S7 Ep 6 - Corpse in the Craftsman Cottage

Summary

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True Fiction Project – S7 Ep 6: "Corpse in the Craftsman Cottage"

Host: Reenita Hora
Guest: Lori Pollard Johnson
Date: January 27, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of True Fiction Project explores how life experiences and real relationships inspire fiction, focusing on the cozy mystery genre with guest author Lori Pollard Johnson. Lori discusses her latest book, Corpse in the Craftsman Cottage, her journey as a writer, the heart of sisterhood in her stories, and reads an excerpt from her new novel. The episode exemplifies the series' unique format: real-life interview followed by fiction inspired by that conversation.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Lori's Writing Journey and Genre Choices

• Transition from Journalism to Fiction (02:40–03:41):

  • Lori began her career writing about food, wine, family, and accessibility.
  • Ventured into children’s middle-grade novels, some of which were accepted into the Accelerated Reader program.
  • Shifted to writing for adults—especially cozy culinary mysteries and young adult (YA) fiction.

• On Rejected Works:

  • “I think all writers have a...drawer or a disc or a flash drive now I guess of stories that didn’t quite make it, but at some point maybe so who knows.” (03:29, Lori Pollard Johnson)

What Makes a Cozy (Culinary) Mystery?

• Defining "Cozy" Mysteries (03:56–05:10):

  • Settings are typically intimate—small towns, teashops, or distinctive local businesses.
  • Violence remains off-page:
    • “A cozy mystery, the violence takes place off page...You don’t get attached to the dead body and you don’t see them being taken out, so to speak. And that works for me because I don’t really think violence is very entertaining, to be honest.” (00:30 & 03:56, Lori Pollard Johnson)

• Culinary Mysteries—A Slice of Real Life (05:17–06:48):

  • Frequently integrate recipes or food themes, although Lori’s Toxic Torte does not have recipes.
  • Inspiration comes from years profiling chefs—admiring their immersion and creativity.

• Critics, Chefs, and Motivations for Murder (in Fiction):

  • “I just thought, what would it take for a chef to be really angry, to do away with a critic, especially one who is especially caustic...Not a love of food...but maybe something ulterior, which of course my guy in Toxic Torte did.” (06:26, Lori Pollard Johnson)

The Importance of Sisterhood and Real-Life Inspiration

• Celebrating Female Friendships (06:58–07:28):

  • The protagonists of Corpse in the Craftsman Cottage mirror those in Fried Green Tomatoes—committed to each other regardless of romantic entanglements.
  • “I love the idea of sisterhood. And I really wanted to incorporate that in the book.” (06:58, Lori Pollard Johnson)

• Reflecting Modern Realities:

  • “Especially in this day and age...where you got a 55% divorce rate. You really do need to find that other person, like you said.” (07:28, Renita Hora)

Pets as Heart & Comic Relief

• Story of Moxie the Dog (07:55–09:53):
  • Moxie, a 10-year-old Chinese Crested, is the business mascot and emotional glue between the protagonists.
  • Based on Lori’s real-life shelter dog, Seamus, who brought humor, challenge, and affection.
  • “Moxie is a little bit of like a humorous element, but he’s also very much a glue between the women and a safeguard...between the women and sort of the outside elements that maybe are threatening their goals.” (09:33, Lori Pollard Johnson)

Getting to Know Lori Online

• Author Connections (10:04–10:45):
  • Lori recommends her Facebook page: Lori Pollard Johnson Books.
  • Books available via Wild Rose Press and Amazon.

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Memorable Quotes

• On Cozy Mysteries:

  • “A cozy really has to do with how much, I guess, blood is on the page. A cozy mystery, the violence takes place off page...I don’t really think violence is very entertaining, to be honest.” (00:30 & 03:56, Lori Pollard Johnson)

• On Relationships:

  • “They’re going to be each other’s person regardless of what happens...and I like that idea.” (06:58, Lori Pollard Johnson)

• On Adopting an Older Dog:

  • “What we always say is that you kind of got...You get what you pay for. Because this dog was...this is a challenging dog...” (08:37, Lori Pollard Johnson)

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Fiction Excerpt: Corpse in the Craftsman Cottage

• Reading by Lori Pollard Johnson (11:42–13:41):

