Mysterious Musings

Wise Words from Buddha

2012-01-24T19:32:00.005-07:00

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”

“You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

--Buddha

Now Reading

2012-01-23T21:47:00.001-07:00

My son insists, every time I finish one of the tomes in George R. R. Martin's series, that I immediately start the next. He has slipped STORM OF SWORDS onto my night table, so here I go again, back into the fascinating world of kings and knaves, swords and sinister secrets.

But I am ALSO reading Tom Knox's fascinating (and often sobering) mystery set in Laos, which calls back the atrocities perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge.

Both books make for edge-of-the-seat reading!

The Problem with Choices

2012-01-21T15:37:00.001-07:00

I have three new books on my side table.

I have three new downloads on my Kindle.

I have five friends waiting to play "Words with Friends" on Facebook.

I have two writing projects waiting for me to work on them.

I have family members who would like me to visit.

I have an empty refrigerator.

I have two videos from Netflix that have just been sitting there, making my monthly subscription fee seem unnecessary.

I have a husband and two sons with similar dilemmas.

I have this blog, on which I like to post things.

Life is rich and full, thanks in part to technology, but sometimes I wish there weren't so many options.

Now Reading

2012-01-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

Thomas Caplan's novel THE SPY WHO JUMPED OFF THE SCREEN is an intriguing story so far; I don't always read thrillers, but I thought the idea of an actor-turned spy was rather novel. Caplan attended Georgetown University with Bill Clinton, and in fact Clinton wrote the forward to this book.

Caplan's hero, Ty Hunter, seemingly has every ability needed for a top-notch spy (think Jason Bourne) and things are about to get nerve-wracking.

Back to my reading . . . .

The Value of Today

2012-01-08T18:22:00.001-07:00

"Do not dwell in the past
Do not dream of the future
Concentrate the mind on the present moment."

--Buddha

(photo: Lake Michigan at sunset, spring 2011).

Some Resolutions for 2012

2011-12-31T10:54:00.000-07:00

I don't believe the world will end in 2012 (no matter what the Mayans predicted), but I don't think it's a bad idea for me to live as though the world is ending. What changes might I make? Ironically, probably not that many.

1. I'll spend time with my family (which is what I do now--but perhaps I can make more of that time: really look at my sons and my husband and dialogue with them in a way that is not distracted).

2. I'll stop criticizing myself. If the world were ending, what would be the point? And if the world weren't ending, what would be the value?

3. I'll stop swearing. I don't do it constantly, but I do it under stress. It's a bad habit rather than an expression of just indignation. I need to let go of some crutches.

4. I'll still try to sleep eight hours a night. People who give up sleep remind me of those drivers who speed past me in traffic to end up waiting at the same red light that I reach seconds later. Losing sleep, I believe, takes off years in the long run. Besides, I love sleeping. Hamlet gave it a bad rap. :)

5. I'll try to make some wise financial decisions. I haven't been much good at this in the past, not being all that interested in any aspect of money aside from the spending of it. But the world is in a precarious financial situation, and I need to start being vigilant about all of my accounts (even if the world were ending, I wouldn't want someone taking advantage of me--as my bank has started doing of late).

6. I'm going to keep losing weight. This is always a good idea, apocalypse or not. :)

What are your resolutions for the new year?

A HAPPY 2012 to all!!

Pondering Voltaire as I Turn Older

2011-12-30T00:00:00.001-07:00

Happy birthday to me, Suzy Bogguss, Tracey Ullmann, Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, two of the Monkees (Davy and Michael), and the late Rudyard Kipling.

Today I will reflect on the words of Voltaire:

"God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well."

Since my birthday is on the cusp of the New Year, I am always mulling over the best ways to live well, and I continue to do so.

I'll start by having lunch with family--that's always a good way to spend my time. :)

Mark Stevens on the Toughness of Women, the Beauty of Colorado, and the Greed That Threatens the West

2011-12-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

Journalist Mark Stevens has written two books in the Allison Coil mystery series; his current title is BURIED BY THE ROAN, which is set on the Roan Plateau in Colorado.

Mark, I’m intrigued by your protagonist: Wonder Woman, The Bionic Woman—they’ve got nothing on Allison Coil, the earthy and unsinkable heroine who rides the trails. Is this an idealized woman, or are women in Colorado much hardier than those, say, in my town?

No question about it. I’ve met them. Allison is tough, unflappable and unafraid of a challenge and there are many out there just like her. I think the key to Allison is she doesn’t think of herself in any way that would require a pair of tights and a cape. She has taken to the woods and the wilderness and finding a way to get things done is just, quite simply, what you do. Men and women who spend the bulk of their time in the woods and wilderness are common in Western Slope of Colorado, where Allison lives, and they are a tough, hearty breed. In fact, Allison is based on one of these women. I met her. I’ve gone riding with her in the Flat Tops Wilderness. She’s completely at home and completely at ease in the big outdoors, no matter the conditions. The real-life “Allison” doesn’t just love the Flat Tops—she knows it inside and out. The bugs, the flowers, the trees, the plants, the cloud formations, the geology, the history. Fictional Allison has this keen awareness of her surroundings, too.

She's cool. Your story is set against a beautiful Colorado backdrop that is itself in danger of being murdered. Are Colorado environmentalists concerned about the state of the water in drilling areas?

Yes.
Very.
So is the federal government.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently linked bad water in Pavillion, Wyoming to nearby hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” to use the shorthand term. The water was so bad in Pavillion health experts warned residents to not drink what comes out of the tap only shower if with good ventilation. In other words, don’t trap yourself in a closed shower stall drawing from the local well.

If you watch the movie “Gasland,” there are several scenes in Colorado, including one outside Rifle, Colorado where a landowner who lives near a drilling pad lights his tap water on fire.
I started work on “Buried by the Roan” because one of the Denver newspapers—the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News—produced a five-part series called “Beyond the Boom.” That series came out four years ago, just after the publication of the first Allison Coil mystery, Antler Dust. The series looked at all the impacts of drilling along the Western Slope—and up on the Roan Plateau—in Allison’s backyard. Given the controversy, I figured there was a way to have the friction and tension wind its way up the trail and into a group of hunters camping in the Flat Tops.

One of your characters sums up the conflict implied in your title, BURIED BY THE ROAN, which references Colorado’s Roan Plateau: “Find yourself some friends if you can. Make sure they’re in high places and do what you can to save the Roan. If we lose the Roan, you may as well kiss the West goodbye.”

Was this character an extreme, or does he reflect a growing concern for the exploitation of the Roan Plateau?

The Roan Plateau is one of those treasured spots that everyone is watching, but it’s not the only one. It’s seen as a symbol, in a way, of the battle. It’s the Old North Bridge or Maginot Line. It’s highly visible along Interstate 70 running west from Rifle and it’s also home to one of the most biologically diverse environments in western Colorado. The feeling is that if The Roan Plateau is overrun, so much will be lost.

Several of the (non-speaking) characters in this novel are horses, and you describe them like one who knows his way around an Equus. Do you ride?

Bicycles, yes.

I also ride the Internet and/or books from the library and do a lot of research.

I have ridden horses from time to time over the years and have some pictures to prove it. A big group of us went up in the Flat Tops a couple years back from a horsepack camping trip and had a great time but nobody would confuse me with, say, Robert Redford in “Jeremiah Johnson.”

Your book put me in the mood for winter—I could really see and feel the swirling snows on the endless expanse of the Roan. There are certain characters who end up in battles for survival in the harsh elements, and I was put in mind of Jack London stories, especially “To Build a Fire.” Were you influenced by London at all?

You nailed it. I am not a Jack London aficionado by any means, but Call of the Wild and that short story are right up there. “To Build A Fire” is classic. Can we just stop right here for a second and admire those opening lines?

"Day had broken cold and gray, exceedingly cold and gray, when the man turned aside from the main Yukon trail and climbed the high earth-bank, where a dim and little-traveled trail led eastward through the fat spruce timberland."

I mean, who doesn’t want to follow him? I love the repetition of ‘cold and gray’ and the simple, clear imagery.

Earth-bank. Little-traveled trail. Fat spruce. Great stuff.

There’s so much wondering temptation in this opening. It’s a lure. You’re hooked.

It is great. I mentioned in my interview with Craig Johnson that his character, who spent so much time outside, seemed to adopt an existential view of the world. I often felt this way about Allison, whose job is so much influenced by the whims of Nature. I loved this line: “Allison rode to Trapper’s Lake in a daze. The snowfall held steady. The afternoon light matched her dim view of the world—vague and in-between.”

Does being outdoors inform your character’s view of reality? Have you felt this way on outdoor expeditions?

Definitely with Allison and the same is true for me. Who doesn’t feel refreshed on a hike? Fresh air, wind in the trees, a view. Nature is such a big part of Allison’s world. She has found her healing spot in the Flat Tops and really sees no need to go back and risk experiencing what she went through in the city. The accident she endured led her to the Flat Tops and she is not going back. I think Allison realizes that when you spend time around the life and death in nature that you start to take a bit more of an existential view of the world and your place in it.

One of your characters, in dialogue about The Roan, suggested that people are short-sighted in the choices they are making now, despite the long-term repercussions. A second character adds, “The greed gets sick.” Do you think the Colorado landscape is falling victim to greedy and unscrupulous people?

I think there is always that risk and, right now, I do think there’s a risk. We’ve been on the bubble of that risk for many decades now. It’s only a few short decades ago when the aerial view of Weld County and Rio Blanco County or Mesa County (to name just three) would have been vastly different. Industry has left behind their messes and it’s not just oil and gas—it’s mining, too. I appreciate that there will be development and cities and I’m not arguing we all head back to the cave. But I think we have to be extraordinarily careful with Colorado and the environment here—it’s truly a one-of-a-kind place and put me down for siding with those who want the best-trained, most scrupulous government regulators and hope that every single industrial initiative is undertaken with extreme sensitivity to the water, soil and air. Is that too much to ask?

No. What should people do if they want to lend their voices to the dialogue about the Roan Plateau?

Stay in touch through the Colorado Environmental Coalition (http://www.ourcolorado.org/) or the Western Colorado Congress (http://www.wccongress.org/). Or subscribe to High Country News (http://www.hcn.org/). And I’m not just mentioning High Country News because they wrote a very kind review of Buried by the Roan. It’s an amazing and unique publication.

Have you always lived in Colorado?

Since 1980. Drove to Denver from L.A. in a small Toyota pulling an even smaller U-Haul trailer. But I’m originally from Massachusetts. I grew up in the town of Lincoln, which is right next to Concord. We used to drive to Concord frequently right past Walden Pond, which always fascinated me.

What made you start writing mysteries?

I grew up in a world of books—both parents were librarians and I enjoyed a good book from early on. But when I discovered the tremendous variety of stories and styles within the broad “mystery” genre and then when I came across an idea for a first book, I thought I’d give it a whirl. It took me six years to put that first novel together (this was the 1980’s) and I kept writing.

Antler Dust, the first in the Allison Coil Mystery Series, was published in 2007 and Buried by the Roan in 2011. The third in the series is on the way and I hope to go back and blow the dust off the earlier projects. I’m glad those weren’t published, however. I look back on the earlier attempts and cringe.

What do you like to read in your spare time?

I’m all over the place—a firm believer in variety. Straight-up literary fiction to non-fiction and mysteries. I don’t read much paranormal or horror, but I’m not opposed. I just finished Julian Barnes’ The Sense of An Ending and more recently Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Marriage Plot. Enjoyed both. I’m reading Wade Davis’ Into the Silence, about the early explorations of Mt. Everest and the British empire and its role in India and Tibet in the early 20th century. Riveting.

Where can readers find out more about you and your books?

Simple: www.writermarkstevens.com I also keep a book review site here: http://markhstevens.wordpress.com/.
Thanks for the virtual conversation!

Thanks for chatting, Mark! I enjoyed reading your book with its beautiful Colorado setting.

Marilyn Stands Eternal

2011-12-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

I went downtown today on a school trip and finally got to see the Marilyn Monroe statue on Michigan Avenue. Response to the art has been lukewarm, but I thought it was wonderful. This shot is my homage to the artist and to beautiful Chicago.

Friday at Last

2011-12-02T16:19:00.002-07:00

"Middle age is when you're sitting at home on a Saturday night and the telephone rings and you hope it isn't for you."

~Ogden Nash

Oh, Ogden--I couldn't agree more.

What I'm Reading

2011-11-14T18:07:00.001-07:00

In addition to Jonathan Gash's FACES IN THE POOL, I'm reading BURIED BY THE ROAN, Mark Stevens' atmospheric mystery set in the Colorado mountains. I'll be interviewing Stevens in a later blog.

Hollywood Native Laurie Stevens Talks Indie Books and L.A. Noir

2011-11-08T20:01:00.001-07:00

Amy Edelman of THE HUFFINGTON POST called your book “a frighteningly great indie.” What’s the premise,

The plot revolves around a troubled Los Angeles Sheriff’s detective, Gabriel McRay, who is terminated for police brutality. Gabriel suffers from rage, aggression, nightmares, and memory lapses. He is court-
ordered to seek therapy. During therapy, he discovers he is plagued by a suppressed memory of a childhood trauma. When a serial killer begins leaving personal notes addressed to Gabriel on the bodies of his victims, the notes begin jarring his memory. Gabriel soon realizes the killer’s identity lies within the blocked memory. He then runs two parallel investigations: The first, a dark journey into the terrifying recollections of his past and the second: a search for a killer who seems to know more about Gabriel, than he knows himself.

and why does she call it frightening rather than “mysterious?”

The method in which the killer dispatches his victims could easily fit a horror novel!

Would you put your book in the mystery or the horror genre?

The book has elements of horror, mystery (because it is a who-dunnit) and most definitely is a psychological thriller.

Your website mentions “Follow Your Dreams Productions.” What is that?

Follow Your Dreams Productions is the company I created to produce the stage play, “Follow Your Dreams” and to also fund the publishing of this book.

You have written for both television and movies. With what shows have you been affiliated?

Regarding television and film, two credits of which I’m proud to be a part are “Chris Isaak’s Guide to the New Orleans Jazz Fest,” which was the last footage shot of New Orleans right before Hurricane Katrina hit, and “The Ghost and the Gangster,” which I wrote for the late, Academy Award- winning producer, John Daly. Just to be associated with him was a kick. The stage play, Follow Your Dreams, which ran for two months in Los Angeles, gave me the opportunity to co-write with director, writer and producer Ronald Jacobs (That Girl, The Andy Griffith Show, The Mod Squad). Mr. Jacobs is not only a co-writer, but he’s been a wonderful mentor to me in regard to my writing. Working with him allows me to exercise my funny bone. Writing comedy is a wonderful break from the dark side of writing mysteries.

How did you go from writing in Hollywood to writing mysteries?

I actually started off writing short horror and mystery stories – they were my first published items. I turned to scripts because the opportunities came along. For me, writing mysteries is a solitary endeavor and I enjoy stepping out and co-writing in other genres when the opportunity knocks.

You mention that your favorite pastime is to “pick the brains of therapists.” How exactly do you go about doing that? Did you arrange interviews with therapists in order to research your novel?

Most people, even psychologists, like to be interviewed about their work. Before I bother anybody, I will research all I can on the internet. After that, when I have specific questions that need answering, I’ll seek out the opinion of professionals. I think they appreciate that I look like I know what I’m talking about (even if half the time I don’t!) Now I have a wonderful pool of psychologists, therapists, and psychiatrists who are willing to help me out with my work. Taking people out for coffee is a great way to keep the conversation casual. I’m very excited about an upcoming event in which psychology students at a local college will actually be analyzing the antagonist from The Dark Before Dawn!

You live in L.A., and that’s the setting of your novel, DARK BEFORE DAWN. Many famous mysteries have been set in L.A. Did you find this intimidating when you chose your setting?

I myself am a big fan of L.A. mysteries and noir. There is something about this city that just begs to be a setting for trouble. I’m a second generation Californian, so I was not in the least bit intimidated to set my plot down right here in Los Angeles. The Santa Monica Mountains are both eerie and beautiful, deeply imbedded with various facets of the Old West, the American Indians, Hollywood movies, the Pacific Ocean, and New Age lifestyles. I couldn’t think of a better place in which the characters could operate.

Will there be a sequel to your book?

Oh, yes. The next novel, Deep into Dusk, is ready to roll. In it, Gabriel continues to deal with the “trauma” he has now recalled. The new case to which he is assigned perfectly correlates with where he is in his psychological progression and, unfortunately for him, features a femme fatale.

How did you come up with Gabriel McRay, the name of your Sheriff’s detective?

The name just seemed to come, and it felt right. Sometimes I think writers are open conduits – we get these ideas, sometimes out of nowhere, and then the characters write themselves.

Did you interview people in the Sherriff’s office in order to research McRay?

Okay, here’s a real mystery. I wrote the original draft some years ago. At that time, I had interviewed a detective who gave me a tour of the Sheriff’s substation in my area and answered a lot of questions for me. Unfortunately, I lost contact with him in the interim. So now the book is published and his name makes the acknowledgement page and I go to the Sheriff’s substation to hand-deliver a copy of the book with my thanks. Only nobody there knows him. They look up his name in the database, thinking that maybe he was transferred or retired. He’s nowhere to be found. It’s as if he never existed.

That is so bizarre!

