Because There Is No Polite Way Of Asking a Handsome Gentleman If He Sent a Magical Wooden Man To Kill You: My Regency paranormal release, A Woman of Proper Accomplishments

Helena Preston, the eldest daughter of a Bedfordshire gentleman, would rather risk spinsterhood than marry a man unwilling to accept her for who she is, much to the consternation of her mother and sister. She feels marrying an ugly or poor husband would be a mere inconvenience; marrying an irritable fool would be a genuine tragedy. Intrigued more with books and scholarship than finding a husband, the young woman has yet to attract any interest from eligible bachelors.

Joseph Morgan is a scholar who studies spiritus, the rare ability to imbue life into objects. With his arrival, Helena finds herself in the delightful position of having the attention of a handsome, educated gentleman of status, but she begins to worry Mr. Morgan is more interested in seduction than marriage. Soon after meeting the scholar, an unfortunate encounter with a sinister highwayman ends in rescue by the stoic and handsome Captain Thomas Southward.

As bothersome as juggling the attention of two potential suitors can be, Helena is still the target of a criminal. When evidence suggests her assailant is a wooden man created by spiritus, Mr. Morgan falls under suspicion. Unfortunately, she can think of no polite way to accuse a gentleman of sending a pile of animated wood to kill her.

A Woman of Proper Accomplishments is currently available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, iTunes/iBooks and Kobo.

A Gruesome Vision of Murder: An interview with paranormal thriller author John "Rocky" Leonard

1) Please tell us about your book. 

Dan Harper is a computer programmer, not a cop or a private detective. When he has a vision of a gruesome crime, he struggles to decide whether to try and ignore what he saw, or dismiss it as a hallucination. He’s a rational man, a family man, with a pregnant wife and a full plate at home and work. The last thing he wants or needs to do is to get involved in a murder investigation, but he soon discovers he doesn’t have much choice but to investigate these visions himself to either put his own mind at rest, or gather clues to provide the police.

2) Please give us some insight into the mind of your lead, Dan Harper. 

Dan is just a regular guy who likes his job, the competition of playing tennis, and being married to his wife. He’s very pragmatic and reason-oriented. With an analytical mind used to solving problems in computer software, Dan is accustomed to figuring out complex problems rather easily. He’s always looking for the most logical solution to any problem. When things begin to happen that don’t seem to make any sense and for which he has no explanation, considerable conflict erupts between Dan’s rational mind and his senses. He knows what his eyes see and his ears hear, but can’t explain why he’s experiencing these strange and violent visions.

3) What inspired this book?

My own personal experience with the paranormal, particularly with ghosts inspired Secondhand Sight, as well as an interview with Detective Joe Kozenczak, the man who arrested serial killer John Wayne Gacy. In the interview and his book The Chicago Killer, Kozenczak credited a pair of psychics with providing him critical information that led to Gacy’s capture. So I thought, what if the murder victims of a serial killer communicated with a psychic in order to help catch the murderer? What if the psychic didn’t know he was gifted prior to this particular case?

In some respects, there was actually more of a basis in reality for Secondhand Sight than Coastal Empire.

4) Different sub-genres tend to tolerate different levels of depicted violence. In your book, you don't shy away from depicting violence. How did you decide what to show and what not to show?

While I didn’t want to disturb people unnecessarily, I must confess the inspiration for some of the descriptions of man’s inhumanity to man didn’t come from dramatized shows like CSI, but instead documentary-styled programs where very bad things happened to real people. I’ve observed enough of reality to conclude that if anything, truth is often worse than fiction, and most certainly stranger. I do not believe that the true nature of evil should be sugarcoated—good people ought to know what they are up against.

There really are people like Clayton in this world, unfortunately.

5) Your previous book, Coastal Empire, was a more conventional suspense book in that it didn't have any paranormal elements. Were there any particular challenges you faced writing Secondhand Sight, related to the paranormal elements, that you didn't face with Coastal Empire?

If anything, Secondhand Sight was easier to write because my own personal experiences were borrowed from for the story. I really do believe that ghosts exist, because of personal experience. One or two incidents might have been rationalized away, but I had too many strange experiences, often witnessed, to deny the supernatural. With Coastal Empire, the idea was nothing more than a seed that grew into a plot, so it was actually tougher to write. I had to make up more stuff.

6) Genre is always a nebulous thing, but, contrary to what some might argue, it also brings with it a certain amount of tradition and associated expectations. Do you feel the inclusion of supernatural elements into your narrative puts it into a separate literary tradition compared to mysteries and suspense books that don't include such elements?

That’s a very good question. Yes, it’s very hard to classify the book and mention similar works, if nothing else. Dean Koontz and Ted Dekker are the only authors that readily come to mind, when asked for a comparative reference.

With all fiction, the author is asking the reader to suspend his or her disbelief, as long as we adhere to an unwritten code that demands we strive for realism as much as possible. I think it’s very important for my readers to know that Hidden Hills really is an abandoned golf course, and I spent hours and hours wandering around…I wanted someone who happened to follow in my footsteps to see what I saw. So believability for the reader is very important to me. With paranormal elements, that’s not so easy to do.

In a rather conventional action-adventure detective novel like Coastal Empire, it’s not that difficult to wander around Bonaventure Cemetery and see the tombstones and crypts I described, and I wanted the reader tempted to look for the bullet holes marking the gunfight there. It’s a little harder for people to envision what a ghost might look like, or how a psychic might receive information from unconventional sources. The burden is a little harder on the writer to convince the reader to suspend disbelief. Although I’ve certainly witnessed paranormal activity, I can’t exactly claim that I’ve seen a ghost. I did see an orb at a legitimate haunted house, once. Some people just don’t believe in ghosts—heck, I didn’t always believe in them myself. To this day, I still have had no personal experience with psychics, and would not have considered it possible had I not watched the Kozenczak interview.

