Elena Hartwell's Blog, page 28

Foxholes: a Debut Military Thriller

Foxholes, the debut military thriller by Travis Tougaw

Author Interview + Book & Author Info + Author Pet Corner!Don’t miss any debut author interview. Click the link here for more.Foxholes

Suspicious deaths and political ambition collide in Foxholes. Follow Vince Marcotte and Hadley Collins as they join forces to solve a pair of murders before they become the next victims.

Combat veteran Vince Marcotte has hung up his uniform in favor of a quiet, comfortable life. But, ghosts from his past are raised when Nick Batson announces his Senate campaign. Vince is convinced Nick got away with murder 15 years ago when they were both deployed to Afghanistan. When another person close to Nick dies under mysterious circumstances, Vince enlists the help of amateur detective Hadley Collins to prove Nick’s guilt. As they grow closer to the truth, they become Nick’s targets and soon learn that he’ll stop at nothing to achieve his political goals. As Nick barrels toward a campaign victory, Vince races to discover what really happened in Afghanistan. Will he survive long enough to bring Nick to justice?

Foxholes, the first in the Marcotte and Collins Investigative Thriller series, is a page-turning crime thriller. Smart, engaging, and suspenseful, Travis Tougaw’s debut novel will grab your attention on the first page and not let go. Buy it today and get to know your new favorite detectives!

To Foxholes, click on any of the following links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Black Rose Writing, Target & Walmart.Interview with Debut Author Travis Tougaw — Author of FoxholesFoxholes features combat veteran Vince Marcotte. What would you like readers to know about him?

When I first started writing Foxholes, I wanted the main character to be an average guy who got caught up in circumstances that are anything but average. He’s a military veteran, but he had a desk job in the Air Force; he’s not a super-soldier like you see in a lot of thrillers.

Vince’s time in combat left him feeling guilty that justice hadn’t been achieved for an airman who died in the combat zone. That guilt propels him forward into the action of the story and keeps him going, despite encounters that are sure to trigger his post-traumatic stress. Part of Vince’s character arc is seeing how he navigates the tension between wanting closure for the airman’s death and trying to avoid stress-inducing situations.

One other interesting thing about Vince is that I first “met” him in 2006, when I was working on another political thriller. As I started writing Foxholes, I realized that Vince was the perfect character for this novel. So, although the 2006 thriller never published, a big piece of that novel will live on in the Foxholes series.

 

Foxholes also features amateur detective Hadley Collins. What would you like readers to know about her?

Hadley was one of my favorite characters to write in this book. She’s younger than Vince, more energetic, and has a better sense of how to conduct detective work. Hadley doesn’t have the same emotional attachment to this case as Vince, so she’s able to maintain an objective distance.

Hadley’s day job is as a computer security consultant; she’s self-employed, so she can dedicate as much time to detective work as she’d like. Her techno-wizardry allows her to bring some gadgetry to the case and help Vince gather important clues.

For Enneagram lovers, Hadley is a “five” (like her author), so detective work is a perfect fit for her. In Enneagram typology, the five is the investigator, someone who enjoys the pursuit of knowledge and likes to figure things out. Hadley is driven to see the case through in Foxholes by her innate sense of wanting to know what happened and to put a puzzle together.

I enjoyed writing Hadley’s character so much that I decided to feature her in the second book of the series. Captives, which publishes in June 2024, focuses on a case where Hadley is the lead detective and tells more of her backstory.

 

What drew you to writing about events that occurred in Afghanistan for your debut novel, Foxholes?

I was in the Air Force for 9 years and spent January – May 2007 at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan.

Thank you for your service!

When the U.S. withdrew from the country in 2021, there was a lot of media coverage from Bagram, showing the rush to evacuate the country and images of the Taliban re-taking the base after the U.S. was gone. That led me to question how successful the war had been and how much we had actually accomplished.

In the midst of that, I thought about how other veterans would react to the withdrawal, particularly those whose combat experience had been more difficult than mine. I wanted to tell a story that shows the long-term effects of war, but I didn’t want the story to be solely about the war. I decided to use Afghanistan as a setting for a murder mystery.

 

What kind of research did you have to do to create combat veterans and amateur sleuths?

As you can guess from my previous answer, I didn’t have to do a lot of research into the combat experience. The events in Foxholes are fiction, but they are informed by my experiences in Afghanistan. Likewise, the characters are made up, but they are people who could have been in the military, and some of them share characteristics with people I served with.

Amateur sleuthing, on the other hand, is not something I have personal experience with. I based a lot of the detective activity on how I would go about conducting an investigation and bolstered that with internet research. I also got to serve on a jury for a murder trial, and I learned some fascinating things about forensics and how crime scenes are processed. A bit of that knowledge found its way into the book, as well.

 

In addition to writing, you play the hammer dulcimer. What brought you to playing that instrument? 

Growing up, I listened to the music of Rich Mullins. He was an amazing songwriter and a phenomenal musician who played multiple instruments, including the hammer dulcimer. His music led me to start playing guitar and, eventually, the dulcimer.

What I like about it is that it’s a very simple instrument—once you understand the basic layout of it, it’s very easy to play melodies—but, you can add notes and decoration to give your song layers of complexity.

 

What are you working on now?

I’m currently writing an adventure-thriller that I’m calling The Other Side of the Island. It involves two estranged brothers, a cult, and a struggle to survive on a mysterious island in the Caribbean.

Stylistically, it’s a departure from what I did in the Foxholes series, in that there is no mystery to solve; the challenge as a writer is to put the reader in the middle of the action and keep the stakes high, so there’s tension throughout. I’m really enjoying writing this one.

 

Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers:

While Foxholes is my debut novel, it’s not my first novel.

That novel I wrote back in 2006-2007 and other projects I’ve taken on since then have been invaluable learning experiences. Conferences, books about writing, and critique groups are all important tools for a writer’s development, but there is no substitute for actually writing a book-length work. That’s how you learn what to do when you discover a plot hole halfway through your first draft or how to add complexity to a plot when you hit 40,000 words and you realize your story is over.

My advice for aspiring writers is to practice the craft and not to get discouraged if you aren’t getting published. The effort is not wasted.

Great advice!Author Pet Corner!Lola!

Lola is a Great Pyrenees/Newfoundland mix.

We adopted her as a rescue in the summer of 2022. We think she’s around 4.5 years old.

She was in a lot of different homes and foster situations in her early years, and she’s enjoying having stability in her life now.

Travis Tougaw — Author of Foxholes

Travis Tougaw is a writer and editor.

He earned degrees in English from Angelo State University in Texas and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

An Air Force veteran, Travis has worked in a variety of roles, including English teacher, employee educator, and health care administrator.

He is the author of the Marcotte/Collins Investigative Thrillers series, set in Colorado. In his free time, Travis enjoys reading, playing musical instruments, trivia, and spending time with his family. He lives in Colorado with his wife and children.

 

To learn more about Travis, click on any of the following links: Facebook, Twitter & WebsiteElena Taylor/Elena Hartwell

 

Header background image from Pixabay

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Obey All Laws: Debut Crime Thriller

Obey All Laws: A Probation Case File Mystery by Cindy Goyette

Author Interview + Book & Author Info + Author Pet CornerDon’t miss any debut author interview. Click the link here for more.Obey All Laws

When Phoenix probation officer Casey Carson goes to work, she expects naked people to answer doors, meth-addicted clients to hit on her, and angry judges to chew her out in court. After a routine home visit with a client, a Diablo gang member, goes horribly wrong, she knows she must watch her back.

Even she must admit that a one-eyed, bad-ass, angry gangster and his crew gunning for her is a bit more than she was trained to handle.

Casey has even more reason to fear Diablo when her cousin Hope goes missing, and it looks like their handiwork. With women vanishing at an alarming rate in the area, police treat Hope’s disappearance as a priority. Still, Casey can’t sit on the sidelines, even with her ex-husband leading the investigation. After she receives information that proves her suspicions about Diablo right, the gang will do anything to keep her from sharing it with police, even if that means taking her on a one-way trip to the desert.

To purchase Obey All Laws, click the following link: AmazonInterview with Cindy Goyette — Author of Obey All Laws

 

Obey All Laws features probation officer Casey Carson, a job that you have held yourself. What are the similarities and differences between your career and the fictional career of your protagonist?

I was Casey’s age when I became a probation officer and I retired from the profession a few years ago. I started writing her character about 25 years ago (it took me that long to nail it), so a lot has changed in the profession, and I had to make sure I captured how I felt doing the job at that age while I kept up with the times.

Although the story is fiction, I did encounter a lot of similar situations. No, I never assaulted a gang member (not a spoiler alert, it happens in the opening pages), but I’ve been in some pretty intense situations. Like Casey, I wasn’t armed for most of my career, although I was for the last part. 

Casey flies by the seat of her pants sometimes, and I admit I have that personality trait as well.

We’re also different. She’s quicker than I am and a bit more adventurous. I almost always did fieldwork with a partner, while Casey prefers to work alone. But I did know officers who operated that way so it’s not farfetched.

 

Obey All Laws takes place in Phoenix, Arizona. (A place we have both lived!) Now you live in Washington State. (Where I live as well!) What made Phoenix the place where you wanted to set your series?

They say write what you know. I set my series in Phoenix because that’s where I did the job and lived for most of my career.

I moved to the pacific northwest in 2011 and became a probation/parole officer here. It’s a little different and sometimes I struggled to not merge the two. I had a Phoenix probation officer friend read an early draft so she could identify any places in the book that I mixed things up.

 

Obey All Laws also addresses gangs and gang violence. What drew you to that topic for your debut?

I’ve had specialized caseloads over the years. Sex offender, mental health, and gang to name a few.

Gang was my favorite. It took some convincing for the department to let me take on that role in the 1990s as I was the first woman to do so. There were two other gang officers, both male and they were so welcoming and helpful. I also worked closely with the Phoenix Police gang squad.

Some of my favorite moments happened when I tagged along with them. They liked it because they could utilize me to do things they didn’t have the power to do. For instance, I could conduct searches of my charges without a warrant.

