Bookpleasures.com welcomes as our guest, Amy S. Peele author of Cut and her most recent novel, Match: A Medical Murder Mystery,


Good day Amy and thanks for taking part in our interview.

Norm:  Please tell our readers a little bit about your personal and professional background.




Amy: Thanks for having me Norm. I’m the fifth of six children born and raised by a single mother in Chicago area.

I became a nurse in 1974 and fell in love working at academic medical center's – started my transplant career at University of Chicago and ended it in 2014 at University of California – San Francisco. I love to swim – practice chair and laughter yoga and mediate.

Humour and comedy are important to me – I believe having a sense of humour is an essential life skill to survive in this world.

To that end I went to Second City’s Players workshop and studied Improv and graduated in 1985.

My 35-year career in Transplantation was literally life and death so having some levity after work was important to me. 

I’ve been married to Mark Schatz for 34 years, met him through his mother who was a transplant colleague. We have two children – Gracie - 33 who lives in Eugene where she operates a cooking school – is a butcher, chef and farmer. Bennett is 30 and is a sound engineer at Dolby in San Francisco. Both are characters in their own right.  

Norm: Why do you write? Do you have a theme, message, or goal for your books? As a follow up, why did you choose to write mystery novels?

Amy: I have a very active imagination and its fun creating characters and scenes on the page and see how folks react to them. Writing is hard and I think it’s good to do something that challenges your brain.

My Transplant mysteries have been referred to as Mystery’s with a message and a side of humour.

Since I worked in Transplant for so long I always inform the readers about how to become a donor. Readers and reviewers have expressed that they got a look behind the curtain of the real world of transplant. I decided to write mystery’s because I like to read them and figure out who did it and why? I also like to kill the people I didn’t like at work and use their organs for transplant – it’s very cathartic and I don’t want to waste a kill. 

Norm: What did you find most useful in learning to write? What was least useful or most destructive? 

Amy: Writing is a very solo act. I’ve been part of a writing tribe with three other women for 21 years and I have found that to be very useful and supportive.

I’ve taken writing classes at our local community college with a supportive kind teacher who always made me want to write more. I continue to take classes on plot, scenes, and point-of-view. What wasn’t helpful were very harsh comments while I was working on projects.

I’d welcome constructive feedback. I also attended many Mystery writing conferences at our local independent book store – Book Passage and the instructors were so generous and kind. 

Norm: Do you write more by logic or intuition, or some combination of the two? Please summarize your writing process.

Amy: I start with scaffolding my story identifying which characters point-of-view I’ll be in and write the action that will take place.

It’s short but it’s helpful to review as begin to write my story. Many times, the characters take me to places where I hadn’t put in the scaffolding and that’s where the fun begins. 

Norm: What helps you focus when you write and do you find it easy reading back your own work?

Amy: What helps me focus is a deadline. Once I turn off all the electronics and start the writing everything else fades away and I am in the story with the characters.

I also make a story board with photos of characters as if they were going to be in the movie.

I’m a visual learner and writer so when I’m in my writing alone in my room I’ll sometimes look over at the photos and ask the character what they would do – I know it may sound crazy but it’s fun. I do read some of my story out loud to make sure the dialogue sounds authentic.

Norm: Do you think about your reading public when you write? Do you imagine a specific reader when you write?

Amy: I don’t really think about my readers. I focus on the story and characters who are fun and a little complicated. I’ve gotten notes from my readers telling me they want to hang out with Sarah and Jackie. 

Norm: How did you become involved with the subject or theme of Match: A Medical Murder Mystery?

Amy: Transplant is in my DNA – I had such an amazing 35 year career which I was passionate about that it’s an intense back drop for my characters. Initially I didn’t want to write about transplant but as you know – they say write what you know. 

Norm: How did you go about creating the character of Sarah, Jackie and Laura? Are they based on anyone you know?

Amy: Love this question! One of my favorite movies is THE HEAT with Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock.

When I started writing my first mystery CUT – I cast Melissa McCarthy as Jackie Larsen – Sarah Golden is a culmination of many of my nursing school friends & colleagues. Laura, Jackie’s wife, who works as the Assistant Medical Examiner in San Francisco is fashioned after a character from Sex and the City. 

Norm:  Does the line between truth and fiction sometimes become blurred for you?

Amy: The transplant details in my book are based on truth and the characters are a blend of real people I worked with and then I add dashes of fiction in their personality’s and change their physical details.

Then there’s characters like Biker Bob and Officer Handsome who showed up out of nowhere and wouldn’t leave.

Norm: What purpose do you believe your story serves and what matters to you about the story?

Amy: My story’s raise awareness of all the folks waiting for an organ transplant and if they don’t get the call for an organ will die on the wait list or have to stay on dialysis.

Awareness of the generosity of donor families who make the hardest decision right after they learned their loved one was declared brain dead. Lastly, I dedicate my books to these folks and their caregivers.

Norm: Did you know the end of your book at the beginning?

Amy: I did not know the end of the book at the beginning which was an adventure. The ending revealed itself as I was actively writing. 

Norm: Where can our readers find out more about you and Match: A Medical Murder Mystery?

Amy: My WEBSITE  has more about me and my books. I always welcome contact from curious readers.

Norm: What do your plans for future projects include?  

Amy: My third book in the series – working title TOLERANCE is scheduled to come out in Fall 2022. I’m also writing a romantic comedy which has really been fun – much lighter story line & silly characters that takes place in Chicago.

Norm: As this interview comes to an end, if you could change one thing about the world what would it be? How would it change you?

Amy: That everyone would declare their desires regarding organ and tissue donation so that when their loved ones were approached they would know the answer. In my books and on my website, I have links so folks can sign up to be a donor if that’s their wish. 

Norm: Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavours


Follow Here To Read Norm's Review of
Match: A Medical Murder Mystery