  • The scene features the narrator discovering a corpse hidden in an aquarium within a closet—delivering classic cozy suspense mixed with dark humor.
  • “A man’s pale, nearly translucent blue irises stared at me from within the coffin sized aquarium inside the closet...he was clearly dead, had been for some time.”
  • “No amount of Lysol could remove this guy.” (13:41, Lori Pollard Johnson)

• Host’s Reaction:

  • Renita Hora responds with humor, connecting the Lysol line to her own nearby cleaning supplies: “It makes me think of Lysol I guess would do the...I’m looking at sort of my packet of Lysol right across here. I really would that do the trick...” (13:41, Renita Hora)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• What Makes a Cozy Mystery? – 00:30, 03:56, 05:10
• Lori’s Writing Path – 02:40–03:41
• Sisterhood & Character Inspiration – 06:58–07:28
• Dogs as Literary Glue – 07:55–09:53
• Where to Find Lori’s Books – 10:04–10:45
• Fiction Reading: Corpse Discovery – 11:42–13:41

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Overall Tone

The conversation is light-hearted and friendly, mixing humor with insights into genre writing, women’s friendships, and the blend of real life with fiction.

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Conclusion

This episode is a celebration of how daily experiences—whether fostering friendships, living with quirky pets, or working in unique industries—can spark rich, engaging fiction. Lori Pollard Johnson offers listeners a window into both her creative process and her novels’ themes, grounded in authentic relationships and community, making the leap from nonfictional inspiration to fictional storytelling.

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Transcript

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[Lori Pollard Johnson]

A cozy really has to do with how much, I guess, blood is on the page. A cozy mystery, the violence takes place off page so you know there's a dead body or some kind of a mystery, because it doesn't have to be a death. It could be a stranger who comes into the family. Megan Abbott does a good job with some of those kinds of stories, but usually there's a dead body, but it's. You don't get attached to the dead body and you don't see them being taken out, so to speak. And that works for me because I don't really think violence is very entertaining, to be honest.

[Renita Hora]

Welcome to the True Fiction Project, a podcast series that explores the origins of fiction. Every week we begin with an interview nonfiction, followed by a creative piece, fiction inspired by something from the interview. The idea is to demonstrate, of course, that fiction is born out of our life experiences. Now, here's your host, storyteller, author, public speaker, health and wellness expert, Renita Hora.

Welcome to the True Fiction Project. I am your host, Renita Hora, your home for stories, your storyteller den, as I say, and I have with me today a storyteller based between Arizona and Washington. She writes from both places. Her name is Laurie Pollard Johnson and she's had several books out. But she has two books out this year. Let's see, Corpse in the Craftsman Cottage came out in May. And then a reprint of a Toxic Torte will come out in a few months. So let's introduce her immediately. Hi, Laurie. Welcome to the True Fiction Project. Hi. Thank you.

[Lori Pollard Johnson]

Very happy to be here.

[Renita Hora]

Great to have you here. And you've been busy. You're not stopping at anything, huh?

[Lori Pollard Johnson]

No, I just keep going.

[Renita Hora]

You just keep going. And mystery, all mystery, cozy mystery. Tell us about your writing style, your genres, what you do, what it is that's keeping you so busy.

[Lori Pollard Johnson]

Sure. Well, I got my start actually in periodicals, so I wrote a lot of food and wine articles, family. A lot of accessibility, too. I was very interested in sort of knowing how the. The Puget Sound area was Representing for people who needed access to places in non traditional ways, we'll put it that way, universal design. And then as I got going, I sort of started getting some ideas for fiction and I did two children's mid grade novels and both were accepted for Accelerated Reader, which is a computerized program in the schools. And then I started getting interested in writing fiction for adults and I wrote a cozy culinary mystery and then I followed that with a couple of yas, one of which got published, one of which was not. I think all writers have a. A drawer or a disc or a flash drive now I guess of stories didn't quite make it, but at some point maybe so who knows. And then of course these two books that are coming out this year through Wild Rose Press.

[Renita Hora]

So what is a culinary cozy mystery? Firstly, what's a cozy mystery? I mean, I think I know and you can tell me I'm totally wrong, but always takes place in a small town. It usually takes place in a tea shop. Am I on point or.