Most of the young men I supervised looked to me like I was a soccer mom. There were a few who probably didn’t want me around, but most of them were protective of me.

 

In the past, you also worked as an immigration officer. Tell us about that career and what made you shift to probation officer:

I stumbled into law enforcement. My bachelor’s degree is in social work. Turns out, you need experience—and in Arizona it helps if you’re bilingual—to get a decent job in the field.

I was desperate and out of options when I applied to be a police officer with Phoenix PD. Much to my surprise, they hired me. I completed the police academy and became a cop.

My then husband had a career opportunity in his native Quebec that he couldn’t pass up. So, I resigned from Phoenix PD, and we moved to Canada. My French is horrendous, so I was having trouble finding a job in Montreal. I headed to the boarder and once again, much to my surprise, they hired me.

I worked at the New York/Quebec border as an Immigration Officer for several years before returning to Arizona where I eventually became a probation officer.

 

You also write the Wiggle Butt Manor Mysteries, what should we know about Diamond in the Ruff?

Diamond in the Ruff is my first attempt at writing a cozy mystery. Although the protagonist is an amateur sleuth (she never finished the police academy), we do have one big thing in common— we both have rheumatoid arthritis. And that stands in the way of her fulfilling her dream of becoming a cop.

But the biggest thing in the book that mirrors my own life is the dogs! I based the ones in the book on my beloved cocker spaniel, Noah and my daughter’s crazy dog, Maya. Unfortunately, Noah has since passed away. But Maya, at age 19, is still causing mayhem and continues to give me material for future books.

Diamond in the Ruff is in the hands of my editor, and I hope it will be picked up for publication. Like Obey All Laws, it will also be a series and I have two more books planned.

 

What are you working on now?

I’ve finished book 2 of the probation case files series and am starting book 3. 

 

Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers:

Don’t give up! I’ve been writing for most of my life and tried to get Obey All Laws published for about five years before I finally got a yes!

Now it seems like things are happening at lightning speed. I don’t think of those years as wasted. I was learning and honing my craft.

Author Pet Corner!Noah and Maya!

Noah’s floppy ears are one of the few things that separate him from identifying as a sloth. An English Cocker/American Cocker mix, he came to live with Cindy and her daughter as a puppy. He got into normal puppy trouble. He earned his name when Cindy would come upon messes in the house and she’d say, “No! Ah!”  Always quick, her daughter said, “Why don’t we call him Noah?”

Noah gave Cindy comfort when they moved to the Pacific Northwest, leaving the familiar behind. He’s been a hiking buddy, a travel companion, and a muse.

With a heavy heart, Cindy said goodbye to Noah in July of 2022. His paw print sits on her desk and he remains forever in her heart.

Maya was a shelter dog. Her previous owners brought Maya and her sister, Mia, to the shelter because they constantly escaped from their yard. Mia was adopted first, and Maya was alone until Cindy and her teenage daughter found her. Maya quickly showed her mischievous, or some would say, cunning, side. Afraid of anything with wheels, she destroyed a leather couch and loveseat, ate through kennels (plastic and metal) and consumed anything within reach, including a wasp nest, a pound of coffee beans, and a glass mason jar of chili sauce.

She often regrets her decisions when she pays the price several hours later, sometimes with a trip to the ER. But her memory is short and she’s always up for her next adventure. Still alive and kicking at sixteen, the joke is that she is not mortal. She’s a love though and hopefully she’ll break longevity records. When her time does come, her tombstone will say “Worth it!”

Cindy Goyette — Author of Obey All Laws

Armed with a handgun and a word processor, Immigration Officer Cindy Goyette spent her nights creating fictional friends to help pass the lonely hours between border crossers. A portable black-and-white TV cancelled the unexplained noises coming from the ancient jail cells in the creepy basement. The resulting book will stay in the closet where it belongs, but the seed was planted and she’s been writing ever since.

Cindy spent the ensuing years as a probation officer, dealing with hardened criminals with hard-luck stories that sometimes kept her up at night. Every day was an adventure. She survived by seeing humor in situations where she could find it. She joked about writing a book and then she did just that.

OBEY ALL LAWS incorporates the wild and crazy life of a probation officer with an issue currently in the news. Cindy’s history with flirtatious felons who thought they were charmers and addicts who denied the drugs in their pockets, claiming they’re wearing their friend’s pants have given her ample material for the books she now writes.

Cindy has a habit of adopting dogs who get into as much mischief as her probationers. A vet told her, Maya – a basic brown miscreant mixed breed – was lucky Cindy had taken her home because no one else would have put up with her antics. So why not give Maya her own series? Thus, Diamond in the Ruff: A Wiggle Butt Manor Mystery was born.

Born in New Jersey, Cindy lived in Phoenix for twenty years. She now makes her home in Washington state with her husband and two cocker spaniels.

To learn more about Cindy, click on any of the following links: Website, Facebook, and X/TwitterElena Hartwell/Elena Taylor

Header image from Pixabay

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Blue Ridge: Debut Thriller by Peter Malone Elliott

Blue Ridge, a crime thriller by debut novelist Peter Malone Elliott

Author Interview + Book & Author Info + Author Pet CornerDon’t miss any debut author interview. Click the link here for more.Blue Ridge

What would you do if you were planning to kill your brother—but someone beat you to it?

After former Olympic contender turned burn-out horse trainer Cillian Clarke is framed for the murder of his identical twin Christopher, a rising-star Virginia politician, Cillian is forced to go on the lam.

But when someone from Christopher’s past emerges and offers Cillian the chance to clear his name, Cillian is plunged headfirst into a sinister conspiracy that not only threatens the sanctity of democracy, but also promises to expose the devastating secret intertwining the brothers forever—the truth behind the death of a woman they both loved.

You can purchase Blue Ridge by clicking the link here.

 

 

Interview with Peter Malone Elliott — Author of Blue Ridge Blue Ridge stars Cillian Clarke, a burned-out horse trainer framed for the murder of his identical twin. I love this set-up! As a longtime horse lover tell me what led you to that career for your main character.

Thank you so much! I grew up in a family of horse riders and lovers (my sister was a national champion eventer), so a deep appreciation and admiration for the equine community truly runs through my veins.

And since that way of life is so firmly entrenched in the DNA of Paris, Middleburg, and Lynchburg (the Virginia towns where Blue Ridge takes place) it felt only natural to make Cillian part of that industry, as well.

Plus, I wanted to deconstruct and reinvent the classic southern fiction archetype of the rugged, horse-whispering protagonist, and really investigate that type of male character from a younger, more modern vantage point—going deeper that the cliched stereotypes that we’re all used to. 

 

Blue Ridge contains elements of noir, suspense, and political thriller. What do those elements mean to you, and how do they come through in the book?

For as long as I can remember, the suspense thriller (and its various subgenres like noir) has been my favorite storytelling mode across all mediums—book, film, TV, you name it.

A suspense thriller—when it’s well executed—simultaneously enlightens and entertains. It plunges a reader/viewer into the deepest, darkest crevices of the human condition and, through its exploration of trauma, fear, and past transgressions, holds a mirror up to our souls and explains what makes us who we are—all the while taking us on a pulse-pounding, roller-coaster plot that totally immerses us in another world.

In my humble opinion, there isn’t any other genre in existence that can achieve both of those things in the same way. And I think if I had taken a different genre approach to the dueling first person POVs of Cillian and Christopher Clarke—two identical twin brothers psychologically at war with one another due to their shared trauma and secrets—Blue Ridge wouldn’t have been as kinetic or interesting. 

In terms of the political component of the novel—that honestly came as a bit of a surprise to me.

Initially, I did not set out to write a book that could be categorized in the “political thriller” sphere—frankly, it was the furthest possible thing I had in mind. But the January 6th insurrection quickly changed that mindset. And as I began fleshing out the narrative—and realizing that I wanted Christopher to be a rising star in the political arena—it became abundantly clear that to ignore what was happening in our country (and all the horrendous things that transpired during the years of the Trump administration) would be disingenuous and, frankly, a bit irresponsible.

But I also didn’t want the novel to become preachy, either. It became a bit of a high-wire act to balance all this while creating Blue Ridge—but I’m very, very happy with how it turned out.

 

Blue Ridge is set in Virginia, where you grew up, an area that remains dear to you. What do you love about Virginia and Southern living? What do you miss now that you live in Brooklyn?

While I do genuinely enjoy living in Brooklyn and experiencing all that the city has to offer, there is something magical about where I grew up in Virginia.

Being that close to the Blue Ridge Mountains and constantly spending time in jaw-droppingly gorgeous landscapes like Sky Meadows State Park feeds my soul in a way that an urban metropolis like New York City simply cannot.

I am at peak happiness when I’m in the mountains, breathing in the fresh air, and soaking in all the wonderful eccentricities and “country-philosopher” gems that are scattered throughout small town Southern ways of life.

I also deeply, deeply miss authentic Southern cooking—although I have found a pretty amazing BBQ spot here in Brooklyn (shout out to Hometown BBQ in Red Hook…10/10 would recommend). 

 

In addition to writing novels, you work as a developmental editor and screenwriter. How do those three careers fit together? Do they augment each other? Or do you compartmentalize?

They absolutely augment each other.

Being a Leo Award-nominated screenwriter, for instance, has made me an infinitely better novelist. Because of my film background, where brevity and conciseness are paramount, I’m able to be truly ruthless when editing my manuscripts and streamline plot and character in ways that are invaluable—particularly in genre fiction.

Also, working in the film industry—where most writers are seen as inconsequential, completely replaceable cogs in a massive, gatekeeper filled machine—has really allowed me to appreciate the admiration that (most) people in the publishing world have for the written word (and more than prepared me for the more frustrating parts of the publishing business). 

All this first-hand knowledge—combined with my past experience as Director of Operations of Book Pipeline, where my job was to develop material with contest winning authors and set them up with literary agents and/or publishing deals—has made my developmental editing business (Fortiter et Recte Literary) a really thrilling endeavor for me. Working with and championing writers, no matter what stage of their career they find themselves in, is one of my great joys in life, and I find it incredibly fulfilling.

