Michael Pool's Blog

One Way Out

When a troubled teenage girl goes missing in a remote Colorado mountain valley, Denver PI Rick Malone is called in by an old friend accused of involvement in the disappearance. Within hours, Malone finds himself snowed into the remote mountain valley and crossways with the local law, not to mention working with partners from a past he’d rather forget. As tensions run high and leads run low, Malone will learn that all small towns have their secrets, and sometimes powerful people will do anything to keep those secrets buried beneath the snow.

The post One Way Out appeared first on Michael Pool Official Author Site.

The lifelong process

I’m up again, sweating through the sheets, unable to sleep. This time thanks to a large group fist fighting out in the street at 3 a.m. They, of course, disappeared into the row houses across the way at so much as a sniff of law enforcement’s arrival. So it goes.  They’re back out there now, all of 4:11 a.m., keeping the party going, and keeping me awake.

What can I say? I’ve been there, years ago. At least they’re spending time in the real world. And it’s not like I have to go to work in a few hours anyway. In fact, I’ve barely earned a couple thousand dollars in as many months. You can guess the reasons why, and I have no doubt you would not like my opinion on the subject.

That’s fine. I’m not trying to convince anyone anymore. People’s positions are about what they feel is good for them, ultimately. Myself included. Some try to misrepresent that. I guess if I had to separate myself from them in any way it is that I do not take positions that give me control over other people. I do not want them. I do not trust people who do.

Lately it seems my entire life is at the mercy of others for almost everything, including sleep. One of the hardest things about life is you have to know what to do when you don’t know what to do. Figure it out. Take a deep breath. Maybe take advice from people who share neither your individual vision nor your perspective. They think they know you better than you know yourself either way. In the case of tech companies, they may be right.

We live in an internet junk food culture. It provides almost no spiritual nutrition, but man does it taste good, soundbite after soundbite. We’ve become social media junkies looking for one more hit of the digital dopamine that has replaced so much actual enjoyment of life.

There’s an entire planet’s worth of despair clawing its way into your neurons every moment of the day now. That’s a difficult thing to turn away from. We were not made for reality at scale, not to mention reality for sale. We’ve become social media actors playing parts on a coded stage, relaying coded messages into a coded abyss, hoping for an answer. It’s a huge time suck, and it makes time suck in ways no one could have anticipated.

Whatever purpose we can juice out of this lifestyle is hardly worth the squeeze much of the time. We squeeze anyway, mostly because it’s the only way to hold on and keep from spinning off the planet.

I know other people must feel this way, too. Misunderstood. Misrepresented. Misled. Perhaps mistaken. It’s a desperate and superficial facade, like bright-colored paint slapped onto a building whose foundation is cracked and rotting away. No one knows where this digital delusion will take us in the end, but we know it will gather some folks plenty of clout along the journey.

I’m not even sure where I’m going with this. And, to be clear, I’m the first to admit my thinking can go way off kilter from time to time. It has started to close me off to others in ways I rarely speak out loud anymore.I don’t know how to circumnavigate that, either, so I’m no longer trying, really.

The lifelong process of enlightenment is seeing things for what they are instead of what you want them to be. Take the world as it is, because it will take you either way, in the end.

Or take it on by the horns if you dare. Just be prepared to get gored from time to time.

The post The lifelong process appeared first on Michael Pool Official Author Site.

My three favorite true crime podcasts

I’ve been making more of an effort to use this blog to share things that I love with my readers recently. Like a lot of you, I’ve found myself with more time on my hands than usual, and though I’ve been reading a ton, I’ve been filling the time in other ways, too.

Mostly riding my mountain and road bikes, doing quite a lot of Ginastica Natural, and attending what I’m calling “choir practice.”

I’ve also been trying to keep up with my favorite podcasts, normally a huge part of my life while out on surveillance, which has been a much smaller part of my life, recently.

I feel it’s important for artists and creatives to share the things they love with like minded people. That kind of “word-of-mouth” support can be crucial to non-corporate entertainers who are trying to make their bones in corporate-controlled markets. The following constitute my three favorite true crime podcasts, which I think you’ll probably enjoy too!

The Wanted Podcast

The Wanted Podcast provides a weekly unabashed look into the humanity, absurdity, and chronic irresponsibility involved in bond recovery. Fellow private investigators and hosts Alex and John, co-owners of Fenrir Recovery in Georgia, use this podcast as a weekly forum to discuss past cases, which never cease to be entertaining.

What I love about the podcast and about their mode of operation is the compassion they demonstrate for the bond jumpers they recover. They suspend judgment, stay calm, and almost always get their man or woman. Expect lively banter, occasional rants from John (my favorite part), and a lot of Alex herding the discussion back on task.