So, when someone asks me to classify Secondhand Sight as a horror novel or a detective thriller, the temptation is for me to say something along the lines, “Imagine if Dean Koontz and Michael Connelly co-wrote a novel…”

7) Please tell us about your literary influences.

I am a rather voracious reader in general, but I really love detective novels and thrillers. If you get me started on science fiction, I can literally start with Asimov and go to Zelazny without picking a favorite author. My favorite detective novelists include Michael Connelly, Nelson DeMille, T. Jefferson Parker, Michael Crichton, Dean Koontz, Jeffery Deaver, John Sandford, Thomas Harris among others.

If you asked me specifically by what standard I’d like to eventually measure my work, I think the Michaels—Connelly and Crichton, are about as good as it gets.

8) Please share with us a bit about some of your other projects.

I use the pseudonym Rocky Leonard for my novels so readers can easily differentiate my fiction from my nonfiction writing. I’ve written a book called Divine Evolution, my attempt to reconcile creation with evolution theory, and another that’s going to be called Counterarguments for God. The draft hasn’t been given to my editor yet. I also wrote a collection of short stories about our adventures in animal rescue, called Always a Next One.

My next project as Rocky, currently in rewrite, is the sequel to Coastal Empire, with the working title of Purgatory.

9) Do you have  any excerpts you'd like to share?

Here are a couple of short excerpts. If those don’t work for you, let me know.

***

I looked into the mirror and gasped. Blood splatters covered the glass, obscuring my reflection in the mirror. My hands felt warm and sticky. Reluctantly, I looked down and saw to my horror that they were covered in wet blood. It was all over me. My mind reeled. Bile rose in my throat. I looked around frantically for the source of the spreading crimson stains. Did I cut myself? I felt no pain.

***

It happened on the way home from the hospital. I must have blacked out behind the wheel. I remembered turning right onto Alpharetta Highway heading home, and then I snapped out of a trance and found myself parked with the engine shut off in front of a strange, dark house on an unfamiliar street, nowhere near my neighborhood.

How in the hell did I get here?

*** 

Thanks for stopping by.

Contact information:

Web site - www.southernprose.com
Email – john@southernprose.com

Purchase links:

Amazon | Barnes and Noble

-----

John L. Leonard was born in Savannah, Georgia and graduated from Savannah Christian School. He holds a BBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Georgia and worked as a computer programmer for more than twenty years before becoming a writer.

John has spent most of his adult life in the northern suburbs of Atlanta. His writing has also been influenced by shorter stints working as a bartender, real estate investor and landlord.

He has been married to wife Lisa for twenty-one years and is the proud father of two and grandfather of three, as well as pack leader for several wonderful dogs and a hostile Maine Coon cat.

His first non-fiction book was published in 2010.

John writes detective novels under the pen name Rocky Leonard. His first detective thriller was published in 2012.

The local color in his writing is equally authentic whether the setting is a Georgia beach, downtown Atlanta, or the Appalachian foothills in north Georgia.

Two Detectives Are Better Than One: An interview with mystery writer Lauren Carr

Today I'm talking with mystery writer Lauren Carr about her cross-over mystery Shades of Murder.

 -----

1) Please tell us about your book.

In Shades of Murder, Mac Faraday is once again the heir to an unbelievable fortune. This time the benefactor is a stolen art collector. But this isn’t just any stolen work-of-art—it’s a masterpiece with a murder attached to it.

Ilysa Ramsay was in the midst of taking the art world by storm with her artistic genius. Hours after unveiling her latest masterpiece—she is found dead in her Deep Creek Lake studio—and her painting is nowhere to be found. Almost a decade later, the long lost Ilysa Ramsay masterpiece has found its way into Mac Faraday’s hands and he can’t resist the urge to delve into the case.

A world away, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; former JAG lawyer Joshua Thornton agrees to do a favor for the last person he would ever expect to do a favor—a convicted serial killer. The Favor: Solve the one murder wrongly attributed to him.

 Joshua finds an unexpected ally in Cameron Gates, a spunky detective who has reason to believe the young woman known to the media only as Jane Doe, Victim Number Four, was the victim of a copycat. Together, Joshua and Cameron set out to light a flame under the cold case only to find that someone behind the scenes wants the case to remain cold, and is willing to kill to keep it that way.

Little do these detectives know that the paths of their respective cases are on a collision course when they follow the clues to bring them together in a showdown with a killer who’s got a talent for murder!

2) Please tell us about your two detectives. How are they different? How are they similar?

Mac Faraday is a homicide detective whose wife leaves him and takes everything. On the day his divorce becomes final, he inherits $270 million dollars and an estate on Deep Creek Lake from his birth mother, world famous mystery writer Robin Spencer, the American version of Agatha Christie. Upon her death, it is revealed that she had a baby out of wedlock as a teenager. That baby grew up to be homicide detective.

Having grown up in a middle class family, and being an underpaid detective, Mac is still in awe of his windfall. He remains grounded, even though he is surrounded by wealth and extravagance. Having a cunning sense of humor, he is even amused by the lifestyles of his rich and famous neighbors.