 

Tell us about your road to publication for your debut novel!

It was…a journey, to say the least. I wrote an article where I really get into the nitty-gritty of the entire process. Check it out!

 

What are you working on now?

Currently, I’m shopping around my second manuscript—a horror-thriller set in Yosemite National Park that’s meant to be the start of a series—while continuing to grow my developmental editing business. I’m also in the nascent stages of developing another standalone novel!

 

Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers?

Most of the successes I’ve had in my professional life thus far have come from me taking the road less traveled. So, don’t be afraid to be a trailblazer and do things unconventionally.

Great advice!Author Pet Corner!Panda!I have a ten-year-old Pointer-Pitbull mix named Panda. She is a juggernaut of amusement, love, and emotional support. And, just like me, she has a penchant for the outdoors, comfy chairs, and snacks. Who’da thunk?

 

 

Peter Malone Elliott — Author of Blue Ridge

Peter Malone Elliott is an author, screenwriter, and developmental editor.

Born and raised in Virginia, he now lives in Brooklyn, but still holds the magic of the mountains and Southern living near and dear to his heart.

BLUE RIDGE is his debut novel. Other notable writing achievements include a Leo Award nomination for “Best Screenwriting, Motion Picture” and winning the Grand Prize of the Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition.

Peter is also the founder and owner of Fortiter et Recte Literary, where he offers bespoke editorial consulting for manuscripts and screenplays.

To learn more about Peter, click on either of the following links: Website, Instagram.Elena Taylor/Elena Hartwell

Header image from Pixabay

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Broadcast Blues: A Clare Carlson Mystery

Broadcast Blues, a mystery novel by R.G. Belsky

Guest Post + Excerpt + Book & Author Info + A Giveaway!
Don’t miss any blog tour posts! Click the link here.

Broadcast Blues

Wendy Kyle took secrets to her grave— now, Clare Carlson is digging them up

New York City has no shortage of crime, making for a busy schedule for TV newswoman Clare Carlson. But not all crimes are created equal, and when an explosive planted in a car detonates and kills a woman, Clare knows it’ll be a huge story for her.

But it’s not only about the story—Clare also wants justice for the victim, Wendy Kyle.

Wendy had sparked controversy as an NYPD officer, ultimately getting kicked off the force after making sexual harassment allegations and getting into a physical altercation with her boss. Then, she started a private investigations business, catering to women who suspected their husbands of cheating.

Undoubtedly, Wendy had angered many people with her work, so the list of her suspected murderers is seemingly endless. Despite the daunting investigation, Clare dives in headfirst.

As she digs deeper, she attracts the attention of many rich and powerful people who will stop at nothing to keep her from breaking the truth about the death of Wendy Kyle—and exposing their personal secrets that Wendy took to her grave.

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery

Published by: Oceanview Publishing

Publication Date: January 2, 2024

Number of Pages: 320

ISBN: 9781608095315 (ISBN10: 1608095312)

Series: Clare Carlson Mystery Series, 6 | All of the novels in the Clare Carlson Mystery Series stand on their own and can be read in any order

To purchase Broadcast Blues, click any of the following links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Guest Post From the Author of Broadcast Blues      

  WHY I LIKE WRITING “UNLIKABLE” CHARACTERS

by R.G. Belsky   

My new Clare Carlson mystery novel BROADCAST BLUES has a lot of very likable characters in it. There’s Clare herself, of course. A smart, tough, wise-cracking TV journalist in New York City. Her best friend Janet Wood, whose own life is as organized as Clare’s is chaotic. And the colorful characters that she works with every day in her TV station’s newsroom to put out the newscasts. 

It’s good for an author to have these kinds of likable characters in a book.

But sometimes it’s nice – and even necessary – to have unlikable ones too.

And there’s quite a few of them in BROADCAST BLUES. 

Starting with Clare’s new boss, a horrible, egotistical and ambitious woman named Susan Endicott. Endicott was a lot of fun to write. To do so, I combined a lot of the worst qualities in bad bosses I’ve had in the media over the years (I’ve had plenty of good ones too!). The result is a damn loathsome woman. I’ve had readers tell me how much they hated Susan Endicott and the way she treats Clare. Which makes me happy. Because that is the exact reason she’s in the book.

There’s also an arrogant billionaire willing to do anything or hurt anyone to get what he wants, including using his wealth to cheat on his wife and treat a lot of women badly; a corrupt police official who parleys his illegal actions into a sudden ascent in the NYPD bureaucracy; and even a murder victim who is hardly sympathetic because of all the enemies she made as a controversial police officer and private investigator. 

It’s always tricky to write characters like this – and still keep the readers on your side.

But it’s been done many times before.

Maybe the best example is the book Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, which turned into a phenomenal best seller despite the fact that everyone in it – including the two main characters – turn out to be unlikeable and untrustworthy. But they sure were interesting!

I recently re-read another book by Flynn called Sharp Objects which is also filled with unlikable characters. I mean the main narrator even kills a dog at one point. Which is the No. 1 thing you’re never supposed to do in a book – cruelty or killing of animals. But yet it works here to tell the story. And you actually wind up liking that character in the end. 

Of course, there have been many “beloved” bad people in books, movies and TV shows over the years.

Like the scary Hannibal Lecter from Thomas Harris’ books and movies. Or Hans Gruber, the dastardly but brilliant terrorist who faces off against Bruce Willis in Die Hard. Hell, the pattern goes all the way back to Professor Moriarity as the mastermind enemy of Sherlock Holmes. 

In most cases, the reward for the reader is when the hero or heroine of the book is able to win out over the unlikable character or characters who are their adversaries in the story. 

The fact that these people are so unlikeable make the victory even more satisfying at the end of the book.

Is that what happens in BROADCAST BLUES?

Does Clare come out on top of all these bad people she encounters throughout the story?

Well, you’ll just have to read BROADCAST BLUES to find out….

 

Read an excerpt of Broadcast Blues :

PROLOGUE
From the Diary of Wendy Kyle….

If you’re reading this, I’m already dead.

How’s that for an attention-grabbing opening line?

I know, I know…it’s a bit melodramatic. And I’m not normally the melodramatic type. Really. No, Wendy Kyle is the kind of woman who deals in facts for a living, the kind of woman who doesn’t let emotion cloud her judgment and – maybe most importantly of all – the kind of woman who never blindly puts her trust in anyone.

Especially a man.

Hey, I’m not some man-hating bitch or anything like that, no matter what you may have heard or think about me. I like men. I love men, or at least I’ve loved a few men in my life. It’s just that I don’t trust them anymore.

So wouldn’t it be ironic – or maybe a little bit fitting, to look at it completely objectively – if trusting a man this one time was what wound up costing me my own life in the end.

Here’s the bottom line for me: If I don’t succeed in what I’m about to do in the Ronald Bannister case, well…then it is important someone knows the truth about what happened to me.

And that it was the lies – all of the damn lies men have told – that were the death of me.

—– The contents of this document were among evidence

seized by homicide detectives from the office of

Wendy Kyle Heartbreaker Investigations

218 West 42nd Street

New York City

This entry is listed as: POLICE EXHIBIT A

Opening Credits

THE RULES, ACCORDING TO CLARE

Nora O’Donnell is 50 years old. Samantha Guthrie 51. Hoda Kotb 58, Robin Roberts 62 and Gayle King 68.

The point I’m trying to make here is that TV newscasters – specifically women TV newscasters – don’t have to be cute, perky young talking heads to succeed in the media world where I work.

We’ve come a long way since the days when a respected newswoman like Jane Pauley was replaced by the younger Deborah Norville on the Today show because some network executive (a middle-aged man, of course!) decided Pauley was getting too old to appeal to a television audience.

Or when an anchorwoman named Christine Craft lost her job at a station in Kansas City after a focus group determined she was “too old, too unattractive and not deferential to men.” She was 37.

Well, 50 is the new 40 now.

Or maybe even the new 30.

And let’s get something straight right up front here. I’m not one of those women who normally gets stressed out over every birthday that passes by or every wrinkle on my face or every gray hair or two I spot in the mirror. That is not me. No way. I’m not hung up about age at all.

But I am about to turn 50 this year.

The big 5-0.

The half-century mark.

And the truth is I’m having a bit of trouble dealing with that…

My name is Clare Carlson, and I’m the news director of Channel 10 News in New York City. I’m also an on-air reporter for our Channel 10 news show, and I’ve broken some pretty big exclusives in recent years that have gotten me a lot of attention and made me kind of a media star.

But this whole business of turning 50 still seems odd to me.

When I was in my 20s, I was a star reporter at a newspaper and won a Pulitzer Prize. In my 30s, after the newspaper went out of business, I switched to TV news at Channel 10. And in my 40s, I’ve been juggling two jobs: TV executive as the station’s news director and also as an on-air personality breaking big stories.

Turning 30 and then 40 never really seemed like that big a deal for me. It was more fun than tragic. Look at me: I’m 40! But 50? I’m not so sure about that one. 50 is something completely different, at least the way I see it at the moment. I’m not sure where I go with my life after 50.

It couldn’t be happening at a worse time for me either.

Channel 10, the TV station where I work, is being sold to a new owner – and this has left everyone in our newsroom worried about what might happen next. My latest boss and I don’t get along, and I’m afraid she might be looking for a reason to fire me. My personal life situation is even worse. I’ve been married three times (all of them ending in divorce), and right now I’m not in any kind of a relationship. I have a daughter, but she didn’t even know I was her mother for the first 25 years or so of her life – so we don’t exactly have a traditional mother/daughter relationship.

The only constant in my life – the one thing that I always turn to for comfort when my life is in turmoil – is the news.

This newsroom at Channel 10 where I work is my true home.

My sanctuary.

And so each day I wrap it – along with all the people in it and the stories we cover – around me like a security blanket to protect myself from everything else that is going on around me.

All I needed now was a big story to chase.

The bigger the better.

That’s what I was looking for right now.

