In this episode of Plot Twist Radio, host Erin Nevius sits down with cozy mystery author Liz Mugavero, who also writes as Cate Conte, to explore the creative world of cats, crime, and a little bit of magic.
Liz is the author behind multiple beloved cozy mystery series, including the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, the Cat Café Mysteries, and the paranormal Full Moon Mysteries. Known for her charming settings, strong female leads, and animal-centered storytelling, she has built a loyal readership that loves both the comfort and intrigue of her books.
In this engaging conversation, Liz shares how her dual author identity came to be, her lifelong fascination with crime and human behavior, and how she balances plotting and “pantsing” when crafting her mysteries. She also dives into the inspiration behind her cozy worlds—blending community, cats, and even witchcraft into stories that keep readers hooked.
We also discuss:
- Why cozy mysteries are more popular than ever
- How animals and magical elements enhance storytelling
- The challenges of writing and publishing in today’s industry
- Tips for new writers trying to stay motivated and get started
- Building a supportive, creative community through her Creativity Lab
Whether you're a writer, a mystery lover, or just someone who enjoys a good story with heart, humor, and a hint of suspense—this episode is for you.
Learn more about Liz Mugavero / Cate Conte and her books:
👉 https://www.cateconte.com
🎙️ Don’t forget to follow Plot Twist Radio for more author interviews, writing insights, and behind-the-scenes creative conversations.
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Welcome to Plot Twist Radio, the show where creativity,
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storytelling, and the unpredictable path of the
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creative life all collide. I'm your.
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Host Aaron Eggnatz. Welcome back to Plot Twist
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Radio, where we dive into the stories behind the storytellers
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because every writer has a journey and every journey has a
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twist. Today's guest is a master of
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cozy mystery with a delightful and slightly mischievous edge.
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Liz is the creative force behind multiple beloved mystery series
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including the Cat Cafe Mysteries, the Positively
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Organic Mysteries, and the magical Full Moon Mysteries.
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From amateur sleuths to cats, cafes and even a little.
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Witchcraft. Her stories.
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Blend charm, intrigue, and just the right amount of chaos.
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And if you're anything like me, a lover of animals, mystery, and
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of course, paranormal, you're going to feel right at home in
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her world in this episode. We talk about her.
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Dual author identity, her love of crime and psychology, the
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balance between plotting and panting, and how cats, community
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and creativity all come together in her books.
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So grab your coffee or your cat and settle in.
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Hello, Liz, and welcome to the show.
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Hi, Erin. Thanks for having me.
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Absolutely. Can you tell the audience a
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little bit about yourself? Yeah, So I'm Liz Mcgavro.
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I'm also Kate Conte. Together we write mysteries.
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So we have three series between the two of us.
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They're all cozy mysteries. So the first one is the
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Positively Organic Mysteries under Liz Mcgavro.
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And that follows a woman who leaves her corporate job and
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becomes a gourmet pet food chef and also an amateur sluice when
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she keeps stumbling over dead bodies.
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And then I have, under Kate Conti, the Cat Cafe mysteries
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and the Full Moon Mysteries and similar, similar for the Cat
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Cafe Mysteries. You know, I, I have an
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entrepreneur who returns home, finds herself opening a cat
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cafe. She didn't really plan on it and
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also finds herself, you know, stumbling upon too many bodies
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that that don't belong there. And then my Full Moon series is
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based on witches and all that fun stuff.
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Very cool. And I like that you have the two
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identities. I'm, I'm a writer like that too.
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You know, there's Aaron for the the ghost stories and then
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there's Eliza for all of my mysteries and stuff or fantasy,
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whatever. But how did the dual author
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identity come about for you? Yeah, so I my first series, I
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was, I had started my first series under my I never intended
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to actually publish under my real name because it's really
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hard to say, like nobody can ever pronounce my last name.
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So I, I always assumed I would have a pen name, but when I got
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my first contract, you know, it's funny, I always say after
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10 years of trying to get published, it happened like
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overnight when I finally did get a contract.
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And so it just happened so fast. The next thing I knew, you know,
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they were, I had a contract and I was writing under that name.
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So as I was in the middle of that series, I was approached to
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write another series for a different publishing house and
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they wanted a different name. So.
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Makes sense. Makes sense.
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And congratulations, because I've read your books.
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I love them, especially the cozy Cat Cafe.
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When I saw that your name came through, I was like, wait a
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minute. I know her.