The good news is, the Lieutenant and other officers are so mystified by the missing detective, they’ve become solid supporters. The only thing they ask is that I keep the police procedure as real as possible. On an interesting side note, my husband and I once snuck into the county morgue to do research. Thankfully, my niece is studying to be a forensic anthropologist, so I no longer need to trespass in order to research the forensics.

That’s good! What are some of your own favorite mysteries?

Thomas Harris’s books are a big influence and some of my favorite reads. Red Dragon is truly one of the most frightening books I have ever read. I grew up on Stephen King. Not exactly mysteries, but I was practically addicted to his books, and that’s probably where the horror comes from. I admire Jim Thompson’s books like The Killer Inside Me and Pop. 1280 and, as I’ve mentioned, I’m a fan of old L.A. noir, like the works of Raymond Chandler.

Chandler is the name I think of when I think of L.A.

Good luck with your publications, Laurie!

Thanks so much, Julia, for the opportunity to appear in Mysterious Musings!

Hurrah!

2011-11-08T18:19:00.002-07:00

Congratulations to Linda, who won the free Kindle version of THE GHOSTS OF LOVELY WOMEN.

I hope you enjoy it, Linda!

Win a Free Kindle Book!!

2011-11-04T21:21:00.001-06:00

The Ghosts of Lovely Women is climbing the Kindle charts! Click on the cover at right to get the Amazon Link.

English teacher Theodora "Teddy" Thurber is shocked to find out that a former student of hers--a bright and beautiful young woman named Jessica Halliday--has been murdered.

Soon afterward, Teddy discovers some cryptic messages that Jessica left for her, and she begins to try to follow the trail in order to find the truth about her former student's death. In the process she must delve into the literature that Jessica loved best, since it is from these literary masterpieces that Jessica has derived her clues.

Helping Teddy is the new history and psychology teacher, who seems fascinated by Teddy, despite her conviction that she leads a dull life. As her search for Jessica intensifies, she must also deal with the unwelcome advances of an old boyfriend, complicating her life even further.

Teddy's persistence puts her and the ones she loves in danger; but she can do no less than try to avenge the murder of a promising young woman whose future success had been assured.

At her side throughout this mystery is her faithful beagle, P.G.

LEAVE A COMMENT HERE AND BE ENTERED IN A DRAWING FOR A FREE KINDLE COPY!!!

And don't forget to turn your clocks back this weekend. :)

November's Reality

2011-11-01T17:02:00.001-06:00

"Dull November brings the blast,
Then the leaves are whirling fast."

--Sara Coleridge

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T06:17:00.000-06:00

Have a devil of a good time!

What Would He Think of Kindle?

2011-10-26T10:52:00.000-06:00

In Josephine Tey's THE DAUGHTER OF TIME, Inspector Alan Grant, grumpy because he is confined to a hospital bed with a broken leg, says this:

"There are far too many people born into the world, and far too many words written. Millions and millions of them pouring from the presses every minute. It's a horrible thought."

Oh, Alan Grant! What would you (and Tey) think of Kindle and Nook and blogs and the entire virtual world of words?

I'm guessing he would say it was EXTREMELY horrible. :)

Two for One Monday

2011-10-24T06:18:00.000-06:00

Today at Dames of Dialogue I'm talking about my menagerie of pets and how each of them is worthy of a Marley and Me-type memoir.

And at Poe's Deadly Daughters, I'm talking about my new book, THE GHOSTS OF LOVELY WOMEN.

Stop by and say hi!

On My Christmas List

2011-10-21T20:22:00.000-06:00

I love the idea of this Haiku helper. What a fun way to pass an idle moment! The link to the catalog is here:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/games/e6b7/?itm=haiku_games&rkgid=274573681&cpg=ogty1&source=google_toys&gclid=CJCEpuqY-6sCFY3KKgodCnn-mg

Louie Flann is a Funny Fellow

2011-10-17T15:27:00.002-06:00

The following is a guest blog by Louie Flann, whose book NEXT TIME WE STEAL THE CARILLON is available now on Kindle. Louie's slightly skewed view is at the center of his humor, and he shares his outlook for writing fiction here.

See, writing is like talking, with one notable exception. When people ask questions, there is usually only one answer--one truthful answer. In fiction, a question has an unlimited number of answers. For example: where did you grow up? Spain, The south of France, Berwyn, back of a Ford pickup, Tuesday. Good answers. In writing, one of them stands out as the best (Tuesday).

I either have a turn of plot or want to show a character's traits that interest me. After figuring out the things that make the character who he is—-could be his job, his interests, his hates—-the character writes his own story, almost. We know what he will do next because that is the only thing that he would do in that circumstance. Predictable, evolving into boring.
Slip him a curve—-he breaks his thumb, or his laptop. Ruffle his feathers. You can't imagine how this guy is going to get through this dilemma.

His name is Eric; he's twenty, a student, spends his time on videogames and gets a letter for jury duty. He never has enough time for his schoolwork, and now this. Of course, blow it off. No wait; get someone, pay someone to do the jury thing for him. Great, but who? And where will the money come from? Poor Eric.

How did it end for Eric? He tried to explain to the jury master on the phone that he was too sick to go. The guy didn't buy it, so Eric went for two days and met a girl on the first day, took her out for coffee that night, and got dumped on the third. Oh well.

Now for the good stuff. My book, Next Time We Steal The Carillon, is about college students in the Midwest in the nineties. I would have set it ten years later, but there is not a name for those years. The oughts, the pre-teens, the tweens? Come on! We'll have to wait another ninety years and hope that our great-great grandkids will be more serious about addressing this terrible problem. But, I digress.

Our student detectives have been tasked with the job of finding the stolen school antique. Signs point to witches or some magic people. Then, some other signs point to collectors, and yet other signs point to thieves. Too many signs!

You'll be pleased to know that in the end, they sort all the signs out. Yes, there is a little innocent flirtation going on, and yes, there are some college hijinx going on, and yes, there is some serious detecting going on. These are kids you'd be proud to have as your sons or daughters or mothers or fathers or pastors.

Please note: No animals were injured in the writing of this book.

Check out Louie's website at www.voltessa.com.

A Super New Cover

2011-10-11T19:20:00.000-06:00

This book goes on Kindle soon--I'm very excited about the cover art by Ivan Diaz! It captures that mythological/Underworld feeling that I wanted. The girl in the picture is drawing night around her like a cloak.

Look for it on Kindle in about a week!

Suspense Writer Stephen Brayton Explores the Publishing Paradox

2011-09-28T00:00:00.001-06:00

This guest blog was written by Stephen L. Brayton. Check out his new book, Beta, at www.stephenbrayton.com.

More Than Pretty Wrappings

Opening a new book is like unwrapping a present on Christmas morning. You see a pretty dust cover over the formed cardboard like shell and you wonder what’s inside. Will it be a story to excite you or make you laugh? Will the hero be fearless and the bad guys extra evil?

Many times, the book ends up being the annual Father’s Day tie. Nothing special, same unexciting characters, standard plot with a few new twists. Once in awhile, however, you do get something shiny and fresh and worth buying.

As writers, we’re faced with a dilemma--one I think is confusing and somewhat unfair. We’re asked by publishers or agents to create something new, to have a fresh voice, because as we all know, there’s nothing new under the sun. The same plots have been rehashed and rebuilt and remodeled every year, but we’re expected to slap a different coat of paint over them, mix up the action a bit, conjure up new surprises.

Then after months or years of blood, sweat, and tears, those same publishers and agents ask us, “So next to whose books would yours sit on the store shelf?” or “To which authors is your book similar?”

What? We’ve spent countless hours trying to come up with something outside the box and you ask us who we write like? I write mysteries and horror, but I’m not supposed to write in the same vein as Robert B. Parker or H.P. Lovecraft, yet some person to whom I pitching my story at a conference asks me which authors’ novels mine might be next to in the store? Can you say, “Oxymoron?”

So, let’s tackle one thing at a time. How do we write in a different voice than everybody else? It can start with plot, but there, you might be limited. Only so many of them to go around. You can combine genres if you think you can make it ‘believable.’ Zombie romance in space with a few cowboys thrown in for added flavor.

Setting: New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Chicago have seen more than their fair share of stories. Try something in Alaska or rural Montana. Or strike out across the ocean to Galapagos Island or Guam. Is your alien planet a desert Vulcan or the mega-metropolis Coruscant?

Character: Here is where you have a plethora of options. Everybody knows the hard-boiled detective, but does he limp, have one eye, stands only three feet tall, was once a nuclear scientist? What new spin can you make on the leader of the religious cult? Could he be Australian or Nigerian? What personal problems can your protagonists and antagonists have? A lisp? The product of a brother/sister relationship? Dealing with the loss of a dog?

Of course, in certain genres, there are standards you have to meet, and some, like romance, you do not have much room for radical creativity. Romance publishers and readers want the same limited buffet every time. That’s okay.

In Beta, I tried to be different with my heroine, Mallory Petersen. Yes, she’s tall, blonde, and beautiful. She’s also a taekwondo instructor with years of training under her black belt. She’s a Sam Spade fan right down to the Bogey trench coat and hat. Many of her cases are fraught with goofiness.

I also placed her in Des Moines, Iowa, because I’m familiar with the area and it’s very rare to see a story set there.

Plot: She’s takes on the serious case of finding a kidnapped eight-year-old taken by child pornographers.

The second question, of how your writing is similar to other authors, can be tricky, because you shouldn’t sound like others; you should sound like yourself. There are aspects, however, you can pinpoint as being influenced by others. Is the humor akin to Evanovitch? Do you have a serial killer a la John Lutz? Did you attend the course on short chapters instructed by James Patterson?

If you’ve done enough reading–and as writers you should be reading–you are familiar with authors you enjoy and probably are somewhat influenced by them when writing your own stories. Certainly you can learn how to improve your writing.

So, how is Beta similar to others? Who do I sound like? Well…I choose to let you decide. I just hope you enjoy the book and you won’t think of it as a Father’s Day tie.

Art's Preference and Mine

2011-09-19T16:36:00.000-06:00

"I'd rather be a forest than a street;
Yes I would! If I could, I surely would.
I'd rather feel the earth beneath my feet--
Yes I would! if I only could, I surely would."

--Simon and Garfunkel, "El Condor Pasa"

Fun Recent Reads

2011-09-13T15:47:00.006-06:00

My three latest reads were all terrific in their own ways. DEATH AND THE PENGUIN, a suspense novel set in Kiev, reads sometimes like a mystery and sometimes like existential poetry, but its premise and characters are so unique and fresh that the story stayed with me long after I put away my Kindle.

THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS is not one of John Connolly's famed mystery novels, but an examination of myth, folklore and fairy tales in a WWII England setting. The first page made me cry, but the story never went where I expected it to go, and I became lost in the labrynth of his tale as surely as Hansel and Gretyl were lost in the dark, endless forest.

I chose to read A RELIABLE WIFE on a long busride, and it was the perfect way to pass the time--the conflict is established in the first two chapters, but surprises continue along the way, and I really could not put this down.

In Memoriam

2011-09-11T09:50:00.003-06:00

"In love longing
I listen to the monk's bell.
I will never forget you
even for an interval
Short as those between the bell notes."

~ Izumi Shikibu

A Belated Anniversary Wish

2011-09-10T21:10:00.004-06:00

I began posting in the summer of 2006, and now here I am, more than 1000 posts and 200 interviews later!

Please stop by and share the virtual champagne.

I am in good company, as Sisters in Crime is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year.

Here's to happy milestones.

The Cool Winds Approach

2011-09-05T15:44:00.003-06:00

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

--George Eliot

Yes, autumn is on the way, and welcome to it. The soul-crushing heat of last week has me ready to carve pumpkins and hike through the fall foliage. Thank you, God, for the cooler weather and the lovely fall which is surely on the way!

Mother Issues

2011-08-29T16:31:00.002-06:00

I'm exploring the idea of absent mothers in Hollywood scripts over at Poe's Deadly Daughters today. See if you agree with me: every other story seems to have a conveniently dead mother.

Today Is Beautiful

2011-08-28T11:42:00.003-06:00

"Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language."

~Henry James

While many people are still suffering the ravages of Hurricane Irene, Chicago has at last achieved that rarity that is a perfect summer day: it is sunny and comfortable, and a cool, friendly breeze is blowing.

I am so grateful for these rare and perfect days that I feel obligated to spend as much time outside as possible. Hence this short post!!

(Photo: by Julia Buckley, 2006).

The Value of Reading--Now More Than Ever

2011-08-22T14:29:00.002-06:00

“Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentence. If you gain fifteen minutes a day, it will make itself felt at the end of the year.”

--Horace Mann

Raymond Benson Chats About Books, Bond, and The Black Stiletto

2011-08-12T13:03:00.006-06:00

Raymond Benson is an American author best known for being the official author of the adult James Bond novels from 1997 to 2003. His new mystery, The Black Stiletto, will be available next month.

Hi, Raymond! Thanks for talking with me on the blog. THE BLACK STILETTO has an interesting premise: that a middle-aged man, going through the belongings of his Alzheimer’s-stricken mother, finds out that she is The Black Stiletto—a masked avenger from the mid-20th century, similar to Batman in terms of her legendary status.

How did you come up with this idea?

You know writers can never answer the question “how do you come up with your ideas?” ! I’m not really sure where the idea came from. I can remember talking to my literary manager/agent Peter Miller over a meal and we were discussing what I should attempt next. This was a few years ago. He kept telling me how most of the book-buying public were women, so I should come up with something that would appeal to women. Right then and there, I facetiously said, “How about a female superhero? It could appeal to the geek crowd; go for the ‘True Blood’ and ‘Twilight’ audiences.” Afterwards, I started thinking about it, and the story just flowed out of me. It was one of the easiest books I ever wrote.

You write the novel from the point of view of Judy Cooper (The Black Stiletto), her son, and an antagonist. What made you choose these particular vantage points?

It had to be from Judy’s point of view, naturally, since she’s the protagonist. Since I was telling two parallel stories, one in the past and one in the present, it made sense for the second narrator to be her grown son. So really, there are two protagonists and two different storylines. The third voice, the antagonist, was brought in primarily to give the reader a different perspective on what was going on. Knowing what Roberto is doing builds suspense because the reader suspects there will be a clash at the end. Each book in the series will always have the two protagonist voices—Judy and Martin—but there will be a different third voice in each book.

It’s interesting that you allow Judy’s son to discover her superhero status not after she has died, but certainly after she is able to talk about it with him. This makes the story almost more heartbreaking for me. Was that your intention—to enhance the pathos by making Judy close, yet far away?

Absolutely. I wanted a contrast between the Judy of the past and the Judy of the present to show what Alzheimer’s can do to someone. It also creates conflict and tension between Judy and Martin.

Judy’s son, for me, is not that likeable a character. Is this intentional, and will he, if the series continues, evolve into more of a hero himself?

Sorry you felt that way, but I did want Martin to go through a lot of changes as the series progresses. He’s just a regular guy trying to cope with everyday crises—losing his job, dealing with being divorced, fighting with a teenage daughter, and, most importantly, taking care of his elderly mother who has Alzheimer’s. Then we lay on him the knowledge of who his mother was. Any man would go through all kinds of emotional swings with all that going on. Ultimately, while there is nothing “heroic” about Martin in the same way that Judy was heroic, he will become more heroic in a very human, normal way with the decisions he makes regarding his mother and his own life. The first book is just the beginning!

You do leave the reader with some unanswered questions. So there will be a sequel?

The sequel The Black Stiletto: Black & White will be published in May 2012. I plan for The Black Stiletto to be a five-book series.

Have you experienced Alzheimer’s Disease with a friend or family member? You seem to know it from the inside.

Yes. My mother-in-law had it, and my wife and I experienced it from its onset until her passing—a period of 11-12 years. It’s a horrible disease and I wanted to try and show what it’s like not only for the patient but for the caretakers and family members.

I think you captured that well.

The main settings of the story are in Texas, New York and Illinois. Have you been to the locations you write about, or just researched them?

These are all places where I lived at one time. I grew up in West Texas, specifically Odessa. I had to do a little research on Odessa of the early 1950s, but it wasn’t much different from the 60s, when I was there. I lived in New York during the 80s, and a place like that sticks to your DNA. Again, the bulk of the research was capturing New York of the late 50s; luckily the geography of New York hasn’t changed! Finally, I’ve lived in the northwest suburbs of Chicago since late 1993, so I know these places pretty well. When one examines my backlist of original thrillers, you’ll find that I use these three locations a lot—Texas, New York, and Chicagoland. They say, “write what you know.”

On your Facebook page are pictures of you partying at the Playboy Mansion. How did that come about?

I’m happy to say I’m a friend of Hugh Hefner and the Playboy “family.” When I was writing the James Bond novels back in the 90s, Playboy published excerpts and original short stories. I got to know Hef slightly earlier than that, when my non-fiction book The James Bond Bedside Companion came out in the 80s. So now my wife and I (and son!) can visit the Playboy Mansion any time we’re in L.A.

What, if anything, did you learn about Hugh Hefner that people might not expect?

Hef’s a great guy, very generous and kind. We both have a love of film history in common. He likes board games and he likes jazz. He’s loyal to his friends. He’s also extremely intelligent and, at 85, still sharp.

You have written several James Bond novels. Will you write any other James Bond fiction?

As Bond (Sean Connery) says to Professor Dent in Dr. No—“You’ve had your six.” My run was between 1996-2002; six original novels, three movie novelizations, and three short stories. The Ian Fleming Estate (and its publishing arm) tends to hire one author at a time, and they don’t go backwards. So, no, it’s doubtful I’ll do any more. I’m not sure I’d want to. However, two anthologies of my 007 work were recently published—CHOICE OF WEAPONS and THE UNION TRILOGY—and they contain the six original novels and the short stories.

