in the Flare Magazine Fiction Contest with her short story about an all-night radio newsman, Tower of Power.
Her spy novel Skywatcher was a finalist in the Seal Books First Novel Competition and was published in 1989. This was followed by a sequel, The Cilla Rose Affair, and her first mystery, Cold Play, set aboard a cruise ship in Alaska.
After three time-travel romances (Persistence of Memory, In Loving Memory and Marianne’s Memory), Winona returned to mysteries with Disturbing the Peace, a novella, in 2017 and the novel Notes on a Missing G-String in 2019, both featuring the character she first introduced in Cold Play, professional jazz musician / amateur sleuth Jason Davey.
The third book in Winona’s Jason Davey Mystery series, Lost Time, was published in 2020.
Ticket to Ride is the fourth book in Winona’s Jason Davey Mysteries.
Winona has been a temporary secretary, a travel agent, a screenwriter and the Managing Editor of a literary magazine. She’s currently the BC/YK/NWT rep for the Crime Writers of Canada and is also an active member of Sisters n Crime – Canada West. She recently retired from her full-time admin job at UBC’s School of Population and Public Health, and is now happily embracing life as a full-time author.
You can visit her website at http://www.winonakent.com and connect with her on Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads.
Thanks for stopping by! What attracted you to the Mystery genre?
Oddly enough, it was a novel I wrote many years ago which wasn’t a mystery at all. It was called Cold Play, and it was about a character named Jason Davey who was working as an entertainer on board a cruise ship in Alaska. It was a standalone book that came after two spy novels, and
immediately before three accidental time travel romances. My publisher, Brian Richmond from Blue Devil Books, thought I should try tackling mysteries, and suggested that I bring Jason back from Cold Play and turn him into an amateur sleuth. So I wrote a novella, Disturbing the Peace, to see if I could manage a mystery. I found I loved it…and I haven’t looked back since!
Do you write in any other genres?
I did. As mentioned above, I wrote two tongue-in-cheek spy novels (Skywatcher and The Cilla Rose Affair). Then I wrote a standalone story that didn’t really fit into any particular genre—Cold Play. I followed that up with three time travel romances (Persistence of Memory, In Loving Memory and Marianne’s Memory). But right now my focus is almost exclusively on mysteries.
What inspired you to write Ticket to Ride?
The idea actually came from Lost Time, the novel I wrote just before Ticket to Ride. Normally, my main character, Jason Davey, can be found at the Blue Devil Club in London’s Soho, where he has a permanent gig with his jazz combo. But in Lost Time, Jason has taken a leave of absence from his Blue Devil residency, and is rehearsing for a tour of England with his mum’s old folky-pop band, Figgis Green, while he solves the mystery of a young woman who went missing in the 1970s.
I had so many notes, and so much wonderful research left over from Lost Time, that I thought it would be a great idea to write a book about the actual tour. So in Ticket to Ride, Jason and the Figs are on the road. While they travel around England, Jason tries to get to the bottom of who his maternal grandfather really is—and at the same time deals with a series of seemingly-unrelated mishaps that eventually lead to a deadly encounter at a concert in Tunbridge Wells.
Can you give us your book blurb so others can find out what your book is about?
When a psychic warns Jason and Mandy they're in danger from something "dropping", Figgis Green's 50th Anniversary Tour is plagued by a series of seemingly-unrelated mishaps -- including a plummeting gargoyle. But after Jason is attacked in Cambridge and nearly drowns while he's punting on the river, and a fire alarm in their hotel results in a theft from Mandy's room, it becomes very clear they're being targeted by someone with a serious grudge. When the band plays a gig at a private estate in Tunbridge Wells, that someone finally makes themselves - and their deadly intentions - known. Jason must rely on his instincts, a mysterious Instagram follower who calls herself his "guardian angel," and the ghost of a Battle of Britain airman, who may or may not share his DNA, to survive.
How can readers discover more about you and your work?
My website is http://www.winonakent.com
My Twitter handle
is @winonakent
My Instagram page
is @winonakent
My Facebook page is
@winonakentauthor
Brian and I have also created a rather good “tour website” for Figgis Green, where you can discover all kinds of things like their set lists, who else is in the band, the tour itinerary…and access to Jason’s Instagram feed, filled with all kinds of tour-related posts.
Where can readers buy your book?
Ticket to Ride is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books and Kobo.
Links:
Amazon Canada
Paperback
https://www.amazon.ca/Ticket-Ride-Winona-Kent/dp/1777329434
Ebook
https://www.amazon.ca/Ticket-Ride-Winona-Kent-ebook/dp/B09SZ2LRV6
Amazon US
Paperback
https://www.amazon.com/Ticket-Ride-Winona-Kent/dp/1777329434
Ebook
https://www.amazon.com/Ticket-Ride-Winona-Kent-ebook/dp/B09SZ2LRV6
Amazon UK
Paperback
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ticket-Ride-Winona-Kent/dp/1777329434
Ebook
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ticket-Ride-Winona-Kent-ebook/dp/B09SZ2LRV
Barnes & Noble
Paperback
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ticket-to-ride-winona-kent/1141097853?ean=9781777329433
Ebook
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ticket-to-ride-
Apple Books
https://books.apple.com/ca/book/ticket-to-ride/id1612423905
Kobo
https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/ticket-to-ride-17
Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to take part in this interview. What’s next for you?
You’re very welcome! I’m
just starting to outline the next Jason Davey mystery (#5 in the series), which
is called Bad Boy. It marks the return of one of my favorite baddies, Arthur
Braskey from Notes on a Missing G-String. And it has a rather shock
beginning that takes place at the top of The Shard, in London, England.
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