John’s preferred mode of defense also matches my own, that being using jiu-jitsu to subdue resistant and violent subjects as peacefully as possible. All of these elements help to make this one of my favorite true crime podcasts. These guys deserve a much larger audience, so click over and subscribe. You’ll also want to check out their various fascinating Instagram pages here:

JOHN @unique_skillset | ALEX @w.asp | PODCAST @wantedpodcast.

Dark Topic

Recently rebooted after some time away, Dark Topic has been one of my favorite podcasts for years. Host Jack Luna has the best voice in podcasting, the writing is fantastic, and the presentation is onyx dark.

I enjoy Jack’s musings on the world and the occasional stories from his past as much as I do the true crime incidents he narrates. Simply put, I think it has the most original writing and production value on the entire market, and I never miss an episode.

I even have a “quoooteee” t-shirt that I sport at least once a week. It’s an absolute must for true crime fans looking for something that breaks the mold of hosts drinking IPAs and wine while feeling themselves perhaps a bit too much for comfort. The kind of authenticity Luna brings to podcasting is not often found in any creative medium. Noir fiction fans in particular will find a kindred soul and new favorite listen.

The Score

Crime fiction fans will instantly recognize the voice of Joe Loya, convicted bank robber turned crime writer. Season One of The Score tells Joe’s story, from tragically abused young boy, to maniacal bank robber, to solitary confined prisoner clawing his way to enlightenment through writing.

There were moments in this season that made me highly emotional. It often felt so personal I almost cannot describe the feeling well. A broad reminder that many who are lost are not beyond redemption, and that our mistakes do not have to define where we end up. I loved this season. I’m wondering how season two could possibly find material as compelling. I suppose we will see, soon enough.

Throwing Off Sparks

Look, you knew I was going to have to plug my own work in here somewhere. I’m not a huge fan of self promotion. But in the world of “indy publishing,” it’s something I’ve learned to accept is a part of life. Check out how I capture the realism from my own private investigative work in a thrilling East Texas-set mystery series. Throwing Off Sparks stars private investigator Riley Reeves, the baddest female detective you haven’t yet met.

Like with much of my writing, this book is about much more than the mystery it follows. It’s about a detective struggling to find balance and stumbling amid the pull between personal and professional life, while doing her best to protect vulnerable women from inevitable victimization. I’m proud of the novel, it just came out this week (May 12, 2020), and I’m hard at work on book two in the series. You can purchase your own copy HERE.

The post My three favorite true crime podcasts appeared first on Michael Pool Official Author Site.

Publication day

I’m up early again this morning, something in the neighborhood of 4:30 a.m. That’s been happening a lot to me, lately. But then, a lot has been going on in the world. Or maybe a lot hasn’t been going on depending on how you look at it.

I don’t really want to talk about that, mostly for fear I will devolve into an emotional screed about my various disappointments with institutions, collective psychology, and even the self-imposed layers of what we mostly think of as “reality.”

Today I woke up thinking about the release of my third full-length novel, Throwing Off Sparks, which happens tomorrow, May 12, 2020. In a lot of ways I wish we could have put that release off, as many corporate publishers have done in light of recent events.

Conferences were cancelled. Readings postponed. Book release parties, one of the few celebrations writers actually get, cancelled. Disappointment has mounted, and it has not always been pretty.

Alas, postponement could not be done. For reasons of budget, mostly.

Such is the nature of independent publishing. I can’t imagine a lot of bookstores are stocking up on new titles at the moment. I can imagine a lot of people are reading. Maybe both are figments of my imagination, I don’t know.

This is my third novel in three years. Half the time it feels like I’m playing a concert in the woods alone, the other half I still have the feeling I might be able to pay my bills doing this someday. Right now, if I could split that difference I’d consider it a rousing success.

The sun’s starting to rise outside my office window. I’m surrounded in here by most of my favorite things. Bikes hanging on the wall. Shelves full of books. My jiu-jitsu belts on a rack by the door, almost 13 years worth of hard work. A constant reminder that each of my goals is a lifelong undertaking. That it takes patience to succeed. I’ve never been a patient person. I’m learning. The curve is steep.

I’ve worked hard this year on the P.I. Tales concept. I’ll work even harder as we begin to put work out beyond my own writing, because that’s my nature. I feel pressure not to let others down way beyond any pressure I feel to succeed personally.

I’ve been writing up a storm in the quarantine. A few thousand words into the second Riley Reeves novel. Almost sixty thousand into the first Rick Malone novel, which will be complete by the end of June. Almost finished with my installment of A Grifter’s Song, Rocky Mountain Lie, an opportunity I cannot thank fellow crime writer Frank Zafiro enough for inviting me into.