I can imagine The Black Stiletto as a movie. Any talks about that in the works?

Every author hopes his/her book will be a movie or TV series. One can only cross fingers and hope!

Good luck, and thanks for chatting, Raymond!

A Noble Man

2011-08-07T20:50:00.002-06:00

A special tribute to my father appears at Meanderings and Muses today.

An Early Halloween Treat?

2011-08-04T19:30:00.001-06:00

Just click here and get a head start on fall. :)

Classic PRIME SUSPECT

2011-07-31T15:36:00.003-06:00

Since a new PRIME SUSPECT is in the works (with Maria Bello in the role made famous by Helen Mirren), I've been revisiting the first episodes from the early 90's, produced by Granada television and written by the talented Lynda La Plante.

I had never heard of Helen Mirren before I watched this series, and I've been a fan of hers ever since. Looking back now, I can see why Prime Suspect got so big, and why the San Francisco Chronicle called Detective Jane Tennison "perhaps the greatest role and performance of a female police detective, ever."

Mirren is utterly assured as the cop who wants to prove herself to a slew of sexist colleagues, but her performance is nuanced enough to show us her moments of vulnerability--moments that never happen in front of the men she must lead. I still love this series after 20 years; it is a testament to the fact that good writing and good acting produce a chemistry that lasts.

I fear the new cast has impossibly large shoes to fill, and the comparisons to Mirren's version will be inevitable. In any case, I highly recommend a look back at the original series, which you will want to plow through with obsessive speed (or at least I did). :)

For Norway

2011-07-23T10:16:00.002-06:00

My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Oslo, Norway today.

In their honor I share two quotes by Anne Frank:

"I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains."

"In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death."

In all of the helping hands that surround you today, may you see the beauty that remains beyond the horrifying acts of one man.

Mystery Writer Clare O'Donohue Chats About Rediscovering Chicago, Playing in the Ocean, and Getting Free Food

2011-07-15T09:26:00.007-06:00

Clare O'Donohue's Kate Conway mystery, Missing Persons, is available now.

Hi, Clare! Thanks for doing an interview. Your book, MISSING PERSONS, is set in Chicago, with many recognizable locations. Are you a Chicagoan?

Yes, I grew up on Chicago’s South Side and have lived in several neighborhoods throughout the city as an adult. But I also spent years living away from Chicago – in London, Los Angeles and New York. I sometimes feel I know those cities better so setting the Kate Conway Mysteries in Chicago has meant taking the time to rediscover my hometown.

Your hero, Kate Conway, must investigate the death of her estranged husband, which creates plenty of drama beyond the standard murder mystery. Did you like this premise because of all the possibilities for conflicting emotions?

In a divorce, the tendency is to focus on the negative aspects of the former partner. But in death, the tendency is to focus on the spouse’s most positive traits. I loved the idea of Kate being caught between the two opposing narratives. Ignoring her feelings would be her first choice, but once she becomes a suspect, she has to deal with them – and solve two mysteries. The overload of emotions, plus her in laws, the husband’s girlfriend, a job she’s conflicted about – piling it all on her seemed like a great way to introduce her to the world.

Kate works for a company which makes exploitative television programs, and she is the first to admit that people’s pain makes for good tv. As a television producer, do you experience crises of conscience about whether or not your work is exploiting people?

Sometimes. Unlike Kate, I usually warn people how their interviews will be used. I don’t want to see anyone blindsided, and I don’t want to deal with the angry phone calls. On true crime shows, victim’s families are always treated well, and should be, but sometimes “suspects” aren’t. The shows are on the air, and available for viewing so I have the opinion that people know what they’re getting themselves into. While I am always respectful, even with killers, I have a job to do.

One of the characters owns a bakery and is always giving people free baked goods. Is she based on someone real, and if so, where can I find this person?

I’ve done a number of Food Network shows and whenever I’ve produced an episode in a restaurant, whether it’s a pizza joint, a bakery or a high end five-star place, the owner is always giving us food. My advice is take a camera crew into a restaurant and shoot an episode for the Food Network. You’ll eat yourself silly.

Time for a career change! Seriously, though, you have some neat details about running a bakery. Did you observe in one (and write off any cake consumed as a professional expense)?

My familiarity comes from working on episodes of TV shows set in bakeries – so I’m truly stealing from my own experience there. And I’ve eaten my fair share (or more) of baked goods both on and off the job.

Kate meets her almost-ex-husband’s girlfriend and actually starts to like her. This makes for some fictional surprises; do you know of people who have been achieve this sort of friendship?

I don’t, though I think Kate’s reluctance allows for that aspect of the story to feel real. She doesn’t want to like her, but Vera is very likeable. I think Kate also has the agenda of wanting to understand why Frank chose Vera over her and uses the guise of friendship to get that access, then discovers – to her dismay – the many reasons why he might have loved Vera.

Kate is producing a television show about a young woman who has been missing for almost a year. Sadly, it often IS young women who are missing, and the rhetoric of missing woman, slain woman, molested woman, has become constant news fodder. Do you think there’s anything that can be done in the world of television to somehow change our perception of women as perpetual victims?

Years ago I read a study about what men and women fear from the opposite gender. According to the study, a man most fears a woman laughing at him, and a woman most fears a man killing her. TV plays to those fears – men on sitcoms portrayed as emasculated idiots being laughed at by their wives, and women on TV movies and true crime shows are shown as victims of violent crimes. There are lots of shows where this isn’t the case, thankfully, but I think some TV shows play to these fears, because we’re drawn to them, wanting to tell ourselves, “that isn’t going to be me.”

Interesting that the people in charge of programming are interested in perpetuating some of these destructive ideas.

On a different note, when on a shoot, Kate rides around with a sound guy and a cameraman who are pretty fun companions. Would you say they are realistic depictions of a camera crew?

Very realistic. When I’m working I almost always travel with crew. It’s just easier to get to locations, parking etc…if we’re together. We talk about our lives, the story we’re working on, and lots of conversations about where we’ll have lunch. On true crime shows, my camera man and I will go through the case as if we’re detectives, much like Kate and Andres. The sound guys, like Victor, are frequently musicians, though not always as adorably sensitive. But it’s a team, and often a close team. Between the hours and the intensity of the work, you get to know each other well, and if you’re lucky, become good friends.

On your website you suggest that freelancing creates a lot of “downtime.” Has this been a perk, in your experience, or just a time to worry about finding more work?

It’s both. I love having free time. It’s made writing books, and especially book tours, possible. But being freelance is, in many ways, an endless search for jobs. The oft-spoken truth of freelancing is that when you have time you have no money, when you have money you have no time.

MISSING PERSONS is the beginning of a series; I felt that in the book Kate formed a sort of bond with the detective who was investigating her husband’s death (or at least I got the sense that he was interested). Am I barking up the wrong tree, or might Kate at some future time meet up with that policeman?

It’s a funny thing. You create a small character, and then some of them become real, like a character actor in a movie who steals the scene. At the beginning of Missing Persons, I saw Det. Podeski as a one book guy, as I did with Det. Yvette Rosenthal, who worked the other case. Both could come back in future books and probably will. I don’t see anything romantic with Podeski, if that’s the question, but I do think that Kate has a friendship with him, and if she gets into trouble, she might be willing to ask for his help.

You’ve written a series about quilting and now a series about a television producer, both of which are topics with which you’ve had some experience. So I’m curious—-as a writer who is all Irish, do you envision ever setting a series in Ireland?

I was just talking today with my cousin, Patrick O’Donohue, who lives in Galway City, about heading there next summer to “research” a possible book aka hang out and have fun. I would love to set a series, or at least a book, in Ireland. So often it’s depicted in books and movies as cute and magical, as if leprechauns pop out of teacups, and not as a modern country with ordinary people just living their lives. I’d like to show that Ireland – the real Ireland.

And on another note of heritage: were you named for County Clare, or did your parents just like the alternate spelling?

I’m named after the county. My father was born and raised on a farm near Lahinch, Co. Clare. Lahinch is a lovely town on the Atlantic Ocean and some of my favorite childhood memories are walking on the beach with my brothers, sister and cousins, and playing in the ocean. It was so calm, so beautiful. Of course now I would think – what a great place to set a murder.

Thanks so much for answering my questions, Clare!

Happy 4th

2011-07-04T00:00:00.002-06:00

However you celebrate Independence Day, may you enjoy this great American weekend and the freedoms that come with being American.

Today at PDD, I'm discussing this sad percentage: more than 20 percent of Americans interviewed were uncertain of the country from which we had won independence. Check it out here.

Falk's Fond Farewells

2011-06-25T13:42:00.008-06:00

A lovely tribute to Peter Falk and his much-loved tv detective, Columbo, appears at The Rap Sheet today.

I'm sure all mystery lovers are saying fond farewells to Falk these days, whether on blogs or merely in their hearts. I loved the character of Columbo and the way Falk gave life to him. Even in the 21st Century I was showing Columbo clips to my students to enhance our study of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, since Columbo was loosely based on the investigator Porfiry Petrovich and his methods of detection.

Falk was not a one-dimensional actor, but all of his roles were invested with a sort of crusty charm. My husband loved him best as Vince Ricardo in The In-Laws; I have happy memories of him as Max, the assistant to Jack Lemmon's cartoonish Professor Fate in The Great Race; and of course we both loved him as the gruff grandfather reading a book to his sick grandson in The Princess Bride.

It is sad and sweet that we don't want our television and movie heroes to ever grow old and die, as though they are beloved members of our own families. Falk died of Alzheimer's--the same disease that claimed my mother-in-law--and therefore I can guess at his slow decline, his gradual separation from life, his growing emaciation. I'm sure for all that were near him, it was clear that it was his time to die.

How lucky we are that his memory is preserved in many wonderful movies and youtube clips that we can watch forever. I wish that I could say the same about some of my family members.

(photo link here)

Craig Johnson on The Bighorn Mountains, The Third Man Syndrome, and "The Bulwark Between Justice and Chaos."

2011-06-14T08:00:00.001-06:00

Hi, Craig! Thanks for agreeing to chat once again.

Your new Walt Longmire mystery, HELL IS EMPTY, is a fascinating read, especially, for me, because of all of its literary parallels. Dante’s INFERNO plays an important role in the story. Did you have the idea that you wanted Walt to go, symbolically, through many levels of hell?

It’s a novel that I’ve had in the works for a few years now, and it took that long to get all the pieces into place. I knew when I introduced Virgil White Buffalo in Another Man’s Moccasins that I was committed to the idea of an allegorical tale that would utilize Inferno. I knew that Walt was going to return to the Bighorn mountains, specifically to the area where he ventured in my first novel, The Cold Dish—but I didn’t want the book to simply be another manhunt in the snow (I figure that’s been done to death), so I started thinking about which works of literature explored the things I’d be dealing with in Hell is Empty.

Two things most people aren’t aware of are that there are only one or two sentences describing hell in the Bible--that the majority of the images we have of hell actually come from Dante, and that the further you go down into Dante’s hell, the colder it gets, the epic poem finally ending in a frozen lake with snow and wind. The parallels were there--I just had to find a way to use them so that people who were familiar with Inferno weren’t bored and so that readers who weren’t wouldn’t be intimidated.

Even though you reference Dante continually, the title is taken from a line in Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST, one of my favorite plays. I see many parallels between your book and that play—specifically the recurring theme of illusion versus reality. On Shakespeare’s magical island, one can rarely tell what is and what is not. Did you try to use that idea in your mystery?

Yes, illusion and reality is certainly primary in Hell Is Empty, but its discussion was also a problem in the sense that I didn’t want to replicate what I’d done in The Cold Dish. Taking the idea in a new direction was challenging, so I decided to use Walt’s disbelief. The main question at that point was when was Virgil there, and when wasn’t he? It’s called ‘Third Man Syndrome’ when you’re out on the trail and suddenly feel as if someone is there with you, even to the point of pouring them a cup of coffee or offering them your canteen.

Because this mystery takes place almost entirely outside, in the vast wilderness, it is not so much a who-dunnit as it is an odyssey. Did this make it easier or more difficult to maintain the tension in the plot?

Well, it’s an odyssey disguised as a thriller with mystery elements to the plot; questions not so much about who done it, but more of why or how. It’s pretty obvious who the bad guys are in Hell is Empty; something is going to happen, it’s just a question of the inevitable when, and that defines the momentum.

The outdoors setting wasn’t a hindrance to the tension of the plot—hell, most of the exciting times in my life have been out of doors! The location of the novel was crucial in that the setting becomes a character unto itself. I know that phrase sounds a little hackneyed, but it’s true. The spiritual elements of The Old Cheyenne are tied to the land. My type of people have only been in this country for a couple hundred years, whereas my Indian friend’s ancestors have been here for thousands—is it hard to believe that they might know a little more about the place than we do?

No--but fascinating! Walt experiences several existential yet beautiful moments in which he questions the meaning Nit all. One of my favorites is this: “Maybe our greatest fears were made clear this high, so close to the cold emptiness of the unprotected skies. Perhaps the voices were of the mountains themselves, whispering in our ears just how inconsequential and transient we really are.” This is lovely, and again has me thinking of THE TEMPEST and Prospero’s realization that everything fades (“We are such stuff as dreams are made on . . . “)

So here’s the question: Does the experience of being in nature for a long period of time make one aware of his or her lack of importance, or even make one question the reason for existence?

Thank you. I’ve often described the eastern part of the US like an oil-painting, whereas the high plains are more of a charcoal sketch, and that’s okay because things become clearer in a sparse environment. The landscape is humbling and introspective, but it’s also invigorating. As Wallace Stegner said, “We must protect and preserve the open spaces if for no other reason than the way they make us feel when we look upon them.”

And here’s the answer: It’s an amplifier for whatever your particular philosophies might be. I do know that it changes you; we go through our lives believing in the artificial world, the man-made world, but every once in a while we get a glimpse of something more. For me, a lot of the time, that’s in Wyoming ’s Bighorn mountains .

A beautiful answer.

Eyes are a recurring symbol in the novel, especially those of Reynaud Shade, your disturbing villain. I read significance into the fact that Shade had only one working eye, but that it was the “dead one” that seemed to be looking at Walt. How did you come up with Shade; did you always envision him as a one-eyed man?

“In the land of the blind…” Well, you get the point. His perspective of humanity is unfinished, uneven, out of balance—so I thought it was a way of expressing that in a physical sense. His past and the cycle of violence that produced him is one of the mysterious elements I mentioned before. I take the antagonists in my books very seriously. I’m not particularly a fan of the bad man character; there has to be a reason for this monster: how was he assembled, who assembled him, and where did he come from?

The Cheyenne say you can judge a man by the strength of his enemies, and Walt is pushed to his limits in confronting Raynaud Shade, a man whose glass eye shows more life than his own biological one. My favorite quote, of course, is Vic’s—“The voices in that fucker’s head are singing barber shop.”

Speaking of Shade, I love your character names, as you know. Walt Longmire is a terrific moniker for a tragic hero, and Reynard has come to be a word for “fox” in French. Did you choose the name to suit the man who outfoxes Longmire (and everyone else)?

Yes. I like playing with names; it’s just too much of a temptation. If this fox was going to play halfway between the lands of the living and the dead, what better last name than Shade (an archaic term for a ghost)?

And a mythological one! Walt has good friends and loyal colleagues, but he is ultimately a solitary man. Did you purposely create a protagonist whose essential loneliness is a reflection of his landscape?

One of the first images I had in assembling the novels was a vertical figure against a horizontal landscape. So I think, yes, Walt speaks to the place and the Western genre as a whole in that sense. And, there’s a percentage of crime fiction that derives its impact from some very basic questions about existence—who are we, why are we here, what are the rules, are there any rules? I think the sheriff walks that cosmic line and provides a bulwark between justice and chaos; that’s a pretty lonely beat.

But nobly so. At many points in the book people advise Walt to stop his quest. Aside from the fact that he is the sheriff, what quality is it that most pushes Walt forward into further conflicts?

It’s almost easier for Walt to keep moving than it is to stop; he’s definitely the unstoppable force. I think there’s a responsibility that comes from inheriting the mantle of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and the rest of those white hats. Walt is a product of a more sophisticated time, but he still adheres to the cowboy code of ethics. He’s aware that, at times, he’s putting his ass on the line, but it’s who he is and what he does. There’s a chivalry to the man that’s inherent, a trait you can trace through crime fiction from Sam Spade, Spencer, Joe Leaphorn and Walt Longmire.

In every novel, Walt learns more wisdom and legend from Native American characters. Did you research these ideas in books, learn them from friends on the reservation, or make them up?

You can pretty much tell from my acknowledgements that I’m indebted to my Northern Cheyenne and Crow friends for allowing me access to their lives and culture. Most of the Indian characters in my books have a basis in individuals I know up on the Rez. I research the living daylights out of everything, but it’s the primary research of talking to my friends that trumps it all. Sometimes its not big, textbook history, but rather, small, social history that finds its way into the novels just because those moments can be more informing.

I was driving up on the Rez with my buddy, Marcus Red Thunder, and we came upon this ten-year-old kid walking along route 212 with only one shoe.

Marcus told me to pull over because he knew the kid. I stopped, and Marcus said, “Hey, you lost your shoe!”
The kid turns around with this beatific smile and says, “No, I found one!”
Now, that says a lot.

