Sally, you had several mysteries published for another series. Tell us how you came to write about two sisters "of a certain age" in A VERY ELIGIBLE CORPSE.

I've been doing a series about a computer fraud investigator named Julie Blake for several years under the name Sally Chapman and I was interested in doing something different, something cozier with no high tech in it. My schtick ( realize that's not a word) in the Julie Blake books is that I murder people in strange, high-tech ways, and I wanted to do a series where I could murder in a more normal fashion -- your basic poisoning, stabbing, bludgeoning.

I had written a book (still sitting on the shelf) that had these two sixty year old sisters as minor characters and it struck me that they were perfect for a murder mystery. I was also interested in them because sixty years old isn't really that old any more. I mean, Jane Fonda is sixty, I think. So my goal is to show these sisters as active, sexy and probably having more fun and excitement than thirty-year-olds. Also, I really like the peripheral characters, especially Naomi, the channeler. I want to have coffee with these women.

So I turned in an outline and the first three chapters of A VERY ELIGIBLE CORPSE to Gail Fortune at Berkley. When they bought it they insisted on a three book deal, one book a year for three years.

How much of the series did you need to have completed for Berkely to agree to it?

Berkley bought my series based on the outline and first three chapters of the first book. That was it. My agent did pitch it as a series, but Berkley never asked me for information on the second two books. I have a track record from my Julie Blake series, so I think they trusted that I would deliver the goods.

To be honest, at the time I sold the series I had no idea what the next two plots would be about, and I was surprised and relieved that Berkley didn't ask me. I don't start thinking about the next book until I finish the one I'm working on. The reason I don't plan out the books farther ahead is because first, I can't think that far ahead, (I can't plan dinner for tonight much less a book for next year) and second, the characters grow as I write a book and, to a certain extent, they tell me what the next plot will be. I'm producing one book a year for Berkley, and this means that I go through a couple of months of serious brain cramps as I get the story outline on paper, and I'm in that process right now.

I've just finished the second manuscript and in the second story I've gone deeper into the women's lives -- where they hang out, what their issues are. The story turned out very funny. My editor Gail Fortune at Berkley Prime Crime thinks the second book is funnier than the first. I hope she's right. Writing humor is tough and when you're done with a book you're never quite sure if it hit or missed the mark. At least I'm not.

On another note, you seemed to have a good time poking fun at some of the yuppie pretensions found in the thinly-disguised Mill Valley (Hill Creek in the book). Deliberate skewering?

Absolutely. I moved away from Marin for a couple of years and when I came back I was amazed at how different it is from the rest of the world. My grocery store has a foot reflexology and herbal medicines section. The public access channel is full of belly dancers and gurus. Everyone is meditating or channeling or having their houses "cleansed" by Indian shamans. It's both absurd and charming, but most of all it's a great source for humor.

Granted, some things I exaggerate. For example, the Mill Valley Market does have Velveeta, but only a couple of small boxes that they keep on the very bottom of a shelf. But other things in Marin I have to downplay because I don't think they would seem realistic to readers in other parts of the country. (For example, the Mill Valley city hall has a sign on the door asking people not to come in if they're wearing perfume or scented deodorant. At Thanksgiving the grocery stores advertise not the price per pound of turkeys but how well the turkeys were treated while they were alive, how they grew up on Bessie's farm and ran free, etc. These things strike me as humorous.)

Give us a hint. What's in the future for Hanah and John Perez, the ex-police chief who figured in the first book?

As far as John Perez goes, he takes off mountain climbing in the second book but he's sticking around town for the third. He and Hannah will continue their relationship, but I don't know yet for sure how deep it will become. Hannah is very independent and still bears the scars from things that happened in her past, so it's hard for her to commit.

Sally, how can readers contact you?

Readers can reach me via Berkley Prime Crime, Penguin Putnum, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014.

Thanks, Sally, and good luck!

Readers, check out our review of A Very Eligible Corpse.