This is Miss Marilyn Monroe at the Racquet Club in Palm Springs. She was never shy in front of the camera, but I always have been…so I say: one million thanks to Michael for the Q & A—it was a blast!

If you want to kick off your shoes and read the whole thing head over to It Rains… You Get Wet, but for now a tantalizing snippet on the genesis of It’s in His Kiss…

Q: “Okay, let’s cut to the chase I tell ‘ya, I have a million of ‘em. Why write a Hollywood-insider murder mystery? Not that this sleepy little town of ours couldn’t use the excitement, heaven knows.”

A: “Why not? What’s funny is, while I was writing it I wasn’t thinking about the genre. I was thinking about the characters and their interactions. Before I wrote the novel I had a particularly unpleasant, but completely typical, experience with a script of mine that was in development for eighteen months. The producer was a well known actor, with a well known beard, and I think some of my irritation about the situation and how it played out must have seeped into the book. Is there any wonder I killed someone off, fictionally?”

Q: “Now you have me thinking of bearded actors! Did using an East Coast novelist as your protagonist offer you an interesting idea or contrasting perspective as she explored the doings in Hollywood and Palm Springs? I mean, besides our terrible weather and wonderful traffic?”

A: “I wanted Anne to be a fish out of water, even though her ties to Hollywood ran deep. I wanted her to have had the kind of upbringing that would have forced her to think, and get a job. Too many sons and daughters of prominent Hollywood people don’t have the skills to make it on their own because nothing in life has ever been challenging. I remember a whole tribe of college-aged kids who would take over their family homes in the desert (when it was so hot you couldn’t believe it and their parents wouldn’t have been seen dead there) and lie by the pool all day, and get toasted on various substances at night. Also, one of the weird things about growing up in Hollywood, is that at a certain point, natives begin to believe the myths. I wanted her to be able to see through all the concocted fantasies of Hollywood’s life into its heart.”

via Interview: Vickie Lester and Why “It’s in His Kiss” | It Rains… You Get Wet.