the time it was about the usual family mayhem

Posted March 13, 2025 by Stacee in Interviews | 0 Comments

when I got the invite to interview HelenKay Dimon for her upcoming release, The Usual Family Mayhem, I couldn’t type yes fast enough. I had just finished the book (spoiler alert: I loved it) and I was thrilled to get to pick her brain about the story.

Before we get to HelenKay’s answers, let’s check out the book.

Title: The Usual Family Mayhem
Author: HelenKay Dimon
Pages: 368
Publisher: Avon
Pub Date: March 11, 2025
Find it: HC | Bookshop | Goodreads

Synopsis: Kasey Nottingham needs a splashy idea at her company where they find and develop the next big thing for investors—her job depends on it. Impulsively, she pitches Mags’ Desserts, a beloved small-town business run by her grandma Mags and live-in “best friend” Celia, two women who overcame deadbeat husbands and financial ruin to build a word-of-mouth clientele. Kasey expects her boss to say no. Instead, he sends her home to North Carolina to land the deal…and now she has a problem.

Mags and Celia aren’t interested, which isn’t a surprise, but something else is going on in their kitchen. Locked cabinets. Cryptic conversations. Unexpected notations on business records. The ladies have secrets and whatever they’re hiding is big. As reports of mysterious deaths of abusive men in the area surface—all in households that recently received a delivery from Mags’ Desserts—Kasey worries Gram and Celia have gone into the poison pie business.

As investors start circling, Kasey enlists Jackson Quaid, Celia’s nephew and Kasey’s long-time crush, as her reluctant investigation assistant. Jackson is practical. Kasey has a wild imagination. Together, they dodge Kasey’s boss and gather intel. And kiss. Lots of kissing, though probably not the best idea to start an unexpected romance. Doing it while keeping two feisty ladies from going to jail for knocking off bad husbands—even if those husbands deserve it—might be impossible…but Kasey never shied away from a challenge.

Sounds good, right?

1. Please give the elevator pitch for The Usual Family Mayhem.

Under the threat of losing yet another job, Kasey goes home to North Carolina to pitch business idea to her grandmother about the older woman’s regional dessert business, only there’s something Kasey doesn’t know and that secret might involve her sweet grandma selling poison pies to kill off bad men…Kasey is on the case and with the help of her long-time crush, Jackson, she will either protect the beloved older women in her life or end up sending them all to prison.

2. Which came first: the characters or the plot line?

A little bit of both. I’d been wanting to write book that covered the special bond between grandmothers and granddaughters and looked at, in a realistic and hopefully fun way, what happens when someone is not quite sure what she wants to be when she grows up. For some reason thinking about grandmas made me think about baked goods…and then put poison in them. I’m not sure what that says about me, but my grandmothers are innocent. I swear.

3. Why do you love Kasey and Jackson and why should readers root for them?

Kasey and Jackson share a mutual crush, and they are the only two people on the planet who don’t seem to realize it. She loves him and always has. He can’t forget her but has tried. Add in the fact that they are a wild mismatch, total opposites. She’s impulsive, dropped out of law school, hated her banking job, can’t find her “thing” and is starting to worry she might never find it. He’s a practical, hardworking, over-achieving lawyer. Because of their family connections, they’ve been around each other for two decades. They bicker. They secretly pine for each other. They’re perfect for each other. Of course you want them to figure it out!

4. Were there any weird things you googled while researching?

So many desserts. I know that’s not weird but try to imagine me, sitting in my office, looking up photos of cupcakes and recipes and craving sugar for four solid months. That was my writing life during this book. There’s also a reference to a Tupperware pitcher owned by Kasey’s grandmother. I could see the exact one from when I was a kid. Apparently, that pitcher played a role in a lot of upbringings because I found many references and photos of it during an online search. I hope my description did it justice.

5. Without spoilers, which scene was your favorite to write?

There is a scene where Kasey returns after a night out and she’s wearing Jackson’s robe. Only Jackson’s robe. She’s trying to play it cool but her grandmother and her grandmother’s “best friend” (who also happens to be Jackson’s aunt) are right there when Kasey walks in the door. The back and forth while Kasey fumbles her way through an explanation was so much fun to write.

Speed(ish) round:

1. You find out you’re being published for the first time. Describe the next 5 minutes.

I was working full-time as a lawyer and was in my office. I got the call and sat there. Literally, just sat there. I was stunned and excited. Only one person in the firm knew I was writing and she sat outside my office, so I was trying not to shout to her. I then called my husband and whispered in code (one that only I knew) about what happened. He somehow figured out what I was saying. The good news is I told the firm a week or so later and everyone was thrilled for me. They threw me a book debut party when it came out.

2. What 3 things would you take to a desert island?

I’ve seen a bunch of survival shows, so I think about this question a lot. A satellite phone. A fire starter kit. A sleeping tent.

3. You can only read one book for the rest of your life. What is it?

This is not a fair question! Wow. If forced to answer…I have such a huge love for Ravished by Amanda Quick. I can’t imagine not being able to read it again, so I’ll say that one.

4. What is the one thing about publishing you wish someone would have told you?

It never gets easier. Don’t fight it. Push through. Pivot when you need to. Surround yourself with genuine support. Have a partner with good job benefits, including health insurance.

5. You wake up and discover that you are Bella in Twilight. You know how it plays out. What do you do differently?

Date Jacob instead. Is that blasphemous? If so, then I’d go with getting help for the depression after the breakup because that was not okay.

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HelenKay Dimon is a former divorce lawyer turned bestselling author of more than 40 Romantic Suspense, Contemporary, and Erotic Romance books and novellas. She is a four-time RITA® Award finalist in romantic suspense and is a 2018 RITA® Award winner. In addition to writing, HelenKay is Chair of the Policy Advisory Committee of the Romance Writers of America and frequently teaches workshops and classes on fiction writing and romance writing. She lives in San Diego where she is (or should be) working on her next series but might be streaming a show on Netflix. website | instagram