Joshua Thornton is a contrast to Mac. The Joshua Thornton Mysteries were my first books. I was in a different chapter of my life which is reflected in Joshua’s character. A single father of a large family, Joshua is more serious than Mac Faraday, who jokingly thinks of himself as a millionaire playboy. Mac is more humorous than Joshua.

Following his wife’s death, Joshua Thornton leaves a promising career in the U. S. Navy’s JAG division to move across country with his five children into his ancestral home, which is a small country town in West Virginia.

Both Mac and Joshua are honorable men of integrity who always try to do the right thing.

Readers familiar with Joshua are going to find that he lightens up in the Lovers in Crime Mysteries. Now that his children are growing up and he has more independence, he is free to embark in a new romance with detective Cameron Gates. The first installment in this series is Dead on Ice, which will be out this fall.

3) Why did you decide to create a cross-over of your two mystery series?

I had been asked by fans of the Joshua Thornton Mysteries to bring Joshua back. So I decided to include him into this Mac Faraday mystery. Since Joshua and Mac don’t know each other, I had to come up with two murder mysteries that, on the surface, don’t appear to be connected, and then bring them together. Coming up with this puzzle was not only a challenge, but a lot of fun.

4) What's your favorite part of writing mysteries?

The creation of the puzzle. I view a mystery as a story puzzle. The mystery writer puts together the murder mystery, complete with the characters, their separate agendas, evidence, and clues. Then, the writer takes it all apart and scatters it throughout a story that takes the reader on a thrilling adventure of mystery.

5) What got you interested in writing mysteries?

I fell in love with mysteries when my mother read Perry Mason to me at bedtime. She loves murder mysteries and devours them. As a matter of fact, the libraries in and around Chester, West Virginia, have mysteries brought in from other libraries for her because she’s read all they have in stock.

Out of four children, I’m the only one who inherited her love for mysteries books. Like her, I would inhale every mystery I could get my hands on, but I felt writing mysteries would be too difficult to tackle. However, eventually, the mysteries that I was reading ceased to be challenging enough. That was when I started writing my own mysteries with lots of twists and turns to challenge the reader.

6) Do you have any authors who influenced you?

Having grown up on the masters, I definitely look to Agatha Christie and Earl Stanley Gardner. I also like the twisting plotlines of Tess Gerritsen.

7) Mysteries have remained a consistently popular genre for the entire history of mass market popular literature. Why do you think that is?

Mysteries cover a broad genre, which encompasses a wide range of sub genres. What makes this genre so great is that it is flexible enough to change with the times. The genre is not confined by time period or technology. It has the capabilities of growing with our society, which makes it every changing.

For example, when science came to the forefront in crime solving, then mystery writers easily adapted. A whole new subgenre grew out of that to include forensics detectives.

8) Do you think reader expectations have changed throughout the decades?

Most definitely. Readers, especially die-hard mystery fans, are quite sophisticated, and are becoming more so with the Internet, which has put scientific information at readers fingertips.

As a result, mystery writers must keep up with science and technology in law enforcement and the courts, because our readers do. An author can’t write a mystery that completely ignores forensics anymore, unless they create a situation where it is not available, like a period piece where the story happens before forensics came to the forefront, or set in a remote location where it is unavailable.

9) What other mysteries do you have planned for these detectives in the future, either separate or together?

I’m starting a new series called the Lovers in Crime mysteries. Coming this fall, Dead on Ice introduces a new series featuring Joshua Thornton and Cameron Gates. In Dead on Ice, Pennsylvania State homicide detective Cameron Gates is tasked with solving the murder of a porn star whose mummified remains are found in an abandoned freezer in Joshua’s cousin’s basement.

It doesn’t take long for their investigation to reveal that the risqué Hollywood legend’s roots were buried in their small rural town, something that she had kept off her show business bio. She should have kept it off her road map, too. Because when this starlet came running home from the mob in 1985, it proved to be a fatal homecoming.

For this book tour, I am holding a contest for readers to name the female porn star found in the freezer. Not only are they to supply the stage name the star used in her films, but her real name from her childhood in the Chester, West Virginia/Pittsburgh area. The winner will receive all three Deep Creek Lake mysteries, plus a print edition of Dead on Ice upon its release, as well as a Lovers in Crime coffee mug. Contest is running from June 1-July 31.

Readers are to submit their entries to me via e-mail: writerlaurencarr@ comcast.net. Subject line is to read Name the Porn Star. Be sure to include your name, e-mail address, and mailing address. The winner will be decided by me and my muses (my two dogs).

I am also working on the next book in the Mac Faraday Mysteries. In Flash from the Past, Mac (and readers) finds out about Archie Monday’s past.

10) Please tell us about your other previous works.

I wrote my first book after giving up my writing career to be a stay-at-home mom. The first installment in the Joshua Thornton mysteries, A Small Case of Murder was a finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Award.

A Small Case of Murder is set in the quaint West Virginia town of Chester, where everyone knows everyone, and there is never a secret that someone doesn’t know. While clearing out the attic after moving into the family homestead, Joshua’s children find a letter written to their grandmother postmarked 34 years ago.

In the letter Lulu Jefferson wrote “…Remember that dead body we found in the Bosley barn?...I saw him today…I went to talk to the reverend and there was his picture on the wall.” What dead body? His interest piqued, Joshua asks about Lulu and finds that in 1970 she died on the same day that she penned the letter implicating the pastor in an unreported murder. There is much more to this story than a 34-year-old letter. It’s a 34-year-old mystery!

Today, a double murder has the whole town under a microscope. The state attorney general appoints Joshua special prosecutor to solve the crimes. In a small town where gossip flies as swiftly as a spring breeze it is impossible to know who to trust. Asking simple questions about events long ago could prove to be deadly for Joshua and his family.