And I’ve got ideas for several thrillers at the top of my pile that would be another total shift in my writing focus. I realize it may well be years before I can get to writing them. If I know me, I’ll lose the zeal for them long before that. But I hope not.

Anyway, publication day. That’s what I came here to write about. Now that I’m in front of the computer I’m just sort of letting my mind wander.

2020 has been an incredibly busy year. Throwing Off Sparks is a very good book. A great book. At least, I think so. I’ve had some great reviews so far. And one rough review that I thought was a bit unfair, though opinions can be like that. People will project their own issues onto your work by default. Their own biases. Their own politics. Their own religion, jargon, agenda, and feelings.

And they should. Reading is a deeply personal and intimate affair. Readers become co-creators with the writers they read. Sometimes they just don’t fit in that partnership. I respect them for telling me the truth when that happens.

I’ve learned to mostly accept the criticism without taking it as a complete condemnation of who I am as a person. I will admit that it stings to put yourself out there creatively and roll with the inevitable punches. I hope readers and reviewers at least recognize how much courage it takes to release a novel, or any creative project, into the world. That the high from a dozen good bits of feedback can crash into the ocean of one bad review.

Most writers have put decades into their craft. Many of us have made a shockingly low amount of money for the work. It takes tremendous vision and drive to keep going when it feels like you are playing for an audience of one. TREMENDOUS.

I will admit, I do not understand what separates the successful from the mid-to-low listers. It does not appear to be talent or drive, though they probably factor in somewhere. In many ways, it appears to be a combination of timing, skill, luck, and social climbing. Most of us are terrible at gathering all these pieces together.

I am not a good schmoozer. I am bipolar. I am obsessed with saying what I feel. I can be abrasive when conviction kicks in. I have almost no capacity for group thought, and absolutely no capacity for using others to get what I want. I have made peace with this over the last year. I am a difficult person, but I do very little harm in the world. I try in my investigative work to set whatever problems right that I can manage. That is good enough for me. Other opinions need not apply.

I often wish that work were as meaningful as the work of the detectives I write about. It’s a strange feeling to want to live the lives of people you created. Their lives, the things they do, come from me, and yet I do not come from them. They are not my experiences, not really. I live with them for years at a time, walk through every inch of their sorrow and success and struggle with them. Spend hundreds of hours with them before the world ever knows they exist in the first place.

But somehow they are separate from me. They’re people I love who I will never meet and who will never exist outside of pages drawn from my mind. They live in a world I will never inhabit. That world is much simpler to set right than the one I walk through in the construct we’ve collectively chosen to agree upon as reality.

I’m rambling again. I’m supposed to be promoting my book here, something else I realize I do not have a great capacity for much of the time.

My world has gotten smaller this year. I’ve spent more time with my creations and less time with society at large. Other than books and television, of course. Those are and will remain my lifeblood. People tell incredible stories, stories I wake up thinking about as much as I do my own.

I think that Throwing Off Sparks tells an incredible story. I will be telling many more from Riley’s perspective. And also Rick’s. They are two of my best friends, and I know they will come to an end one day, so I want to enjoy this fleeting chance to walk in their shoes. To intertwine them in my own life, too.

That’s one of the greatest secrets writers hoard. We get to help entire universes come to life. Worlds sprung up from inside us but not of us, a bizarre collaboration with the universe I can only describe as a compulsion. Those compulsive worlds become a part of our real lives, too. It is unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced.

If I did this for rewards, or wealth, I would have quit a long time ago. Most of the people I started this journey with already have. It may be that they know when to hedge their bets and move on. I have never known when to stop digging. A lot of people will verify that if you ask.

I hope you’ll grab a shovel full of dirt to help me out tomorrow by picking up a copy of Throwing Off Sparks. I’m proud of the book, and I’m proud of my friend, Riley Reeves. I cannot promise a smooth ride through the novel. I can, however, almost guarantee you’ll feel a compulsion to keep reading to the end. That same compulsion kept me writing to the end, too. As Hunter Thompson once said, buy the ticket, take the ride. 

The post Publication day appeared first on Michael Pool Official Author Site.

Publication Day

I’m up early again this morning, something in the neighborhood of 4:30 a.m. That’s been happening a lot to me, lately. But then, a lot has been going on in the world. Or maybe a lot hasn’t been going on depending on how you look at it.

I don’t really want to talk about that, mostly for fear I will devolve into an emotional screed about my various disappointments with institutions, collective psychology, and even the self-imposed layers of what we mostly think of as “reality.”

Today I woke up thinking about the release of my third full-length novel, Throwing Off Sparks, which happens tomorrow, May 12, 2020. In a lot of ways I wish we could have put that release off, as many corporate publishers have done in light of recent events.

Conferences were cancelled. Readings postponed. Book release parties, one of the few celebrations writers actually get, cancelled. Disappointment has mounted, and it has not always been pretty.

