I love mysteries and have been reading them forever, but I've just never found one that had the kind of characters I could really relate to on a personal level. So I created a private detective who was a lesbian, and made the plot as much about her unraveling her current case, as about the sparks between her and a woman she meets while working on the case. The people that surround her are the kinds of friends a lesbian would have. I've tried to make her the type of person GLBT readers would want to have as a friend. I've tried to make Maggie a character or even on some level a hero that lesbian readers might identify with or aspire to be. She's smart, she's in great shape, she's a good friend, she has interesting hobbies… but I don't think Maggie is sure of herself all the time, she's a skilled investigator and she knows it, but she has personal doubts just like all of us. I did consciously make her sure of her sexual orientation and her attraction to Kathryn, because I really hate it that so many contemporary writers feel they have to make lesbian characters so flawed and angst ridden. Way too many novels and movies cast the lesbian character as someone with crippling addictions, or horribly low self esteem that's based in internalized homophobia. Being a lesbian is an important part of Maggie Gale's life, but constantly questioning whether it's OK to be a lesbian is not a problem for her. She's way past that. She doesn't struggle with personal demons when she realizes she's attracted to Kathryn. Maggie just plans out what might be the best way to ask her for a date and get her...in the mood… (laughs)… and because the book is in first person, the reader gets to follow Maggie's train of thought, which can be pretty funny at times. With the exception of “Tipping the Velvet,” by Sarah Waters, which I loved, I just haven't found any lesbian novels that deal with sex and romance in the positive way mainstream novels do. Meaning that too often in lesbian novels the...um...consummation of the encounter is skipped over. I read a lesbian mystery once where the entire first encounter sex scene consisted of the sentence, They made love. I wanted to create an interesting mystery where the lesbian romantic tension goes somewhere exciting and real. But I don't want anyone to misunderstand. It's not just erotica. It has two intricate mystery plots that weave together with some really interesting characters. The romantic situations are a tight part of the story. I like strong, funny characters. Maggie's friends and family are like that...supportive and caring but wisecracking and direct. I think that's a great part of the GLBT community, that we so often have friendships that fuel and sustain us. There are also the suspects and others in Maggie's community. Since this is the first book of the series, I fleshed out a lot of the people in her life. For character ideas, I make them all up. I sometimes start with TV and movie characters as the very basic inspirations and then make up changes and embellishments that the plot requires. The location is a very modified version of Allentown with huge alterations of locations and additions of institutions and businesses. Irwin College of Art and Architecture is made up. I'm working on the next books in the series right now. The titles of the books map out the series. This one is Angel Food and Devil Dogs, beginning with A, the next one is Being the Steel Drum Man. The third one is C-notes and Ski-nose. The titles progress alphabetically. My titles refer to the actual stories.

Besides her work as an author of fiction, Liz Bradbury has written and had published over 300 nonfiction articles and essays on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues. She has regular columns in several GLBT publications.