Interview with Mystery Writer G. X. Chen

G.X. Chen, author of The Mystery of Revenge, Forget Me Not: A Love Story of the East and The Mystery of Moutai, is a freelance writer who loves to travel. A graduate of Fudan University and University of New Mexico, she taught literature at Fudan as well as Shanghai Foreign Language Institute, before migrating to the U.S. with her 5-year-old daughter. She lives in Boston now with her husband.

To read an excerpt from her book, visit http://bookpublicityservices.com/mystery-moutai-chen.

Welcome to my blog, Ms. Chen. Please tell us about your novel.

It is a murder mystery; a fast paced and easy read with interesting characters in a plot of intrigue coupled with insights into the Chinese culture.

Where did you get your inspiration for this book?

The inspiration came about a year ago when I accidentally found out that one of my acquaintances had lied on her resume but nobody seemed to know about it. I used the raw material to expand into a 65,000-word murder mystery.

Wow! I always wonder what inspires the story of a book. What kind of research did you have to do for this novel?

Not much. All the places I wrote about I’ve been; the lie I mentioned above is still on the web. Only things I needed to research were the dates and events as I wrote about the Cultural Revolution, which started in 1966 and went on for 10 years.

Who is one of your favorite characters in this story and what do you love about him or her?

I like both of my amateur detectives in the story, one is a young girl, a college student, and one is a young chemist. Ann is smart, driven and sometimes stubborn, and Fang Chen is a typical nerd but who is caring, generous and a loyal friend. In this world, everyone should at least have one loyal friend who cares about you and believes in whatever you do.

That’s so true. Now it’s time to tell us something about the real you that we’ll never forget.

When I landed in the U.S., I had a 5-year-old daughter and less than $1,000 in my pocket. For more than a decade, I worked, sometimes two jobs, and raised my daughter all by myself. She turned out to be a great kid, graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Business School. My friends told me I should write a non-fiction called “how to raise a successful kid without really trying”. I bet it could be a best seller.

I bet it would be, too. It sounds like you have done a great job in raising your daughter. Thank you very much for this interview, Ms. Chen. I hope my readers will enjoy getting to know a new author.