Alas, postponement could not be done. For reasons of budget, mostly.

Such is the nature of independent publishing. I can’t imagine a lot of bookstores are stocking up on new titles at the moment. I can imagine a lot of people are reading. Maybe both are figments of my imagination, I don’t know.

This is my third novel in three years. Half the time it feels like I’m playing a concert in the woods alone, the other half I still have the feeling I might be able to pay my bills doing this someday. Right now, if I could split that difference I’d consider it a rousing success.

The sun’s starting to rise outside my office window. I’m surrounded in here by most of my favorite things. Bikes hanging on the wall. Shelves full of books. My jiu-jitsu belts on a rack by the door, almost 13 years worth of hard work. A constant reminder that each of my goals is a lifelong undertaking. That it takes patience to succeed. I’ve never been a patient person. I’m learning. The curve is steep.

I’ve worked hard this year on the P.I. Tales concept. I’ll work even harder as we begin to put work out beyond my own writing, because that’s my nature. I feel pressure not to let others down way beyond any pressure I feel to succeed personally.

I’ve been writing up a storm in the quarantine. A few thousand words into the second Riley Reeves novel. Almost sixty thousand into the first Rick Malone novel, which will be complete by the end of June. Almost finished with my installment of A Grifter’s Song, Rocky Mountain Lie, an opportunity I cannot thank fellow crime writer Frank Zafiro enough for inviting me into.

And I’ve got ideas for several thrillers at the top of my pile that would be another total shift in my writing focus. I realize it may well be years before I can get to writing them. If I know me, I’ll lose the zeal for them long before that. But I hope not.

Anyway, publication day. That’s what I came here to write about. Now that I’m in front of the computer I’m just sort of letting my mind wander.

2020 has been an incredibly busy year. Throwing Off Sparks is a very good book. A great book. At least, I think so. I’ve had some great reviews so far. And one rough review that I thought was a bit unfair, though opinions can be like that. People will project their own issues onto your work by default. Their own biases. Their own politics. Their own religion, jargon, agenda, and feelings.

And they should. Reading is a deeply personal and intimate affair. Readers become co-creators with the writers they read. Sometimes they just don’t fit in that partnership. I respect them for telling me the truth when that happens.

I’ve learned to mostly accept the criticism without taking it as a complete condemnation of who I am as a person. I will admit that it stings to put yourself out there creatively and roll with the inevitable punches. I hope readers and reviewers at least recognize how much courage it takes to release a novel, or any creative project, into the world. That the high from a dozen good bits of feedback can crash into the ocean of one bad review.

Most writers have put decades into their craft. Many of us have made a shockingly low amount of money for the work. It takes tremendous vision and drive to keep going when it feels like you are playing for an audience of one. TREMENDOUS.

I will admit, I do not understand what separates the successful from the mid-to-low listers. It does not appear to be talent or drive, though they probably factor in somewhere. In many ways, it appears to be a combination of timing, skill, luck, and social climbing. Most of us are terrible at gathering all these pieces together.

I am not a good schmoozer. I am bipolar. I am obsessed with saying what I feel. I can be abrasive when conviction kicks in. I have almost no capacity for group thought, and absolutely no capacity for using others to get what I want. I have made peace with this over the last year. I am a difficult person, but I do very little harm in the world. I try in my investigative work to set whatever problems right that I can manage. That is good enough for me. Other opinions need not apply.

I often wish that work were as meaningful as the work of the detectives I write about. It’s a strange feeling to want to live the lives of people you created. Their lives, the things they do, come from me, and yet I do not come from them. They are not my experiences, not really. I live with them for years at a time, walk through every inch of their sorrow and success and struggle with them. Spend hundreds of hours with them before the world ever knows they exist in the first place.

But somehow they are separate from me. They’re people I love who I will never meet and who will never exist outside of pages drawn from my mind. They live in a world I will never inhabit. That world is much simpler to set right than the one I walk through in the construct we’ve collectively chosen to agree upon as reality.

I’m rambling again. I’m supposed to be promoting my book here, something else I realize I do not have a great capacity for much of the time.

My world has gotten smaller this year. I’ve spent more time with my creations and less time with society at large. Other than books and television, of course. Those are and will remain my lifeblood. People tell incredible stories, stories I wake up thinking about as much as I do my own.

I think that Throwing Off Sparks tells an incredible story. I will be telling many more from Riley’s perspective. And also Rick’s. They are two of my best friends, and I know they will come to an end one day, so I want to enjoy this fleeting chance to walk in their shoes. To intertwine them in my own life, too.

That’s one of the greatest secrets writers hoard. We get to help entire universes come to life. Worlds sprung up from inside us but not of us, a bizarre collaboration with the universe I can only describe as a compulsion. Those compulsive worlds become a part of our real lives, too. It is unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced.