But as the old saying goes: Be careful what you wish for – because you just might get it.

And that’s what happened to me with the Wendy Kyle murder…

 

Part I
THE HONEY TRAP
CHAPTER 1

Susan Endicott, the executive producer of Channel 10 News, walked into my office and sat down on a chair in front of my desk.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Talking to you.”

“I mean about tonight’s newscast.”

“Oh, that.”

“Don’t be impertinent with me, Carlson.”

What I was actually doing at the moment was putting together one of those old David Letterman style Top 10 lists. I like to do that sometimes. My topic today was: TOP 10 THINGS AN ASPIRING WOMAN TV NEWSCASTER SHOULD NOT SAY DURING A JOB INTERVIEW. My list went like this.

What’s that red light on the camera for?
9. Yes, Mr. Lauer, I’d love to be your intern.
8. I sweat a lot on air.
7. I can name all the Presidents back to Obama.
6. If it helps, I’m willing to get pregnant as a cheap on-air ratings ploy.
5. Katie Couric? Who’s Katie Couric?
4. No makeup, please. I want to let my real beauty shine through.
3. My IQ is almost in three numbers.
2. Can I watch TikTok video during commercial breaks?
And the Number One thing an aspiring woman TV newscaster should not say during a job interview…
1. I have a personal recommendation from Harvey Weinstein!

I wondered if I should ask Susan Endicott if she had any suggestions for my Top 10 list. Probably not. She might call me impertinent again.

“Do you have a lead story yet for the 6 p.m. show?” she asked now.

“Well, yes and no.”

“What does that mean?”

“The lead story is about a controller’s audit raising new questions about the viability of the city’s budget goals.”

“That’s not a lead story for us.”

“Hence, my yes and no reply to your question.”

“Do you have a plan for getting us a good story?”

“I do.”

“What is it?”

“Hope some big news happens before we go on the air at 6.”

“That’s your plan?”

“Uh, huh. The news gods will give us something before deadline. They always do.”

“The news gods?”

“You have to always believe in the news gods, Endicott.”

Looking out the window of my office, I could see people walking through the midtown streets of Manhattan below on a beautiful spring day. Many of them were coatless or in short sleeves. Spring was finally here in New York City after what seemed like an endless winter of snow and cold and bundling up every time you went out. But now it was spring. Yep, spring – time for hope and new beginnings. The sun shining brightly. Flowers blooming. Birds chirping. All that good stuff.

In a few weeks New Yorkers would start streaming out of the city on their way to Long Island or the Jersey Shore or maybe Cape Cod. I thought about how nice it would be to be in a place like that right now. Or maybe on a boat sailing up the New England coast. Anywhere but sitting here at Channel 10 News with this woman. Except I knew that even if I did that, I’d probably wind up sooner or later sitting in another newsroom wherever I went talking about lead stories with some other person like Susan Endicott.

Endicott and I had been at war ever since she came to Channel 10. That was after the firing – or, if you prefer, the forced resignation – of Jack Faron, the previous executive producer who had first hired me as a TV journalist from my newspaper career and had been my boss for most of my time here.

Jack was a top-notch journalist, a good friend and a truly decent human being. Susan Endicott was none of those things. She was an ambitious career climber who had stepped over a lot of people in her efforts to score big ratings at the stations where she worked before. That’s what had landed her the Channel 10 job here in New York, and she was determined to keep her star rising no matter what it took for her to do that. She had no friends that I was aware of, no hobbies or interests, no outside life of any kind. She was completely focused on the job and on her career advancement.

For whatever its worth, I didn’t like the way she looked either. She wasn’t fat or skinny, she wasn’t pretty or unattractive, she was just…well, plain. Like she didn’t care about her appearance. She wore drab clothes, hardy any jewelry, no makeup that I could see. It was like her appearance simply didn’t matter to her.

Oh, and she wore her glasses pushed back on top of her head when she wasn’t using them. I disliked people who did that. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s the way I feel. It was the perfect final trait of Susan Endicott though. I detested everything about her. And, as you can see, she wasn’t too fond of me either.

There were two things that had prevented her from getting rid of me so far.

I’ve broken some exclusive stories that got us big ratings. She did like the fact that I was an on-air media star, even if she didn’t like me. So all I had to do was keep finding exclusives.

Also, the owner of Channel 10, media mogul Brendan Kaiser, had backed me in any showdown with Endicott since she arrived here. Always good having the big boss on your side when you’re at odds with your immediate boss. But Kaiser was in the process of selling the station. We weren’t sure yet who the new owner would be. Maybe it would be some great journalist or wonderful human being that would care about more than profits. But people like that don’t generally buy big media properties like a TV station. So I was prepared for the worst once the new owner was in place.

That meant I needed to keep on breaking big stories.

And I hadn’t done that in a while.

I needed to find a big story in a damn hurry.

“You better come up with a good lead before we go on the air at 6 tonight,” Endicott said as she stood up and said over her shoulder as she started to leave my office.

“Or?” I asked.

“Or what?”

“That sort of sounds like you were giving me an ultimatum. As in ‘or you’re suspended. Or you’re fired. Or your cafeteria privileges are suspended. Or you need to get a permission slip to go to the bathroom. Or…”

Endicott turned around.

She glared at me.

Then she pushed her eyeglasses – which she’d been wearing – back on top of her head again.

A nice touch.

Perfect for the moment.

“Keep digging that hole for yourself, Carlson,” she said to me. “It will make it so much easier when the time comes to get rid of you.”

“You have a nice day too,” I said.

As things turned out, it didn’t take very long to find a news lead for the show.

After Endicott left, Maggie Lang – the assignment editor and my top assistant – burst in to tell me we had a big murder that had just happened.

“Someone blew up a woman’s car!” she said excitedly. “On a busy street in Times Square. The victim’s name is Wendy Kyle, and she’s a former New York City cop and a controversial private investigator who’s been involved in a lot of high-profile divorce cases recently. Involving rich people, important people and catching them in sex scandals. Sounds like someone was out for revenge against her. Sex, money, power. This story has everything, Clare!”

Yep, the news gods had saved us again.

***

Excerpt from BROADCAST BLUES by R.G. Belsky. Copyright 2023 by R.G. Belsky. Reproduced with permission from R.G. Belsky. All rights reserved.

 

 

R.G. Belsky — Author of Broadcast Blues

R.G. Belsky is an award-winning author of crime fiction and a journalist in New York City. His newest mystery, BROADCAST BLUES, was published on January 2 by Oceanview. It is the sixth in a series featuring Clare Carlson, the news director for a New York City TV station.

The first book, Yesterday’s News, was named Best Mystery of 2018 at Deadly Ink. The second, Below the Fold, won the Foreward INDIES award for Best Mystery of 2019.

Belsky has published 20 novels—all set in the New York city media world where he has had a long career as a top editor at the New York Post, New York Daily News, Star magazine and NBC News. He also writes thrillers under the name Dana Perry. And he is a contributing writer for The Big Thrill magazine and BookTrib.

Find out more about R.G. Belsky by clicking any of the following links: Website, Goodreads, BookBub, Instagram, Twitter/X, Facebook. 

 

Visit All The Stops on the Tour!

01/01 Guest post @ The Book Divas Reads
01/01 Showcase @ Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense
01/02 Review @ bookwormbecky1969
01/02 Showcase @ Guatemala Paula Loves to Read
01/03 Review @ Avonna Loves Genres
01/03 Review @ dianas_books_cars_coffee
01/04 Guest post @ The Mystery of Writing
01/05 Showcase @ Silvers Reviews
01/06 Review @ Book Reviews From an Avid Reader
01/074 Review @ tea. and. titles
01/08 Review @ My Reading Getaway
01/09 Review @ Country Mamas With Kids
01/10 Review @ Novel Nerd Blog
01/11 Interview @ darciahelle
01/12 Review @ Lynchburg Reads
01/14 Review @ Cassidys Bookshelves
01/15 Showcase @ Archaeolibrarian – I Dig Good Books!
01/16 Review @ Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting
01/17 Review @ Nesies Place
01/18 Review @ Novels Alive
01/22 Review @ Jersey Girl Book Reviews
01/23 Showcase @ fuonlyknew
01/24 Review @ Pick a good book
01/25 Review @ Celticladys Reviews
01/26 Review @ Melissa As Blog

Elena Taylor/Elena Hartwell

 

The post Broadcast Blues: A Clare Carlson Mystery appeared first on The Mystery of Writing.

The Ascent: A New Thriller

The Ascent, a mystery/thriller by Adam Plantinga

Author Interview + Book and Author Info + Pet Corner!Don’t miss any  author interviews! Click the link here.The Ascent

When a high security prison fails, a down-on-his luck cop and the governor’s daughter are going to have to team up if they’re going to escape in this “jaw-dropping, authentic, and absolutely gripping” debut thriller. (Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author) 

Kurt Argento, an ex-Detroit street cop who can’t let injustice go—and who has the fighting skills to back up his idealism.

If he sees a young girl being dragged into an alley, he’s going to rescue her and cause some damage.

When he does just that in a small corrupt Missouri town, he’s brutally beaten and thrown into a maximum-security prison.

Julie Wakefield, a grad student who happens to be the governor’s daughter, is about to take a tour of the prison. But when a malfunction in the security system releases a horde of prisoners, a fierce struggle for survival ensues.

Argento must help a small band of staff and civilians, including Julie and her two state trooper handlers, make their way from the bottom floor to the roof to safety.

All that stands in their way are six floors of the most dangerous convicts in Missouri.

To purchase The Ascent click on any of the following links: Hachette Book Group, Amazon & Barnes & Noble.Interview with Adam Plantinga — Author of The AscentThe Ascent features Kurt Argento and Julie Wakefield, what would you like readers to know about them?

Kurt is an embattled ex-cop from Detroit who won’t ever walk away from a fight. He’s reeling from a personal loss and is on a road trip out west with his dog when he runs afoul of a corrupt sheriff’s department in small-town Missouri and ends up in state prison. 