The second installment in the Joshua Thornton Mysteries was A Reunion to Die For. Prosecutor Joshua Thornton becomes the prime suspect in the murder of Gail Reynolds. Gail returns to Chester to investigate a classmate’s death, only to spark a murder spree in which she becomes one of the victims.

In 2010, I released the first installment of the Mac Faraday Mysteries, It’s Murder, My Son, which takes place in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. It’s Murder, My Son and Old Loves Die Hard have been getting rave reviews from readers and reviewers. Since its release in May, Shades of Murder has been receiving rave reviews.

-----

Thanks, Lauren.

If you want to see more from Lauren, she can be found at:

http://mysterylady.net/ 

E-Mail: writerlaurencarr@comcast.net Blog: Literary Wealth: http://literarywealth.wordpress.com/
Website: http://acornbookservices.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lauren.carr.984991
Gnarly’s Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/GnarlyofMacFaradayMysteries
Twitter: @TheMysteryLadie

Shades of Murder can be purchased at Amazon.

Curious Kids and Middle Grade Mystery: An interview with Christian middle grade author Dana Rongione

Today I'm talking with Christian middle grade mystery author Dana Rongione about her book, The Delaware Detectives.


-----

1) Please tell us about your book.

The Delaware Detectives is a Christian mystery for readers between the ages of 8 and 14 (although younger and older readers can certainly enjoy it as well).  It is the story of Abby and Jamie Patterson, who spend the summer with their grandfather (Pop-Pop) in Delaware and discover an old stamp collection that contains a clue to a hidden treasure.  The problem is that no one is sure if the treasure truly exists or not because the clue was left by a crazy old woman.  The story is filled with hidden clues, secret passageways and strange creatures, but subtly woven into the mix are moral lessons about honesty and getting along with our brothers and sisters.

2) What was your inspiration for writing this book?

As a child, my brother, sister and I spent many hours exploring my grandfather's attic.  It held such wonders, and I don't think I'll ever get over the excitement of discovering unique items that I had never seen before.  The book actually began as an assignment for one of the courses I was taking with The Institute of Children's Literature.  As I thought about what to write for a children's fiction novel, the memories of my grandfather's attic came to me.  I figured if I enjoyed the mysteries contained in that attic, maybe other children would too.

3) Tell about your two lead characters.

Abby is a headstrong young girl, stuck in the age of no longer being a child, but not yet being a woman.  She is a perfectionist, a reader and a history lover.  Everything she does is organized and well-planned.  She loves her brother but tires of his immature antics and feels she no longer has much in common with him now that she is "grown up".  She has a tender heart and truly desires to please.

Jamie is a typical young boy.  He is fun of energy and grandiose ideas.  He is eager for attention and will often do whatever it takes to gain that attention.  In the process, he tends to drive others crazy.  He is fun-loving and smart, although he'd much prefer to watch television or play video games rather than sit down and read a book.  Deep down, he's a good kid.  He's just struggling to find a way to fit in.

4) What was your favorite part of writing this book?

Reliving old memories was such a thrill.  Since the story was based on my childhood days in my grandfather's attic, I was able to mentally re-visit my childhood.  I saw the room where my sister and I once stayed.  I felt the cool air as I made my way up the narrow steps.  I pictured that creepy, stuffed owl that hung on the wall and seemed to stare at me no matter where I went.  I recalled how we crawled into the stuffy attic through the little white paneled door and stared in wonder at the many items surrounding us.  Having the opportunity to put these memories on paper was a rewarding experience.

5) Kids often complain about adults not understanding them. You've written an entire book with children as the main characters. How did you go about developing their psychology? Was it difficult to write from a younger perspective?

For starters, I based my two main characters on real people:  my niece and nephew.  That helped to really flesh out their characters and to be certain that I wasn't getting too "adult" in my dialogue or descriptions.  Another thing that helped is that I taught kindergarten and first grade for nine years before becoming a writer.  Additionally, I've worked with our church youth for a number of years, so I am well-acquainted with how children think, talk and act.  It was just a matter of putting that knowledge on paper.

6) Do you have any sequels planned?

My initial plan was to end the book in such a way that I could go either way with it -- have a sequel or just leave it as a stand alone book.  However, since its release, I've received a number of requests for the next book, so it looks like there will be at least one sequel.


7) With all the myriad activities out there for young people these days, it can sometimes be hard to get them to read. What do you think parents can do to get their children more interested in reading?

That's an excellent question.  The first thing parents can do is read themselves.  Children are watching, and in many ways, they are going to mimic the behavior of their parents.  If the parents are always filling their time with other things (television, games, computers, etc.), the children will do the same.  It's important for children to see adults reading and getting excited about reading.  One thing I always did in my classroom was to read to my students, and often I would read a book that was beyond their reading level.  Before beginning the book, however, I would tell them a little about it and describe some of my favorite parts.  By the time I was done, they couldn't wait for me to read to them, and when we'd reach the chapter's end, I always received requests like "Please, can't we read just one more."

Another thing parents can do is to allow children to choose their own books as long as those books are acceptable to the parents.  (Note to the parents:  Always know what your child is reading, and if at all possible, read it before your child does!)  Children who are forced to read stories in which they have no interest will quickly learn to dislike reading altogether.  Parents should take advantage of the library and bookstores and surround their children with good literature.  Instead of buying a new toy or video game, how about a book?

-----

Thanks, Dana.

If you'd like to see more from Dana, check her site out at http://www.danarongione.com/.

