Linda Shenton Matchett Interview

Q: How long have you been writing and what other careers or jobs have you had?
A. I’ve been making up stories since I was a child, but didn’t get serious about my writing until 2002 when we relocated to New Hampshire. I did quite a bit of freelance magazine work which reminded me of how much I loved writing fiction, so in 2007 I began writing novels. I had lots to learn, so my first book wasn’t published until 2016. I was a Human Resources professional for twenty-eight years. After that, I was the owner/operator of a Bed & Breakfast, youth center director, and now I’m the dining/catering manager for a boarding school.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release Spies & Sweethearts?
A: Spies & Sweethearts is the first in a series about three sisters who serve in various capacities during WWII. Emily is a high school French teacher who ends up working for the Office of Strategic Services (precursor to the CIA), and she is dropped into occupied France as a radio operator. Her partner, Gerard, is her training officer and one of OSS’s top spies. Here is the blurb:

A secret mission. A fake bride. A run for their lives.

According to the OSS training manual, the life expectancy of a radio operator in Nazi-occupied France is six weeks. Partnered with one of the agency’s top spies, Gerard Lucas, newly-minted agent Emily Strealer plans to beat those odds. Then their cover is blown and all bets are off. The border to neutral Switzerland is three hundred miles away—a long way to run with SS soldiers on their heels.

Will Emily and Gerard survive the journey?

And what about their hearts? Nothing in the manual prepared them for falling in love.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for this story?
A: Several years ago, I was asked to do a presentation about the various ways women served during WWII. My research led me to several resources that talked about women in espionage. I continued to dig and found stories about dozens of these brave ladies who put their lives on the line. I knew I had to tell their story.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
A: I hope readers will remember that no matter how difficult life gets or how much evil seems to have overtaken the world, God is in control.

Q: How do you choose your settings for your books?
A. I typically start a story in a location that I know, and then send the characters somewhere I’d like to visit or know more about. England has played a large part in my stories, and I was blessed to be able to visit five years ago.

Q: Do you base your characters on people you know or are they totally made up?
A: I rarely base my characters on people I know, preferring to make them up so I can give them the traits they need to tell the story (and not worry about offending people I know!)

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. I am finishing the manuscript for the third Sisters in Service book, The Widow & The War Correspondent. Cora is Emily’s eldest sister and loses her husband at Pearl Harbor. In an effort to get away from her grief and the well-meaning intentions of friends and family, she applies for accreditation as a war correspondent. She is sent to England just before the invasion of Normandy.

Q: If money were no object what vacation would you like to take and why?
A. That is a great question because there are so many places I’d like to see. My travel within the United States has been mostly limited to east of the Mississippi River. America is so diverse in geography and culture, I’d love to take a trip and visit all of the states by car and train. I love trains!

Q: What is the silliest thing you have ever done?
A. Accepting a bet to go out on a first date with the man who is now my husband.

Q: What is the hardest thing you have ever done?
A. One of the most difficult things I’ve done is relocating with my family from New Jersey to Maryland in March of my junior year of high school after having already been to two high schools. Despite being an extrovert, friendships were difficult to form because most kids already had their circle of friends and weren’t looking for new members. I felt very isolated and lonely until I left for college.