Julie is a grad student and endurance athlete who happens to be the governor of Missouri’s daughter. She is on a field trip of that same state prison for one of her school courses. When the prison’s digital security system goes haywire, releasing a horde of dangerous inmates inside its walls, she and Kurt have to team up to escape.

 

The Ascent takes place in a prison. You’ve been in law enforcement for twenty-two years. How did you balance accuracy for drama? Do you take liberties with that world? Or describe situations and characters that reflect prison life?

I’ve spent plenty of time in county jails booking and interrogating prisoners, but state prison is a different animal, because once someone is sent there, the job of the police is pretty much over.

So I did some research, including sitting down with former prison warden Jim L’Etoile (who is a fine writer of fiction, by the way) and asking him about everything from prison design to inmate regulations to the threats correctional officers face.

I also took a guided tour of San Quentin. I used that to guide the narrative, because I wanted it to have an authentic skin. But I did take some dramatic liberties for the purposes of the story, as I’m told writers of fiction are allowed and even encouraged to do. 

 

The Ascent features an ex-Detroit street cop, whereas you served in Milwaukee and San Francisco. Why did you choose to make him from Detroit?

I grew up in Michigan and always rooted for Detroit sports teams. My family still lives in the state. Also, I wanted my main character to have policed one of the toughest cities around. I figured Detroit fit the bill for that.  

 

You have also written nonfiction about life in law enforcement: 400 Things Cops Know and Police Craft. How did the writing process differ between writing nonfiction and fiction?

Writing fiction is more freeing because I could build a story from the ground up and take it any which way I liked, although it requires a different skill set like developing pace and dialogue.

But both nonfiction and fiction involve taking raw material and organizing and shaping it in a way that connects with the reader.  

 

What are some of the most common errors you see fiction writers make about police procedures?

Oh boy. They’re just so many. Like officers getting in a shooting and being back on the street the next day instead of being put on administrative ice while the shooting is investigated.

Or the lone detective entering an incredibly dangerous situation alone because “there’s no time for backup.”

But some of crime authors’ deviations from police procedure are understandable and even necessary. Actual police work, especially detective work, can be pretty boring. Lot of phone calls and writing up search and arrest warrants, and following leads that go nowhere and interviewing witnesses who saw nothing. And who wants to read about that?

Gimme some drama and action.

 

What are you working on now?

My literary agent was skilled enough to get me a two book deal so I’ve completed a sequel to The Ascent with the working title of Hard Town which is currently in the hands of my equally skilled editor.

I also tweet a lot, although they’re not all diamonds. Sometimes I just make jokes about how many knee braces I have to wear when I’m at work in the field (spoiler: it’s two, although if I had three knees, I’d probably need a third).

 

Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers

I mostly borrow other people’s wise writing advice, because I feel I’m at the starting line myself:

From Margaret Atwood: “Writing is work.  It’s also gambling. You don’t get a pension plan.  Other people can help you a bit, but essentially you’re on your own. Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don’t whine.”  From Neil Gaiman: “Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.” From Anton Chekhov: “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

 

Author Pet Corner!Ziggy!

 

 

 

 

 

Adam Plantinga — Author of The Ascent

Adam Plantinga’s first book, 400 Things Cops Know, was nominated for an Agatha Award and won the 2015 Silver Falchion award for best nonfiction crime reference. It was hailed as “truly excellent” by author Lee Child and deemed “the new Bible for crime writers” by The Wall Street Journal.

His second book, also nonfiction, is Police Craft. Plantinga began his career in law enforcement in 2001 as a Milwaukee police officer.

He is currently a sergeant with the San Francisco Police Department assigned to street patrol. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, daughters, and Chow Chow named
Ziggy.

To learn more about Adam, click on either of the following links: Website, X.Elena Taylor/Elena Hartwell

 

Header image from Pixabay

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The Glass Woman: Debut Psychological Thriller

The Glass Woman, the debut thriller by Alice McIlroy

Author Interview + Book & Author Info + Author Pet CornerDon’t miss any debut author interview. Click the link here for more.The Glass Woman

Black Mirror meets Before I Go to Sleep by way of Severance.

If you could delete all the hurt and pain from your life… would you? Even if you weren’t sure what would be left?

Pioneering scientist Iris Henderson awakes in a hospital bed with no memories. She is told that she is the first test-subject for an experimental therapy, placing a piece of AI technology into her brain. She is also told that she volunteered for it. But without her memories, Iris doesn’t know what the therapy is or why she would ever choose it.

Everyone warns her to leave it alone, but Iris doesn’t know who to trust. As she scratches beneath the surface of her seemingly happy marriage and successful career, a catastrophic chain of events is set in motion, and secrets will be revealed that have the capacity to destroy her whole life.

To purchase The Glass Woman click the link here.Interview with Alice McIlroy — Author of The Glass Woman

 

The Glass Woman involves lost memories and AI. What drew you to those two topics for your debut?

I’ve always been fascinated by the fallibility of memory, and the use of this in fiction for unreliable narrators.

In 2017, when I began writing the novel, I started to become really frightened by the potential consequences of AI, especially if we didn’t start talking about the ethical implications. The two themes, memory and AI, combined in the creation of The Glass Woman – I was interested in how AI could impact on someone’s identity, and I took this to the extreme with scientist Iris being a test subject trialling a pioneering AI brain implant.  

 

The Glass Woman centers on Iris Henderson, what would you like readers to know about her?

If you like unreliable narrators, hopefully you’ll find Iris interesting, even if she’s not always loveable.

All of the characters in The Glass Woman are intended to be morally questionable, and Iris is no exception to this. At the start of the novel, she wakes up in a hospital setting with amnesia and no recollection of who she is. Consequently, the reader meets her at her most vulnerable, and goes on the journey with her as she begins to reconstruct her own identity and discover her past. 

 

The Glass Woman weaves different voices together from chapter to chapter. How did you keep those threads clear in your writing process? Why tackle such a difficult form for your debut novel?

Yes, there are two main voices in the novel: protagonist and scientist Iris’ voice and then the second person voice of the AI brain implant, Ariel, which she trials.

At the beginning of the novel, Iris wakes up with no memory and I think my debut took me as long as it did for this reason – writing first-person narration from the point of view of a character who is grappling to reconstruct her identity was quite a challenge for a first novel!

I enjoyed the challenge though and tackling a difficult form was part of the excitement for me, although it did take many attempts! The Iris sections were written first and then Ariel’s voice was woven in, so they were quite distinct in my head. 

 

Tell us about your publishing journey with The Glass Woman.

It’s been a long journey! I began writing The Glass Woman in 2017 and since then, I’ve written a second novel, and re-written The Glass Woman almost from scratch (well, from one third of the way through).

In 2021, my agent then suggested a tonal shift towards horror, which I did. My publisher, Datura, took on the book in May 2022 and over eighteen months later, it is incredibly exciting that it will soon be on the shelves! 

 

What can we find you doing when you aren’t writing psychological thrillers?

Ideally, walking in remote parts of the UK and Ireland – the Lake District and West Coast of Ireland with my husband, lots of reading, or listening to ghost stories – love the radio and BBC iPlayer series Uncanny.

 

What are you working on now?

My second novel is completely different to The Glass Woman, although it is similarly speculative in genre and includes aspect of horror. Where The Glass Woman focuses on quite a claustrophobic setting and relationships, my second novel is far more macro in scope and explores our relationship with what we leave behind in the earth.

I’ve also started sketching out a third novel which is more similar in style to The Glass Woman. 

 

Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers:

Persevere – in such a competitive field, tenacity is really important, and the willingness to take on and be responsive to feedback. I would also advise writers to have an idea for a second book in the pipeline and to begin a second book before the first is published.

Author Pet Corner!Isla!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alice McIlroy — Author of The Glass Woman

Alice McIlroy’s writing has been longlisted for the Stylist Prize for Feminist Fiction and Grindstone International Novel Prize.

Her debut novel, The Glass Woman, was published on 2nd January 2024 by Datura/Angry Robot Books.

To learn more about Alice, you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

 

 

Elena Taylor/Elena Hartwell

 

 

Header image from Pixabay

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Fraidy Hole: Debut Psychological Thriller

Fraidy Hole, a new thriller by debut author Staci Andrea

Author Interview + Book & Author Info + Author Pet Corner!Don’t miss any debut author interviews, click the link here.Fraidy Hole

The mind is a curious thing. It allows us to reach back into our memory banks and retrieve emotions, thoughts, smells, and feelings that can act as filler for our sometimes empty lives, warming the spaces in our hearts that are sometimes left void and broken. It can also completely drop memories, forcing us to forget the painful chapters so that we are able to cut ties and move on.

What happens though, when the lines are blurred… when reality and the nightmares of your past collide? Can the mind make sense of it all? Can the brain and heart sort out the drama and the subtext? What happens to the soul when the mind cracks, even just a little?

Fraidy Hole, the fictional dark suspense thriller that centers around a grandfather trying to save his granddaughter from herself, plays upon exactly that line of questioning.

Told from a Grandfather’s perspective, Fraidy Hole follows the unconventional life of his Granddaughter, Arlo, as she navigates the pitfalls of adolescence into adulthood, paired with the unfortunate events that unfold while she is being influenced by an unusual leader into her darkness, her best friend, Bast. Together, they are torn between hiding in and trying to escape the Fraidy Hole.

To purchase Fraidy Hole, click on any of the following links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Bookshop.org, Black Rose Writing, Walmart & Tantor Media (Audiobook)Interview with Staci Andrea Author of Fraidy HoleFraidy Hole centers on a grandfather’s observations of his granddaughter’s life. That’s a fascinating set-up. How did that come about?

I was very close to my grandfather while growing up and when we lost him recently to Covid after he had a tough and long drawn-out battle with Alzheimer’s, the memories sat heavily on my heart and I found myself both comforted and amazed at the small fractures of time that he would be able to piece together and the stories that he would tell about myself, my sister and my cousins, before slipping away once again into darkness and unfamiliarity.

It felt amazing to know that somehow, through all of the dementia and Alzheimer’s, he still held us close somehow deep inside of his mind.