The Delaware Detectives can be purchased at Amazon.

Tropical paradises are the perfect places for murder: An interview with thriller and mystery author Mike Meyer

Today I'm talking with Mike Meyer about his Caribbean mystery/thriller, DEADLY EYES.


-----

1) Please tell us about your book. 

DEADLY EYES is a haunting Caribbean mystery. James Cuffy, better known as Cuff, is living in paradise with his girlfriend, on the small Caribbean island of St. Croix, where the sky is as blue as Cuff's eyes, the ocean as pretty as Rosie's cheeks, where the gentle lapping of the waves is a lullaby, and the swaying of the palm trees is a dance. The sandy beaches are as white as sugar, and the horizon is a world away. St. Croix indeed is paradise, the perfect place for living, laughing, and loving. 
But the sandy beaches and the turquoise sea can provide no cover from the deadly eyes of the unknown stalker pursuing Cuff. Murder leads to murder as he attempts to untangle the terrible web in which he has suddenly become entangled. 

The twists and turns are relentless, the roads of the fast action leading in all directions, but time is running out, and Cuff, his faithful Rosie at his side, knows it.

2) What inspired this book? 


I was a professor of writing for four years at the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix campus. I fell in love with the Caribbean. It truly is American paradise. I have always loved a good mystery, especially one with never-ending twists, turns, and surprises. Local color is important to me, so I saw that placing a mystery on the romantic island of St. Croix was a win-win situation for me, since I am like a reader when I write, never quite knowing what will happen next.

3) The grimy decay of the urban jungle is often intimately associated with thrillers. You've gone a different direction. Why did you choose to set your book in the Caribbean? 


Reggae, calypso, swaying palms and sandy beaches provide such a terrifying contrast to the fact that a romantically linked couple is so brazenly stalked in such an idyllic setting, which sets the perfect tone for what I wanted to achieve in this mystery. Romance, beauty, and mystery are all intermingled in DEADLY EYES.

4) Ever have an opportunity to do a little on-site research in St. Croix? 


I spent four wonderful years as a college professor on the beautiful island of St. Croix. I love the island! I miss being there. The only research I needed was to make full use of my own memory bank, which is a storehouse of exciting moments personally experienced by this author. St. Croix is a part of me and always will be.



5) Did setting the book on a Caribbean island present any unexpected plot difficulties as you wrote the book? 


Since I know the island of St. Croix so well, having lived there, the setting posed no problems at all for me. In fact, the setting actually enhanced everything I was attempting to achieve. The local color is authentic, but the plot is my own creation, the bits and pieces falling into place as I dug deeper into the story.

6) Tell us about your lead, James "Cuff" Cuffy. 


Cuff is a laid-back sort of guy, a real looker, a guy who has come to live on the island to get away from some bad memories on the mainland. He and his girlfriend, Rosie, are both very strong individuals, and the repartee between them was quite enjoyable for me, the reader-writer, to observe. She is like Maureen O’Hara, the one woman who could actually stand up to John Wayne. The two actors were like magic on the screen together, and that is how I view the relationship Cuff has with Rosie. They are both caught up in something scary that they do not understand, but neither will slow down one iota in their quest for justice.



7) With several novels under your belt and decades of experience as a writing professor, you are hardly a neophyte when it comes to the written word. Can you tell us a little about your journey and career as a writer? 


I wrote my first book when I was ten years old. My parents bought the only copy, paying me a dollar. I have continued to write my entire life. My study was filled with unfinished manuscripts, begun, discarded, and then restarted over the years, so the year before I retired, I had all the bits and pieces word processed for me, so that when I retired, having all the time in the world to devote to one of my lifelong passions, writing, I could do so. And that is what I have done. I now have four novels published on Amazon Kindle, and the fifth is well on its way. I hope to keep writing until I die. It is my favorite avocation. I only wish I could have retired years ago.

8) Please tell us briefly about your other works.


COVERT DREAMS is an international thriller set primarily in both Munich and Saudi Arabia, two other places I have lived. It, like DEADLY EYES, is a novel of suspense that takes place in colorful settings. THE FAMOUS UNION is a rollicking romp through the halls of academia, where the often-eccentric characters are forced to cope in an atmosphere where compromise is a four-letter word. One reviewer said that the characters would make good case studies for a psych class. I like that. THE SURVIVAL OF MARVIN BAINES is about a loving husband and father, who, at midlife, suddenly begins to find his life unraveling. He wants escape, but instead he gets something altogether unexpected.


-----


Thanks, Mike.


DEADLY EYES is available at Amazon.

Sugar and Spice And Not So Nice: An interview with paranormal mystery author Janet McNulty

Today I'm talking with Janet McNulty about her paranormal mystery, Sugar And Spice And Not So Nice.
-----

1) Please tell us about your book.

Sugar And Spice And Not So Nice centers on the character of Mellow Summers. She moves to Vermont with her friend Jackie and together they get an apartment that has very cheap rent. After moving in, Mellow discovers that her apartment is haunted by a ghost. The ghost’s name is Rachel and she was murdered a year earlier. Unfortunately she does not remember who killed her. So, she enlists Mellow’s help in solving her murder.

Mellow reluctantly helps Rachel. Partly because she’ll never get any peace if she doesn’t. As the story progresses, Mellow gets into tense situations, mostly due to Rachel’s interference. However, she manages to escape with Rachel’s help as well. Together, they discover the identity of Rachel’s killer and then have to set out and prove that he committed the crime.

The book is a short mystery with a paranormal twist.