If I did this for rewards, or wealth, I would have quit a long time ago. Most of the people I started this journey with already have. It may be that they know when to hedge their bets and move on. I have never known when to stop digging. A lot of people will verify that if you ask.

I hope you’ll grab a shovel full of dirt to help me out tomorrow by picking up a copy of Throwing Off Sparks. I’m proud of the book, and I’m proud of my friend, Riley Reeves. I cannot promise a smooth ride through the novel. I can, however, almost guarantee you’ll feel a compulsion to keep reading to the end. That same compulsion kept me writing to the end, too. As Hunter Thompson once said, buy the ticket, take the ride. 

The post Publication Day appeared first on Michael Pool Official Author Site.

What I’m reading: The Music of What Happens, by John Straley

I can’t speak for other writers, but every now and again I read a book that is so damn good it inspires me and humbles me all at once. So much better when that book is part of a newly discovered series, as it means a whole new world I get to lose myself within.

I have to admit only the best books I read really capture me in this way. I can’t tell you exactly what it is about these books, but I think it has something to do with reading like a writer versus reading like a reader. Some books remove the writer filter.

I can tell I’m really into a book when I stop reading like a writer and start reading like a reader. This is almost always a sign of greatness. It’s not often I turn off my craft filter and just lose myself in a book the way I did when I was a kid. I’ve loved books all my life. I still love them. It’s just that now I love some as a writer and some as a reader, and the second type always capture a piece of my heart.

Like a lot of folks, I’ve been quarantined, so I’ve been reading. And as luck would have it, though my attendance of the single day of the then-cancelled Left Coast Crime San Diego back in March culminated with lost opportunities ,lost money, and a camper van in need of a new transmission, the one bright spot I brought home was a grab-bag copy of John Straley’s The Curious Eat Themselves.

I curiously devoured the book, and was so impressed that I immediately picked up the next book in the series, The Music of What Happens. Which is where the magic happened, at least for me. It’s the book I came here today to discuss.

I finished the book in about three sittings, and found myself wanting to get back to it each time I put it down. It inspired me to start talking about books that blow me away here on my blog. That’s what you’re reading now, as it were.

In the novel, Cecil Younger is fresh out of rehab with a head injury that leaves him at times dissociative. He received the injury while working the child custody case from hell, a case that punctuates and spans the entire novel’s plot, alongside the killing of a state senator. I honestly don’t want to say anything more, because it’s better if you go in blind. The plot can be disjointed, and even odd at times, but it’s a great mystery and amazing writing throughout.

The Music of What Happens is the third book in Straley’s Cecil Younger private investigator series. The novels are set in Alaska, where Cecil, a bumbling, sometimes-recovering alcoholic and legal investigator, muses and fumbles his way through cases that, to steal a phrase from the book, are complex in their simplicity, and always more dangerous than he is prepared for. Cecil is no Superman. He’s not even an average man. But he is incredibly sympathetic, and he somehow always finds a way to bumble into the answers by the end.

John Straley was a legal investigator for decades, and maybe that is one of the things I love about the Cecil Younger series. The books carry an authenticity that most writers simply cannot manage in the genre, because it requires lived experience. Most of you know that I work as a private investigator. I like to think I have a sixth sense for when the authentic understanding of the job comes out in fiction. I can’t even really say why or how it does in these books, I just sort of… feel it.

But it is the sense of place that makes these books, and The Music of What Happens, in particular, shine. Straley’s unassuming, poetic, and at times haunted voice brings the books, and their characters, to life.

I spent some time thinking about why I find the novel so unique. I don’t like terms like “literary,” because they assume that genre books cannot or do not deal with the human condition, which I find pretentious. But Straley has a sense of poetry in his prose that isn’t forced or artificial. It’s just the way he writes, and I think readers outside the genre will find as much to love as eccentric mystery lovers will.

I have never read a book in the detective genre like these books. The Music of What Happens is the best book I’ve read in the series so far. It’s one of my favorite P.I. books I’ve ever read, actually, though that could be the excitement of having just finished the book talking.

If I had to describe Straley’s style in the Cecil Younger series, it’s something akin to mixing the styles of Charles Bukowski and Raymond Carver together, then having them write a Ross Macdonald detective novel set in coastal Alaska.

The end result is a series of novels where no one is quite a hero and no one is truly the villain. The books are full of real people with real problems, and the lines of who’s helping who can blur from moment to moment.

Younger’s world is complex, perhaps even insular. The Alaskan setting has a feeling of people sticking together while they are pulling each other apart, and though I’ve never been to Sitka, the books make me feel like I’ve lived there for years.