My main character in Fraidy Hole, Bobo, was the perfect amalgamation of both of my grandfathers, their wit and charm, their mannerisms. It was a cathartic experience to try and view the world through their eyes, the worries that they must have held for all of their children and grandchildren.

 

Fraidy Hole is an intriguing title. Tell us what that means to you and how it represents the novel:

Interestingly enough, when I was researching the town that I had chosen for this story, Freedom, Oklahoma, an article had popped up referring to local storms and how people had managed to escape them while hiding in their “fraidyholes”, which, I found out were partially below ground storm shelters, something that I would think of as a root cellar.

As my story began to take shape, I realized what a perfect word it was. To hide in something while riding out the storm, waiting for the light to break through the darkness, what a perfect comparison to not only Alzheimer’s and dementia, but also so many other forms of mental issues and mental illness.

My aunt was a manic-depressive schizophrenic patient, and when her medication would need to be adjusted again, we would watch her start to slip away and become someone else altogether. Talking to her later, she explained it as though she was hiding away somewhere, waiting for the light to come. I guess some stories we are just destined to tell without knowing it at the time.

 

Fraidy Hole came out in November, anything surprising about launching your debut? How has your experience been?

I think that one major surprise was that readers have no idea how crucial leaving reviews are for a book’s success. I am so appreciative of all of my supporters and grateful that the reviews are starting to roll in.

I was also shocked as to how popular audio formats are! I felt blessed to have Fraidy Hole contracted for audio beneath Tanto Audio and narrated by the fabulous Hana Lass, and the feedback on that has been just exciting!

Now for the dark side of publishing. I knew that I would need to have thick skin to make it in the world of writing, because it’s an artform and people have different tastes and no filters when voicing their opinions. I was ready for that. What I hadn’t prepared for were the baseless personal attacks from people I don’t know, spammers, if you will, and even a handful of other authors.

There will always be people in the world who like to make things difficult and to see you fail.

 

Tell us about the little lakeside town in Iowa where you live. How does that place inform you as a writer?

I was actually born in the area that I live in now, Clear Lake, Iowa. We moved around a lot when I was a kid, my parents ended up working for Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a while, before moving to Minnesota, and when they retired and moved back home, we followed.

It’s been fun raising my daughters in the safety of the small town where I spent all of my summers growing up. I have a slightly skewed perspective than a lot of people who live here, because I got out, I lived in big cities for a good chunk of my life, so I am not as sheltered as some are who have never left. That bodes well for me because I am able to see different viewpoints, walk down different paths and let all of the “what if” scenarios play out.

Although my daughters got tired of the whole town knowing their every move while growing up, it kept them safe. What I have learned as a writer living in a small town, is that every cookie cutter perfect family in every fence lined perfect little house is closely guarding secrets that they don’t want the world to know. These secrets are where my stories lift off…

 

What can we find you doing when you aren’t penning psychological thrillers?

Oh, my goodness! I am with my family on our pontoon out on the little lake, just hanging out in the summer, or hanging around estate sales looking for my next haunted find that will inspire me to write my next story. Although, I am a brand-new grandma (I prefer to be called Nonna… Ha-ha!), and I try to spend as much time as I can now with that perfect little soul.

(Side note and PSA about the pontoon: Memorial Day weekend last summer, I was climbing down through the open rounded gate on the side of our pontoon and my hand slid between the side of the gate and the rounded railing, severing off my pinky finger on my right hand. Yes, I am right-handed! They tried to reattach it and it didn’t work, and I just had my fourth surgery to remove all of the bone down towards my wrist. The pontoon industry saves between 6-8 cents per bend instead of turning them at a 90-degree angle and has known about this defect since 2010! There is a finger pinch guard that is less than twenty dollars on Amazon or your boating stores to save your fingers, so if you know anyone with rounded gates on their pontoons, please spread the word! Rant over.)

That’s awful! I’m so sorry to hear about this accident, but thank you for the PSA!

 

What are you working on now?

I just finished approving the cover for my next thriller, Lake Laps, that is scheduled for release in early 2024, approving edits of my third release, Beneath Her Lies, which is slated to be released this spring, and in contract negotiations for my fourth thriller, Thrive: Ghosts in the Glades. I have just started formulating the story for my fifth twisted story as well.

 

Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers:

Write what you enjoy writing and know that you will never make everyone happy.

Enter those writing contests! I am sure that the main reason my first publisher even looked my way was because of writing contests, and readers do take notice of the little seals that go on your book covers.

Also, find your tribe! There are some really great writers in this world, and we are excited to hype up each other’s work and cheer for each other’s successes. The more noise we make together, we can raise our books up to be noticed and stand out in the giant sea of authors.

Great advice! I wish you luck on all your future titles. Come back and visit with me and my readers again soon!Author Pet Corner!Stella!Tapanga!

Meet Tapanga, our six-year-old chonky monkey of a cat and her sidekick, the queen of hearts, almost fourteen-year-old Pomeranian, Stellaluna, AKA the great bug hunter, AKA Bug.

They are the rulers of my universe.

 

 

 

Staci Andrea — Author of Fraidy Hole

A former dental assistant, ordained pastor, and public health worker, Staci entered the twisted world of suspense and thriller writing amidst her self-proclaimed midlife crisis, with her debut novel, Fraidy Hole, which was named as an honorable mention in the Hollywood Book Festival in 2023, as well as a Literary Titan 5-Star Gold award winner the same year.

Life itself has been a thrill ride for her over the past two years. What had begun as a way to dig herself out of a dark spot in life with journalling, turned into a reignited passion to tell stories, with Staci’s main goal being to rip back the curtains of the cookie cutter perfect family down the street and expose the secrets that everyone is trying to hide.

Aside from her debut release, Fraidy Hole, she also has another stand-alone twisted thriller slated to release in early 2024, Lake Laps, as well as a third, Beneath Her Lies, slated for a spring/summer 2024 release date, and a fourth, Thrive: Ghosts in the Glades, following closely behind.

To learn more about Staci, click any of the following links: Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter/X & YouTubeElena Hartwell/Elena Taylor

Header image from Pixabay

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Book Deal — Bet Rivers Returns!

Book Deal! A Cold, Cold World, the second in the Bet Rivers Mysteries

Book Deal Info: A Cold, Cold World launches summer 2024 with Severn House.Find other new books! Click the link here.I’m thrilled to be back in Bet’s world with a brand new publisher!A Cold, Cold World by Elena Taylor

The world felt pure. Nature made the location pristine again, hiding the scene from prying eyes. As if no one had died there at all.

In the months since Bet Rivers solved her first murder investigation and secured the sheriff’s seat in Collier, she’s remained determined to keep her town safe. With a massive snowstorm looming, it’s more important than ever that she stay vigilant.

When Bet gets a call that a family of tourists has stumbled across a teen injured in a snowmobile accident on a mountain ridge, she braves the mounting storm to investigate. However, once she arrives at the scene of the accident it’s clear to Bet that the teen is not injured; he’s dead. And has been for some time . . .

Investigating a possible homicide is hard enough, but with the worst snowstorm the valley has seen in years threatening the safety of her town, not to mention the integrity of her crime scenes—as they seem to be mounting up as well—Bet has to move fast to uncover the complicated truth and prove that she’s worthy of keeping her father’s badge.

A Cold, Cold World picks up where All We Buried left off.Haven’t read book one? Not to worry!Lots of time to catch up between now and summer of 2024!All We Buried

An amateur sheriff confronts the long-sleeping secrets of her small Washington State mountain town in this dark, twisty mystery for fans of Julia Keller and Sheena Kamal

Interim sheriff Elizabeth “Bet” Rivers has always had one repeat nightmare: a shadowy figure throwing a suspicious object into her hometown lake in Collier, Washington. For the longest time, she chalked it up to an overactive imagination as a kid. Then the report arrives. In the woods of the Cascade mountain range, right in her jurisdiction, a body floats to the surface of Lake Collier. When the body is extricated and revealed, no one can identify Jane Doe. But someone must know the woman, so why aren’t they coming forward?

Bet has been sitting as the interim sheriff of this tiny town in the ill-fitting shoes of her late father and predecessor. With the nightmare on her heels, Bet decided to build a life for herself in Los Angeles, but now it’s time to confront the tragic history of Collier. The more she learns, the more Bet realizes she doesn’t know the townspeople of Collier as well as she thought, and nothing can prepare her for what she is about to discover.

To purchase All We Buried, click any of the following links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and IndieBoundA Different Kind of Book Deal — A Free eBook!Want to read the first chapter of All We Buried along with several other new books? Check out Lit Picks from BookTrib!

Whether you’re looking for a new release or a hidden gem, BookTrib has you covered! Created as a home for people who can’t live without books, BookTrib.com has provided reviews, news, podcast and TV interviews, book club recommendations, and more for over 20 years. Now, we’re proud to launch an eBook series to help you discover your next favorite read from traditional and independent publishers.

BookTrib Lit Picks: First Chapters from the Hottest Books highlights over 50 titles from emerging authors as well as some of your longtime favorites. Every installment will give you the opportunity to find your next bookish obsession!

Our Holiday/Winter 2023 collection includes: Mysteries & Thrillers, Romance, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror, YA, Contemporary and Historical Fiction, Self-Help, and Non-Fiction, as well as #1 New York Times Bestselling Authors, #1 Wall Street Journal Bestsellers, #1 Sunday Times Bestsellers, USA Today Bestselling Authors, Bram Stoker Award® Winners and Nominees, Edgar Award Nominated Authors, Silver Falchion Award Winners, a Goodreads Choice Award Nominated Author, and so much more.

To download Lit Picks for free, click the link here.Want to be one of the first readers to see the cover reveal for A Cold, Cold World?Make sure you are signed up for my newsletter.Fill out the link in the top right corner of this blog.

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Lisa Malice Launches Debut Thriller

Lisa Malice releases Lest She Forget

Author Interview + Book & Author Info + Author Pet CornerDon’t miss any debut author interview. Click the link here for more.Lest She Forget by Lisa Malice

Haunted by a forgotten past. Hunted by a ruthless killer. No one to save her but herself.