2) What was the inspiration for this book?


When I moved into my first apartment, I could swear that it was haunted. Strange things happened that I couldn’t explain. When I told a friend about it they said, "Oh, you have a ghost.” I wasn’t thrilled at the time and I was never able to prove it. But, life moved on and I changed my residence.

Much later I came up with the title for a book but couldn’t figure out what to make it about. One day, my friend reminded me about my first apartment and that’s when it hit me. Right then was when I decided to turn this into a mystery about a ghost.

3) Tell us about how you developed your protagonist, Mellow.

A lot of mysteries center on teenagers or middle-aged characters, so I decided to make Mellow more college age, but put her in her mid-twenties. I decided to make her a very simple person who loves her jeans and t-shirts. I took elements of people I knew and put them into Mellow’s personality to make her a well-rounded person that people can relate to.

4) Why did you choose to set the story in Vermont?

Pure chance really. I needed a setting, so I took out a map of the United States, closed my eyes, and pointed. Vermont was where my finger landed, so that was where I set the story.

5) Your book rests on a murder mystery, but the protagonist has an unusual advantage: the ghost of the victim. Can you tell us a little about how this led to challenges with maintaining the mystery and how you dealt with them?

A big challenge to maintaining a mystery is when you have the ghost of the murder victim. To keep it interesting, I decided to make Rachel have amnesia and she slowly gets her memory back as the story progresses. This way, I could have my reader guessing a bit as Mellow tries tp put the pieces together by exploring Rachel’s old haunts. (No pun intended).

6) What do you feel is the most important aspect of a mystery?

The most important aspect is when Rachel gets her memory back completely. Then, Mellow and her friends are stuck trying to prove that the murderer killed Rachel. And her murder happened a year earlier, so whatever evidence there was is gone. This is when the story turns from being a who done it to a catch the bad guy.

7) Can you tell us about some of your other work?

I have a novel that I published in August 2011 under the pen name of Nova Rose. The book is called Legends Lost Amborese. This book is a fantasy adventure novel that I started in high school and finished after graduating from college. It was one of those things I wrote and rediscovered years later in a drawer.

The story of Amborese focuses on a girl of about 20 years of age named Amborese. She is the lost heir to a throne that has sat empty for centuries. Naturally, she discovers this fact when her parents are murdered, but is reluctant to accept it at first because of what it means if she does. In an effort to discover who she really is, she embarks on an adventure to travel to the far side of the kingdom with her friend Zolo and a talking cat that is very forthcoming with her opinions.

Along the way, Amborese encounters many dangers and even makes a few friends as she develops the skills necessary to claim the throne. She also learns that the kingdom is in disarray as several factions have formed fight among themselves. It is her job to unite them. Amborese is also relentlessly pursued by a man named Clymorus who wishes to claim the throne for himself and seeks to kill her before she takes up her birth right.

Legends Lost Amborese is the first book in a proposed trilogy. I am currently finishing up the second book titled Legends Lost Tesnayr and should be released before the end of summer 2012.

I am also writing a sequel to Sugar And Spice And Not So Nice. This I hope to have published before the end of 2012. It is called Frogs, Snails And A Lot Of Wails. Mellow and her friends will be back with a new ghost to solve another mystery.

I have even published a nonfiction book, Illogical Nonsense. This is more of a political commentary book.

All are available on Amazon.

----

Thanks, Janet.

Sugar and Spice And Not So Nice can be purchased at Amazon.

Some Wounds Never Heal: An interview with historical thriller author Tim Ashby

Today, I'm talking with Tim Ashby. Tim's had a varied career including working as a counter-terrorism analyst and assisting in privatization projects in Central and Eastern Europe.

His novel, Devil's Den, is a nested historical thriller taking place in the 1920s but also including elements from the American Civil War.

-----

1) Tell us about your book.

In Devil’s Den, the 1923 murder of a Civil War veteran leaves a trail of conspiracy, cover-up and corruption stretching from the Battle of Gettysburg to the halls of the Harding-era Congress and the fledgling Bureau of Investigation (precursor to the FBI). Someone is killing elderly Civil War veterans and BI agent Seth Armitage must discover what links the victims in order to find the killer, unaware that the investigation is being manipulated by the Bureau's corrupt director Harry M. Daugherty (real-life Attorney General in the tainted Harding Administration) and a shadowy member of the Senate. Providing a Machiavellian counterweight to the plot is the BI's ambitious assistant director J. Edgar Hoover. The case draws Virginia-born Armitage, haunted by his memories of World War I France, to the site of the bloody battlefield where his grandfathers fought for the Confederacy. Armitage uncovers a conspiracy that goes to the highest levels of government. Devil’s Den shows the absurdity of Prohibition, the violence and racial injustice of the resurgent Ku Klux Klan, and the unparalleled corruption that pervaded the Harding government. As such, the "Devil's Den" of the title works on two levels, referring both to the rocky corner of the Gettysburg killing fields and Washington of the Roaring Twenties.

2) When people think of thrillers with political elements, they tend to think of more modern settings, not the 1920s. Even the core canon of the hard-boiled detective genre is a bit more contemporary than your setting. What drew you to this time period?


The decade of the1920s was a time of great social and technological change, and was a fascinating “bridge” between America’s (and the world’s) agrarian past and the “modern” era. The decade is filled with famous and infamous characters, as well as a number of real “history’s mysteries” which my hero, Seth Armitage, will investigate.

3) The juxtaposition of the 1920s and Civil War elements is unusual. Why did you choose to intertwine the Civil War in your plot?


