Wilmington, Vermont - T. R. Williams is quite comfortable curled up with her cats on a misty morning as we sit down to interview her. It is hard to believe that she's a famous murder mystery author as well as the wife of the late New York politician Franklin Morelli. After his death she started writing merely as a hobby, something to do with her time. She has written four books in four years, all of which have been well received, each gaining at least three stars from the New York Times Book Review. Her first novel, Deathsperation Moves, won the Dorothy Sayers award for Best New Mystery Novelist. Her latest two books made the New York Times Bestseller List. T. R. Williams is a phenomenon. From wife of a prominent New York politician in bustling New York, to famous author in a sleepy Vermont town, stalking death and solving it!

We wondered how she was adjusting to her fame.

"You forget, my husband was a well known politician. And my family was reasonably well to do; I'm used to the limelight. Besides, its easy to stay down to earth here in this little town, no one treats you special."

Is it true that all her stories are based on events in her real life? That she was actually around for these murders? Isn't this, well, disconcerting?

"Well yes, I've had a rather exciting life! The first story started when my friend Muffy was accused of murder. I knew that she couldn't do such a thing, let alone impersonate the ballerina like the police said she had. I felt I had to help out. Then I found out that unraveling the facts was interesting, a challenge. I had always toyed with writing, and Deathsperation Moves naturally followed."

"The next book, Dogged by Death, was inspired when my dear cousin Ted came to visit. He trains those big, cute Dobermans. Then he takes the puppies to all kinds of dog shows around the country. The dog shows sounded so exciting! I thought to myself, a murder at a dog show would make a great book!" Two of the cats at her feet looked up at that time, with a distasteful grimace. It took T. R. a few minutes to calm them back down.

"They remember the puppies." She took one of the cats in her arms and stroked it gently. It was clear that the cat was very happy. "I went back to Ted and he took me to several dog shows to research my book. I was right, dog shows are exciting, but more so than I expected. At one show, a dog I was petting got up and grabbed one of those poles with loudspeakers on it, growling and snapping. The dog knocked the pole over, striking and killing one of the other trainers. It was one of those freak accidents."

That sounded pretty strange and accidental to us.

"Oh it was! But it made a pretty good hook for my book. You know, one of those weird things that grabs a reader in the first few pages." She stopped to pick up a different cat, and then just sat there.

Well? (She had us hooked.)

"Maybe you should read the book! I dug into the background of the trainer and the victim. Then there were some other strange things about other shows attended by that trainer. It seems he'd been training dogs to knock off his competitors and make it look accidental. The police thought I was a nutty old lady until I laid out all my notes. That always changes their minds, you know. It made a great book, embellished just a bit, adding my own special touches."

How did you go from there to Las Vegas?

"My publisher wanted something more worldly. That's what he said. He really wanted something with more sex, so he could put a nearly naked woman on the cover. I told him that was pretty sexist, so I demanded a nearly naked man on the cover too, or else I'd go to another publisher." T. R. was quite amused by the thought. She reached back to her bookshelf and pulled out the book, proudly pointing to the male dancer prominently 'strutting his stuff' on the cover.

Yet another cat demanded attention. We still wanted to know how she chose Las Vegas. "Fate. I won a trip to Las Vegas in a community raffle, so I decided to write a book based in a Las Vegas casino. I had a plot roughed out, where a rich playboy would be killed by the casino owner for revenge. While I was playing blackjack, my dealer fell over dead, fatally poisoned. The detective was pretty rude, accusing me of doing it because I was losing."

Were you?

"Well, I had lost about $10. I'd noticed a few things that the detectives had missed, so I got involved. Then two others were killed just after I had talked to them. They arrested me and even threw me in jail. Then their computer told them that I'd been around a few other murders. It was very embarrassing. I missed the return flight because I was in jail."

T. R. pulled out a scrapbook of newspaper clippings. She chuckled as she looked over the headlines. She held up headlines like 'Mystery Writer Possible Serial Killer?' and 'Author Who Would Kill for a Good Plot'. She flipped through the pages, looking for her favorite.

"Here it is. One of the local columnists wrote this column. He even autographed it for me."

She held up an article by local pundit Mike Carbuncle, entitled 'A Little Intelligence is a Dangerous Thing'.

"When my friend Todd Enfield saw the Carbuncle column, he got real mad and sent me one of his lawyers. By the time that I was out on bail, I'd figured the whole thing out. I'd had all of the information right in front of me. It was really simple, but very devious. The story was so much more interesting than my original plot, so I used it. It only took about five weeks to write it all down.

That sounded pretty exciting. Did the television show follow right away?

"No. After all of the publicity, one of the TV networks called. They wanted to do my life story as a made-for-TV movie. They had five car chases in the first hour of the script! I walked out. My stories are good, intelligent fiction. They wanted to put my name on something I expect to find in the kitty litter, not in a television boardroom."

So how did you get to Death, She Discovered?

"One of the producers who had been in the meeting came to visit me later. He had a different idea. The format of Death, She Discovered was really his idea. I'd been toying with writing short stories. He liked them enough that you saw five of them used as plots for episodes in the first-season."

Yet another cat showed up for some attention. It sounded to us like she was really involved with the show. We wanted to know when she was going to be in one of the episodes.

"I really love the show, but you're not going to see me in front of the cameras. That's for the professionals. I don't really do much for the show, although they let me watch on the set when I'm in Hollywood. I get introduced to all the stars - it's all very glamorous."

Are there any more plans for television?

"Well, I was thinking that maybe one of my future books will take place on the back stage of a TV set. I mentioned this to my producer one day and he looked very upset. He didn't say anything - maybe there's some union rule against it."

So after working for a while on the TV show, you started another book. What was your inspiration?

"After my first three books, everyone seemed to think that I could solve any mystery. That's silly of course, but I try my best to help out if I can. That's what friends are for."

So people were coming to you with problems?

"I was getting about six or seven letters a week! All of these people with problems. I felt really bad. Then, one of my old high school friends came to me. Her brother, an IRS agent, had died. She was convinced that it was murder. The police told her that there was no evidence, the coroner had ruled accidental death, and there was nothing to investigate. Helen was always so level headed, not at all the type to imagine murders, so I had to help her. I flew to see her in Houston and looked around. She was right and the story made a great book."

Has anyone complained about the title?

"Death and Texas? Isn't that a wonderful play on words? Detective Lansing suggested it. He was so sweet. He'd read all of my books. When I showed up in his office with some information about the case, he got interested. He helped out in his spare time."

We asked if this was a romance in the works, seeing as how the character in the book that investigates the crime falls in love with the police detective.

"No comment." We asked her which of her books is her favorite.

"The one I'm currently working on. I really do enjoy it. Putting together a puzzle, coming up with an interesting plot. The fact that people like my books doesn't hurt either! Right now I'm working on one I'm calling Ambassador of Death, about a murder at the American Embassy in Austria."

Anything else we should know? T. R. giggled at the question.

"Well, because of all of the murders that I've helped solve, some of my friends quip that they'll stop inviting me to functions because they're afraid they'll end up dead or in jail! That's so silly! I use whatever I can for my books. It's just coincidence that a murder or two happened whenever I was working on a new book. After all, there have only been six or seven murders that I've been involved with. Lots of people see murders every day!"

Well T. R., we hope you write many more books! A party next weekend? Uh, well thanks, but I think we're busy. Yes, I'm sure we are!