Tuesday Sep 09, 2025

Deborah Goldstein | Author Interview

Enjoy my interview with Deborah H. Goldstein, the creator of the Sarah Blair Mystery series (published by Kensington Cozies). Her cozies include: One Taste Too Many, Two Bites Too Many, Three Treats Too Many, Four Cuts Too Many, and Five Belles Too Many.

In the Podcast We Discuss:

🔎 Creating a Non-Baking Sleuther

🔎 What Inspired Her Book Covers

🔎 Kill Your Darlings

🔎 Stealing From the Mystery Masters

🔎 Recipes in Cozies

🔎 Twins

🔎 Interviewing People for Research

🔎 From Judge to Author

🔎 Write What Makes You Happy

ABOUT DEBORAH H. GOLDSTEIN

Judge Debra H. Goldstein left the bench to follow her passion for writing mysteries. She is the author of Kensington’s Sarah Blair Mystery Series and two standalones: Maze in Blue and Should Have Played Poker. Her novels and short stories have received Silver Falchion, IPPY, AWC, and BWR awards and been named Agatha, Anthony, Derringer, and Claymore finalists.

Debra’s short pieces have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, Malice Domestic Murder Most Edible, Masthead, Murder by the Glass, Jukes & Tonks, An Element of Mystery, Paranoia Blues: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Paul Simon, and First Comes Love, Then Comes Murder. With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying, a collection of Debra's award-winning short mysteries, from cozy to dark, centering around family and friends, their sins and their sometimes redemption was recently published by White City Press.

Judge, author, litigator, wife, step-mom, mother of twins, and civic volunteer, are all words that have been used to describe Debra. Her life and writings are equally diverse. Raised in New Jersey and Michigan, she received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from Emory University. Before becoming a judge, she began her legal career doing international tax for General Motors, but after realizing she preferred people to numbers, she switched to labor litigation. The high point of her litigation career was winning a case of first impression for the Department of Labor that addressed equal pay in higher education.

A civic volunteer in Birmingham, Alabama, Debra also serves on the national board of Sisters in Crime and previously was a national board member of Mystery Writers of America and president of Sinc’s largest chapter, the Guppies, and SEMWA. On a personal note, Debra is married to a man whose blood runs Crimson.