Author Interview: Get a Clue by Tiffany Schmidt

Tiffany Schmidt has been a favorite around here for many years, though many books, and we are here celebrating the close of her latest series – The Bookish Boyfriends! Get a Clue is the final book in the Bookish Boyfriends series so we chat about what it was like writing it compared to the others, a bit about Huck and Win, and what comes next (including a sneak peek of her new title!). Check it out below and be sure to pick up Get a Clue, out now.

Get a Clue (Bookish Boyfriends, #4)

by Tiffany Schmidt
Published by: Amulet Paperbacks
on January 19, 2021
Genres: Contemporary, GLBTQIA+, Retellings, Young Adult
Pages: 368
Bookshop
Goodreads

The game’s afoot in the next book of the Bookish Boyfriends series—this time starring Huck and Winston! After Ms. Gregoire assigns the works of Sherlock Holmes in English class, a mystery deepens at Reginald R. Hero High. Huck and Win—Curtis’s younger brother—team up to solve the case . . . and while the sleuths gather clues, another swoon-worthy romance blooms in the school halls. Perfect for younger readers of YA or older readers of middle grade, this squeaky-clean series is sure to charm any reader who’s ever had a book boyfriend of their own.

Interview with Tiffany Schmidt

Talk to us about Huck and Win! Where are they at when Get a Clue begins?

Huck Baker is smitten! He met Winston (Win) Cavendish at the end of TALK NERDY TO ME, and he’s been driving his best friend, Rory, bonkers by talking about him ever since. Huck thought the insta-sparks were mutual, so he really doesn’t understand why Win hasn’t accepted his friend request on iLive (the version of FaceBook that exists in the Bookish Boyfriends world). He’s trying to figure out how to ask Curtis Cavendish about him, without making it seem like he’s using one of his best friends to get to his younger brother. 

As for Win Cavendish, he is nervous! Acceptance letters to Hero High are supposed to be mailed soon. He didn’t get in when he’d applied the previous year, and his twin sister, Wink, deferred her enrollment to spend her freshman year at the local public school with him. But what if he doesn’t get in again?  Would Wink transfer without him? Join Curtis as Hero High and leave him behind? 

We’ve loved getting to know the Bookish Boyfriends universe and all of the characters. How was writing Huck and Win’s story different from the previous three books?

Get A Clue is my first mystery! It’s also the first book in the series that focuses on a single classic—though I guess that’s technically not true, since it’s based on Sherlock Holmes as a whole, versus any individual story. (Huck’s favorite is The Sign of the Four, if anyone is interested). The other books in the Bookish Boyfriends series were all mash-ups of two classics. A Date With Darcy was Romeo & Juliet meets Pride & Prejudice, The Boy Next Story is based on The Great Gatsby and Little Women, Talk Nerdy to Me was Frankenstein and Anne of Green Gables. 

It’s also the first book with a male narrator! I’ve written male pov before (half of Bright Before Sunrise is from Jonah’s point of view) — but this was the first time I’ve written about a boy and his boyfriend. I’m excited to make the world of Hero High more inclusive and for more readers to see themselves in these pages.

Which came first – the books you wanted to reimagine or the characters? How did you match stories and characters?

I had the ideas for Merri, Rory, and Eliza’s stories right from the beginning. I knew their arcs, I knew the classics their novels would riff off of. Huck was totally different. He appeared in one of the opening chapters of THE BOY NEXT STORY, and immediately demanded more page count and story space than I’d planned to give him. 

From his first introduction on the page—when he gets moved into Rory’s advanced art class and after a few moments observation, announces that they’ll be best friends—he’s just stolen my heart and stolen scenes. I immediately started making mental notes (and notebook notes!) about the type of story he would have. At that point it felt like such a long shot. My original book deal was for two books, so I thought THE BOY NEXT STORY was going to be the end, or that maybe I’d sell a third book and write Eliza’s story (TALK NERDY TO ME). Luckily my editor was as charmed by Huck as I was, and acquired another two books. My agent calling to tell me was one of the happiest moments of my author career! I love these books and would happily write another four, six, ten! And while GET A CLUE marks a good-bye to the Hero High world for now, I refuse to say it’s forever.

In the meantime my stories are headed to ski slopes and ballet school for my fall 2021 novel, I’M DREAMING OF A WYATT CHRISTMAS*, which is pretty much an homage to Hallmark Christmas Movies and Babysitters’ Club, and Dance Academy.

*GASP – who loves that title?!