It does. Walt has difficulty switching from wilderness and isolation to civilization and other people. Have you ever experienced this phenomenon?

Oh yeah. I’ve mountaineered my whole life, and I don’t know how many times I’ve come out of the mountains, unlocked my truck and just sat there in the seat trying to remember what all those switches and buttons do. It’s the same with people; a lot of times I’ll go to a restaurant or café and just sit there and listen to people, attempting to reacquire my power of speech.

How do you feel about the casting of your Walt Longmire television series, and when does it come out?

It’s been a phenomenal experience; Shephard/Robin and Warner Television have pretty much kept me in the loop, which really isn’t something I expected. They made me an executive creative consultant and had me on-set for the entire shoot. The casting, the direction, just about everything has been amazing.

The pilot, which will become the first episode if the project is picked up, was shipped from Warner Horizon over to A&E this week. A board will have input, and it’ll be shown to a number of test audiences. By September we should have a definitive answer on whether it is that ‘Longmire’ will ever see the light of day.

Keep your fingers crossed.

I will! Thanks for a great series and a fine interview.

Books and Summer

2011-06-06T08:08:00.003-06:00

"There is a temperate zone in the mind, between luxurious indolence and exacting work; and it is to this region, just between laziness and labor, that summer reading belongs."

~Henry Ward Beecher

Journalist Mark Seal on The Notorious Clark Rockefeller, The American Dream, and The Notion of Having It All

2011-05-26T13:18:00.012-06:00

Mark Seal was kind enough to answer some of my questions about his new book, THE MAN IN THE ROCKEFELLER SUIT.

Your publisher compares Clark Rockefeller to Patricia Highsmith’s Mr. Ripley, and a person in the book compares him to Swift’s Tom Jones, but he reminded me of another fictional character: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby, who changed his name (from James Gatz) as a mere boy:

“I suppose he’d had the name ready for a long time . . . His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people—his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all . . . . So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end,” in pursuit of “a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty.”

I thought of this every time I read accounts of people who felt Rockefeller was an egotist, or that he seemed desperate to appear not just like them, but better than them. Did the parallel ever occur to you in the years that you did this research?

Yes, you are absolutely on target. Gatsby, like Rockefeller, is about a man nobody truly knew, who hid behind façade of wealth and taste that really wasn’t really real. As you note, Gatsby was a boy named Jimmy Gatz from North Dakota without connections, money, or education. He invented himself as Gatsby, much the way Christian Gerhartsreiter did as Clark Rockefeller.

Throughout all of his identities, “Rockefeller” never seemed to do actual work, other than the task of manipulating other people, their homes and their money. So where did he get his impressive art collection—or, if it was fake, how did the art itself fool so many people?

It’s one of the big mysteries of the book, and everyone seems to have a different answer. Some say the art was loaned to him by a friend, others insist that he had the copies done by some unidentified copyist somewhere, someone else insisted that he possibly painted them himself (which I found difficult to believe, considering the quality of the paintings). His attorney told me the paintings were derivatives, worthless, really. But they were indeed done so well they fooled artists, art experts and galley owners.

How do you account for the fact that some very smart people were utterly bamboozled by Rockefeller, while others (including one notable woman who compared the story to “The Emperor’s New Clothes”) said they never for a moment believed in him or his ridiculous persona. What might have accounted for the difference?

Of course, many who say that they knew now may not have been as vocal back then. So it’s difficult to say who really knew and who didn’t. He was extremely believable, at least in the beginning, and people are willing to believe things when they are said by some one who is seemingly educated, erudite and, most importantly, has a famous name.

To a certain extent, Rockefeller’s wife seemed to buy into his fiction because he filled a requirement in terms of her own aspirations. Do you think her ambition was the major reason that she never seemed to question all of the inconsistencies in her husband’s life?

She is a very smart, educated woman. I believe she was taken in for the same reasons as everyone else, and she insisted in the trial that she didn’t use his name for career advancement.

You met Clark Rockefeller. What was your own feeling after your meetings? Did you feel his charisma, or did he seem pathetic?

I was not able to interview him. The book is built on interviews I conducted with those who knew him, police reports, court transcripts, television and other media documents. And, of course, I was able to observe him day after day in the month-long trial.

Ah. If we viewed Rockefeller in terms of the Tragic Greek Hero, what do you think would have been the primary flaw that led to his downfall? After all, he managed to live his false lives for a very long time. Was it Clark Rockefeller who brought down Clark Rockefeller?

The flaw that led to his downfall is that he wanted it all: the $800,000 divorce settlement from his ex-wife and his daughter, even though his ex-wife was granted custody. He brought himself down by kidnapping his daughter.

Does Rockefeller embody a twisted version of The American Dream?

Yes, in the sense that he was like so many immigrants who came to this country: reinventing himself for the new world. However, in Clark’s case, somewhere along the line he forgot about facts and embraced a life of fiction.

Do any of Rockefeller’s friends visit him in prison?

Yes, several of them have said they visited him in prison.

Interesting! Were there people who testified on his behalf in court?

There were psychologists and psychiatrists who testified on his behalf.

Now that Christian Gerhartsreiter has been charged with murder, do you anticipate that he will be in jail for life, or do you think that he might charm a jury into acquitting him?

I wouldn’t want to second-guess a jury. But like everything about this case, I will be riveted to the trial and its outcome.

Mark Seal, thanks so much for letting me read this fascinating book and for answering some of my burning questions.

A journalist for thirty-five years, Mark Seal is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and the author of THE MAN IN THE ROCKEFELLER SUIT: THE ASTONISHING RISE AND SPECTACULAR FALL OF A SERIAL IMPOSTOR, now on sale. Seal was a 2010 National Magazine Award finalist for his Vanity Fair profile of Clark Rockefeller.

He lives in Aspen, Colorado. View Seal's website at www.markseal.com

Mark Seal's Clark Rockefeller

2011-05-24T20:57:00.006-06:00

I just finished THE MAN IN THE ROCKEFELLER SUIT by Mark Seal. It explores, in great detail, the story of Christian Gerhartsreiter, a German immigrant and con man extraordinaire, who lived under a progression of pseudonyms among America's powerful and wealthy. Gerhartsreiter used some sort of alias from the early 1980's until his arrest in 2008, and he fooled many intelligent people into believing his illusions--including, perhaps, himself.

Some of the reviews on GOODREADS express disappointment with Seal's book, claiming that it doesn't reveal anything about the real Gerhartsreiter and his motivations. But that's exactly why Gerhartsreiter remains a compelling mystery, even to Seal, who researched the elusive con man and his trail for YEARS and still came away knowing the facts and little more. Seal admits as much up front, saying that the book is based on court records, testimonies, public documents, and interviews. It goes without saying that one would finish a book like this with a whole lot of questions--that's what makes the book (and Gerhartsreiter) so fascinating.

"Clark Rockefeller" is not the first con man who fooled a whole lot of people who should have known better. Leonardo DeCaprio made Frank Abagnale's story famous in CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, and if one were to Google phrases like "famous American con men" one could encounter a whole list of people who told big lies and got away with them. The biggest question, for me, is whether this lying is a compulsion--an almost biological need that makes the quest for fame or money secondary to the satisfaction of having lied.

I hope to ask my questions to Mark Seal himself in the near future; I'll keep you updated on this blog.

THOR and Shakespeare

2011-05-15T18:25:00.004-06:00

At first I wondered at the choice of Kenneth Branagh, Shakespearean actor and director nonpareil, to direct the latest superhero flick. But having seen THOR, I understand the pairing of Branagh and Marvel: this is a tale with many Shakespearean elements.

For one, just about every Shakespearean play has some sort of political wrangling--often a major betrayal within a dynasty. In THOR, there are similar troubles within the ruling family of Asgard (led by a predictably regal Anthony Hopkins).

For another, Shakespeare loved to play with luscious and evocative settings: think of THE TEMPEST or A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. Shakespeare himself would have loved to don his 3-D glasses and get a load of the art in THOR--it's a Norwegian wonderland and a treat for the eyes.

Chris Hemsworth is a worthy THOR, investing his role with the pathos of a true Shakespearean tragic hero; one of the most crucial elements of Shakespeare's hero is that he must recognize his flaw and then see that it has brought about his downfall. Hemsworth accepts his fate with appropriate gravitas. His face is unbelievably beautiful, but it isn't a Hollywood mask--it conveys surprising facility with the various emotions THOR must display.

THOR also contains the obligatory Shakespearean love subplot, and like Romeo and Juliet, Thor and his earthly girlfriend are unlikely to forge a successful relationship.

The only flaw in THOR is that, while the gods in Asgard are carefully developed and characterized, the people on earth are little more than stereotypical movie scientists, and there is nothing in Natalie Portman's physicist that would appeal to Thor's eye aside from her basic good looks. This should be a meeting of minds and imaginations that would explain a passion that could span universes. Instead, it is too mundane for the audience to believe in it.

Still, I'll be in line for the next installment of Thor, and I take my hat off to Kenneth Branagh--thanks for making this movie like a good Shakespearean play.

SOUND PROOF Brings Murder to a Pastoral Setting

2011-05-10T17:35:00.003-06:00

I just finished SOUND PROOF, a mystery by Chicago author Barbara Gregorich. The book is the second in a series starring Frank Dragovic, a Chicago PI who is dragged to the country to investigate the mysterious goings-on at Midwest Music Madness, a folk festival with an assortment of eccentric musicians. One of those musicians is a thief, and Dragovic needs to find him or her.

Dragovic is not unused to the country; when he was a child, he tells the audience through a first-person narration, he was sent to the country every summer, learning to appreciate what was produced by the land, and to admire a structure as simple as a barn: "Massive. Permanent. A shelter for animals, harvest and humans. A place warm with the smell of living creatures and the gentle tang of cured hay."

Dragovic has some poetic moments like this, especially when he talks about the land, but in general he narrates with the terseness of a man who is observing rather than talking: he is a watchful man until the moment is right, and then he is a man of action.

Gregorich's PI is a likeable and believable investigator, and her setting, filled with country air and folk music created by hammered dulcimers, hurdy gurdys, autoharps, fiddles and banjos, is refreshingly different.

I look forward to the next Dragovic mystery, especially because I need to know what will happen in his relationship with his girlfriend Suzanne. Even with the promise of a relationship, Dragovic retains some of the loneliness that always seems to cling to the American P.I.

A Long Time Coming

2011-05-01T21:09:00.003-06:00

So many people will be remembering with the news announced tonight by President Obama: remembering that dreadful day in 2001 when everyone was convinced the world would never be the same again; remembering the people who staggered through the poisoned air and sought their loved ones; remembering the brave ones, living and dead, who followed their instincts of compassion.

This does not change the past, but it answers a deep and burning need for restitution.

Thurber on Crime

2011-04-23T20:54:00.002-06:00

I'm revisiting the book, so I thought I'd revisit the review that I did in 2006.

Donald Westlake writes the Foreword to this fun volume of Thurber's crime-related humor, and he is obviously a Thurber fan. Only Thurber fans really "get" the idea that the little bland man with a shy manner and a deeply repressed desire for revenge can be amusing. Thurber is, of course, the author of such famous stories as "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (once made into a movie with Danny Kaye that was nothing like the original and became something Thurber himself would have quietly parodied) and "The Night the Bed Fell," which are not mysteries at all. But in this book, Thurber's daughter Rosemary provides stories that can be linked by Thurber's bent toward the sly, the mysterious, even the subtly macabre.

Westlake writes, "Gentle comedy is the hardest to make work." This a good assessment of Thurber, whose jokes are not always obvious, but become funnier the more one thinks about them, the more his dialogues roll around in the back of one's mind. "Mr. Preble Gets Rid of His Wife," seems to be much more an indictment of marriage than of murder, and "The Catbird Seat" continues the theme of the henpecked man, although both men get their revenge in the end, despite their mild-mannered reputations. In "The Macbeth Murder Mystery" a misguided woman decides that the solution to Macbeth was all wrong, that Macbeth didn't do it, and that she, a rather dubious sleuth, has it all figured out.

Added to the wonderful stories are Thurber's famous cartoons. Westlake writes, in the foreword, that a critic once called Thurber, whose cartoons famously appeared in The New Yorker, a "Fifth Rate Artist." Harold Ross defended him, saying "You're wrong. Thurber is a third-rate artist." Thurber's art, though, has an undeniable charm, and is even more impressive when one considers that toward the end of his life Thurber was almost totally blind, and had to create his cartoons on huge sheets of paper that were later photographed and shrunk down to size. Thurber once joked about this, saying he intended to title his autobiography Long Time, No See.

The cartoons, the vignettes and the stories all capture Thurber's sense of irony (and his capable use of parody) as well as his appreciation of crime fiction. Donald Westlake summed it up the best: "Thurber on Crime. There's nothing in the world quite like it."

A Good Friday Reflection

2011-04-22T13:34:00.003-06:00

"Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone but in every leaf in springtime."

- Martin Luther

A Grammar Peeve

2011-04-20T20:00:00.002-06:00

I just saw a commercial for the 2012 Honda Civic. It shows all sorts of bizarre drivers--monsters, superheroes, what seems to be a mountain man of some kind. Then the slogan on the screen reads "To Each Their Own."

Perhaps I'm a grammar snob; but "each" is singular and "their" is plural. This is a basic lack of agreement. Yes, it's problematic that the English language has no singular pronoun that includes both genders. But is it cool for people to simply force in the ungrammatical mix of singular and plural? Isn't this contributing to the dumbing down of America?

Okay, you may now accuse me of being inflexible. The stuffed shirt of grammar.

But I shall cling to this usage: "To each his (or her) own," because it makes sense and fits the beautiful structure of our beautiful language.

Now Reading

2011-04-16T17:31:00.004-06:00

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

Sound Proof by Barbara Gregorich

Winter Solstice by Rosamund Pilcher

Somehow I ended up with too many books and not enough reading time!

Rejuvenation

2011-03-31T15:29:00.003-06:00

A jaunt to Michigan in the cold, cold air has cleansed me of my spring angst and made me ready to work anew at my many endeavors.

That's why I'll be frisking off to Weight Watchers after posting this and then slogging energetically through that re-write, which has perched on my shoulders like Coleridge's albatross for about a month.

Onward, ever onward! And possibly upward. :)

Ellis Peters on Spring

2011-03-27T15:21:00.001-06:00

"Every spring is the only spring - a perpetual astonishment."

~Ellis Peters

"The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day."

~Robert Frost

photo: spring flowers at Brookfield Zoo. JB, 2006.

Brett Battles and THE SILENCED

2011-03-18T18:33:00.006-06:00

Brett Battles, thriller writer, hard-working dad and friend of this blog (see Brett Battles interview at right) has come out with another exciting Jonathan Quinn adventure. This time out, Quinn, a "cleaner," must find a body hidden in a wall in London twenty years ago--before the building is demolished. But that's just the beginning of Quinn's problems . . .

What I like about Battles' novels is that he often begins from a female point of view. Therefore, a woman like me, who might be reluctant to pick up the book because I think it's somehow a man's tale, will be lured in by the female character and her dilemma, and then I'm just caught by the narrative.

I haven't yet finished THE SILENCED, but I greatly enjoyed SHADOW OF BETRAYAL, the third Quinn adventure, and Battles really seems to be hitting his stride with this series.

Next on the reading pile: Donna Leon's A QUESTION OF BELIEF. I have never read a Commissario Brunetti mystery, and my mystery friends think less of me for it. Donna Leon was in my town a few years ago, and I didn't go to see her because I'd never read her work (foolish, I know). I'm sure once I read this I'll regret that decision.

New Version of an Old Favorite

2011-03-17T11:01:00.006-06:00

Anyone familiar with me or this blog knows that I love the suspense novels of Mary Stewart, and have various dusty versions of all of her titles. But I've mentioned before that Chicago Review Press is releasing selected Stewart titles, the latest of which is this lovely version of The Moonspinners, one of Stewart's trilogy of novels set in Greece.

This isn't my favorite Stewart book, but since I love them all that's not a very harsh criticism. In it Stewart displays her passion for Greece (she once said that she visited there and "fell in love" with the country) and its various terrains. Stewart is particularly good with setting and description, and she describes a Crete that is wildly beautiful but also sinister and rough.

The windmill on the cover, Stewart fans will recall, plays a part in the story and in the description, since windmills dot the landscape and create a backdrop to the intrigue and suspense.

Michael Harvey and THE THIRD RAIL

2011-03-01T17:30:00.003-07:00

Since THE THIRD RAIL came out in paperback recently, I thought I'd re-run my interview with its author, Chicago's Michael Harvey.

Michael, thanks for chatting with me about The Third Rail.

Your narrator tells his story in first person, but we get a bad guy’s perspective in third person. Why did you choose a double point of view?

Good question. My first two books, The Chicago Way and The Fifth Floor, were both written in the first person, from Michael Kelly’s point of view. I enjoy writing in Kelly’s voice and wanted to keep him in the first person. My plot for The Third Rail, however, called for multiple crime scenes that unfold almost simultaneously across the city. In order to maintain and feed the dynamics of that story line, I felt it was critical to get into the killer’s head at certain points and allow him to drive the action forward. So I kept Kelly in the first person, and used the third person for my killer.

This decision is not without risk. But I figure nothing ventured, nothing gained. I will be interested in readers’ reaction to the switching. Did it bother them? Did they like it? Did they even notice? We’ll see.