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I like her stuff because, you know, I'm, I'm a cat.
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I'm a crazy cat lady. My, that's when my husband calls
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me. I would love to have a, you
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know, a cat cafe. Minus, you know, the dead
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bodies, of course. Minus the dead bodies, they
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usually don't turn up in the cat cafe, which is nice.
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So. That is nice.
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So when did you first realize mystery writing was your genre?
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I mean, I think I always knew. I was always a little weird.
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I loved crime from a very little kid.
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My parents were a little worried about me.
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My, you know, in my bedroom when I was young, I had a poster of
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Johnny Depp and a poster of Freddy Krueger.
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And they were like, what is happening?
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And then I think the first two crime book I ever read was, you
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know, about serial killer. So, and my grandfather was a
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detective. So I mean, he never, I was very
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young when he obviously retired, but he he never told me the a
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lot of the real stories, but I got enough of a sense of it that
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it always interested me. So it's just been something I
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always wanted to understand, like why people do the things
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that they do. You know, for me, it's not about
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the the gore and the dead bodies and the, you know, how they get
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killed kind of thing. But it's like, why are people
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killing other people? You know, what is actually that
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bad that could prompt you to do that?
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And so, yeah, when I finished my master's degree in writing and
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publishing, I had written a novel for my thesis.
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It was not a mystery. It was kind of a women's fiction
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type of thing that we'll never see the light of day.
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It was pretty bad. But, you know, it was, it got me
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my degree, so that was good. And then I was like, well, what
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am I going to do now? And I was like, well, I love
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mysteries, so let's try to write mysteries.
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And then, yeah, I found a mystery conference, and I just
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jumped in. And the rest is history.
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Yeah. Well, that sounds like a fun
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story. Now I know what you're talking
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about because my parents looked at me the same way and my
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husband looks at me the same way because I'm addicted to the ID
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channel. I'll.
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I'll sit there and watch it all day.
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I don't know why. Yeah, I get sucked in.
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So I guess that's why I love your books too, because I get
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sucked in and it and you're right, it's it's not the gore or
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anything like that. I can't stand anything with
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gore. But I really want to know how
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the mind works and you know if they get the person.
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Yeah, no, 100% it's like it's, it's almost like it's like an A
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question that you have to have answered the first, the first
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real, like local to me Crime Story that I was old enough to
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understand and and really want to dig into.
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This is the first research paper I ever wrote.
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Again, my parents were like, this isn't the topic that you
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picked. I grew up in the Boston area, so
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the Charles Stewart murder case, I don't know if you heard of
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that. Yeah.
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So that was happening when I was probably like 13 or 14 years
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old. So yeah, I picked that as my
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topic. And it was, it was fascinating
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to me. Like, I remember being glued to
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the TV, like, what is happening, you know?
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And yeah, just why would he do that?
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And yeah, all those questions that a kid would ask, but yeah.
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You know, it's just, it's an interesting concept.
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But getting back to the books, your series often features cats,
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like we said, cafes and magic. What inspired these cozy but
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mysterious worlds? Yeah.
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So when I got my first contract, I actually got it on a proposal.
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So I had been working with an agent who was interested in,
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this was back in 2011 when cozies were having kind of a
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resurgence. And so there was an agent that
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had approached a group I was in looking for writers to create
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proposals with. So when we were working through
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the proposal, we were kind of going back and forth with like
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what my interests were. And then, you know, versus what
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he thought he could actually sell.
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And animals have been a huge thing for me my whole life.
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So I worked in cat rescue for many years, was definitely known
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as the cat lady. And when we talked about that,
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he said, well, I think I could do something with, you know, pet
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food treats or gourmet pet food. And I was like, oh, do that,
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That's kind of cool. So the cats the cat thing was
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born out of that. And then while I was writing
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that series, as I mentioned, the other publisher didn't really
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have any cat centered mysteries. And I think they felt like they
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were missing the boat. So they so they'd reached out to
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this agent and said, we need a cat mystery.
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Do you know anybody? And he's like, I got just the
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girl for you. So that's how I ended up with
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the cats for the witches and the paranormal.
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That's also been my other love. You know, I went to school in
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Salem, MA. I was schooled on witches from a
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very young age. I was always fascinated with
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ghosts and paranormal things and, and all of that.
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And so when my first series ended, my publisher approached
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me and said, hey, let's do a new series.
