I started writing because I had a personal story I wanted to tell, a Camilla Trinchieri (my real name) story that required years of research and a lot of bloodletting. I had to stop writing it when I realized I needed to travel to my birthplace, Prague, in order to continue. The visa took forever in coming and so, to keep my writing muscle in good shape, I wrote a mystery. The personal story and the mystery were very different. The former sad, serious, the mystery light and I hoped, fun. I couldn’t use the same name, but it was important for me to keep my Italian identity. For the first three books of The Trouble With mystery series, I used Trella Crespi, but at mystery conventions I couldn’t get used to people calling me Trella so when I changed publishers I became Camilla T. Crespi.

Trella Crespi retired years ago. Camilla T. Crespi is still having fun killing people, then finding the murderers. Camilla Trinchieri can kill too, but she likes to dig deeper.

Having two identities as a writer keeps me sane.