Your plot involves some real-life events, including a 1977 el-train crash that I remember seeing on the news. Were you around when this crash happened? When did you decide you wanted it to be a facet of your novel?
I was a kid living in Boston, so, no, I don’t remember the 77 L crash. I first heard about it when I was working as a journalist for CBS in Chicago. At that time, I took the L just about every day and certainly recall many days when I thought our train was going off the edge as it negotiated a turn in the Loop.

I decided I wanted the accident to be part of the novel about halfway through writing it. I knew my spree killer was going to attack the city through the L system. I just didn’t know exactly how. Or why. As I ran through different possibilities, I remembered the old L accident. I was especially intrigued with the idea that the accident could be used as a vehicle to tie into Kelly’s childhood, and help strip away a little more of his character. Once I saw that possible tie-in, I knew the 77 crash was going to be part of the book.

Many a cop (both fictional and real) is willing to walk into danger despite the wishes of their loved ones. The same is true of Michael Kelly, a former cop and now a private investigator. What makes Kelly determined to do it despite his girlfriend’s desire for him to find a safer job?

The easy answer is... that’s just Kelly’s job. The better answer is... that’s his nature.

I have interviewed a lot of cops, firemen, EMT workers, military personnel -- people whose job it is to put themselves in harm’s way. They understand the risks inherent in what they do and, for the most part, don’t assume those risks lightly. Their comfort level comes from a belief in their own abilities and an implicit trust in the people they work with every day. They figure if everyone does their job, chances are nothing bad is going to happen. Do bad things happen? Yes. Do people die? Yes. Do these folks realize that? Yes. But they don’t dwell on it. Their nature allows them to tolerate a considerable amount of risk, and do the jobs no one else in society wants to think about.

Interesting! One of your more evil characters saw active duty in Afghanistan. Is the reader to deduce that he was twisted by war, or was he a warped individual before he went overseas?

That’s up to each individual reader to decide.

One of the great things about writing (and reading) novels is that each reader brings his or her life experiences to the novel, and essentially completes the story with their own interpretation of events and character.

I believe Robles was twisted well before he hit Mogadishu. As I said in the book, he was born in a toilet in a Greyhound bus terminal. And it went downhill from there. His experiences overseas probably didn’t help things, but he was already in trouble before he joined the military. At least, that’s my take.

The mayor of Chicago is fictionalized in your book, but he’s very similar to Mayor Daley—-especially with that intensity that seems to border on insanity. Did one inspire the other?

Wilson is based on my impressions of a number of different politicians. Most tend to be highly driven and a little paranoid, with an unsettling mix of ego and insecurity. These folks like the spotlight, crave power and know how to use it. Scary? Sometimes. Interesting? Without a doubt.

You paint a negative, almost a sinister vision of the Catholic church. Is this Michael Kelly’s perspective, or is it yours?

It’s Kelly’s experience, more than perspective. And it’s an evil that is not limited to the Catholic Church.

One of the subsets of the Kelly series is the idea that the major institutions of society -- government, big business, the Catholic Church etc., -- are morally bankrupt, act only in their own self-interest and are not to be trusted. I think this reflects a feeling many people have when they look at the real world these days. Katrina, the war in Iraq, Wall Street’s meltdown, the Catholic Church’s ongoing abuse scandal -- the examples are, unfortunately, almost too numerous to list.

Kelly, in some ways, represents the little guy whose job it is to jump in the water and swim with these sharks. He gets bitten a lot, and is understandably wary. But he wins some of the time. At least enough to pay the bills and keep him in beer.

Everyone in your book has an agenda, either political or personal. Is this Kelly’s cynicism, or is this the way you view Chicago?

Both. In my experience as a journalist and documentary producer, I have found most people in positions of power tend to act in their own self interest – with the prime directive being save one’s own skin at all costs. There are exceptions -- but that’s what they are....exceptions.

Did you study the history of Chicago’s elevated trains before formulating your plot, or after?

I knew about the 1977 train crash, but did not initially think I’d use it in the book. As I got into the writing, I kept coming back to the crash both as a way to tie Kelly’s past into the plot and as a tool to strip away more of his character.

Overall, I have always thought the L would make a wonderful crime scene. It’s a huge, mobile, daily undertaking that runs through the heart of the city and connects all its component parts. It’s a place where a killer can find anonymity – be it on a crowded platform, in a dark tunnel, or tucked up in a building that overlooks the tracks. It’s an exciting place, a place every Chicagoan recognizes, and, whether we like it or not, a sometimes dangerous place.

One of your scenes takes place in a ruined building in Cabrini Green. Did you visit this site? The details seem very specific.

I lived in Cabrini for three days as a journalist. We did a report documenting living conditions in the housing project in the early nineties. Cabrini was a dangerous place. It was also a place a lot of wonderful people called home...a place where a lot of families lived, loved and cared for each other. Gunfire be damned.

Such a sad truth. You have a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University. Do you live in the Chicago area?

Yes. I live about a half mile from Wrigley Field. Another place of great tragedy in the city.

Haha. I'm married to a Cubs fan, and he's either angry or sad for most of the summer. :)

The Third Rail is the third Michael Kelly crime novel; will there be more in the series?

Yes. The Third Rail leaves a couple of story lines unresolved. Some people probably won’t like that, but it was done intentionally. Why? Because that, more often than not, is how life works. Even when a homicide detective clears a case, it’s rarely tied up into a nice, neat package. It might appear that way, but appearances can be deceiving. There are usually questions in even a closed file that linger; certain facts that still don’t make sense; suspects that might not have killed anyone...but are suspicious nonetheless. Homicide detectives look at all of this as extraneous and a headache. They usually just want to catch the killer, close the file and move on to the next case. As a result, these lines of inquiry often remain open, unresolved and, for lack of a better word, messy. That’s just how it is.

Anyway, the next book in the Kelly series takes one of these unresolved, messy story lines from The Third Rail and follows it to its logical...or perhaps illogical conclusion. I guess that’s the long way of saying the next book is a bit of a sequel to The Third Rail.

Kelly’s girlfriend is a judge, and sometimes in the narration she is referred to as “the judge” rather than by her name. Is this symbolic?

I don’t think so. “Judge” is just more likely to come up when Rachel is being talked about in her capacity as...you guessed it... a judge.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer said you have “done for Chicago what Raymond Chandler did for Los Angeles and Dashiell Hammett for San Francisco.” Wow! Were you surprised by this accolade linking you to the biggest names in crime fiction?

Hammett, Chandler and Ross Macdonald essentially created the private detective genre and were three of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century. I could write another five lifetimes and not touch any of their work. But it’s a nice thought, and I appreciate it.

Your novel contains a great many details that only Chicagoans might recognize: Tom Skilling giving a weather report, someone reading Michael Sneed’s column, the typical behaviors of Irish south-siders. How do you decide which details to include? Do you ever put in homages to your personal favorites?

I own The Hidden Shamrock, Kelly’s favorite watering hole, and get my coffee at Intelligentsia, so I guess those are two favorites. Otherwise, I try to find places in the city that people might relate to, or find interesting. I especially look for scenes that convey the intangibles and atmospherics of Chicago. It’s a great city, so why not!

Good question! How can readers find out more about Michael Harvey and the Michael Kelly novels, especially The Third Rail?

They can go to my website www.michaelharveybooks.com or my Facebook page.

They can also follow me on Twitter at TheChicagoWay, and can go to Knopf’s home page.

Thanks for the conversation, Michael.

My Grandma

2011-02-14T15:07:00.001-07:00

I posted about my grandmother, who was born on Valentine's Day in 1904, on Poe's Deadly daughters today.

An Ever Fixed Mark

2011-02-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day. The most beautiful love poem I can think of was penned by William Shakespeare. So I offer this sonnet for the day. May you enjoy all the loves in your life.

SONNET 116

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved."

--William Shakespeare

Exciting New Reading

2011-02-05T11:58:00.005-07:00

I'm very lucky today, because I received some books in the mail that will provide me with some delicious weekend reading.

First, I've started a historical mystery--not usually my bag--called THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN JOHN EMMETT. I gave the first page a try and then couldn't put it down. This delicately written tale set after World War I focuses on a young man who has lost everything, including his wife and child, and therefore finds himself willing to take on a seemingly pointless task: to look into the suicide of a former school mate, at the request of that man's sister.

I've not yet gotten beyond the fifth chapter, but I can't wait to finish my chores and get back to this mystery by Elizabeth Speller, whose other books I will be investigating soon.

Also, in the mail today like a special gift, a book I had not yet heard of called HAUNT ME STILL. Macbeth fans will recognize this little snippet of this quote from the shattered MacDuff: "If thou be'est slain with no stroke of mine/My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still."

As a teacher of MacBeth and a lover of Shakespeare, I can't think of anything more fun than a mystery set in Scotland at the very foot of Dunsinane Hill! Looking forward to this seemingly moody mystery from Jennifer Lee Carrell, whom the book cover tells me is a Shakespearean scholar. Long live Shakespearean scholars!!

Okay--I'm off to read now. :)

After the Storm

2011-02-02T13:18:00.003-07:00

The blizzard passed through Chicago last night, fierce and howling, cracking tree branches with its 60 mph winds. Today it is calm, but we're snowed in under feet of heavy white stuff. Only the Beagle seems to really enjoy it--something in a dog can't resist piles of snow.

Laugh for the Day

2011-01-29T10:13:00.001-07:00

This is one of my favorites from the family picture file. My youngest enjoying his first experience with swimming (sort of) in a pool, and all the equipment that required.

Limerick Fun

2011-01-26T16:28:00.003-07:00

Recently in my creative writing class, we learned just how fun and addictive writing limericks can be. I wrote three, but this was my favorite:

There once was a cat with two tails
Who longed for a cottage in Wales;
He wagged and he grinned
Till he made such a wind
That he flew there as if he had sails.

If you leave a comment, be sure it's in limerick form. :)

Lois Winston on Writing Well, Being Crafty, and Singing Broadway Classics

2011-01-10T00:00:00.001-07:00

Hi, Lois! You have had a mighty busy year, and a look at your blog suggests that things aren’t going to be slowing down soon. Do you like the hectic pace of publishing?

I’ve always worked in industries where deadlines were the norm, and everything had to be done sooner, rather than later. So I’ve never known anything but a hectic pace. Not sure I could slow down if I tried.

You write a mystery series about a crafty woman named Anastasia Pollack. How did you come up with that name?

Ah, names…they’re the bane of my existence. I have to have the perfect name for a character before I can write about him or her. One of the most dog-eared books on my shelf is 35,000+ Baby Names. However, Anastasia was easy to come up with. I wanted a Russian name because of the antagonism between my protagonist’s mother, a woman who claims to descend from Russian nobility, and her mother-in-law, a flaming red commie. What better first name than that of a Russian princess? As for Anastasia’s last name, I came across it in something I was reading, and I liked the way the two sounded together.

You yourself are crafty. Did you craft all of your Christmas presents this year?

Not all but I did make some of them. Back before I was juggling so many deadlines, I made most of my gifts, but that was a long time ago in another life in a galaxy far, far away.

You’ve won lots of writing awards. Which one meant the most to you?

That would have to be the contest that led to the sale of my first book. It was a publisher-sponsored contest, and although I didn’t win (I was first runner-up,) I was offered a publishing contract at the conclusion of the contest.

One of your pet peeves is reality tv. I’m with you there, especially since there’s nothing realistic about it. On the other hand, your favorite all-time show is M*A*S*H. I’m with you there, too—I’m a big Alan Alda fan. But what’s your favorite currently on tv?

That would be The Good Wife. Between the multi-layered character development and intricately woven subplots, it feels more like reading a good novel than watching network TV. The writing is phenomenal. The storyline was ripped from recent real life political scandals, but the writers have gone well beyond that, creating something with considerable depth.

You love Broadway Musicals. If we were to meet and I started singing, say, “ . . . you and the world we knew will glow, till my life is through, for you’re part of me from this day on . . . and someday, if I should love, it’s you I’ll be dreaming of, for you’re all I’ll see from this day on,” what would you sing back?

Trust me, Julia, you really, really don’t want me to sing! But those lyrics are from Brigadoon, and the next lines are:

“These hurried hours were all the life we could share.
Still, I will go with not a tear, just a prayer
That when we are far apart, you’ll find something from your heart
Has gone! Gone with me from this day on.”

Yea! Now, on to the important question: If Andrea Bocelli and Pierce Brosnan both invited you for a romantic moonlit gondola ride at the SAME TIME and you could only choose one of those experiences, in whose gondola would you climb? I know you probably get asked that all the time.

Talk about an unfair question! How about if Pierce Brosnan is my date and Andrea Bocelli is the serenading gondolier? Pierce is definitely better looking, and since I don’t speak Italian, we wouldn’t have a language barrier, but have you heard him sing? What in the world were the producers thinking when they cast him in the movie version of Mama Mia and let him sing his own songs?

I have heard him sing, and I did giggle a lot. But I would still let him sing to me. All day, if he wanted. :)

What are you writing now?

I certainly hope by the time this interview is posted on your blog, I’m hard at work on book 3 of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries.

How are you enjoying the promotion of your book, ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN?

Authors are supposed to enjoy promotion? I must have missed that memo. Seriously, though, in-between the nail biting of waiting for reviews and sales figures, I am enjoying the blog tour I’m on to promote ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN because it’s giving me a chance to connect with readers from all over the country and beyond. The tour began the end of December and will continue throughout January. By the way, anyone who posts a comment to any of the blogs where I’m guesting will be entered into a drawing for one of five copies of ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN. You can find the tour schedule at my website, http://www.loiswinston.com and at Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers (Anastasia’s blog), http://www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com.

Today’s successful writer is a multi-tasker. Are you good at multitasking? Are you able to knit with your feet while you type your books?

Actually, I prefer to cross stitch with my feet while I type.

Fair enough. You love Manhattan, a place I have never been. Assuming I travel there, what should I absolutely see before I leave?

Hmm…that really depends on your interests. Manhattan has something for everyone. Let me know when you’re coming, and I’ll give you a guided tour designed especially for you. Given that you knew those lyrics from Brigadoon, I’m thinking you’d definitely want to take in a show, and I know how to score half-price tickets ahead of time instead of waiting in line for hours at the TKTS booth.

Awesome! That would make the trip worthwhile.

Where did you celebrate the holidays?

Our family is scattered all over the country, and many of them flew in the end of October for a family wedding. So 2010 was a small, intimate Christmas with just my husband and the newlyweds.

What are you reading right now?

Email and blogs. However, at the top of my towering to-be-read pile is City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin. I loved her Mistress of the Art of Death series and am hoping City of Shadows is just as good.

What’s your biggest wish for 2011?

Another one of those questions where I can only choose one answer? So not fair! Peace would have to top the list because war is not healthy for children and other living things. But I’d also like lots of zeros -- both in an advance on my next book contract and on my royalty checks.

That sounds good! Thanks for chatting, Lois!

Thanks for having me, Julia!

Julie Hyzy on Writing Well, Fitting in Family, and Reading Regularly

2011-01-04T00:00:00.002-07:00

Julie Hyzy is an award-winning Chicago area mystery writer. Her current series are the White House Chef series and the Marshland Manor mysteries. Her latest in the White House books is called Buffalo West Wing, and it debuts today. Julie last visited this blog in 2006.

Hi, Julie! So much has happened since last you were on this blog. You have become the Stieg Larsson of cozy White-House mysteries. :) How do you feel about your meteoric rise to fame?

Ha ha ha. Don’t I wish!! Oh wait… on second thought, maybe not … he’s not here anymore and I’d like to stick around a bit longer. But you’re so sweet. I’d hardly say I’ve experienced a meteoric rise to fame, but winning the 2009 Anthony and Barry Awards did have me walking on clouds for a long time. (Want to know the truth? I’m still flying.) No complaints. Things have been good and I’m a very happy camper. And it has been a while since I’ve been here, hasn’t it? Love this blog. Miss talking with you!

Congratulations on your very big year last year! Your White House mysteries are very popular—what’s your writing schedule like? Are you working on a book right now?

I’m always working on a book. LOL. I heard a great quote (paraphrasing) “Writers don’t take vacations. They’re either writing or thinking about writing.” Is that true or what?

Right now I’m busy with getting the word out for Buffalo West Wing, but I’m also in the middle of copy edits for the second Manor House Mystery, Grace Interrupted. (They’re planning to include “Grace” in every title. I love it!)

As far as my writing schedule goes – I’m kind of in flux right now. I’m thinking about changing things up a bit. I had planned to write five days a week in 2010, leaving weekends and evenings open for family, but I had a lot of commitments during the year that threw my schedule way off. After having way too much fun (can you say “procrastination”?) I found myself under the gun in October and November, writing three to six thousand words per day. As it turned out, I cut about half of them, but they needed to be written first.

Believe me when I say I don’t want to be under that kind of pressure ever again, so this year I plan to write 2,000 words per day three days a week. Even if I miss a day here and there, it ought to be more than enough for the two books I’m under contract for, plus another book (or so). Promotion takes up a lot of time, so I’ll use Mondays and Fridays for that, and still try to keep weekends and evenings free. That’s the plan, at least. Check in with me at the start of 2012 and I’ll let you know if it worked!

Yeesh! There's only so much time in the day. Speaking of political leaders (as we were with your White House novels): you are a Chicago girl; what do you think of the fact that Chicago will soon have a new mayor?

