Maxie Dara: Get Yourself a Writing Group
In this interview, author Maxie Dara discusses how mental health and anxiety helped inspire her new cozy mystery, A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Cheating Death.
Maxie Dara is a writer and actor from Ontario, Canada. She has been a freelance journalist focusing on the local arts and culture scene for more than five years, with bylines in publications such as Hamilton Magazine and Beyond James, among others. She is also a two-time award-winning playwright, taking home the Best of Fringe award at the 2017 Hamilton Fringe Festival for the musical comedy This Is Not a Musical: The Musical! and the 2020 Torpedo Prize for her play Alone Together, a pandemic drama. Maxie knew she wanted to be a writer at the age of seven, when she first fell in love with the written word. She also wanted to be a mermaid but has mostly focused on the writing side of things. Follow her on Instagram.
In this interview, Maxie discusses how mental health and anxiety helped inspire her new cozy mystery, A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Cheating Death, her hope for readers, and more.
Name: Maxie Dara
Literary agent: Melissa Edwards, Stonesong
Book title: A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Cheating Death
Publisher: Berkley
Release date: December 2, 2025
Genre/category: Cozy mystery
Previous titles: A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer
Elevator pitch: When risk-averse corporate grim reaper Nora Bird comes across her twin brother’s file at work, she cautiously throws caution to the wind in an effort to save his life. But his would-be killer, and Death itself, won’t give up without a fight.
What prompted you to write this book?
I knew I wanted to take a step back from the characters of my first book in order to dive into different facets within the world of S.C.Y.T.H.E. This gave me the freedom to play around with the kinds of people who might end up working as modern grim reapers and why. When I wrote Catching a Killer (the first book in the series) I was inspired in part by my childhood phobia of death, using the book as an outlet to explore that fear through the safety of humour and the supernatural. This time, I really wanted to give more of a voice not only to the fairly universal fear of mortality, but to anxiety in general. Mental health, and the struggles therein, is a subject very close to my heart, and I feel very lucky that I was given the opportunity to represent it in what I hope is a relatable and even positive light.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I was fortunate enough that this book came off the back of my first, so the turnaround was a little over a year or so. When I first pitched the concept, the vibe was very “zany sibling road trip full of quirky characters, and a bird for some reason,” but the longer I sat with Nora and her twin brother Charlie, the more I realized that this was, at its core, a book about family and what it means to live. There’s still a road trip element, and the characters definitely have their quirks, but it grew to be much more than I thought it would be when I first came up with the concept.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Because this is my second publishing rodeo, I feel much more in the know than I did the first time around, which is such a surreal yet lovely thing to be able to say. But I think a perpetual learning for me is that I need to stop letting myself read ARC reviews, dang it! Cliche author that I am, even if there are 10 positive reviews, the one negative—or even lukewarm—one is what will stick with me the longest, which makes reading them a very bad life choice.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
Because I’m a chronic pantser (my autocorrect wants to change this to “panther,” which would be way cooler), there are always so many surprises along the way! My favorite surprises come in the form of getting to know my characters, though. In particular, in this book, understanding what made Charlie tick was a learning moment for me because I really went in thinking he was just a carefree, golden retriever type of guy. Turns out, there’s lots of fun trauma kicking around in there, too.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
As much as I write for laughs and escapism first and foremost, I hope readers with anxiety will feel seen. We’re in this together, pals!
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Get yourself a writing group! It could be online, in person, through your local library, with writer friends, however you’re comfortable doing it. Having a group of people in the trenches with you is an amazing way to stay on track, finish projects, and spitball ideas. I truly cannot recommend it enough!