The entire Cecil Younger series has been re-released by Soho Crime in recent years. Soho specializes in books with a strong sense of place, no surprise here. Straley’s novels, which were mostly written in the 90’s, are the best I’ve read from Soho’s collection, the definition of what they themselves say they look to print.

I want to end this with a few quotes from The Music of What Happens, so that you get a sense of the prose and characterization. I hope you’ll pick up this or any of the books in the series to read. But be advised, these are downright strange books. If you go into them expecting a standard mystery, you will be confused at best, put off at worst.

Try them with an open mind, and you may just find you agree with me, that The Music of What Happens is a P.I. novel on par with the best of Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer series. A bold statement, I know. Read the book and come back, let’s hash it out in the comments. In the meantime, here are the quotes:

“Christ,” Dickie muttered, scratching his greasy hair with the end of a ballpoint pen. “Another eccentric. What is this, are there more eccentrics these days or just fewer normal people?”

“There never have been normal people. It’s a myth,” I said as I reached under the sofa cushions looking for an antidepressant I might have dropped while I was opening the bottle. “Listen, Dickie, there are just crazy people and statisticians. Of course, there is some overlap.”

“There’s nothing better than a story about rich people being chased by wild animals they thought were their pets.”

I looked up into the summer sky and in a strange moment I saw the stars as long strings of light funneling down in a great sheltering tent. In that moment I thought I saw their patterns: the ancient literature of stars, common to all people who share this night. I held up my hands to point. I wanted to show them to Toddy or Jane Marie. But then I heard the clang of a bell buoy in the distance and in that moment I lost it. When I looked up again I was alone in the randomness of starlight.

 

The post What I’m reading: The Music of What Happens, by John Straley appeared first on Michael Pool Official Author Site.

Real-life vs. fictional private investigators

What are the differences in real-life vs. fictional private investigators? This is something I get asked about often (being a mystery writer), as I’ve been working as a full-time private investigator for around four years now, so I wanted to write a post on the subject. Keep in mind that this post could run on for thousands of words, but I’ve done my best to keep it concise and on topic.

The question generally takes the some form of what the differences are between real-life and fictional private investigators, or if my life is like the movies. Other forms of the question run into the realm of asking if there are unrealistic aspects of P.I. books that bother me or make it hard for me to suspend my disbelief. People also ask if I use my real-life work in my fiction (the answer is NO on that last question, that would be a violation of my clients’ trust).

I’d like to provide a few minor distinctions, so here we go.

Aesthetic style

When it comes to a fictional private investigator’s aesthetic style, they’re often clad in fancy suits or bright clothing, full of swagger and other attention-drawing attributes. But for real-life private investigators, investigative work is all about discretion. Though there are times we don suits or fancy, bright clothing to openly draw attention to ourselves or establish prestige, for most real-life private investigators, our day-to-day working aesthetic is… understated.

Personally, I wear dark, casual (though still professional) clothing without visible logos, including normal blue jeans and plain-colored running shoes. Hoodies are a big part of my surveillance attire, as they are comfortable and provide an option to quickly cover my face.  I usually keep a bag of alternate shirts and other clothing in my vehicle, including workout gear and various winter and summer hats, for when I’m working surveillance.  My glasses are as much a prop as a seeing utensil, and I only dress a bit nicer when I’m planning to canvass or conduct interviews.

This is because I am often following subjects into and out of multiple public establishments or into close quarters, and the occasional changed shirt, added hat, or pair of glasses, or all of the above, can go a long way toward avoiding recognition. Investigators who look like they are on the job in these situations, well, look like they are on the job. Many of the best P.I.s I know look more like soccer moms and dads. They’re the last people you would expect to see following you.

Our vehicles are far from fancy

The same goes for my vehicle, understated is the name of the game. I have a great fictional example here of where fictional and real-life detectives depart from each other in a major way. One of my all-time favorite fictional private investigators is Robert Crais’s Elvis Cole. I’ve read the entire series, and I am one of the first people to purchase a new installment when it arrives.

Fans of the series will recall that Elvis drives a yellow corvette and wears Magnum P.I.-style Hawaiian shirts. And his partner, Joe Pike, drives a red jeep and almost always has his badass shoulder tattoos, red arrows pointing forward, visible. Both are still able to follow subjects often and with near impunity without being noticed. Pike, in particular, is constantly described as being visually distinct and very recognizable. That works fine for fictional private investigators.

Unfortunately, real life does not work like that. These vehicles and wardrobes, by color, model, and style, would massively increase an investigator’s chances of getting “burned” (alerting the subject to the surveillance unintentionally) because, well, all are eye-catching and relatively rare to see on the streets. They’re memorable, and that is the last thing a good investigator wants to be when acting in a covert manner.