My family has strong ties to the Civil War and northern Virginia (where scenes of the book are set). I was influenced by childhood stories from relatives whose parents and grandparents served in the conflict. The interlocking conspiracies in Devil’s Den – separated by 60 years – are based on real events. Many Civil War veterans were alive in the 1920s, and some were still active in the US government and business.

4) Often when doing historical research, authors stumble upon something they didn't expect. Did you have any experiences like this?

I had not previously grasped the magnitude of corruption within the Harding administration, or the national extent and power of the Ku Klux Klan - which was not confined to the Old South. I was also struck by the rapid growth of new technologies. We think that we live in an era of rapid technological change, but between 1918 and 1923, telephones, radios, motion pictures, and automobiles were adopted at exponential growth rates. Closed cabin passenger and cargo airplanes were also in use – I feature one in Devil’s Den!

5) Even if one ignores the over-the-top technology one occasionally sees on some television police procedurals, it's hard to escape the association of forensics and advanced data mining techniques with investigation. Did you find it challenging to explore investigation in this story absent many of the technologies and procedures now taken for granted by law enforcement?

In Devil’s Den, I show the resistance to new forensic investigatory techniques. For example, my protagonist, Seth Armitage, an advocate of using fingerprints, clashes with a rural sheriff who considers such methods akin to witchcraft. Throughout the book, I demonstrate the Bureau of Investigation’s use of 1920s “leading edge” forensics techniques. Regardless of what one may think of J. Edgar Hoover – and he is portrayed as a Machiavellian character in the book – I give him credit for being a staunch advocate of such investigatory technologies.

6) Hartley declared that "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." That being said, it's often striking how little we moderns do differ from our ancestors. Although no one can deny that striking changes have taken place in the United States over the past ninety years, there are many aspects that seem to have changed little if not at all. In what ways do you think 1920s America was the same, if not very similar, to modern America?

As I have discussed on my author blog at www.timashby.com, xenophobia was widespread in 1920s America and it seems to be returning today. In the USA of 90 years ago, young people were similarly fascinated by technology, cars, airplanes, fashion trends, movie stars and sports.

7) People often tend to grow attached to the protagonist in mysteries and thrillers. Should we expect a sequel?

Yes. Devil’s Den is intended to be the first in a series. The sequel, In Shadowland (the title is from a popular 1925 son), is my current work in progress.

-----

Thanks, Tim. If you'd like to see more from Tim, please check out his website  http://timashby.com/.

Devil's Den can be purchased in physical or electronic form from Amazon or physical form from Barnes and Noble.

A lovable screw-up as an unlikely detective: An interview with mystery writer Kat Jorgensen

Today I'm talking with mystery writer Kat Jorgensen about her humorous mystery book, Your Eight O'Clock Is Dead.


-----

1) Tell us about your book.

A lovable screw-up finds a patient murdered in the psychiatric firm’s waiting room where she works. Convinced the bad publicity from the murder will cause the demise of the fledgling firm, she appoints herself unofficial investigator and finds a host of quirky characters who could have done it. But can she solve the crime, bring the killer to justice, save her job - and maybe even her life - before the murderer strikes again?



2) What inspired this book?

My husband and I had been through some major health challenges and up until then I was writing romantic suspense. Dark and scary stories. After all we’d been through, I decided I wanted to switch genres and have some light-hearted fun killing people and solving the murders. Out of this came my main character, Becca Reynolds. Becca is a lot like me. A younger, thinner version of me with much better hair.

She holds a job very similar to one I once held. As I came up with her personality traits and quirks, I also asked myself what would happen if this character was running late and chattering away and all the while a dead person was sitting in the office. And my imagination took it from there.

3) Mystery remains one of the most popular genres of fiction. What do you think is responsible for its continuing appeal?

I believe there are a lot of readers who love a good whodunit. They love to go along with the story and try to solve the case. It appeals to the natural curiosity in all of us.

4) What do you think forms the core of a good mystery?

For me it’s proper motivation. I want to believe the reason the killer did it was a genuinely good reason and not just there for a plot twist or surprise. It’s important to play fair with the reader. Plant the clues and allow them to have a chance to solve the murder.

One of the few times I’ve been truly upset at reading a book was when a writer failed to solve the case by the end of the book! She had threads continuing on to other books in the series, and I can certainly understand that, but she didn’t solve the murders in that book. After reading over 300 pages, I wanted to know. I didn’t want to wait until the next book in the series. In fact, I didn’t buy the next book even though up until then I’d read all of the previous books.

In The River City Mysteries, I have many unanswered questions about the characters and their interconnections and back stories. These will be answered in future books as I develop the characters. But I always solve the murders and try to play fair with the reader.

5) Mystery runs the range from deadly serious to wacky fun. Why did you choose to create a humorous story?

It was purely selfish. I wanted to laugh and have fun while I was writing. What did I love to read? The early Stephanie Plum books made me laugh out loud. I wanted to create a world where the reader could lose themselves for a period of time in a cute story where there are misadventures, but there’s still a happy ever after ending. Well, for everyone except the murderer.

Since readers have given me lots of positive feedback that this book reminds them of the early Evanovich books, I think I was successful in what I set out to achieve. I love that I can make people forget their troubles and have a good laugh. That is just the best feeling.

6) Did you find it hard to balance the humor and mystery elements?

Actually, I don’t think I thought much about it while I was writing. This book flowed and even though I went back through the manuscript several times to layer, I really didn’t change the basic structure of the book.

