Diane Schaffer, a Stanford PhD, is a retired professor and longtime resident of Santa Cruz County. Her first mystery novel, Mortal Zin, is rooted in her summer work in a Santa Cruz Zinfandel winery, where she became fascinated with the unique history of Zinfandel, California’s mystery grape. She’s hiking, river kayaking, or reading a good mystery novel when not writing. She now lives in Ashland, Oregon, with her husband.

Mortal Zin is set in vineyards, redwood forests, and Santa Cruz, California beaches. It’s bright and action-packed, following two female protagonists who solve the murder of their mentor. Their investigation weaves through the rich tapestry of California’s vineyard history, the mystery of zinfandel grapes, and the haunting legacy of the Vietnam War.

What kind of research do you do? Before I knew I would write a mystery novel, I was conducting hands-on research. During several summers, I worked in a Zinfandel vineyard and winery, a small operation belonging to a friend: a Vietnam Veteran, badly wounded in body and soul. In order to heal, he pursued a childhood dream: planting grape vines and learning to make wine. He bought land on a remote mountainside in the Santa Cruz Mountains and hand-built a geodesic dome. Then, with the help of friends, he planted a Zinfandel vineyard. Years later, his wine was winning gold medals.

I quickly discovered that Zinfandel was a mystery unto itself. I gathered a small library on the history of Zin and the California wine industry. After I’d covered every available source on Zin, I found that historians disagreed. Zin had come to California in the mid-19th century—possibly by three different routes—but its origins were still unknown. Here’s the fun part: Zin’s early history in 19th-century California was tied to a charismatic polymath, entrepreneur, and robber baron named Agoston Haraszthy.

The final leg of my research required travel. I interviewed a UC Davis professor of enology who had been searching Croatia for the ancestors of Zinfandel. Later, in the early 2000s, I visited a confidential research project on Zinfandel at UC Davis. This project was planned to release its first results in 2009, so I set Mortal Zin in 2009, just weeks before the mystery of Zinfandel was about to be cracked open.

How long did it take to write your first novel? Impossible to say! I began writing Mortal Zin twenty years ago. But life took over—car accident, back surgery—and I put it aside. Only when the COVID-19 epidemic subsided did I pull out the manuscript and get serious again about writing fiction.

Who are Noli Cooper and Luz Alvarado? Are they based on real people? Noli and Luz, the two female protagonists of Mortal Zin, came to my imagination fully formed. Neither is based on a single “real” person, but each has a friend’s background. Noli grew up in a commune, earned a law degree, specialized in corporate law, and took off to see the world by working internationally. Now she’s 34 and disillusioned with corporate work. She’s returned to Santa Cruz to work with a crusading social justice lawyer.

Luz grew up just a few miles from Noli but in an entirely different world. As the daughter of Mexican farmworkers, she struggled to get an education. Now, at age 26, she’s a licensed (and very talented) PI.
These two independent women collide when a local hero, their respected mentor, is murdered. Their journey toward understanding each other, trusting each other’s skills, and working as a team was one of the most interesting subplots in Mortal Zin.

When my publisher asked me to reduce my manuscript from 100,000 to 92,000 words, I cut some scenes that deepened the background of Noli and Luz. In the coming months, I’m posting those deleted scenes on Mortal Zin’s website for readers who want to know these two women better.

Do you have subplots? If so, how do you weave them into the novel’s arc? In Mortal Zin, there are several subplots. All are essential components of the story. The first is the legacy of the Vietnam War. Another is the dramatic change in the counterculture of Santa Cruz Mountain communities as more and more Silicon Valley professionals buy land from small farmers, vineyardists, and communes. The third, discussed above, is the evolution of a partnership between the two protagonists.

Each subplot involves at least two characters and weaves organically into the story’s arc as the characters interact with one another. External forces energize each subplot, from the opening murder to the sabotage of a winery.

Do you outline, or are you a pantser? Do we have a name for someone in the middle? In the beginning, I’m an outliner. I have the murder, the characters, the setting, and a general sense of the plot arc. But when writing, I let the characters tell me where they’re going. There are multiple viable suspects for the murderer, so I, too, can be surprised by the outcome.

What role does setting play in your mystery? The landscape, history, and subcultures of coastal California are the foundation of Mortal Zin and will continue throughout the Mortal Zin Mysteries. Santa Cruz County is a uniquely diverse and beautiful landscape, capturing California’s myths and realities. During the twenty years I lived there, its mountains, redwoods, vineyards, beaches, rivers, fields, and bay all entered my blood and my imagination.

Looking to the future, what’s in store for you? I’m at work on the second novel, set in 2012. Noli and Luz have joined a new law firm specializing in helping women. When a prominent environmentalist dies in an apparent hiking accident, her daughter appeals to Noli and Luz to investigate. Their journey takes them into a remote Zen retreat, through battles over historic strawberry fields, and into the waters of a mysterious slough.

Mortal Zin can be purchased wherever books are sold.

Trade Paper $22
Ebook $9.99
Available as an audiobook

To order from Sibylline Press:
https://shop.sibyllinepress.com/products/mortal-zin-a-mystery-novel-a-mortal-zin-mystery-1

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