A chat with Katrina Stevens, the usherette sleuth!

Katrina Stevens is a character created by Matt Ferraz

Greetings, guys and gals! It's been a while since our last interview, but today I'm bringing you a very special one. From Emberview, Colorado, it's our very own Katrina Stevens! She's a young woman who works as an usherette at a film theater in the 1950s. Let's hear what she has to say.

So, Katrina, how did you started your first investigation?

Good morning, Grandma Bertha, it's an honor to be here. I'm just a girl from a small town who got her dream job, working at a film theater. And I'll tell you, it was scary to wear that usherette uniform for the first time. Scary and exciting, if you know what I mean. I grew up watching movies at the Palladium, and I wanted to be the best usherette I could be.

My boss was Don Keller, a very sweet man who founded the Palladium in the 1920s and brought a lot of joy to the people of Emberview for over thirty years. His body was found in the middle of a film session, stabbed in the back. That's how everything started.

And what happened to the film theater, after the owner was killed?

We decided to put together a film festival, using the old film reels that Don kept in the basement. It was our way of attracting people back to the Palladium. We didn't want it to be a cursed place. At the same time, I was trying to find out who killed Don, with the help of my boyfriend Alex - at least, I think he's my boyfriend!

What are your best qualities while investigating a murder?

That's a tough one! People seem to like me a lot, they appreciate my love for what I do and I'm always trying to improve. I think these the same qualities that make me a good usherette. Also, I learned a lot about human nature from all the movies I watched. 

Would you ever consider becoming a full-time detective?

Oh, no! I want to work in this film theater for the rest of my life. This is the most amazing place in the world for me. From here, I get to know places I could never travel to - on this planet and others!

Do you have anyone helping you in the investigation?

Yes, lots of people! Apart from Alex, I have the help of my parents and Mrs. Angela, a nice old lady who used to work in the Palladium a long time ago. And I like to think that everyone in Emberview is helping me, one way or another. We are a very friendly town.

Do you have a favorite quote?

"Get more out of life! Go out to a movie!"

You're my kind of girl, Katrina! Thank you for showing up. Dear readers, don't forget to check out Katrina's first adventure in Murder for Reel, released by Cozy Cat Press. See you again soon!

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Matt Ferraz is a Brazilian author with works published in English, Portuguese and Italian. His love for the crime genre started at the age of eight when his grade school teacher gave him a copy of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile. This led Matt to his first attempts at writing a crime novel in his mother's old typewriter.

In 2013, Matt released Killing Dr. Watson, his first novel in English, from MX Publishing, in the UK. From there, he ventured into the cozy genre with the series Grandma Bertha Solving Murders. Matt is also the author of Sherlock Holmes and the Glad Game, a crossover novel that combines Holmes and Watson with Pollyanna Whittier, from the classic children's books.

Always willing to try new genres, Matt spent two months in the Costa-Rican cloud forest in 2019, to write his epic adventure novel Sawara: A Jaguar's Memoir. Murder for Reel, the first book in the Usherette Mysteries, is Matt's love letter to the act of going to the movies. He used his real-life experience of organizing film festivals with zero budget to create a funny and heartwarming mystery.

Official website: http://mattferraz.com/

Buy Murder for Reel: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Reel-Usherette-Mysteries-Book-ebook/dp/B09FM4CNFQ