After surviving a car crash, Kay Smith wakes from a coma with amnesia, a battered face, and no one to vouch for her identity. Her psychiatrist is convinced that her memory loss is connected to the horrific flashbacks and nightmares haunting her. As she digs for clues to her past, Kay uncovers a shady character following her every inquiry.

Who is he? And what does he want from her?

As Kay’s probes deepen, she realizes that everyone around her has deadly secrets to hide—even her. Emerging memories, guilty suspicions, and headline-screaming murders push Kay to come out of the shadows and choose: will she perpetuate a horrendous lie or risk her life to uncover the truth?

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Published by: CamCat Books

Publication Date: December 2023

Number of Pages: 368

ISBN: 9780744307153 (ISBN10: 0744307155)

To purchase Lest She Forget, click on any of the following links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | CamCat BooksLisa Malice — Author of Lest She Forget — The InterviewLest She Forget centers on Kay Smith, who wakes from a coma with amnesia. What drew you to write about someone who can’t remember her past?

I was at the gym, watching TV while pumping away on the elliptical machine, when an ad for identity theft appeared on the screen that sparked a series of “what-if” questions.

Each answer led me to another question until I had the bones of a thriller in my head that had nothing to do with identity theft but did include a woman who awoke from a coma with no recollection of her identity or past.

As my first book, I followed a similar path in writing, one idea leading to another until I typed “The End.”

 

Lest She Forget is written using multiple points of view and different tenses. What drew you to having more than one character tell this story?

Kay’s POV is told from the first-person POV because it’s a psychological thriller. We need to be in her head, with everything she is seeing, sensing, experiencing, feeling and thinking. Her story is told in present-tense to reflect her reality—she has no past to remember, and going forward, everything is in the moment, experienced as it happens.

Kay would come across as a bit off her rocker without Felix Jager’s POV, which is told via third-person past-tense. His story is a key element to building mystery, thrills, and suspense throughout the book.

We know he’s out there from the very first scene wherein he forces our heroine off the road into an icy river and leaves her for dead. In his first stand-alone chapter, this POV offers readers Felix’s background without having to glean it from his thoughts and actions. The reader learns this hired killer is ruthless and intelligent, but not as smart as he thinks he is, and more importantly, not as smart as he thinks others are stupid. It’s a profile of a dangerous narcissist that makes this hitman a formidable foe, though one with flaws that open him up to defeat by the heroine in the end.

Felix’s past-tense POV also allowed me to simply refer to the violence he exacted on those he murdered and keep blood and gore off the page. His scenes also lend themselves more action, more suspense, and more mystery to the ultimate villain—the man who gave our hitman the order to kill Kay at all costs.

Finally, Felix’s POV scenes add suspense to Kay’s scenes, keeping us rooting for her to uncover the truth, as she continues to speculate erroneously on the horrors behind her nightmares, flashbacks, emerging memories, and the man shadowing her every move.

 

What was your publishing road like for your debut novel, Lest She Forget?

My first draft was a mess, so I spent the next few years editing until I thought the manuscript was ready for the big time. My queries received a lot of interest from agents and acquisitions editors, but the rejections told me I had more work to do.

An editor I met at ITW’s Pitchfest referred me to a wonderful developmental editor, Anne Brewer, who had worked for St. Martin’s Press and Crooked Lane. I paid for a critique to start. The story had a few big structural issues, so I dug deep into my pockets for a full developmental edit. Anne was very impressed with my revisions, so I restarted agent and editor queries.

Within a few a few months, I had an agent. One acquisitions editor suggested I revised the first two chapters to open with live action. I did. Two offers came in after that revision. I signed with CamCat and started the final editing process with Helga Schier, CamCat’s fabulous editor-in-chief, tweaking the characters and the plot of Lest She Forget until the story was the best it could be.

Overall, the developmental editing process was great fun and really helped me be a better writer! The first draft of my second novel, Rock-A-Bye Baby, is proof that going through that initial process greatly improved my storytelling skills—it received finalist honors for Killer Nashville’s Claymore Award in 2020, a competition for unpublished manuscripts.

 

Tell us about the debut process for you.

 The debut process for me started when I received my offer.

It was the first day of Killer Nashville, a conference I had attended every year since 2013, along with so many of the same authors year after year. I had connected with Sue Arroyo, CamCat’s CEO and founder, the week before to let her know I had submitted my novel for consideration and was eager to meet her at the conference.

Sue gave me my offer that first day at lunch. The rest of the weekend, surrounded by so many friends who were excited for me, was so special. Since then, my debut experience has been a whirlwind of excitement, fun, and hard work.

After signing my contract, I hit the ground running going through my manuscript one more time before submitting it to the chief editor for a development edit. Meanwhile, I worked with the staff to conceptualize the cover. We worked through three ideas to start, whittled it down to one, then tweaked the design until it was perfect. (People love the cover, proving that process worked well.)

At the same time, I suggested we retitle the book. I brainstormed a couple dozen and submitted the list to my editor and her staff noting my favorite. The staff agreed on my choice, so Don’t Look Back, an old over-used title, became Lest She Forget, a unique title never used.  

The editing process came next, working through my editor’s ideas and suggestion to make Lest She Forget the best it could be. Lots of work, but fun and exhilarating.

With ARCs finally on the way. I drew up a list of all the authors I knew to solicit blurbs. I went after the bestselling thriller authors I knew personally first (if you don’t ask, they can’t say “yes”), followed up with authors who I knew from my volunteer work (hosting SinC webinars, writing for ITW’s “The Big Thrill”), then added friends who write thrillers. I ended up with great blurbs from amazing authors.

Now, only weeks away from the release of Lest She Forget, I have to confess that being a debut author—as amazing it is to finally call myself that—has been a bit overwhelming with regard to the amount of work involved in the months leading up to the release of my book. The virtual book tour with Partners in Crime (arranged by my publisher) has kept me busy writing guest blogs, answering interview questions, and making in-person and virtual author appearances.

My efforts outside of my publisher have been more fruitful. Through my college alumni groups I’ve landed interviews, webinars, author appearances, and feature articles. My author network has me writing guest blogs and appearing on virtual book club meetings, even a local TV show. I’m planning launch parties and bookstore appearances in three cities. And everything I plan and do needs to be promoted with social media posts.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve found these marketing and PR opportunities exhilarating and fun. But this flurry of activity is something I did not expect, as I never thought to ask my fellow authors about this phase of my debut publishing experience. So, for you debut authors out there reading this, be prepared! Start brainstorming and writing blog posts now. Work on interview questions as soon as you get them. Look to your network early on for opportunities that they can provide and go for it!

 

When you aren’t inside reading and writing thrillers, you enjoy the great outdoors. Tell us about some of your favorite outdoor hobbies/locations:

I grew up in Minnesota, known for its thousands of lakes, as well as its cold winters, so summers were spent fishing, fishing, swimming, and boating at our family cabin, while school vacations were spent enjoying the beaches of Florida.

My husband, Lou, and I raised our own family in Atlanta but spent our vacations scuba diving and sailing around the world. When my husband retired, the logical place to settle in for the rest of our lives was the Gulf Coast of Florida on a canal with quick access to the open water for our pontoon and sail boats. The fishing in our little coast north of Tampa is quite different from bobber fishing with worms and live bait in Minnesota; the fish here are quick to snatch off our shrimp and other fresh bait before we can hook them; we end of feeding the fish more than they feed us.

Lou and I love to anchor our boats along the coast of Anclote Key, an uninhabited island and state park a few miles off-shore from the Florida mainland. We spend afternoons with family and friends picnicking, fishing, swimming, and walking the beach, and collecting shells. (To be honest, I’m a compulsive conchologist, a fancy word for someone compelled to stroll every sandy shore she encounters in search of seashells to add to her vast collection boxed up and gathering dust in spare closet; I acquired this compulsion from my mother, along with my passion for everything mystery.)

Lou and I also enjoy golfing with family and friends, which is easy and cheap in Florida with courses everywhere around us.

 

What are you working on now?

I have so many ideas percolating inside my brain. One is the story of a lymphoma patient, suffering from bizarre hallucinations from the tumor growing in her head, who believes she has witnessed the murder of another patient in her ward (an idea that came to me while visiting my brother in the hospital – his chemo is going great!).

Another story gnawing at me is about a young woman, a forensic psychology student at a small college town, who comes to fear her own father may be the serial strangler taking the lives of her classmates.

For now, I’m finishing up the story of a young woman (Evie), a resident of small town in northeastern Georgia, who arrives home late one night from a conference and discovers a dead woman in her office. The eerie resemblance between Evie and the apparent murder victim raises a frightening question: Who was the intended target, this unknown woman or Evie?

As sirens wail in the distance, she is unsure who she can trust—the baseball cap found at the scene suggests the killer might be connected to the county sheriff’s office. The plot involves decades-old crimes centered on a local doctor and an under-the-radar illegal adoption ring.

 

Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers:

I offer the same sage advice offered to me by New York Times bestselling author Mary Kay Andrews, who I credit with setting me on the “write” road when we met at a library luncheon in 2012. She told me to join three writers’ groups that would help me learn how to write and publish crime fiction, Sisters in Crime (SinC), Mystery Writers of America (MWA), and Romance Writers of America (RWA). I did, the very next day.

In due course, I joined International Thriller Writers (ITW) and The Authors Guild (AG) and attended conferences—Killer Nashville, Bouchercon, Thrillerfest—that further energized my efforts toward publication.

Mary Kay’s advice was spot on. Each organization or event offered different programs and opportunities for me to grow as a writer—interesting meeting speakers, workshops, webinars, digital access to educational programs, and most importantly, the invaluable opportunity to connect, learn from, and make great friends with writers locally and across the country, from those just starting to put words on the page to those who’ve sold millions of books worldwide.

More importantly, I urge aspiring writers to give of yourself to your writing community. Support other authors as they write and publish their works. Lend a hand with them in support of professional writers’ organizations and events, and they will do the same for you.