[Lori Pollard Johnson]

Yeah, it takes a lot of forms and I think that the more well known series are actually set in some place that's cozy, like a little restaurant or a donut shop or a candy shop or like you say a tea shop. But they usually have some thematic like a business out of sorts. In my book it's a little bit different. It's kind of a genre blending because that elements of women's fiction in there as well. Because the story does have two protagonists, but one is the main character basically and they're best friends. And so they have opened up a little business flipping houses, which is the only thing they really know how to do. They've been supporting their spouses who had this business before they got divorced. But a cozy really has to do with how much, I guess blood is on the page. A cozy mystery, the violence takes place off page. So you know there's a dead body or some kind of a mystery because it doesn't have to be a death. It could be a stranger who comes into the family. Megan Abbott does a good job with some of those kinds of stories. But usually there's a dead body, but it's. You don't get attached to the dead body and you don't see them being taken out, so to speak. And that works for me because I don't really think violence is very entertaining, to be honest.

[Renita Hora]

Okay, okay, so there's reference to the dead body, but there's no blood on the page.

[Lori Pollard Johnson]

So do you have it? And in a culinary mystery there's Elements of cooking. Now, my Toxic tour does not have recipes, which a lot of culinary cozies do, but mine basically, it actually stemmed from having worked so much in the food and wine industry, profiling chefs and profiling the things that they do and their restaurants as well. And what I discover from working with these chefs and meeting them and learning about them is that they're incredibly kind people. They're incredibly generous with their time. They are the ones that really, you know, make it, I guess is the right way to say it, but they live, eat and sleep food. And one of them, I remember telling me, Chef Kerry Sears, who I think he's actually in the UK now, but at the time he was in Seattle. And he talked about how even when he's on a plane, he will draw out images, what he would like a plate to look like, you know, the protein source, a starch and then a vegetable, probably. And I remember just think they're so immersed. And then I think about these critics and how they can just eviscerate these chefs with a stroke of their pen. And I just thought, what would it take for a chef to be really angry, to do away with a critic, especially one who is especially caustic and doesn't seem to have the right frame of mind? Not a love of food, which is driving their interest in food criticism, but maybe something ulterior, which, of course, my guy intoxicated.

[Renita Hora]

Something ulterior, but not too outlandish. No Fried Green Tomatoes type situation and posing mysteries.

[Lori Pollard Johnson]

Okay, no, but I love that reference. I love that movie.

[Renita Hora]

Yeah.

[Lori Pollard Johnson]

But the relationship between the two main characters in Fried Dream Tomatoes is very reminiscent of the characters in Corpse and the Crom Cottage. They are very much. They've made the decision since they're both divorced and raising children that they're going to be each other's person regardless of what happens. If men come into their lives and they get married, they're going to be there for each other for the rest of their lives. And I like that idea. I love the idea of sisterhood. And I really wanted to incorporate that in the book.

[Renita Hora]

Yes, absolutely. Especially in this day and age, I should say, where you got a 55% divorce rate. You really do need to find that other person, like you said, so.

[Lori Pollard Johnson]

Oh, yes.

[Renita Hora]

I don't know about fiction following fact. Yes, it does. But I think fact also follows fiction, so good on you for doing that. So tell us about the Craftsman cottage and what led up to the story.

[Lori Pollard Johnson]

Sure. Well, I was thinking about that and thinking about the different elements of it and, and what maybe stemmed from real life. And there's actually a couple different things. There is, of course, the sisterhood and that kind of comes from it. And, you know, that's something that's very important to me. I've always treasured relationships with women who are really supportive of each other. But there's a couple things. One is Moxie, which is the little dog. It's their mascot for their business, Little Moxie. And moxie is a 10 year old Chinese Crested, which I don't know if you're familiar with those dogs, but they often win the ugliest dog because as they age, you know, they lose their teeth. Their tongue hangs out from one side because the teeth aren't there to hold it in and they lose their hair and. But Moxie, the inspiration for Moxie actually came from a dog that my husband and I adopted from the animal shelter many years ago. And we only had him for about three years because at the time that we adopted him, he was over 10 years old. And that our Humane Society, any dogs that are over 10 years old, of course, are very difficult to adopt out. So they mark them half price. Oh my gosh. And what we always say is that we kind of got. You get what you pay for. Because this dog was. This is a challenging dog. He, unfortunately we did not find out until after we had adopted him and actually had gotten his, well, vet checked. His teeth were really had a lot of problems. So we had to get all the teeth taken out, leaving him with very few. And as a result, he could only have soft food and that caused intestinal stuff. Then we had to put him in a diaper and we gave him a good last three years, let's put it that way. But in the book, Moxie is very much Seamus. That was the name of Seamus.

