Books Direct guest post

Today on the Partners in Crime tour, I’ve written a guest post for Books Direct:

“I began researching Bone Box with a central question in mind: What if a particular ossuary (a bone box used by Jews in the first century of the common era to rebury their dead) were discovered at an archeological site? I knew, given the story’s plot, that the archeological site had to be near the Aegean Sea in what was then called Asia Minor and is now southwestern Turkey. The mystery in the story stems from the possibility that John the Apostle took Mary, the mother of Jesus of Nazareth, to Asia Minor before the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. This idea is, by the way, widely accepted in Catholicism and other Christian traditions.

“With every novel I’ve written, I’ve read voraciously about the characters’ professions and the plots’ settings. In the case of Bone Box, I read sources as varied as The University of Chicago Oriental Institute’s Annual Report to Eyewitness Books’ Archeology. I’ve interviewed knowledgeable people (archeologists, museum directors, cops, TV producers…). But with each of my novels I’ve also visited many of the settings—London, Las Vegas, the Florida Keys, the redwood forests in California…. Being present in a particular place and noting the sensory imagery really helps me to see the characters’ actions, hear their words, and feel their emotions.…”

Please read the entire post here. I am happy to answer any questions you may have about how I researched Bone Box.