In real life, there are a number of techniques I use when following subjects to both stay close and be discreet, but those will likely have little benefit if I am in a vehicle or clothing that catches the eye and, perhaps more importantly, the memory. It takes a lot of skill, but that skill is predicated on a base level of discretion.

Important to point out that Robert Crais likely crafted these details to make memorable characters. Elvis and Pike need to be memorable to READERS.

In my private work, I drive a dark grey, small SUV (I’ll withhold naming the model for discretionary purposes). My front side windows are tinted as dark as most people’s back windows, and my back windows are limo tinted, including the rear windshield. The tint makes it harder to see me in the vehicle and provides a discreet place to hide if needed.

I picked the vehicle I drive specifically because, when viewed from the front (which is the view someone I’m following has), it is hard to tell if the vehicle is a car or an SUV.  The grey is hardly eye-catching, either. In fact, people’s eyes go right past it to the vehicles with more color, or more distinct style. My vehicle is… forgettable. And that’s the point. There is an awful lot of intentional placement to giving subjects a revolving view of me that is hard to remember, but that is fodder for another post.

Real-life private investigators are rarely the booze hounds that fictional private investigators are

In detective fiction, the P.I. is often an all-day booze hound, drinking his or her way through a case, when they’re not getting sapped or laid out in some dark alley. In real life, private investigators are hardly the textbook hard drinkers you see in books or the movies.

Most investigation work requires the investigator to have his or her wits about them in situations ranging from complicated to outright dangerous. Tiny mistakes can be very costly in this business. Lose a subject, go home, forego some level of pay. Handle an interview poorly or unprofessionally, and you are likely to come away with bad information. You might even harm your client’s legal case. This has huge implications for your ability to obtain future work from that client.

Fail to read a situation right before placing yourself in it, and you could get injured or killed. Reputation matters. A lot. So does safety. The only backup I can call in the field is 911. I always act accordingly, and yes, I am generally (and legally) armed.

Far from drinking on the job, real-life P.I.s are more likely to be snacking in the car between interviews. Or listening to podcasts to pass the time out on surveillance. Even after work, most of us tend to keep the alcohol intake lower than you might expect. Morning comes early in this job. Those early mornings can turn into long days, sometimes in the range of 15-18 hours. That’s a tall order with a hangover, so I rarely over-indulge. Competence is currency in this business. There is nothing more competence-shattering than intoxication and hangover.

Crossover between real-life vs. fictional private investigators

There is one spot where I feel real-life private investigators and fictional private investigators have plenty of crossover. Both struggle with a balance between personal and professional life. In books, the detective often lives and breathes a case, focusing exclusively on it day and night.

Real life investigative work is also similarly demanding. We spend lots of time sitting in cars, working in interview rooms, and creeping in public spaces as we work. It takes mounds of boring research and foot work to put even small things together sometimes. It is draining, and if you let it, it can consume your entire day (and night).

But, at least in my case, I go out of my way make time for the other things I love. Without them, my life ends up out of balance, and the quality of my work suffers. Very few people in this business can avoid burnout without hobbies and other aspirations outside of the industry.

For me, that means my obsession with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. And riding my various bikes (mountain and road). Also, my love of writing and reading. Without these activities,  I can go days or weeks without interacting with the people in my social spheres. I do all as often as possible, and I take days off consistently to pursue them.

Looking for an example of a realistic fictional private investigator?

If you’d like to see how I approach P.I. character development in my own writing, I highly recommend my latest novel (coming out May 12), Throwing Off Sparks. It features my first series character, the tough and talented East Texas female private investigator, Riley Reeves. The book’s plot pounds as much pavement as most thrillers. Much of the work Riley does is very close to the way I handle my own work in real life. And be sure to join my email list using the form below for tips, tricks, and special offers on my work!

 

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THROWING OFF SPARKS

Her friends don’t call her “Rowdy” for nothing. Intelligent, introspective, and focused, private investigator Riley Reeves specializes in cases of at-risk girls that often lead her into dangerous waters. On the same day that a socialite couple hires Riley to protect their daughter Carmen from a mysterious stalker, Riley’s troubled alcoholic brother and last living relative, Chip, shows up on her doorstep fresh out of the state penitentiary.

Riley’s investigation soon uncovers that Carmen is deeply involved with a dangerous group of redneck gangsters, though their connection to the stalking remains unclear. Meanwhile, Chip is off the wagon and running wild, drumming up constant, imminent trouble that soon arrives at Riley’s doorstep.

As pressure ratchets up from all sides, personal and professional, will Riley be able to save the girl without neglecting her own loved ones at the time they need her most?

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End of 2018 update

What’s up,  y’all? Happy New Year. Or almost, anyway. I’ve had so many changes going on in my personal life lately that I get almost no blogging done, as evidenced by the large gap since my last post here on the site.