[Renita Hora]

Okay.

[Lori Pollard Johnson]

And Moxie is a little bit of like a humorous element, but he's also very much a glue between the women and a safeguard or a barrier between the women and sort of the outside elements that maybe are threatening their goals. So that's one way that True life sort of wiggled into the book.

[Renita Hora]

Okay, well, I cannot wait to hear that. Before we segue though, Laurie, let our listeners know where they can find you online offline.

[Lori Pollard Johnson]

Sure. I'm on Instagram and Twitter, but I really wanted to create kind of a page. And so instead of doing a website, I decided to create content that maybe people are interested, maybe not. I decided to do a dedicated Facebook page. So it's Lori Pollard Johnson Books. And I also of course my personal page, which is Lori Poller Johnson, so be sure you look for the right one. But in terms of getting them, you can get them. The Wild Rose Press does both print and ebooks. Of course Amazon is where a lot of people go first and it is available there, but it's also available at the Wild Rose Press website itself. You just google in or type it in Corpse of the Craftsman Cottage. It'll come up with all the various different places that you could get it, including of course, print.

[Renita Hora]

Fantastic. Well I cannot wait.

[Grainger Announcer]

If you're the purchaser manager at a manufacturing plant, you know having a trusted partner makes all the difference. That's why hands down, you count on Grainger for auto reordering with on time restocks. Your team will have the cut resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift and you can end your day knowing they've got safety well in hand. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.

[Renita Hora]

And now to the premise of the True Fiction project, which of course is to create fiction out of non fiction.

[Lori Pollard Johnson]

Cozy 1919s Craftsman cutie with peekaboo view. Two bedrooms, one bath remodel includes cedar closet, large pantry off kitchen and detached garage. Great starter investment property, huge price reduction motivated owner Paul Sam at Rainier Mountain Realty A man's pale, nearly translucent blue irises stared at me from within the coffin sized aquarium inside the closet. Definitely he wasn't looking at me or wore my newly destroyed Tutti Frutti pink manicure. No, he was clearly dead, had been for some time. But his eyes were wide open, his expression steely through the murky water and the spider web of silver hair around his face suggested he'd been old when he died. I responded the way any normal woman would. I shrieked and jumped back, nearly tripping over the shards of 70s era fake cedar paneling I'd stripped from the closet meeting mere moments ago. Scrambling backward, my spine slammed against the far wall. I slid to the floor with a thud. Clutching the dust mask from my mouth. I gasped, filling my lungs with chemical laden air. I coughed, sneezed twice and coughed some more, long esophageal shaking hacks. My heart thundered in my chest and pounded in my ears. My stomach threatened rebellion despite my brain screaming run. My legs froze. His knees locked. I blinked hard several times, willing my breath and pulse to slow, hoping the corpse would disappear. Slowly, I raised my head and focused my vision. No dice. Suspended in the cloud of what I had to assume reflects of his own skin. The corpse lay in a loose beetle curl, motionless. I took a cautious sniff. Yep, the subtle scent my best friend and business partner Pam and I had noticed when we first looked at the house had matured into a complete stink fest. At the time, we assumed a strong household cleanser in good old fashioned elbow grease would rinse away. We were wrong. No amount of Lysol could remove this guy.

[Renita Hora]

No amount of Lysol could remove this guy. It makes me think of Lysol I guess would do the I'm looking at sort of my packet of Lysol right across here. I really would that do the trick thank you for joining us on the True Fiction Project and good luck with the books.

[Lori Pollard Johnson]

Thank you so much.

[Renita Hora]

I've enjoyed being here and it's been a pleasure to have you. That's Lori Pollard Johnson. She was reading from her new book Corpse in the Craftsman Cottage and she was our guest today on the True Fiction Project where I am your host, Renita Horror. Here at the True Fiction Project, we are always looking for great stories that make for compelling fiction. So if you have a great story or know somebody who does, or if you are a writer who would like to contribute, then please do get in touch with [e-mail] contact.

Thank you for listening to the True Fiction Project with Renita Hora. Be sure to subscribe to the newsletter to receive more inspiring stories showing how fiction is born from our everyday experiences. For more information, visit www.TrueFictionProject.com.

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