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And we were kind of tossing around paranormal ideas.
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And he said, what do you think of a like a modern day
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bewitched? And I was like, oh, I love that
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so. So that's where the witches came
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from. Cool, very cool.
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I I love that you have roots in Salem.
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I the other side of me, the ghost hunter side.
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You know I perk up every time I hear say.
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Hello. Yeah, it's so fun.
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I was just there last weekend. Really.
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Yeah. I've only been there once, and
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it was right before Halloween and you could barely move.
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There's just people everywhere. But it's such an amazing place.
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So what do you think readers are so drawn to?
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Mysteries with animals and magical elements, because I've
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noticed that with my my books too.
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If the more like animals I put into it, the more magic I put
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into IT, people like that a lot better than just my regular, you
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know, mundane stuff. Yeah, I think for cozies in
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general, I think people love them because of the community
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feel, you know, especially when in times like right now when the
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world is crazy and unique, community more than ever, you
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know, I feel like people are looking for that place where
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they can go and feel safe and comfortable and and know people.
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And I think animals add to that because personally, I don't want
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to live in a world where there's no animals, you know?
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So I imagine there's a lot of people out there who feel the
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same and they want to know that the people they love and the
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people they're following, whether they're fictional or
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not, are experiencing that with animals too.
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And, you know, people who are into rescue, I think have have
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resonated with my books because I try to not in a preachy way,
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but I try to weave in, you know, rescue ideas and, and help
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people to understand what that's actually really like too.
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And then I think, you know, people who love paranormal and
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magic are just a whole other class of people.
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And there's just people who love that and who are, you know, in
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Salem in the freezing cold, still walking around and
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learning about witches and, you know, doing all that.
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So yeah, I think, I think that's a genre that that attracts
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certain people for sure. For sure, and it's a big one and
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it it's, you know, it's fun to write.
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I I enjoy writing that genre versus you, just the strict
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romantic comedies that I sometimes write.
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I just when I can escape into like a fantasy world, the the
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possibilities are endless. So it makes it more fun I think.
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Definitely. It was really fun creating the,
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I spent a lot of time with the world building for the full moon
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mysteries just because I was creating 2 worlds.
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I had the, the fantasy world and then I had the mortal world that
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she was still living in and she was kind of straddling both, you
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know. And so yeah, it took a lot of
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work to build that one because I, and also I was like, if I
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screw something up, you know, if I make a choice in this world
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that I eventually don't like, I'm kind of stuck with it now,
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you know? So yeah, you have to put some
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thought into it. Absolutely.
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So when you as far as the right writing process goes, do you
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plot your mysteries carefully, or do surprises kind of happen
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along the way as you write? Yeah, it's so funny.
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I was just thinking about this the other day.
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So I have been notoriously A Panzer my entire life.
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And then I, you know, I've always worked while I've been
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writing my book. So I've had to manage deadlines
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and and, you know, demanding jobs and all that.
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So there was one point where I I really ran into a place where I
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had I had derailed my book. The deadline was coming.
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I I was screwed basically, and I didn't know how to get out of it
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and I hadn't plotted. And so luckily a friend of mine
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who is a master plotter helped me get out of that mess and turn
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in the book mostly on time. But after that, I was like, all
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right, there's got to be a balance here between the
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plotting and the pantsing because I'm not a person who
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could ever plot out every scene before I started writing.
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It's just not in me. But I'm like, I have to have
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something to to kind of go back to, even if I don't use it, you
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know, verbatim, but something that can help me guide myself
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out of a corner. So I started plotting a little
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bit more like at least figuring out the the major pieces that I
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wanted to hit and you know, when the body was going to hit, who
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the suspects were, what their back stories were like.
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So a lot of that and then and I've been doing that for a while
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with pretty much decent results, but the surprises still keep
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coming because it wasn't the last book I turned in, but the
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one before that I had written the book, I had plotted it
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somewhat, you know, I felt good about it.
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I was getting to the end of my edits and I remember reading it
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through and, and saying, this book sucks, like there's
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something wrong with it. And so in the process of
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editing, there was a very minor character that I had in there
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that I almost even just cut out. And then I was like, well, I
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need to keep her because I need to have this conversation and
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you know, whatever. And as I was editing that
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conversation, this character just suddenly started doing
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things that I was that had never planned on her to do.
