Cozy Up: Meg Macy’s "Bearly Departed" at Nicola's

INTERVIEW PREVIEW WRITTEN WORD

Meg Macy, Bearly Departed

Meg Macy’s Bearly Departed is in the classic "cozy" tradition of English mysteries.

Most everyone had a favorite teddy bear growing up; some of us maybe had 10 or 12 or 15 of them. And how many of us imagined what it would be like to work in a teddy bear factory?

Silver Hollow resident Sasha Silverman, the main character in Meg Macy’s Bearly Departed, actually does work in a teddy bear factory, but it's not all fuzzy snuggles on the assembly line. She also must solve the mystery of who killed the villainous sales rep and left his body in her factory.

Local readers will note that Sasha’s teddy bear factory has some similarities to the one formerly located in nearby Chelsea. “I got my first bear (a Paddington) from Harrods, shortly before my daughter was born. That started my collection," Macy said. "I have all kinds of stuffed bears, Beanie baby bears, figurines, plaques, embroidered bear pictures, and a silky Chelsea bear.”

The Chelsea Bear Factory, which moved its production facility to Missouri in 2014, inspired the setting of this book. While Macy knew about the factory, she never got to visit. “I’m still kicking myself for that!” she laughed. Local readers also might find some familiarities in the setting as Macy, a resident of Southeast Michigan, drew from festivals and stores in small towns from Dexter to Plymouth. “I really love this area,” she said.

Bearly Departed is considered a “cozy” mystery, which Macy said refers to the golden age of British mysteries where the amateur sleuth does the work -- and usually, the murder is discovered after the fact so there is no hardcore violence. “My ‘shamelessly adorable’ teddy bear mysteries fall into the ("cozy") subgenre, where the amateur sleuth runs into danger but survives to solve the next case,” Macy said. That means a follow-up book, which is already scheduled for release next year: Bear Witness to Murder will focus on Silver Hollow’s Oktobear Fest -- and, of course, Sasha solving a murder.

Macy's path to publication was long but ultimately worth the wait. "I started writing when my daughter was three -- self-taught for the most part," she said. "I began publishing in the children's market in 1997, with puzzles and such, and was working on several picture book stories and illustrations. ... Then I took a break from writing until after my daughter entered college."

Macy then entered Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction program. "I learned where my writing 'missed the mark.' After graduating in 2010, I was hired to write nonfiction website articles for RE/MAX Platinum of Brighton. Then in 2011, I accepted a small press contract for Double Crossing, a western historical mystery (written as Meg Mims), which won the 2012 Spur Award for Best First Novel from the Western Writers of America. I haven't looked back since!"

Macy wrote a sequel to the western, Double or Nothing, and had several self-published novellas before co-writing two Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins's mysteries with a college friend and published author Sharon Farrow for St. Martin's Minotaur. Macy also plans to write more western historical mysteries in the future, but for now, her teddy bear mysteries are taking up her time.

And despite its sweet teddy bear theme, the Bearly Departed will take up readers' time because, Macy said, the novel is “still a mystery and has plenty of tough situations that my amateur sleuth must deal with.”


Patti F. Smith is a special education teacher and writer who lives in Ann Arbor with her husband and cats.


Macy will read from "Bearly Departed" at Nicola’s Books on Tuesday, June 13, at 7 pm.