We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carmela Dutra a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Carmela , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?
I’ve always loved mysteries, the kind of stories that keep you turning pages while also making you laugh and fall in love with the characters. But the real spark for my series came from family.
My grandmother was an identical twin, and one day she called to tell me a story involving her twin sister. “Tell me” might be generous—she was really complaining. By the end of the call, I was laughing so hard that I could barely breathe. Later, my husband joked, “You should write a story about them.” I immediately thought, but they’d probably kill each other. That was the moment the first seed of the idea was planted.
I started imagining what a mystery centered around twins could look like. Twins already come with built-in history, chemistry, rivalry, loyalty, and humor. They know exactly how to push each other’s buttons, but they also know each other better than anyone else. That dynamic felt perfect for a cozy mystery series because it could deliver both comedy and heart alongside the murder investigation.
The next question was how to make it feel fresh. I wanted more than just twins solving crimes, I wanted a setting with movement, personality, and endless opportunities for chaos. Then, while my husband and I were out to dinner, a food truck drove past the restaurant window. It was one of those lightning-bolt moments where everything suddenly clicked. A food truck could go anywhere, meet anyone, and land in the middle of all kinds of trouble.
At the same time, I’ve always been deeply connected to the Bay Area, where I’m from and where so much of my life has taken place. I wanted to create stories that captured that sense of home while bringing something fresh and fun to the cozy mystery genre. Food trucks are a natural part of the Bay Area, so the idea fit.
That’s when Beth and Seth Lloyd truly came to life: fraternal twins running their family food truck, Kluckin’ Good, while navigating sibling chaos, small-town secrets, and murders they never planned to solve.
What made me believe it was worth pursuing was that the idea felt genuinely exciting and unique to me. I wasn’t trying to copy what was already out there. I was combining elements I loved: family dynamics, humor, mystery, and a strong sense of place. I also knew that when you write from a place of joy and authenticity, readers can feel it.
Publishing always comes with uncertainty, but I believed that if I created memorable characters and stories with heart, humor, and surprises, there would be readers who connected with them. Seeing that happen has made the journey incredibly rewarding.
Carmela , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m an author of cozy mysteries with a love for humor, community-centered storytelling, and characters who feel like people you’d want to know in real life. I’ve always been drawn to stories that entertain while also offering comfort—the kind of books readers can escape into, where there’s suspense and surprises, but also warmth, laughter, and heart.
My path into writing came from being a lifelong reader and someone who was always fascinated by storytelling. Mysteries, in particular, captured me because they invite readers to play along, search for clues, and become part of the story. Over time, that love of reading grew into a desire to create my own worlds and characters. Stories that would make readers laugh, keep them guessing, and leave them feeling satisfied when they turned the final page.
I write the Food Truck Mysteries, a series featuring fraternal twins Beth and Seth Lloyd, who run their family food truck while repeatedly finding themselves tangled in murder investigations. The books blend mystery, family dynamics, humor, and a strong sense of place, all inspired by the Bay Area, where I’m from.
What I create for readers is entertainment, escape, and connection. In a world that can often feel stressful and heavy, I think stories matter because they give people a place to breathe. Cozy mysteries let readers experience suspense without losing hope, and I love creating books where justice is served, relationships matter, and humor can exist even in chaotic moments.
What sets my work apart is the combination of a fresh premise, family-driven relationships, and personality-filled settings. A food truck gives the series constant movement and new opportunities for trouble, while the twin dynamic adds built-in tension, loyalty, and comedy. I also care deeply about creating settings that feel lived in and authentic, especially through my Bay Area influences.
What I’m most proud of is turning an idea that made me laugh into published books that readers can hold in their hands and connect with. There’s something incredibly meaningful about seeing characters who once existed only in my imagination become part of someone else’s reading life.
The main thing I’d want readers to know is that I write stories to entertain and to bring joy. If you’re looking for mysteries with memorable characters, humor, heart, chicken puns, and plenty of twists, that’s exactly what I hope to deliver every time.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
One of the clearest examples of resilience in my journey is how long and uncertain the road to publication was. Publishing can look very glamorous from the outside, but behind every book on a shelf there are often years of persistence, rejection, and rewriting.
Before I was published, I spent three years querying literary agents across three different projects. There were many moments where it would have been easy to assume it simply wasn’t going to happen. The book that eventually became my debut novel, A Murder Most Fowl, received 197 agent rejections before I signed with my literary agent, Lindsay Guzzardo.
That number can sound discouraging, but what it really taught me was endurance. Every rejection forced me to decide whether I was going to stop or keep going. I chose to keep going.
And signing with an agent wasn’t the finish line, it was the beginning of a new phase of work. After I signed with Lindsay, we spent around nine months restructuring the manuscript before it was ready to go on submission to editors. That meant revisiting the story at a deep level, strengthening what worked, and being willing to rethink what didn’t.
Looking back, I’m grateful the process unfolded the way it did because it showed me the value of finding the right creative partner. None of that progress would have been possible with someone who didn’t fully believe in the project or champion it alongside me. Lindsay saw the potential in the story and helped me make it stronger.
If there’s one lesson I’ve taken from that experience, it’s that resilience isn’t always dramatic—it’s often quiet. It’s continuing to show up, continuing to learn, and continuing to believe in your work long before anyone else sees the final result.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being an author is connection. Writing may happen in solitude, but books are ultimately about bringing people together.
One of the greatest joys for me is connecting with readers. There’s something incredibly meaningful about hearing that someone laughed at a scene, stayed up too late turning pages, or found comfort and escape in one of my stories.
I’m also deeply grateful for the connections I’ve made with fellow authors. Publishing can be challenging, and having a community of people who understand the highs, lows, and behind-the-scenes realities of the journey is invaluable. Other writers have offered encouragement, wisdom, generosity, and friendship, and that sense of community means so much.
At its heart, storytelling is about connection—and being able to share that connection with both readers and other creatives is the most rewarding part of all.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.carmeladutra.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorcarmela
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorcarmeladutra