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And then she started saying things that I had never planned
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on her to say. And I was like, wait a minute, I
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think she might be my killer. Or as I had had a whole other
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killer, like in my head as who? So yeah.
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And that was, you know, a few days before the book was turned
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in. So the surprises still keep
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coming. And I think the last book that I
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just turned in two weeks ago, I think I tried to over plot and
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that derailed me surprisingly. Like I was like, all right, I
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have this plot. I've got all these words.
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I think I'm good. But again, when I got to, you
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know, working through that last bit of it, I'm like, OK, this is
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terrible. I have no story.
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So in that case I think I over plotted.
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So I don't know. There's just got to be a happy
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balance somewhere that I'm just not hitting yet.
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It's hard. It's hard to find it, and I
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haven't found it either. I know I've always said that I'm
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going to plot, you know, I'm going to have a nice outline and
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I'm going to be ready to go, but every time I start, the story
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goes completely a different direction.
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When I'm. Expecting it, so you can only
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plot. A bit right?
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Exactly. So how do you keep your mystery
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plots fresh after so many books? I know a lot of authors have a
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hard time after book 1. You know, you kind of get lost
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in the weeds a little bit. Yeah, I really like to lean on
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my secondary character. So I, when I'm building a new
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world, I like to make sure that I have a variety of characters
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and that they're interesting people, you know?
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And then I, I have found that a lot of my secondary character,
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especially in the Cat Cafe books, have really kind of
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stepped forward and taking the spotlight in some of the books
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and become part of the story, like the broader story.
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And I think it, it does a couple things.
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You know, it gives a different, it keeps it fresh in a sense of,
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you know, you're focusing on a different person in the, in the
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world that I've created, but it's also a person that's
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somewhat familiar. So it feels familiar to people.
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So they're like, all right, I, I knew this guy existed, but I
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didn't know this about them. And now they're involved in a
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murder and all right, let's keep reading.
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So I definitely like to kind of elevate my secondary characters
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to, to take on a new status and and help just kind of anchor the
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the world a little bit more. Sure.
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So as far as your characters go, is there a specific character
00:14:06
that feels most like you? I mean, I try not to make a lot
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of me and put a lot of me into my characters.
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They all do drink a lot of coffee though, I have noticed.
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So that's a lot of me. But you know, some of them, like
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my character Stan in my first series, the Positively Organic
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series, she was probably a little bit more like me.
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She was, you know, in the corporate world.
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She didn't feel quite at home there.
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She really loved animals. So she's probably the most like
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me, I would say, you know, Maddie and my Cat Cafe books.
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I kind of envy her a little bit because she was a lot more
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adventurous than me at a younger age.
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And I almost wish that I had more Maddie in me.
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And of course, if I could be witchy like Violet, that would
00:14:42
be awesome. But I haven't figured out how to
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how to find those powers yet. I know how you feel about that.
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I mean, I'm still waiting for my acceptance letter to Hog.
00:14:53
We'll see what happens here. So do you have any upcoming
00:14:56
releases that you're working on? Yeah, so I just turned in book
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10 in the Cat Cafe series, which will be out in August.
00:15:03
It's called Paranormal Activity. So I I managed to weave a little
00:15:07
bit of paranormal into that one, even though it's not typically a
00:15:09
paranormal series. So we have a ghost cat in this
00:15:12
book, so that was kind of cool. Yeah, I like that.
00:15:17
Yeah. So what else You you also have a
00:15:20
podcast, correct? I do the Get writing podcast.
00:15:23
OK. So could you tell us a little
00:15:25
bit about that one? Yeah, so I, I just, I love to
00:15:28
talk to writers and I'm fascinated by, you know, every,
00:15:32
every writer I talk to. It doesn't matter how many, in
00:15:34
what genre. We all have a different process.
00:15:37
We all have a different style. We all have a different journey.
00:15:40
We could have the plotter and pantser discussion, you know, I,
00:15:42
I could have it with 100 people go and get 100 different
00:15:44
answers. So I love that about talking to
00:15:46
writers and I also love to talk about the publishing journey,
00:15:50
which as you know, is very different from the writing
00:15:52
journey, right? Cuz the writing journey we're in
00:15:54
control of the publishing journey.
00:15:56
Not so much, right. So I think especially today
00:15:59
where the the industry's a little wild and people that are
00:16:04
just starting out are like, how do I even do this?
00:16:07
I think it's really good to talk about all the different ways
00:16:09
people can get published, you know, to let people know like
00:16:12
you have options. You know, you don't have to do
00:16:15
it the way we did it 20 years ago.