Oh my gosh, how fun is this? My favorite story so far has been how the powers that be who are opposed to Rahm Emanuel talked the man living in Rahm’s Chicago residence into running for office just to screw up the works. Is this entertaining, or what?

I know that city finances are a mess, but I am sorry to see Richard Daley go – for a couple of reasons. I love Chicago--and love spending time in the city. Visitors always comment on how beautiful and how clean the city is. After touring a few other major cities around the world, I realize how right they are. Say what you will about his politics (and how much $$ he spent), but Daley really made the city sparkle.

I’m also very sorry to hear about Maggie’s health problems. I’m sure her battle with cancer played a big part in Richie’s decision not to run again.

It is a lovely city.

As you mentioned, you're working on another Manor House Mystery. Is one series easier to write than the other?

Hmm… interesting question. I guess I don’t think about it that way. I love writing for Ollie [in the White House series] because I know her very well now. She still surprises me from time to time but good friends do that in real life, right? Grace is newer to me. I’m still learning about her—about her hopes, dreams, and what makes her tick—and that’s endlessly fascinating. I suppose it’s been slightly easier to follow a printed floor plan of the White House than to create my own original as I did for Marshfield Manor, but I really enjoyed that project. And I keep adding rooms.

I think Grace and Ollie are equally easy and equally difficult. Both heroines have minds of their own and both refuse to cooperate if I try to push them to act out of character.

But I love questions that make me examine how I write and your question did just that. Thank you!

You blog at Mystery Lover’s Kitchen. Have you always been a foodie, or were you sort of forced to become one when you began the White House series?

If you count eating, I’m a foodie and always have been. Love, love, love going out to dinner. People want to know what I do when I’m not writing. You know, like a hobby?

I eat.

That doesn’t mean I like to cook. I usually try to avoid cooking if I can get away with it. I’m actually pretty good in the kitchen and I’m not afraid to experiment, but if it’s a choice of writing, reading, or cooking… kitchen duty always loses.

I make no secret of the fact that all the great recipes in the back of my White House Chef Mysteries are created by a professional chef. She is amazing. My family and I have thoroughly enjoyed every single one of the items she’s come up with. Delicious!

That said, I’ve been coming up with new and mostly original recipes for Mystery Lovers Kitchen once a week for over a year now. You know what? It’s been fun. To my great amazement, I’ve really enjoyed creating new dishes. My husband loves it and so do the kids (when they’re home). I’ve even started to amass kitchen gadgets. I now have a food processor, a potato ricer, and--my newest addition--a set of good kitchen knives. Real ones! With blades that actually cut!

Cool! Your website says that fiction is your passion. Do you feel passionate about it when you’re in the throes of revision? :)

Even when the passion manifests itself as hatred, it is there nonetheless.

Seriously, though, I love revising. Love it. It’s probably my favorite part of the process. I’m happily surprised when some of the stuff I’ve written isn’t always as bad as I remembered, and the stuff that is horrible gets tossed. Love that. That’s where I’m happiest.

Wow! That is a gift. I wish I could love revising. What are your plans for 2011?

I have two books to write—the third Manor House (the second, Grace Interrupted, comes out in June) and the sixth White House Chef (the fifth one is turned in, but no title yet). I’m keeping my fingers crossed that both series will continue beyond my current contracts. I also hope to write a third book in 2011. No solid plans on that one, though. Right now it’s just a jumble of ideas.

What are you reading these days?

Believe it or not, I’m finally reading the first Stieg Larsson – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I had such trouble getting past all that Swedish economy blather, but now the story seems to be taking off. I’m also reading a couple of books about the White House. Research for the next Ollie.

I just read the first one recently, too. You're not the only one who is tardy in experiencing the Larsson phenomenon. :)

You’re a busy mom; when do you find time to write?

Sniff… my baby just finished her first semester in college. Although the girls are all home fairly often, I have lots more time now than I used to. It’s nice, but if someone gave me the chance to go back to when they were 2, 5, and 8, I’d jump on that in a heartbeat.

I can relate. Even writers have their guilty pleasures. What’s your favorite tv show?

Oooh. Favorite now? Or all time?
What the heck – I’ll answer both.

Favorite recent TV shows:
Dexter
Criminal Minds
LOST

Favorites of all time:
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Star Trek: The Next Generation

Worst Guilty Pleasure I’m almost afraid to admit:
1,000 Ways to Die

Interesting! I knew about the Star Trek passion, but the others are a nice potpourri.

Now on to a business question: Where do your books sell better—in stores, or on Kindle?

So far, they all seem to sell better in stores, but Kindle/Nook/etc. sales are increasing by the minute. E-readers were the big gift this holiday – or so I’d heard. I think they’re predicting a 70% jump in e-book sales in 2011. I bet it’ll be higher.

I don't doubt it (said the new owner of a Kindle). You’ve traveled a lot for your writing; is there anyplace you’ve discovered that you would consider moving to, or is Illinois the best place for you?

With family here, Illinois will always be home, but I would love (dreaming now…) to have a second place for the frigid winter months. I loved North Carolina when I visited there, but my husband (the accountant) prefers Florida because there’s no income tax. By the time we ever get there, we might not even have income, so I guess maybe he’s dreaming too!

I did not know that about Florida! Or maybe I did and forgot. Hmmm.

What environment do you need when you’re writing? Music on or off? Peaceful or chaotic? Good luck charms, or not?

Total quiet. In fact, I prefer writing when there’s no one else in the house. Music would drive me bonkers. No specific good luck charms, but I do have my writing room which is filled with wonderful little reminders of good times, happy writing, and special events.

What’s your best advice for people who want a writing career?

Read.
Write every day.
Submit.
Repeat.

Great advice! Thanks for chatting with me, Julie!

Thank you, Julia! It’s been too long!

Coming Soon . . . .

2011-01-02T10:06:00.003-07:00

It's January, and the new slate of interviews is here! Coming on Tuesday, an interview with the wonderful Julie Hyzy, the author of the White House Chef mystery series and the Marshland Manor series.

Her new book, Buffalo West Wing, debuts this week.

Later in the month, I'll talk to Lois Winston about our shared love of Broadway musicals and her new book, Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun.

The Snows of Yesteryear

2010-12-30T17:24:00.004-07:00

I'm feeling very grateful to my parents today, especially to my mother, who gave birth to me on this day in 1964.

She also took me out to lunch today in honor of my birthday--a tradition she has followed pretty much ever since I left home.

Look at us in the picture there--my mother a glamorous 1960s gal, and me a little bundle in footy pajamas. (Yes, my mother dressed up around the house. Look at those stockings! I wonder if my children will reminisce about my sweats? Or on special occasions, sweats with a racing stripe?)

As a late December baby, I have the honor of ushering out the old year and seeing in the new. We turn together, the calendar and I, and it seems more poetic and appropriate as I age.

Suspenseful Reading

2010-12-27T20:43:00.004-07:00

I finished THE JANUS STONE today and can confirm that it's a book which should be read in one sitting. I took it to bed, then to my mammogram appointment, then back home, stealing a chapter or two whenever I could.

I loved Elly Griffith's first book, THE CROSSING PLACES, and this one continues with all the familiar characters from book one, specifically Ruth Galloway, who not only has to deal with more unearthed human bones (are they ancient? are they modern?) but with the more prickly problems of her personal life and the beautiful yet dangerous setting she lives in.

While THE JANUS STONE has a very similar format to the first book, the plot was still pleasing and suspenseful, and I am looking forward to the third in the series.

Moving on now to Ian McEwan's SATURDAY, which I've been meaning to read for ages, and then it's on to my brand new Kindle and an investigation of the possibilities of downloaded text.

Time to Read!

2010-12-22T14:50:00.004-07:00

One of the best things about the holidays is the chance to read, something I don't always have during the work year. And one of the nicest things about blogging is that you sometimes get books in the mail that you absolutely weren't expecting!

I'm reading two books right now, kindly sent to me by HMH:

THE DIVINER'S TALE, which is not what I expected it to be. It's much more a study in character than it is a mystery, really, and yet the human psyche is compelling enough, and it is keeping me turning the pages of Bradford Morrow's delicately written novel about a woman with psychic leanings who happens upon what seems to be a crime.

I haven't yet opened THE JANUS STONE, but it is on my pillow; I loved Elly Griffith's first book, THE CROSSING PLACES, and I look forward to more adventures with her character Ruth Galloway, an archeologist who lives in one of the loneliest places I've ever encountered in a mystery.

A Christmas Mouse

2010-12-21T19:45:00.000-07:00

The mouse is actually a small cat; she has snuck past the manger scene and stopped batting the low-hanging ornaments in order to steal some fresh pine tree-flavored water, which all three of my cats prefer to their plain ol' bowl water. This cat, Rose, is my littlest and shyest feline, but she manages to be in things that are none of her business on a regular basis. :)

Even cats like the holidays.

Writing In a Midwestern Maelstrom

2010-12-12T14:38:00.004-07:00

My cat Mulliner looks mighty cozy while he scans the results of the storm outside; Chicago got hit hard today, with many inches of snow, a plunge in temperatures, and a soul-chilling wind. It died down briefly, but now it's picking up again, providing work for me and a fun, snowflake-dancing visual for my cat.

If I ever get finished with the shoveling and errands, I'll sit down to write, which is really all I want to do when winter blankets my house, my town, my world. As long as the PC still works and my brain can weave tales, I'll grab my cup of tea and start writing--probably about a tropical island somewhere in my imagination.

Suspense Magazine

2010-12-07T20:38:00.004-07:00

John Raab, publisher of Suspense Magazine, has announced that they are giving 4 free electronic issues of their zine.

The magazine, he notes, is available throughout the United States and on their website.

This month's issue features the top writers of 2010 and a short story contest.

A Realist's View of Gratitude

2010-11-26T10:21:00.003-07:00

This is one of the most beautiful things I've ever read. Thank you, Mary Schmich of the Chicago Tribune.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-11-21/news/ct-met-schmich-1121-20101121_1_beauty-mother-cry-gratitude

Wandering Minds Aren't Happy

2010-11-13T07:22:00.002-07:00

People spend almost fifty percent of their time thinking about something other than what they're doing, according to this article in Science Daily. In addition, the magazine reports that the less people focus on the tasks at hand, the less happy they are. The study's conclusion: a wandering mind is not a happy one.

How might this experiment be skewed by a group of writers? Their minds undoubtedly wander a great deal of the time, but those minds are immersed in the act of creation. Is that the same thing as daydreaming or lacking concentration?

The study suggests that the only act which receives a person's full attention is the act of making love (although don't many people say that they enjoy fantasizing during sex?)

The notion that we would be happier if we focused on our tasks is an interesting one. It backs up Camus' existential idea that one need only embrace immediate needs and desires because nothing else ultimately matters.

In an age of multitasking, we have apparently trained ourselves to do our many tasks without giving them much thought. Perhaps be reclaiming our thoughts we can improve the quality of our thinking--but this is where science meets philosophy.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T18:33:00.002-06:00

"One need not be a chamber to be haunted;
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place."

- Emily Dickinson

A Kindle Debut

2010-10-26T15:44:00.004-06:00

The first of my Madeline Mann mysteries is now on Kindle! This novel, originally titled Pity Him Afterwards, follows the plucky Madeline as she investigates the disappearance of an old high school friend.

Kirkus Reviews called it "a bright debut," while The Library Journal called me "a writer to watch."

For more information, check out my updated website: juliabuckley.com

Thriller Writer Alan Jacobson Shares the Work Behind the Works

2010-10-20T18:48:00.008-06:00

My guest blogger is Alan Jacobson, the national bestselling author of the critically acclaimed thrillers False Accusations, The Hunted, Crush, Velocity, and The 7th Victim, which was named to Library Journal's "Best Books of the Year" list. Alan's years of research and training with law enforcement have influenced him both personally and professionally, and have helped shape the stories he tells and the diverse characters that populate his novels.

Alan's books have sold internationally, and both The 7th Victim and one of his forthcoming thrillers, Hard Target. are currently under development as major feature films. He lives in Northern California.

Visit Alan Jacobson at www.AlanJacobson.com and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter. Learn more about Velocity and the Karen Vail novels at www.KarenVail.com.

In the Trenches with the FBI Profiling Unit: First Female FBI Profiler Shines in Thrilling Series
By Alan Jacobson

Seventeen years ago, I was sitting in a room at the California Department of Justice with FBI agents, detectives, homicide investigators, and forensic scientists viewing blood spatter patterns. Gruesome crime scene photos filled the screen as the lead forensic investigator explained what we knew about the killer based upon how the blood was sprayed on the walls. I was beyond intrigued, and thus began my journey into the depraved minds of serial killers.

Before and after our blood spatter pattern instruction, I spent hours talking with one FBI agent in particular, Mark Safarik, who one day asked me if I'd ever fired a gun. I had -- a BB gun. I think he laughed -- and then said, "As a novelist writing about law enforcement, don't you think it's important to know what it feels like to shoot a gun?" That afternoon, he taught me how to fire pistols in the Department of Justice's indoor range. Though Agent Safarik was soon promoted to the FBI's elite Behavioral Analysis Unit, he and I talked often, for hours at a time. Months later, I flew to Quantico for my first visit to the Academy.

Over the next 17 years, I attended several FBI Behavioral Analysis training seminars; I made numerous trips to the Academy; I viewed hundreds of crime scene photos and watched interviews with serial killers; I shot an MP5 submachine gun at the Academy, then disassembled and cleaned it under the direction of the head firearms instructor; I edited four published FBI research papers on serial offender behavior; and I became good friends with Agent Safarik and his partner. Several years into my "education," I'd amassed enough knowledge to create compelling, credible characters whose lives were touched by the most heinous acts of person-on-person violence humankind has seen.
My first novel utilizing this material (and third book overall) was The 7th Victim,featuring Karen Vail, the first female profiler in the FBI: a daring, compelling, bright and sometimes troubled soul.

Those who are familiar with my novels know that my characters are often people touched by hardship or tragedy, with problems, obstacles and challenges woven into and through the story. My primary goal is to emotionally engage the reader; I want her/him to care about what happens. That was one of my prime concerns when I began writing the Karen Vail series.

Though I'd created Karen Vail early on, after my third visit to the unit I met Agent Safarik's partner, Mary Ellen O'Toole, who, in one of those jaw-dropping moments of fact meets fiction, looked and acted much like Vail. Subsequently, Agent O'Toole's insight became instrumental in understanding how a female fits in (or doesn't) to the FBI as a whole and to the profiling unit in particular. Mandisa Manette, one of the characters on Vail's task force, came from conversations I had with detectives I'd met at FBI training seminars over the years. In the early nineties, there were detectives who felt that profiling was unsubstantiated guesswork that carried little value. Although their opinions changed over time, I used that sentiment to create the Manette character as a foil to the assessments Vail makes when creating her profile of the Dead Eyes killer.

The 7th Victim debuted to rave reviews from critics and readers -- including those in the law enforcement community, who appreciated that I'd done my homework and cared about portraying them accurately. As the early feedback came rolling in on 7th Victim, my publisher told me I had to make Karen Vail a series character. I'd never intended to write more Vail novels. Although I loved writing her, I felt I'd written the ultimate serial killer novel. Robert Ressler, a founding FBI profiler, said The 7th Victim surpassed The Silence of the Lambs, "redefined the genre, and brought it into the 21st century."

So I sat down and thought. I gazed at the ceiling, I gazed at my navel. And then it hit me. The ideas started flying from my fingertips -- and the concept behind the second Vail novel, Crush, took shape.

A key element is that Crush brings Vail to the Napa Valley. To keep Vail fresh -- and me fresh writing her -- I had to remove her from her comfort zone, take her to places she'd never been, to an environment she wasn't accustomed to functioning in . . . and have her encounter a type of killer she'd never before faced.

Although I was extremely familiar with the Napa Valley, I spent considerable time there searching for the right locations; I spoke with area professionals to uncover insider secrets about the wine industry. In addition to well known wineries, I worked with the Napa County Sheriff's Department and related agencies in the region. The result was Crush, a twisting, one-of-a-kind story that is unlike any other novel set in the wine country. I was determined to make Napa a character in the story, and the response has been tremendous.

When I conceived of Crush, I realized the story was too big for one novel. I decided to split it in two, with a defined story arc that concludes at the end of Crush-- but with threads that continue into the follow-up novel, Velocity . Thus, Velocity picks up where Crush ends, tying together the loose ends left over from Crush while taking us on a journey unlike any Karen Vail has yet encountered.

The research for Velocity was once again complex. It took me three weeks to get clearance for the federal agency I needed to work with. They're careful of who they share their knowledge and procedures with because their work is sensitive and their agents in the field could be jeopardized if anyone mishandled the information I needed. Approval went all the way to a Congressional committee and was granted. To be certain I didn't compromise anyone's security, I sent my contact in their Washington headquarters the final manuscript to review.

Velocity is a terrific ride, one that takes Karen Vail from the vineyards of Napa to the monuments of Washington, DC, the wealthy beach enclaves of San Diego and the bright excesses of Las Vegas. Along the way, secrets are revealed -- secrets Karen Vail may not be able to live with. It's a novel Michael Connelly calls "Relentless as a bullet"; Publishers Weekly, in a coveted starred review, says Velocity "sizzles with nonstop action and startling details."