I know what I’m talking about, because I’m a compulsive volunteer, all too willing to jump in and help when I see a need, and my efforts have been eagerly welcomed—and reciprocated. In the end, earning the label as a “well-connected author” (as my publisher, CamCat, notes in the sell-sheet for Lest She Forget) allows you to stand out from the crowded field of aspiring authors when it is time to sell your book to an agent, a publisher, and the booksellers.

Great advice!Don’t miss Lisa’s excellent guest post for her Partners in Crime Book Tour! Click the link here.Author Pet Corner!Pepper!Koda!

I have two granddoggies in my life. My daughter rescued Pepper from a local animal shelter, but it was this sweet little 1 ½-year-old pup that rescued us.

Now 5 years-old, Pepper has the coloring of a Boston Terrier and the physique of a pointer and the personality of retriever. She is very loving, energetic, and fun to play ball with—especially when the pool is warm enough for her to dive after her toys after you toss them in the water.

Koda is my future son-in-law’s (April 2024 wedding) mellow chestnut retriever/lab mix.

She is a beautiful nine-year-old with big expressive eyes that always seem to be saying, “Feed me!”

 

Lisa Malice

Lisa Malice earned her B.S. in psychology at the University of Minnesota, her M.S. and Ph.D. at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her debut novel, Lest She Forget, a psychological thriller, was a finalist in five unpublished manuscript contests.

Lisa is an active member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and the Authors Guild.

A native of Minnesota, Lisa lived in the Atlanta area with her husband for nearly thirty years before moving to the Tampa area in 2019 to enjoy a life of sailing, fishing, and shelling on the Florida Gulf Coast. They have two adult children and a granddog.

Find out more about Lisa by clicking any of the following links: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, X, Facebook.

Header image from Pixabay.

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Coded to Kill: A Techno-Medical Thriller

Coded to Kill: A Techno-Medical Thriller by Marschall Runge M.D.

Author Interview + Book and Author Info!Don’t miss any  author interviews! Click the link here.Coded to Kill: A Techno-Medial Thriller

Is medicine’s greatest breakthrough also the world’s most efficient killing machine?

After a decade of development, Drexel Hospital’s cutting-edge Electronic Health Records system is about to become the national standard and revolutionize health care. Housing the real-time medical records of every American, the EHR system will enable doctors to access records with a keystroke and issue life-or-death medical orders with a finger swipe.

No one wants the EHR to succeed more than Hugh Torrence, a former NSA honcho who sees the system as a tool for unimaginable and unaccountable power. The only thing standing in his way is a loose-knit group of Drexel employees with conflicting agendas and questionable loyalties—including Dr. Mason Fischer, a physician with a taste for intrigue and a shadowy past; a street-wise techie named RT; and an internal medicine resident, Dr. Carrie Mumsford, the daughter of the hospital’s president.

While they search for answers, the suspicious patient deaths keep mounting as the target on their back grows larger.

To purchase Coded to Kill, click on the following links: Amazon & Barnes & NobleInterview with Marschall Runge, M.D.Coded to Kill centers on Hugh Torrence, formerly of the NSA. What would you like readers to know about him?

I don’t know what it says about me, but I had a lot of fun creating Hugh, who is the novel’s chief villain. The challenge was to not just depict an evil character – make no mistake, he is a stone-cold killer – but to render him in a way so that the reader also understands that Hugh sees himself as a hero.

In real life, it is not uncommon for the bad guys to think they’re good guys. Hugh is the brilliant son from a working-class family who found himself surrounded by people from elite backgrounds at the NSA who, in his mind, never had the nerve to do what needed to be done in a dangerous world. He views the revolutionary Electronic Health Records system developed at Drexel Memorial Hospital – which allows him to invisibly control the medical care received by every patient – as the most powerful means ever devised to “right the world.”

But for Torrence, it isn’t just a God complex, the EHR also provides him a unique, and opaque tool for retribution. If “doing good” means blackmailing and even murdering people he sees as a threat and who have wronged him in the past, so be it. I also tried to use this conflict – how the reader sees him and how he sees himself – as a symbol of our relationship to technology. It is almost always created by people with the best of intentions – it all upside in their book – when, in fact, there is almost always a darker side at play. Airplanes, for example, transport people and bombs; the splitting of the atom gave us a new source of energy and deadly weapons.

I tried to introduce a similar level of complexity with my main hero, Dr. Mason Fischer. Like me, he’s a cardiologist from Texas; unlike me, he was also a star football player for the Longhorns. Because of his rare mix of brawn and brains – and his desire to right the world following his mother’s death– Mason was recruited by a medical school Dean with military ties to perform special operations. Sent to Drexel with an elaborate cover story to look into some suspicious activity regarding the EHR, he constantly deceives those closest to him, including his budding love interest, Dr. Carrie Mumsford, to keep his mission secret.

Like Torrence, he feels he has good reason to lie. Unlike Torrence, he actually does!

 

Coded to Kill is a techno-thriller based (in part) on your own experience with health care innovations. How much of this novel is fact, how much is fiction, and how much is our possible future?

The premise – which, in a nutshell, is the promise and peril of medical technology – is real. But, of course, I took liberties because, hey, it’s fiction.

Coded To Kill began to take shape years ago through my work. I am a cardiologist and like many physicians, I found the transition to electronic health records to be problematic because they increased our paperwork and diverted some of our attention from patients. As I transitioned into more administrative work, first in North Carolina – the state where much of the action is set – and now in Michigan, I became aware of more systemic problems, especially how EHRs could lead to medical errors, physician burnout and weaken patient privacy.

For example, even before the pressures of COVID-19, the National Academy of Medicine found that burnout had reached “crisis levels” among physicians, nurses and even medical students. And, as our information has become digitized, hospitals have become chief targets of ransomware attacks from far-flung hackers. I wanted to highlight these very real problems in a fast-paced story aimed at a general audience.

With these ideas swirling in my mind, and having read too many thrillers, it occurred to me that “Coded To Kill” would be a fun and effective way to draw attention to these real – but also manageable – dangers. 

 

Coded to Kill focuses on how the healthcare system can be used against us. What possible outcomes of that issue keeps you up at night?

As the CEO of Michigan Medicine, I devote increasing amounts of my time to protecting patient privacy and much of that towards making sure our IT experts have the means to keep up with the ever-expanding cyber-threats we see.

In Coded To Kill, the medical community is moving toward a central system that collects the electronic health record of every patient in the United States. This could happen one day because it would almost certainly improve patient outcomes. For example, the ability to compare your suspicious looking mole to millions of others – and how those responded to different therapies – would greatly enhance your dermatologist’s ability to determine next steps. Does the mole just need to be removed, or should your dermatologist be considering prescribing one of the powerful new biologic drugs that are highly effective, but also very expensive and carry with them unique potential side-effects.

A central repository would also help us identify and respond to new virus strains before they can become epidemic. It would have been a godsend during COVID, for example.

The problem is that all these uses for caregivers are opportunities for criminals and other bad actors. We will never completely eliminate these threats, but we can greatly reduce their impacts by addressing them head-on.

 

Tell us about your writing and publication process for Coded to Kill:

I began writing the book some years ago, usually at night, as a way to unwind. I knew next to nothing about the form and structure of the novel. I didn’t have an outline and would add characters based on people I worked with.

At one point I had written well-over 1,000 pages and no one (not even me) could discern a plot. Still, I believed I had the makings of a book, and I took on a writing partner, J. Peder Zane, to help whittle down and focus the story.

Once I got the book down to 500 pages, I began sending it out to agents. They provided excellent feedback – including that I should provide more information about the characters’ motivation and the call to trim it back even more.

After several more drafts, I was lucky enough to find a truly talented and energetic agent. Jonathan Bronitsky, who gave me another daunting task: Writing the book proposal. With his guidance, I learned a lot about the book business and how to summarize my lengthy thriller into a few quick sentences that would capture a publisher’s attention. 

 

What can we find you doing when you aren’t reading or writing thrillers?

My “day job” is hectic, challenging and rewarding, all at the same time. And very time-consuming.

As my responsibilities have advanced, I’ve found I have to make choices about my time. I love spending time with my family – my wife, 5 adult children, their spouses, and my 5 grandchildren – and trying to get at least some exercise most days. We love spending time together, fishing and watching Netflix, in a rural area of my home state of Texas. At the end of Coded To Kill, Mason, Carrie and the other characters who helped them gather there as well. 

 

What are you working on now?

Now that I have the writing bug, I have already outlined several more books in this series with many of the same characters. I really care about and enjoy spending time with them. I want to keep writing about them so I can continue to be in their presence.

I also think that I have just scratched the surface of who they are, their strengths, weaknesses, motivations and complexities in Coded To Kill. And as our health care system continues to embrace new life-saving and life-enhancing technologies including AI, unexpected threats will also emerge, which is the lifeblood of a good thriller.

 

Words of wisdom for Aspiring Authors:

Believe in yourself and listen to others. If you know you have a worthy story to tell, get it down on paper. If John Grisham and Stephen King faced massive rejection at first, you probably will too. But don’t forget you are writing for other people – your words have to resonate with them. Don’t be afraid to share your drafts with others; and let them know you want an honest response. Don’t take all their advice – no one knows your story and your characters better than you do – but take their ideas seriously and without ego. As a doctor, I tell people lots of things they do not want to hear, but it is all aimed at helping them. I try to see my readers in the same light.

Marschall Runge, M.D.

Marschall S. Runge, M.D., Ph.D., is the executive vice president for Medical Affairs at the University of Michigan, dean of the Medical School, and CEO of Michigan Medicine.

He earned his doctorate in molecular biology at Vanderbilt University and his medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he also completed a residency in internal medicine. He was a cardiology fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He is the author of over 250 publications and holds five patents for novel approaches to health care.

As a Texas native who spent fifteen years in North Carolina and an avid thriller reader, Runge has experienced so many you-can’t-make-this-up events that his transition to fiction was inevitable.

 

Elena Taylor/Elena Hartwell

Header image from Pixabay

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