00:16:16
You know, you can explore different things, you can figure
00:16:18
out what works for you. And also just so people know,
00:16:21
like it's not always you get an agent, you get a book deal, and
00:16:24
then life is grand forever and ever.
00:16:26
Like there's so many ups and downs, right?
00:16:28
So I think it's just important to to shine a light on what it's
00:16:31
really like to be a writer and all the perseverance you need
00:16:34
and, and all of the things that you need to just keep in mind as
00:16:38
you're as you're going along the journey.
00:16:39
So yeah, that's really why I do it.
00:16:41
That's kind of what Pops W radio is too, you know, just kind of
00:16:45
learning the writing process because like you said, there are
00:16:47
so many different ways that people go about it.
00:16:50
And I'm always amazed by everybody's different process.
00:16:53
You know, like you said, everyone has a different
00:16:55
process. Some of them align with me and
00:16:58
some of them like, I don't know how you do that, but you didn't.
00:17:01
So, so you also, you created the creativity lab, right?
00:17:05
Yeah, that's a membership. So it's it's kind of like I
00:17:08
wanted to create a space for people.
00:17:10
So again, you know, coming back to the it's, it's easy to get
00:17:13
discouraged in the writing business after being at so many
00:17:17
conferences for, you know, going to so many conferences for all
00:17:19
these years, meeting writers at various stages of their career.
00:17:22
I just started to realize a few years ago that, you know, it's,
00:17:25
I remember being somebody who was trying to break in and, and
00:17:29
learn all the things and do all the right things and, and I was
00:17:32
really fortunate, you know, I had, I found such a great
00:17:35
support system and a great community in the mystery world.
00:17:37
And you know, I've seen people get discouraged along the way
00:17:40
and, and get messages that maybe aren't so helpful.
00:17:43
And I just started thinking like, you know, I, I was very
00:17:46
lucky. I had a lot of people who helped
00:17:48
me and lifted me up and I wanted to be that for other people.
00:17:51
So just to give people a place to go to, you know, have
00:17:54
accountability, put a writing session on their calendar.
00:17:56
We could get some Co writing done.
00:17:58
We do some fun things too. We do tarot and we do Oracle
00:18:00
cards and we do little book clubs.
00:18:02
Like last night we actually had a session on Bird by bird by Ann
00:18:05
Lamott. So we look at writing books and
00:18:08
just a place to keep people engaged in what it's like to be
00:18:11
a writer and around people who feel the same way.
00:18:14
That is awesome. I love that you have that
00:18:16
because you're, you're right, right.
00:18:18
It, it can be very, very difficult and it can be very
00:18:21
mentally challenging for a while, you know, especially, you
00:18:24
know, those that are in their query process.
00:18:26
That is one of the hardest parts of the whole thing.
00:18:29
So it it's nice that you have that.
00:18:31
What's the biggest obstacle you see writers struggle with?
00:18:36
I mean, I think for newer writers, it's, you know, staying
00:18:41
motivated, right? Because especially if you
00:18:43
haven't found your community yet, if you're trying to do
00:18:45
this, you know, in the midst of your your other life, if you
00:18:48
have a job and you have kids and your other responsibilities and
00:18:51
you don't really have a support system who understands what it's
00:18:54
like to be a creative person. It can be real easy to be just
00:18:58
kind of told or not even told, but not in a bad way, but just
00:19:02
just kind of in that mode of like, oh, I can just put this
00:19:05
aside. It's not really that important.
00:19:06
I have other things to do. And you know, if you have a
00:19:09
family that doesn't really understand it, they're like, why
00:19:11
are you wasting time on that? We could be, you know, watching
00:19:14
Netflix, right? And so just having, making sure
00:19:18
people have a place to stay motivated and not let go of
00:19:22
their dreams. You know, that's, I think people
00:19:25
struggle with that a lot. And they struggle with time too,
00:19:27
which I think is also a little bit, you know, goes to what we
00:19:31
just talked about. The motivation thing, it can be
00:19:34
very easy to put things off, especially if you're thinking,
00:19:37
hey, I don't have 8 hours a day to go to my writing, so why
00:19:39
bother? So it's just kind of maybe the
00:19:43
easy way to quantify all that is just to say mindset is one of
00:19:46
the hardest things that people that people.