I guess that’s been a good enough excuse for me to avoid taking time to reflect, but please accept my apologies anyway. Now is a good time for me to seek some perspective before 2019 kicks into gear.

I struggle with perspective, both artistically and in my personal life. I’m an emotional person, and no one who knows or loves me would deny that it clouds my judgment sometimes.

I’ve seen a lot of chaos in the last couple of years. Sometimes I create problems that aren’t really there just so that I can go about solving them, for better or worse. Or, better yet, talk them into submission, as I’ve been known to do.

It comes off like trying to strangle a handful of water—everything soaks through the cracks. But 2018 was a good year, even as it was a hard one. I had personal high points and a lot of rough moments where I probably wasn’t myself. I’m at peace with it, though I plan to be better moving forward.

There seems to be a wave of really positive energy brewing around here as 2018 comes to a close. I’ve been working hard on my writing, and I have a number of projects in the works for 2019 and beyond that I’m excited about. I feel like my work is finally maturing to a place where I feel proud of it and excited to keep making it.

2018 writing roundup

I did do a lot of writing this year in spite of the setbacks and distractions. I’m nearly finished with my first P.I. novel, Throwing Off Sparks, the first in the Riley Reeves P.I. series.

For those who don’t know, I work full-time as a private investigator. I’m satisfied that the book captures the realities of the work without losing sight of telling a good story.

I’ll have a bunch more information about the book and about Riley’s series in the near future, so stay tuned. It’s the first novel I’ve ever written from the first person point of view, and in so many ways I feel closer to Riley than any other character I’ve ever written.

I love who she is, and I think you will too.

Throwing Off Sparks has complex family dynamics, unexpected violence, and a climax that ends in emotional armageddon for Riley, forever altering every single person around her in the process.

In 2019 I’m getting ready to begin work on the second book in the series, Daughters of the Republic. Obviously, it’s too early to release any plot details about that book, but let’s just say it’s the plot I’m the most excited about of any book I’ve written to date.

If you want to get a little taste of Riley before the series drops, her origin short story, “Weathering the Storm,” will appear in The Eyes of Texas anthology in 2019, edited by Michael Bracken and slated for release to coincide with Bouchercon 2019 in The Big D of Dallas, TX.

In the meantime, my next novel, Rose City, will be released in March 2019 from Down and Out Books.  It’s a very special book to me because it’s the first full novel I ever wrote, way back in graduate school. Four years of revisions have whipped it into a dark, emotional tale of bloodlines, corruption, racism, classism, and violence. You can read more details about it HERE.

It’s the second in the Teller County Series, and though it involves unique circumstances, some characters from Texas Two-Step do make appearances, including the ever-elusive scoundrel of a villain, Sheriff Jack Gables. It’s more of a companion novel than a follow-up.

You can get ahead of the curve now by taking the time to pick up a copy of Texas Two-Step, which will lead nicely into Rose City.

Rose City has a tone all its own, and if you enjoyed Texas Two-Step, I think you’ll love it even more.

2019 and beyond

2019 is shaping up to be a big year for my writing. I’ve got several irons in the fire right now in addition to Daughters of the Republic. A pulp novella (the first in a series of five featuring P.I. Rick Malone) called Catfish Quorum, and a follow-up to that, titled One Way Out. Each project is so different from the others that all are sure to push my style and ability to new places this year.

The novella, Catfish Quorum, might even be just the pulp P.I. revival you’re been itching for. That’s all I’ll say about it for now. The project represents something wholly new and totally unique in the current crime fiction world. Look for it in 2019. I expect the project to grow into big things over the next decade.

As for One Way Out, I’m shooting for the perfect blend of modern crime fiction and classic pulp noir style. It’s a claustrophobic book that’s sure to keep you turning the pages. I can’t wait to intoduce you to Marcu McMasters and Rick Malone.

Be sure to keep up with me in 2019 and beyond to see how things shake out. Thanks for checking in, and if you see me out and about, come to say hello. I’ll buy you a beer if you’re nice, a bourbon if you’ve read one of my books. Cheers!

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ROSE CITY

When Cole Quick returns to his estranged hometown of Teller, Texas for his alcoholic father’s funeral, it doesn’t take long for old debts, both criminal and psychological, to drag him back into the underworld he fled thirteen years earlier.

Fresh off the death of his wife, a former local debutante who swore off her inheritance to skip town with him, Cole soon finds trouble from her family on the other side of the tracks as well.

To escape Teller County with his life intact he’ll have to solve an old friend’s murder, resist powerful forces conspiring to pillage his birthright, and crack open the debutante town’s sterile shell to reveal the dark forces of racism, classism, and corruption operating just beneath the surface.

PRE-ORDER:

 

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