My personal favorite scene in the book is the camera scene. I still laugh out loud every time I read it. But it comes at a time in the story when I could have continued to let the story deepen and grow dark. To keep the tone of the book light, I decided to write a funny scene rather than a more serious one.

As I’m writing the next book in the series, Your Time Is Up, I do have to plan for serious vs. funny scenes, but I think it’s just part of Becca and my personality to know when it’s needed.

7) You've created a quirky, likable heroine with Becca. How many books do you have planned for the series?

I know there’ll be at least 6. I need that many to do all that I want to with the character development and growth. As I mentioned, I’m writing book 2 now and hope to have it out in the spring or early summer. And I have book 3 (Your Lights Are Out) plotted out. I’ve brainstormed book 4 (as yet untitled) and I know once I work more on that book, I’ll figure out the future books. I do know how I want the series to end. So it could be 6 books, but I think it’ll be more like nine. I’ll keep going as long as I’m having fun and the readers are enjoying my work.

-----

Thanks for stopping by, Kat.

You can see more from Kat at her blog at www.katjorgensen.com.

You can purchase Your Eight O'Clock Is Dead at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Author Interview: Lindsay Downs on Emily Cahill, CID Part 1

Today I'm interviewing Lindsay Downs, who specializes in military-themed mysteries and romantic thrillers. We're discussing her mystery novelette collection, Emily Cahill, CID Part 1.

Tell us about your collection.

For those not familiar with that particular unit, they’re the Army equivalent, only better, to the Navy NCIS.

The stories:

"Final Mission"

After being seriously wounded in a copter crash in Iraq, Sgt. Emily Dahill meets her new partner as she embarks on her new Army career as a CID agent. Who could this new partner be?

"A Body in the Snow"

Emily and her partner, Dakota, cross bullets with their most determined foe. Who will survive?

"Right Place, Wrong Day"

On leave to hang with friends Emily gets the surprise of her life.

"Dog on Fishing"

When it comes to knowing how to fish, and catch the big ones, never underestimate your partner. He might surprise you.

Your book is focused on military characters. How did you bring verisimilitude to your depictions of military characters? Many stories are notorious for their laughably incorrect depictions of military personnel?

As we all know or should know the military isn’t a joke. It’s serious and so I try to impart that feeling onto my readers. When the characters are in uniform I work hard at making them believable: what they do, say and how they act. There have been several movies made over the past ten or so years that are so totally inaccurate as to make them laughable. Not to mention there’s at least one show on a major network where the characters, solve the crime, but are constantly bickering or harassing each other. Totally unprofessional, both in the field or workplace.

What made you choose to develop Dakota, the dog, so much? What does that bring to some of these stories that they otherwise may have lacked?
 
Dakota is not just a dog. He’s a collie from the great Kebi’s first litter. Highly intelligent, intuitive but still able to have fun if the situation warrants it.

I wanted a different twist to my stories. Not that I don’t put enough twists and turns in already. With Dakota he can help take the story/investigation to a different, quite frequently a comic, level. After all, collies have a different, sometimes strange, way of doing things.

Most authors will partner two people but I wanted something unique. Someone that would stand out in the readers mind. I first introduced a collie, Kebi, in my romantic thriller, Target Identified. She was partnered with Alison and in the end was instrumental in the rescue of her father and fiancée. So with the Emily Dahill, CID stories I decided to expand on the role of the collie.

Do you feel the continued involvement of the United States in multiple overseas engagements might influence reader’s perceptions of your characters? Did you ever have any concern about writing about characters who have experience from such recent conflicts?

Let me start out by saying I support the women and men of the United States military. So much of what we hear on TV and read, either in the paper or on line, is only about the negative events involving our troops, the removal of Osama Be Laden aside. When do we hear the good our troops do for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Not often enough, if at all. As far as my readers perceptions being influenced, that I can’t answer. I will do my best to portray, Emily, her team and the soldiers in the most favorable light I can, unless they are the criminal.

How did you come up with Emily Dahill?

The short answer, the vivid imagination of a writer.

For the long answer you’d have to go and read all my books. There aren’t that many, yet, so no whining. In each one you’ll find the heroine is a powerful, not in strength but character and conviction, individual. Strong, independent yet at the same time caring. But, hurt someone she loves and watch out.

I developed the same traits in Emily. With that in mind, the next step was to find where she belonged in the Army. I have a minor character, Special Agent Thaddeus Dahill, CID, in Target Identified, and thought wouldn’t it be great if he had a daughter who followed in his footsteps. To give her a human quality, I gave her a fear of helicopters.

She is a constantly developing and evolving character. In each story you, the reader, will learn a little more about her. How she works. How she thinks. And her all important, especially to her team members, axioms of safety and preservation.

What got you started writing fiction?

I started writing with an eye toward being published in 2006, and got my first contract in 2008, and haven’t stopped.

What authors have influenced you?

I really couldn’t say that I’ve been influenced by any author in particular. I tend to read a wide variety of genres and authors.

Anything else you want to share with us?

I am in the process of working on Emily Dahill, CID Part 2. If things go according to plan, the book should be out in six to nine months, but in publishing, some things never go as planned.

-----

Thanks for sharing, Lindsay. Of course, as an Air Force veteran I think I'm honor-bound to insist that the OSI is better than both the NCIS and the CID.

You can find Emily Cahill, CID Part 1 at:

Astraea Press
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Bookstrand

For the next six months, all proceeds from the sale of her collection will be donated to the Japanese tsunami victims.

If you're interested in a virtual author signing on your e-book (ah, how things have changed so quickly), please visit http://kindlegraph.com/authors/ldowns2966.