Heather’s Bookshelf: Author Interview with Jodie Morgan
Book Title: Murder at Goldenleaf Apple Farm
Released: 09/27/25
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Interview by Heather L. Barksdale
What inspired you to write “Murder At Goldenleaf Apple Farm”?
Morgan: I've spent most of my life around family businesses. I've worked for them, been involved in them, and started several. I love working with my family, and I've loved working alongside other people's.
I've also watched how the same business can be the making of one person and a weight around another's neck. And I've seen the loveliest version too, where "family" business stops meaning blood and starts meaning the friends who became family.
That's the question underneath Goldenleaf: what does a family business mean to the people inside it, and who gets to call themselves family?
The orchard arrived by accident! Book Two was originally going to be set on a maple farm. Once I'd done more series planning, I realized what I wanted was apples and fall.
I was reminiscing with my family (we're forever trading favorite food memories) and one of my sons mentioned an apple farm near friends we used to visit. I adored their ciders, sweet and hard, and it was a beautiful place.
After that, it was a matter of looking into it, and discovering how deep the apple-growing and cider tradition runs in Vermont. That was that. It was the perfect fit!
How did you come up with the names of your main characters?
Morgan: I've talked about Laura, Evelyn, and Jasmine in my last interview with you, so let me introduce some others!
Jesse O'Connor first: I've always liked the name Jesse. There's something playful and invigorating in it, which is perfect for someone whose humor runs dry while they're the most alive person in the room.
The surname came from reading about New England's Irish ancestry. Jesse came to Silver Springs from Rhode Island.
Izzy Lennox I owe to my eldest son. I knew I wanted an Isaac, and my son had found in a book he was reading that an Isaac sometimes goes by Izzy. That was the moment the character came properly to life for me: Izzy suits his go-go-go, infectious, bubbly way of moving through the world far better than the more formal Isaac ever could. Lennox I chose because it sounds faintly mysterious. There's more to Izzy than he lets on, and his surname hints at that without giving anything away!
And Maggie and Kathy are a couple, so I wanted their names to sound like a set. I've always adored Maggie Smith, and this was my way of honoring her. Maggie's grandmother was one of the first people in Silver Springs and founded the town's first inn (the General Store today), so her surname needed New England history behind it, and Brook gave me that. Kathy is a name I've loved for years, and Quinn felt right beside it. Kathy's originally from New York State.
Is there anything that you want readers to know about you, your writing process or your book?
Morgan: I did a ridiculous amount of research into apple growing and cider making.
I never expected it to be so complex, though I really should've. I used be involved in a small winery, and I know how many variables stand between you and the perfect bottle. By the time I wrote the tasting scene on the farm tour, I could almost taste those ciders. I'm not one to toot my own horn, but they sounded delicious!
I love apples, though I prefer them in a crumble. Apple crumble with vanilla ice cream is one of my favorite things, and I'm fond of stewed apples too. My eldest son, meanwhile, ate raw apples by the ton when he was younger, and he loved hearing everything I'd learned about Vermont's apple cultivars. Did you know there are around 7,500 apple varieties in the world, and more than 150 are grown in Vermont? The variety is astonishing.
Each of my books ends with three recipes that tie into the story. One is a favorite of one of the main characters, and it'll delight anyone with a sweet tooth. Another is a bright, fall-inspired flavor combination. The third is perfect for this time of year, especially if you want something easy you can put in the oven and forget about for a while.
If "Murder at Goldenleaf Apple Farm" was adapted into a movie, who would you like to see cast to play your lead characters?
Morgan: I still haven't landed on specific actors, but I know what each of them needs!
Jesse needs someone who can deliver a deadpan line without a flicker. Underneath all the teasing there's real kindness, and whoever plays them has to let it show just often enough to catch you off guard.
Izzy would be a joy to cast. Whoever plays him has to be a whirlwind, all warmth, filling every silence he finds.
Maggie and Kathy have to be cast together, because half their charm is how they play off each other.
Maggie needs someone brisk and practical who can look frazzled while quietly keeping everything running, and who keeps her feelings close to her chest.
Kathy needs a clipped, dry delivery and a sharp mind: the sort of person who can sum up a situation in five words and leave you to work out the rest.
I'd love to hear who your readers would cast. They always come up with names I'd never have thought of!
When you encounter writer's block, what do you do to break yourself out of it?
Morgan: I handle it the way I handle a snarled row of knitting: I let myself get it wrong. Nine times out of ten the blockage is the pressure to produce something good, so I'll write the worst possible version of the scene. Somewhere in that mess there's usually one line that shows me what the scene was actually about!
When even that won't budge, I put the laptop down and pick up my needles. Something about the rhythm of stitching loosens whatever was stuck. Half my plot solutions have arrived mid-row.
If you could have dinner with any character you've written, who would it be—and what would you talk about?
Morgan: Evelyn, without hesitating. She has a way of listening to a conversation and saying one thing that rearranges the whole of it, and I'd like to be on the receiving end of that for an evening.
I'd want to hear her talk about the years before Laura arrived in town: what she's watched Silver Springs become, and what she's decided to keep to herself.
I suspect I'd come away having told her far more about myself than I'd meant to. That's her gift!
What's the weirdest or most unexpected place you've gotten a story idea from?
Morgan: A caravan park! That's what we call them in Australia.
In the small town where I used to live, there's one where people have little cabins. A few live there year-round, but most come down for the holidays.
Staying there, I was always struck by how tight-knit it was. Everyone looked after everyone, with an instant camaraderie even between people who barely knew each other.
When I looked into it later I found the American equivalent, the mobile home park, except those are far more often somebody's permanent home. That turned into a setting in this book (a minor spoiler, but one of my characters lives in one) and, more to the point, into a question about what kind of person a place like that shapes.
The same character is deeply involved in the local community theater group, which is something my children also did as they grew up. I've seen the wonderful and the difficult sides of a community that close, and I couldn't stop wondering how a mystery would ripple through one.
It's a book about an apple farm, and it's also about all these other things, and they all belong to the same larger story of Silver Springs. I'm finally at the point where I feel like I know this town and what makes its people tick.
What is your favorite genre, book, and/or author?
Morgan: Agatha Christie, and I know I'm in a very long queue saying so. Her plotting is extraordinary, and I'm still taking her books apart to learn how the misdirection works.
For twists, I turn to Fiona Leitch and Robert Thorogood, who manage to surprise me even when I'm reading like a writer. And Kate Morton has taught me a great deal about putting timelines and secrets together.
Outside the genre, Philip Pullman: he's my reminder that a setting should feel immersive, as though it's a real place.
And I'm forever adding to the pile, so if your readers have recommendations, please send them my way!
What are you working on next?
Morgan: You and your readers are the first to hear this, which is exciting! I'm hoping to release Book Three in late November, just in time for the start of the holiday season.
Without giving anything away, it's built around the holidays: the things about them that draw us together, and the things about them that can drive us apart. I'm deep in edits, and I can't wait for people to read it.
Learn More About the Author and Murder at Goldenleaf Apple Farm:
Website: https://cozycozies.com
Amazon: https://amazon.com/author/jodiemorgan
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5666125.Jodie_Morgan
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jodie-morgan-ca02d90e-e9b1-4816-98a4-81186b94d01d
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thecozycozies
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecozycozies
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