00:19:48
Struggle with. I agree.
00:19:50
So what advice would you give to new writers out there?
00:19:55
I have to write all the time, you know, I don't, I don't like
00:19:57
to say I don't like rules. I don't like to say you have to
00:19:59
write every day or you're not a real writer.
00:20:00
No, but you just have to stay in the mode of like, I want to do
00:20:04
this. So I'm going to carve out time.
00:20:06
It doesn't have to be like I said, 8 hours a day.
00:20:08
It doesn't even have to be 8 hours a week.
00:20:09
Maybe it's like 10 minutes a day where you write a paragraph, you
00:20:13
know, but just to stay in that mode of.
00:20:16
I have this thing that I want to do, so I'm going to commit to it
00:20:19
and however long it takes, it takes, but I'm still going to
00:20:21
stay in it. What is 1 message you hope
00:20:23
readers take away from your books?
00:20:26
Yeah, I love to write about animals, first of all in it and
00:20:29
I, I love when people like I have a friend who I hadn't seen
00:20:34
her in a very long time or talked to her in a very long
00:20:35
time, but she read my first series and she ended up adopting
00:20:39
2 dogs from a rescue because of, of my books, you know, of, of
00:20:43
thinking about rescue in a different way.
00:20:45
So that always makes me feel really good.
00:20:48
I like, I want people to just recognize strong women, women
00:20:52
who, you know, don't let themselves get pushed around,
00:20:55
who they see a problem and they want to go solve it and they
00:20:59
don't stop even when people tell them to stop.
00:21:02
Yeah, I like when people can kind of look at my books and
00:21:05
take that away from it. I.
00:21:06
Love that the animal thing. I mean, I've been in rescue for
00:21:10
years and you know it, it's really a difficult time for
00:21:13
rescuing right now. So I I love that you have that
00:21:16
message out there. It's it's beautiful and please
00:21:19
everyone listening, please go adopt if you can.
00:21:22
Yes, there's so many animals, especially like you said right
00:21:25
now. It's just such a crazy time.
00:21:27
It is absolutely so. One last question for anyone
00:21:31
listening who dreams of writing their own book but they haven't
00:21:34
started yet. What would you tell them today?
00:21:38
Just start writing down your ideas.
00:21:39
You know, it doesn't have to be formal.
00:21:41
It doesn't have to be in a writing software, doesn't have
00:21:44
to be, you know, with a fancy title or anything.
00:21:47
It just has to be like, Hey, I'm thinking about this.
00:21:50
So let me start putting some ideas down.
00:21:51
Who, who are these people that are in my head?
00:21:54
What, what are they doing? What's the, what's the problem?
00:21:56
What's the challenge that they're facing that needs to be
00:21:59
talked about? Like just start, just start
00:22:01
putting notes down. It doesn't.
00:22:03
Again, it doesn't even have to be in sentence form, but just
00:22:05
start formulating your ideas and then you're going to get excited
00:22:08
about what's coming out and then you're going to really want to
00:22:10
jump in and and work on this project.
00:22:13
Well said, well said. So where can our listeners find
00:22:16
you? You can find me at kateconti.com
00:22:20
Kate with AC that links to all my books, all my social.
00:22:23
I have a sub stack in the podcast as well.
00:22:25
So that's the, that's the central location.
00:22:29
All right. Thank you so much for joining
00:22:30
me. This has been great.
00:22:31
Thank you for having me. My thanks again to Liz for
00:22:38
joining me honestly. I could have talked to her all
00:22:41
day. I love how she blends cozy,
00:22:43
comforting worlds with compelling mysteries, all while
00:22:46
weaving and meaningful themes like animal rescue, strong
00:22:49
female characters, and the importance of community both in
00:22:52
fiction and in real life. And if you're a.
00:22:54
Writer there was so. Much insight in this episode
00:22:57
about finding your process, staying motivated, and giving
00:22:59
yourself permission to grow. If you'd like to check out her
00:23:02
books or learn more about her podcast and creative community,
00:23:05
head over to kateconte.com. And as always, if you enjoyed
00:23:08
this episode, don't forget to follow.
00:23:10
Rate and share. Plot Twist Radio.
00:23:12
It truly helps more listeners discover these incredible
00:23:14
stories and voices. Until next time.
00:23:18
Keep writing. Keep.
00:23:19
Dreaming. And remember, there's always a
00:23:21
plot twist waiting just around the corner.