Working with Agents Safarik and O'Toole these past 17 years has been an enriching experience that has shaped me as a writer -- and enabled me to forge longtime friendships I'll always cherish. And it's allowed me to write a series of novels of which I'm extremely proud. I hope you enjoy The 7th Victim, Crush,and Velocity as much as I enjoyed writing -- and researching -- them.
© 2010 Alan Jacobson, author of Velocity

Ode to Autumn

2010-10-14T20:26:00.002-06:00

"No Spring nor Summer Beauty hath such grace
As I have seen in one Autumnal face."
--John Donne

A Writer's Retreat

2010-09-25T06:44:00.002-06:00

Yesterday circumstances brought me to Chicago's North Avenue Beach; it was cold and gray and windy--the perfect weather for contemplation. In my view were the skyline and--you can see it in tiny silhouette--the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier.

There's nothing like a beautiful landscape to get a writer thinking.

Farewell to Grace

2010-09-14T18:07:00.003-06:00

On this day in 1982 the world learned that Princess Grace had died in an automobile accident. All sorts of speculation swirled around the incident, but the apparent reason that Grace's car plunged down a Monaco cliff was that she had suffered a stroke at the wheel. Both Grace and her daughter Stephanie were injured, but Grace far more so. The treatment that Grace received after being pulled alive from the wreckage is still controversial, as some experts think that Grace, for all of her fame and power, actually received shoddy medical care.

In any case, the world lost one of its loveliest stars that day--not only because Grace Kelly lit up the screen in several notable movies in her short Hollywood career, but also because Princess Grace did much for others, notably children, and was known more as a philanthropist than an actress by the time of her death.

image link here.

Lincoln's Wisdom

2010-09-11T18:55:00.000-06:00

"Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it."

"I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day."

The words of Abraham Lincoln, quoted here, seem most applicable to our inability to comprehend the events of September 11th, then and now.

Sleepless Night Suspense Reading

2010-09-09T19:03:00.003-06:00

I am re-reading RED LIGHTS, by Georges Simenon, which I read two years ago and have thought about many times since. It's as much a psychological exploration as it is a suspense tale, but Simenon really kept me--well, not on the edge of my seat, since I was lying on my tummy, but AWAKE until the end of the book. (And that is a feat that is harder and harder to accomplish). :)

This mystery is all about MOOD and the city at night and all of the scary possibilities of the dark . . . .

The story begins when Steve Hogan and his wife Nancy are getting into their car to pick up their children from camp. It's dark on the road, and Steve is distracted by the lights on the highway and by his strong desire for a drink (he had two before he started). On the radio they hear of the predicted fatalities for the weekend, because it's a holiday. Steve eventually stops at a bar, against his wife's wishes, and hears that a man has escaped from prison.

The more Steve drinks the more he wants a drink, and when he stops at yet another bar his wife, who has been arguing with him, tells him that if he goes in, she will drive on without him. Maliciously (and drunkenly), Steve takes the keys from the ignition and goes in. He drinks more whiskey, and when he comes out, his wife is gone . . .

This was the first Simenon I'd read (I might have read a couple of Maigret novels in high school) and I was impressed. I've been meaning to look up a biography of this writer, but in the meantime RED LIGHTS is going on my most-suspenseful list.

The Had-I-But-Knowns of Ogden Nash

2010-08-19T17:23:00.004-06:00

The wonderful Ogden Nash, who was born on this date in 1902, once wrote a whimsical poem about detective fiction called "Don't Guess, Let Me Tell You." The speaker of this particular poem complains of mystery novelists who "belong to the H.I.B.K. School--" that is, the "Had I But Known," and suggests that too many mysteries fall into this category of rather ridiculous plotting.

The poem appeared in the April 20th, 1940 issue of THE NEW YORKER, and for nostalgia's sake, and in Nash's memory, I spent five dollars to read the poem online. I won't plagiarize from the magazine, but I will give you the link if you're a Nash fan: click here to get the specific issue.

Nash was always playful, but sometimes in a pessimistic way; he started his poem "A Bas Ben Adhem" with

"My fellow man I do not care for.
I often ask me, What's he there for?"

Nash had more than one poem about mysteries, so I assume that, like me, he was a fan of the genre. All of his poems were rhymed verse, and Nash said he had tended to think in rhyme from the time he was small.

Thanks to his tendency to think in couplets, we are blessed with an abundance of Nash poetry.

(Image: The Ogden Nash postage stamp, 2002. Link here).

Remembering The Rockford Files

2010-08-13T09:26:00.003-06:00

"This is Jim Rockford; at the tone, leave your name and message. I'll get back to you." So goes the famous answering machine message one heard at the beginning of every episode of THE ROCKFORD FILES, and which you can still hear on The Rockford Files Website.

Now that THE ROCKFORD FILES is being re-made (such a shame, really), one might want to reminisce about the greatness of the original series, and there are plenty of Rockford fans online who are keeping Garner's Rockford alive and well. There's a tribute to the show here, with all sorts of memorabilia, photos and links.

Then, for true Garner lovers, there's James Garner online. I had forgotten what a truly attractive and charismatic man Garner was until I wandered through these tribute sites.

Garner and his show are forever memorialized on the Museum of Broadcast Communications.

Recently, according to "Tribute" site, P.I. Magazine awarded Garner with their first ever "Outstanding Achievement" Award as "Television's Most Famous Private Investigator." A more fitting tribute I cannot imagine, and a wonderful picture of Garner and his award accompany that story.

I doubt I'll watch the new version of THE ROCKFORD FILES. It's a show there's just no reason to re-make--not while Netflix still offers the Garner originals. I can't imagine anyone capturing that rare charisma that Garner gave to his character, nor can I imagine the show having the same success.

Image link here.

Why Thomas L. Cook Reigns Supreme

2010-08-08T17:52:00.002-06:00

When I started reading Thomas L. Cook's THE LAST TALK WITH LOLA FAYE, I thought, slightly disappointed, "Oh, the action is all going to take place in one hotel bar."

Then I kept reading, and the suspense layered on, and I thought excitedly, The action is all going to take place in one hotel bar!

Such is Cook's control: he can take a relatively mundane setting like a St. Louis hotel and make it a place of growing tension, of intriguing revelation, of horrifying possibilities. And LOLA FAYE, like the other Cook novels I've read, is everyday life laced with potential menace.

At the root of a story is the murder that binds Lucas Page and Lola Faye Gilroy together, and though the crime happened in the distant past, one chance meeting makes the details come back with surprising new dimensions.

When I interviewed Thomas L. Cook at the end of 2009, he spoke of his fiction as opposed to his non-fiction, suggesting that the latter "freed [one] from the very different rigors of the imagination." But it is Cook's imagination which rules the mystery world, because he writes not only about crime, but about the many dimensions of the people who commit them and the victims who suffer them. In his poetic prose one can read Cook's sympathy for flawed humanity even as his story proves that people can be nothing but flawed.

The Impact of Writing

2010-08-07T17:50:00.002-06:00

For all you writers and aspiring writers out there:

9TH ANNUAL FUNDSFORWRITERS ESSAY CONTEST

FundsforWriters.com and Literary Database team up to co-sponsor the 9th Annual FundsforWriters Essay Contest.

Theme: Writing that made a difference.

Both entry fee and no entry fee categories. First place winner receives $300. Six awards given. Limit 750 words. Deadline October 31, 2010. Winners announced December 1, 2010.

www.fundsforwriters.com/annualcontest.htm / www.literarydatabase.com

Beth Groundwater Chats about Distant Stars, Whitewater Rapids and Beautiful Colorado

2010-08-03T00:00:00.003-06:00

Beth Groundwater writes the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series (A REAL BASKET CASE, nominated for the 2007 Best First Novel Agatha Award, and TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET, May, 2009). Beth also writes the Rocky Mountain Outdoor Adventure mystery series (the first, DEADLY CURRENTS, will be released March, 2011). Her science fiction novella, THE EPSILON ERIDANI ALTERNATIVE, was published December, 2009, and she has published eight short stories. Beth lives in Colorado and enjoys its many outdoor activities, including skiing and whitewater rafting. She enjoys meeting with book clubs in person or via Skype or speakerphone to discuss her books. To find out more, please visit her website at bethgroundwater.com and her blog at bethgroundwater.blogspot.com.

Thanks for chatting with me, Beth!

I’ve always been curious about your surname. Does it have Native American roots?

That’s what a lot of people think, people who haven’t met my husband, that is, who is a light-skinned, freckled guy. The name and his family originate in Scotland. The legend behind the family name is that the Groundwaters fished and farmed, making their living from the ground and the water. I like having the name because it’s fairly unique, so if you Google my name, all you find are references to me. And so far, there’s only one Beth Groundwater on Facebook!

That's handy. Your first mystery series is about a woman who owns a gift basket business. Have you ever worked at a place like this?

No, but a hobby of mine is making gift baskets for family members, friends, charity auctions, etc. To learn more, I read how-to books and trade magazines for gift basket business owners. Also, I interviewed two women who owned a gift basket business and toured their warehouse/work area, so I could become more familiar with the “behind the scenes” aspects of the business. Now that I’ve written two books in the series, people think I’m an expert at it and I get asked to make gift baskets more often. I’m not as creative at making them as Claire Hanover is, though!

How did you come up with the idea for the “basket” mysteries?

I wanted to write a cozy mystery series and thought a craft-based series would work, since craft cozies are so popular. I’m a klutz when it comes to most crafts, though. Making gift baskets, however, was one of the few crafts I’ve tried that I thought I could do well and write knowledgeably about.

All of your fiction is set in Colorado, where you reside. Is this an example of “write what you know?” Or maybe “write where you know?”

Yes, and it’s also an example of “write what you love.” My husband and I chose to move our family to Colorado because we fell in love with its scenery and opportunities for outdoor recreation. We’ve never regretted our decision!

Your science fiction novel is particularly intriguing to me. When you wrote The Epsilon Eridani Alternative, were you trying to choose the title with the most syllables ever?
Very funny, Julia! Actually, the “Epsilon Eridani” part of the title was a given, since the space colonists are sent to establish a colony on one of its planets. It is a real star, and it is one of the closest stars in our galaxy which space scientists have discovered has at least one planet. This mission is one of a few missions to different near-by planets, trying to find one or more that are hospitable for humans, so that’s where the word “alternative” came from.

Seriously, though, I love the premise: “Space colonists from Earth crash-land on a planet orbiting the star Epsilon Eridani and immediately wrestle with an ethical dilemma. They emerge from their stasis pods 33 years older than when they started and must decide whether or not to harvest stem cells from alien infants to counteract the effects of human aging... even though the process will kill the infants.”

Obviously you’ve done a great deal of thinking about the stem cell debate and its moral complications. What made you take this modern-day ethics issue and put it on a distant star?

That’s almost like asking “Where do you get your ideas?” ;-) Every fiction author struggles with that question, because in reality we don’t usually know the answer. Our subconscious works on problems, issues, and ideas while we sleep, and when we wake up, scenes start appearing in our heads. At least that’s the way it works for me! I started this novella with the “What if?” question of “What if space colonists woke up from their statis pods after a long journey and discovered that they were all old, that the pods hadn’t worked?” The moral issues of stem cell use, evolution, and natural selection, all fell out of what those colonists had to do to survive and perform their mission.

You’ve recently sold a new Rocky Mountain Outdoor Adventures mystery series about Mindy Tanner, a whitewater ranger. Are you a whitewater rafter?

Yes, I am a true “river rat” and love the adrenaline highs I get from running rapids. I started paddling canoes filled with floatation bags down whitewater rivers back east in the 1980s. Those were the days before self-bailing rafts were invented, which have now replaced canoes on whitewater rivers. The “river rat” language, subculture and techniques for reading the water and finding routes through the rapids has remained the same, though!

Did you interview rangers while you were researching these books?

I interviewed two river rangers who worked for the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, where Mandy Tanner works. One of them teaches the spring Swiftwater Rescue course that new seasonal river rangers take each spring, along with local firefighters and other rescue personnel. He invited me to audit a class, and I observed the last day of the three-day course. Most of that day was spent practicing techniques on and off the river for rescuing people and rafts from rocks and “keeper” holes in the river. I chatted with some of the students during breaks, including the female river ranger trainees, to get even more information.

What’s your biggest challenge when you’re writing a novel?

Nowadays, it’s staying on schedule. With my recent Midnight Ink contracts, I’m now on a book-every-eight-months production schedule, and I’ve never taken less than a year to write a book before. My children are grown and I don’t have a “day job,” so I certainly should be able to meet that schedule, but I’ll have to crack the whip on my own back to do it.

Do you follow a particular process when you’re in the midst of a writing project?

As a retired software engineer, as one would suspect, I tend to “engineer” my mysteries. Before writing the first draft, I spend 2-3 months doing research, creating character profiles, and creating a scene-by-scene outline. That doesn’t mean I don’t allow for innovation to occur during the writing process, but by knowing where I’m headed, I can veer that innovation in the right direction to still arrive at the ultimate ending I planned. When I’m writing the first draft, I try to produce about 20 pages a week, which requires me to spend 1-2 sessions lasting 2-3 hours at the computer every workday (Monday – Friday). After finishing the rough draft, I spend 2-3 months editing.

Very organized! Who are some authors whose work you love to read?

Since I’m working on an outdoor-oriented mystery series, I’ve been reading authors with similar sleuths/settings, such as C.J. Box, Dana Stabenow, William Kent Krueger, Nancy Pickard, Craig Johnson, and Margaret Coel. I’ve really been enjoying all of these authors.

You’ve already written in two genres—do you plan to explore others?

I think I’ve bitten off plenty right now—almost more than I can chew! I hope to be able to focus on and write books in my two mystery series for quite awhile. After experimenting with the hard science fiction genre, I’ve decided that it requires too much research. Mystery is the genre I really feel comfortable writing now.

I can think of a million things that seem appealing about Colorado, but you live there—what’s the best? Are there any drawbacks to living in this apparent paradise?

What I like best about living in Colorado is the outdoor ethic among the people who live here. Most try to keep in good-enough shape to enjoy being active outside. The only drawback is the need to protect your skin from the sun when you’re outside in Colorado. Because of our altitude and the thin-air, sunburn and skin cancer are major concerns.

If you had to relocate but could pick anyplace on earth, where would you go?

After living near skiing, but having to travel to go to the ocean, I think I’d try the reverse, living on a beautiful beach in Hawaii, with access to flights to Utah or Colorado to feed my appetite for skiing.

Lovely choice! What’s your favorite hobby aside from writing?

It’s too hard to pick just one! In the winter, I like to be out on the snow skiing, and in the summer, I like to be in the water, either on a river in a raft/tube/duckie or in the ocean snorkeling.

Do you have fun plans for the last of summer?

I’ve already had my three weeks of summer fun with a trip to the Hill Country of Texas, followed by a couple of whitewater rafting trips and my two grown kids coming for a visit over July 4th. Now it’s time to buckle down and get to work on the third book in the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series.

Thanks for chatting with me, Beth!

About Beth's book, Deadly Currents: When Mandy Tanner, a 27-year-old river ranger for the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area in Salida, Colorado, rescues a man who fell out of a raft on the upper Arkansas River and he dies on the river bank, she feels driven to find out what—or who—killed him.

RIP Dick Buckley, jazz radio legend

2010-07-25T12:04:00.001-06:00

RIP Dick Buckley, jazz radio legend This is a good listen--it helps one appreciate jazz, their loved ones, and the transitory nature of things.

Farewell to a Jazzman

2010-07-22T17:28:00.005-06:00

My father-in-law passed away early this morning. He was a Chicago legend, a jazz deejay popular with true jazz fans; I can't even begin yet to formulate a tribute to him. Much to our family's pleasure, Chicago is making the tributes for us.

According to the Chicago Tribune, "Author-broadcaster Studs Terkel once told the Tribune, "Dick is in the tradition of the old-time jazz critics I loved so much. There's always that thread running through Dick's commentary, the connection of past and present, respect for those long gone." "

WBEZ, his employer for more than 30 years, wrote in their tribute, "If microphones could speak, they would sing the praises of Dick Buckley."

And Justin Kaufmann of Vocalo said that "He was the gold standard for music radio in Chicago."

Best of all are the comments from the fans--many, many comments from people who listened to his show way back in the 70s and became loyal followers of Dick's "Jazz Showcase." As one of my friends put it today, "Everything I know about jazz, I learned from Dick Buckley. Everything."

Nothing is more comforting in a time of loss than the knowledge that your loved one will be remembered. Based on what we're reading, Dick will be remembered by many.

Inger Ash Wolfe on Ghost Crime, Human Cops, and Canadian Bacon

2010-07-15T14:00:00.001-06:00

Inger Ashe Wolfe is a pseudonym used by a renowned Canadian writer. THE TAKEN is the second in the Hazel Micallef mystery series.

Inger, thanks for chatting on my blog. I’m curious about the name Hazel Micallef; even in the book people mispronounce it, and Hazel corrects them (and, in the process, the reader who might have gotten it wrong). How did you choose this distinctive name?

Names are hard! I chose Hazel’s first name easily—she just struck me as a Hazel from the get-go. The name suggests hardness and intelligence to me (a hard-won kind of wisdom, too), but there’s also something lonesome and soft about the name too. The last name was more calculated: it’s originally a Maltese name that spread across the globe and is found especially in British Isles. You find it in Wales and Scotland now, tough places to prosper. So the last name also suggests a hardness I like. I like, also, that it means “judge” in Maltese.

Hazel pleases me because she’s a female cop who possesses qualities that mystery fiction usually only bestows on male cops: she’s older, divorced, lonely, battling a physical ailment, tied to her job despite its miseries. This seems realistic, yet few of mystery’s female heroes are allowed to be old. Were you consciously trying to address this double standard when you created Hazel?

Well, there is Miss Marple, and Jane Tennison is in her forties, but yes, there are few female detectives in their sixties in continuing series like this one. I wasn’t trying to right a wrong when I created Hazel, but I did hope she would feel new to readers. Also, breaking away from the template of who detectives tend to be in modern crime fiction, I thought I’d feel more freedom to innovate, and I do.

Yes! In the prologue, a nameless person reflects upon suicides, and the distinctive way that they dress themselves for death. Is this a well-known truth, or is it simply a fictional reflection of one individual?

It’s a fictional reflection, although I also know it happens.

In this book, Hazel must not only battle crime and bureaucracy, but also advanced technology. We know that technology is changing the way that we solve crimes, but is it changing the way that criminals commit them, as well?

Absolutely. People will use whatever is at hand to beat the odds, and criminals are especially savvy in this regard. Technology introduces new challenges to both the detection and resolution of criminal activity. Stealing money without entering a bank or a private home? Sounds good. Communicating anonymously with either your victim or your co-conspirators? Much safer. Modern law enforcement is dealing more and more with ghosts and it takes considerable effort to stay one step ahead of them.

There is an obvious prejudice against Hazel’s more rural police force in Fort Dundas when she visits the 21st Division, where Superintendent Ilunga suggests they should “return to fining people who have too many trout in their coolers.” On the one hand, this seems like the basic distrust one law enforcement group may have for another; but I’m wondering if there’s something distinctly Canadian in this particular clash of forces?

Well, I want to be careful here. Ilunga is fictional, as is the entire Port Dundas OPS attachment. (And the OPS is fictional, too.) Is there an urban/rural divide in general in Canada? Yes. So it’s not a stretch to consider that it might exist within different police forces, too. But The Taken is not meant as an exposé of the thoughtlessness of Toronto police, nor is it a condemnation of anyone or any institution. But to make it believable, it had to be written in terms that, particularly, Canadian readers could identify with. The conflict with Ilunga and his division is entirely plausible. But would it have panned out the way it did in The Taken? It’s highly unlikely.

Hazel is burdened by many family issues; her lingering love for her divorced husband, her worry for a grown daughter, her continued dependence upon an elderly parent. Just as it is inevitable that cops take work home, is it also inevitable that cops take home to work?

Cops are no different than anyone else, except that playing a very public role, the public tend to believe that they’re not like everyone else. But the stresses of home and the stresses of work take their toll on cops just as they do on you and me. With Hazel, these stresses are perhaps a bit more literary than they are in life, but I think they resonate fairly accurately.

In some ways, Hazel puts me in mind of Linda La Plante’s DCI Jane Tennison (to whom you alluded earlier), except that Hazel’s subordinates are more accepting of her authority. In THE TAKEN, I don’t get the sense that Hazel’s gender is a problem for men on her staff; will this be different in other books?

I think it’s a possibility, but I don’t want to get too deep into that territory because it strikes me as being too easy. Also, after two books, I think I’ve established pretty firmly that if someone tries to put Hazel “in her place,” they’re in for a blast of reality. She’s not the kind of person to even take part in that dynamic. If she meets someone with those attitudes, Hazel’s more likely to do an end-run around them than she is to engage with them (although they’ll know in short order what she thinks of them).

Hurrah for Hazel! Will there be more books in the Hazel Micallef series?

As of this writing, I’m planning the series to be between ten and a dozen books. Inger Ash Wolfe may write other books as well.

One of my favorite scenes with Hazel involves her doing something that an action hero would do in some blockbuster movie—except that it doesn’t seem unrealistic, tied as it is to what she does and to the particular criminal she is tracking. Does Hazel’s heroism emerge from a desire to do her job, or from the basic morality of her nature?

Hazel is, at base, a fighter. She will do what it takes to get the outcome she wants, even if it means bending the rules, risking her neck, or pissing off someone she cares about. She cannot stomach failure, which is why the end of her marriage and the breaking down of her body drives her as crazy as it does. So yes, she’s doing her job, and her nature is basically moral, but Hazel is mostly driven by the urge to win, and because she sees her role in her community as an inalienably moral one, she allows herself all kinds of leeway in how she gets her results.

I like the relationship between Hazel and Wingate. Does she view him as the son she doesn’t have?

No, but it’s a nice idea.

Some parts of this book read like horror fiction. Are you a fan of the horror genre?

Not really. I’ve read some of it, but I don’t like horror divorced from its human roots. The things people are capable of doing to each other deserve to be shown in fiction in a completely honest and realistic way. I don’t need vampires and telepaths to help me grasp how deep human cruelty can go. The horror in my books are intended to show how significant the stakes are in solving the crime, not to disgust or titillate.

At one point Hazel requests a “peameal bacon sandwich.” This sounds delicious, but I’ve never heard of it before. What is it? Can I get it in America?

Ask for “Canadian bacon”. It’s unsmoked back bacon that’s been rolled in cornmeal (altho it used to be rolled in peameal.)

In your own reading of mysteries, which novels were most influential?

Well, this is a hard question. I go for character over plot, although I have been known to gobble down potboilers. My main touchstones are Patricia Highsmith, Henning Mankell, Ruth Rendell, P. D. James, Richard Stark (and the rest of Westlake, but I adore Parker), Elmore Leonard, James Ellroy, the Martin Beck books, Ed McBain, and early Thomas Harris. I dip in and out of the pocketbooks just for fun—Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Mo Hayder and company.

A stellar group. What are you reading now?

Just finished Found in the Street, one of the Highsmiths I missed, and I’m reading Ian McEwan’s new novel, Solar, and finding it absolutely hilarious.

There has been some controversy about your pseudonym, Inger Ash Wolfe, and the name of Danish crime writer Inger Wolf. Do you think that the name similarity will continue to be a problem in the way that it was for John D. MacDonald and John Ross MacDonald (who eventually became Ross MacDonald)?

It was made into a problem; it never was one. I’m glad we distinguished my eventual pseudonym from Ms. Wolf’s, and she was very gracious and undistressed about the whole thing, but there has never been any confusion or conflict apart from that which was created in the media prior to the publication of The Calling.

Thank you so much for chatting with me, Inger!

My pleasure.

The Cat Problem

2010-07-14T09:12:00.002-06:00

When you like cats and you like flowers, you often have the problem of the former trying to eat the latter. Here a certain malefactor named Mulliner is caught in the act, and he was not at all repentant; in fact, he posed proudly for some photos.

A Room With A View

2010-07-09T13:14:00.007-06:00

My writer friend recently made herself an office in her home. She chose one of the smallest rooms available, but the view out of its window allows one to see into the house where Ernest Hemingway grew up. From her creative space, she can see into his.

Sure, a writer can write anywhere. It shouldn't matter where she does it. Yet I found myself feeling envious of her writer's space--clean and white, with book-lined walls and creative little writery toys on the desk--and a view of Hemingway's house!

A writer needs a lot of things: talent, determination, a work ethic, and a willingness to spend time alone. But it never hurts to have an extra little something: classical music, maybe, or a burning candle, or--just maybe--the knowledge that you live next door to the home of one of the greatest American writers ever.

What else sparks a writer's creativity? In my case, it's playing Lexulous on Facebook. Something about that scrabble-like game really stimulates my brain.

How about you?

(pictured: Hemingway's childhood home).

A View of Independence

2010-07-04T10:30:00.002-06:00

“Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.”

– Albert Camus

A Summer Idyll--Farewell, June!

2010-06-30T14:12:00.006-06:00

It was beautiful today--the yin to the yang of endless storms we had last week. We decided to venture out into nature before we had to bid adieu to June for another year. We took our little picnic basket to a nearby watermill and wonderland.
We crossed a tiny bridge where we could see the reflection of the sky and trees in the water, as well as minnows and tiny jumping frogs. Happy fishermen (and fisherwomen) stood in shaded nooks along the bank, some with lawn chairs, ready to wait longer than the fish did.
Every shot (and I took about a hundred) looked like a picture postcard, thanks to nature and a beautifully-maintained forest preserve.
The green was often relieved by a burst of wildflowers--purple clover, orange tiger lily, and delicate white Queen Anne's lace. My favorite part of summer is the way that these flowers smell in the sun. Nothing else like it on earth.

As a final treat, we got to see a giant blue heron (who is of course tiny in this picture--but I managed to crop it so that he is more visible).

We also fed some little ducks who swam under the bridge until we saw the sign that said "Don't feed the wildlife." Oops. So the ducks got an unexpected (but illegal) snack.
Overall, my sons were very happy with our lunchtime backdrop. (And one was actually willing to pose; the other was harder to catch than the heron). All that beauty and splendour, and it was free to anyone who wished to partake.

Out of Commission

2010-06-24T07:29:00.003-06:00

The summer storms hitting Chicago have been particularly violent; the second big thunderstorm has knocked out power, Com Ed assures me, to over 200,000 customers. Frankly, after yesterday's storm, I'm relieved that all I lost was my electricity. I've heard tales from neighbors about terrible flooding, downed trees, and shattered glass.

In the meantime, though, I have to face the modern person's withdrawal: no computer (except at work, where I am), no television, no telephones (ours are plugged in), no refrigerator, no light.

In this new 19th century existence, I will not be blogging for a while. Com Ed tells me it could be "several days" before I have power.

This should help to build my character.

Discovering the Past

2010-06-18T19:28:00.004-06:00

I just saw THE A-TEAM with my violence-loving sons (and the movie wasn't as bad as some reviewers are saying), and was surprised to note Gerald McRaney was one of the main characters. The surprising part was that McRaney, when I wasn't looking, got sort of old.

So when I got home I went straight to my Netflix queue and looked up Simon and Simon, that wonderful show starring McRaney and Jameson Parker. I was a big fan of this long-running series about the brothers who ran a detective agency.

I also snagged the first season of Moonlighting, which in its day was one of the cleverest detective dramadies on tv.

It's so nice these days, with Netflix and You Tube and Hulu, to be able to hop right on the train to the past and visit it briefly (or longer, if the shows turn out to be as good as you remember). :)

Thriller Writer Mike Lawson on Believable Heroes, Great Books, and Faulty Politics

2010-06-16T09:42:00.009-06:00

Mike Lawson writes the popular and much-lauded Joe DeMarco series of thrillers. House Justice was just released, and involves DeMarco in the fallout of the death of a CIA spy in Iran.

Mike, thanks for chatting with me at Mysterious Musings.

Before you were a writer, you were a nuclear engineer for the U.S. Navy. What did that job entail?

A whole bunch of stuff – but most of what I did was related to overhauling and refueling nuc subs and aircraft carriers. I was a senior manager, had several thousand people working for me, and I worried about the typical things managers worry about: safety, meeting the schedule and the budget, hiring good people, quality, etc. The job was stressful – but it was never boring.

Your book, HOUSE JUSTICE, was hard to put down. It did not, however, do anything to reduce my already jaded attitude toward American politics. Are there really this many backroom deals and moral compromises in the halls of Congress and the CIA?

I’m not so sure about the CIA – they tend to get a bad rap because we only hear about the mistakes they make and not all the good things they do. And basically the CIA is implementing policy set by the Executive Branch. Congress is a different story. I’m not making up how corrupt Congress is and can be. It seems about once a week we hear about some congressman taking a bribe, diddling somebody of the same or opposite sex, sending pork to aid rich folk more than ordinary folk, etc. Like I said in House Justice, there’s a reason companies pay lobbyists so much money and hire so many of them and, cynical as it sounds, I sometimes think we have the best government money can buy. And I’m not sparing either party.

Good. Your hero, Joe DeMarco, is refreshingly different, because he is NOT the guy with a gun. He is a lawyer, and while he can defend himself, his job is not always to storm in and get the bad guys. How did you happen to create DeMarco?

I wanted a protagonist that somebody else didn’t have. There are already too many good detectives, lawyers, ex-special forces operatives, etc. in fiction. I wanted a) someone different and b) someone connected to D.C.– and thus DeMarco, a guy who works for a shady Speaker of the House. And most of the time in the books, DeMarco reacts to a situation the way I would react – which means he’s not super smart or super brave because neither am I.

Before you majored in engineering, had you considered writing as a career?

No, never considered it. I got a degree in engineering mainly because my dad was a steel worker and was under the misguided impression that engineers ran the world – and he kinda pushed me in that direction. But it was a good field in which to get a degree because you could almost always find a job to pay the bills. I did a lot of writing, however, as an engineer – technical stuff, reports, etc. – and was fairly good at it. And I’ve always read a lot – and some place along the way I said to myself: Self, why don’t we try to write a novel?

Good thing you answered yes!

I couldn’t help but notice that you make politicians, in general, very physically unattractive. The men are often described with jowls and big guts, and two women I recall were the one with “a face like a hammerhead shark” and one who made Eleanor Roosevelt look attractive. Is their ugliness symbolic of something in the book, or is it just a general stereotype that people in politics are not, as a rule, good looking?

To tell you the truth, I never noticed. Some of the characters just seem to me like they shouldn’t be good looking – or I don’t want them ordinary looking. I don’t make them all unattractive though – like the bad guy in House Secrets was a handsome senator and so was the bad guy in House Rules. Another trick to writing is you have to make the characters stand-out in the readers mind – and a description like “she had a face like a hammerhead shark” will probably stick in your mind more than “she had long, flowing locks, perfect features, and emerald green eyes.”

Good point. In your book, at least two of the women in the CIA are mistreated because of their gender and their good looks. Would you say this is the status quo?

I would say, in all seriousness, that there is a gender-gap in the business world. When the boss is a man, he tends to feel more comfortable having other men in management positions and, thus, can tend to overlook the talents and abilities of women. Having said that, the gender gap is clearly closing. We have women CEOs and in the last election you had one woman running for president and one for vice-president – I’d say that’s getting pretty close to touching the glass ceiling.

Did you ever consider going into politics as a career?

Not on your life. Although I tend not to be too happy with a lot of politicians, I sincerely believe most people go into politics not for the money or the power but because they truly want to serve the country. But it’s a brutal business – and I think the pressure of trying to get reelected, the party pressure, and the influence of lobbyists is corrupting - and nothing about being a politician appeals to me. Having said all that, I guess that makes me like most people – throwing rocks at the system rather than becoming part of it and trying to fix it. Shame on me.

What would be the first change you’d make if you ran the country?

Congress. I think it’s broken. I think we need major structural changes to make Congress work. It’s not the people, it’s the system. Things like term limits, ways to minimize the influence of lobbyists, less people in Congress and those that are there, representing broader geographical areas to make them less parochial. I don’t think the two-party system is serving us well, and sometimes I wonder if the concept of individual states serves us particularly well. Now I suppose I have to worry about how many people I’ve just pissed off with that little rant.

Whose books do you like to read?

Thank God. I’m glad were off the political questions. I like to read mysteries, thrillers, and the occasional sci-fi book. I like Michael Harvey, John Sanford, George Pelecanos, Richard Price, James Lee Burke, Thomas Perry, Carol O’Connell, Gillian Flynn, to name a few. I also like non-fiction. I just read two books by James Bamford on the NSA – the National Security Agency. I read them partly as research for my next DeMarco book but also because I like that sort of stuff. I finished Tim Egan’s book The Big Burn not too long ago – the book about the big forest fires in Montana in 1910.

Are you writing another Joe DeMarco adventure?

DeMarco #6 is currently in the hands of my editor for his final review and will be out next summer. DeMarco #7 is 80% done. DeMarco #8 – maybe – is sort of done – but it’s a book I’ve been dinking with for years and can’t seem to get quite right. I’m also working on a non-DeMarco novel and just starting a screenplay.

Even though some of your characters did not receive justice in its truest sense (as your title implies), there seems to be a sense of Karma at work here. How did you determine which characters got away with things and which did not?

I just don’t think everything needs to be tied up in a neat bow in a novel. Every bad guy doesn’t have to get bumped off or end up in jail. Normally, the major bad guys have to get the axe literally or figuratively, or the reader will be somewhat unsatisfied. But sometimes the bad guy is not totally a bad guy – like the florist in House Justice – or he’s just a pawn of the really bad guy, and therefore doesn’t necessarily need to get whacked. And sometimes you want to save your bad guys for another book. And I’m a big believer in luck or Karma in real life – a lot of what happens to us good or bad is often a matter of luck – being in the wrong place at the wrong time – or vice versa – and it should be the same in novels.

Did it surprise your friends and family that you retired and suddenly bloomed into another career?

I think everybody was surprised except my wife. She saw me toiling away for over ten years, re-writing books and getting reject letters from every agent in the country, but she also saw me keep trying. So she wasn’t totally surprised when I finally succeeded. All my friends were totally surprised because none of them even knew I was writing novels in my spare time and trying to get published. Even after publishing five books, I imagine some of my friends still can’t believe it.

What are your plans for the summer?

Unfortunately, because House Justice was just released, I’m doing a lot of book-touring in June and July, and I’ve also been trying to wrap up DeMarco #6. After July, although I’ll still write every morning, I’ll be able to slack off a little. When I’m not writing, frankly, I just sort of goof around – fish, play golf (badly) and do whatever my wife tells me I’m supposed to do.

Thanks for talking with me, Mike!

Thank you, Julia, this was fun.

Visit Mike Lawson's website at website www.mikelawsonbooks.com

and follow him on twitter @MikeLawsonBooks.