Murder | Mark Rubinstein Blog

‘The Hangman’s Sonnet,’ A Ta;l with Reed Farrel Coleman

September 13, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Reed Farrel Coleman, a bestselling author of many novels, has penned the popular Moe Prager series, the Gus Murphy novels, and other well-received books. He’s a three-time winner of the Shamus Award, and has won the Macavity and Barry Awards, among others.

Robert Parker, considered by many to have been the dean of American crime fiction, was the author of seventy books, including the series featuring Chief Jesse Stone.

After Parker’s death in 2010, Reed Farrel Coleman was chosen by the Parker estate to keep this immensely popular series alive.

In The Hangman’s Sonnet, Jesse Stone, Paradise’s police chief, is still reeling from the murder of his fiancée by the crazed assassin Dr. Peepers. Jesse learns a gala 75^th birthday party will be held in Paradise for folk singer Terry Jester, who has spent the last forty years in seclusion after the mysterious disappearance of a recording of the ballad, The Hangman’s Sonnet.

Suddenly, an elderly Paradise woman dies while her house is being ransacked. What were the thieves looking for? And what, if any, is the connection to Terry Jester and the missing recording? The bodies begin piling up and the town’s mayor fears a PR nightmare. Jesse must connect the cases before more deaths occur, and the town of Paradise becomes a killing ground.

In “The Hangman’s Sonnet” Jesse is mourning the death of his fiancée, which connects thematically to Gus Murphy’s plight in that series. You write about bereavement quite vividly. Will you talk about that?

Putting myself in other people’s shoes and imagining situations different from those in my life are exercises I enjoy.

I’m quite sanguine and philosophical about life and death, although I’m sure I’d be devastated if a child of mine died. Intense grief leaves a person at their most vulnerable point, and renders them off-balance and without emotional reserve.

This heightened state is what good thriller writing is all about, and I try to capture the intensity of emotions my characters feel when they’re distraught.

“The Hangman’s Sonnet” has Jesse going to Boston to meet with a PI named Spenser, the protagonist of a Robert B. Parker series being continued by Ace Atkins. Did you confer with Ace about that portion of the book?

Yes, I did. Ace and I write about Robert B. Parker characters who are in overlapping universes. Also, Mike Lupica, the sportswriter, has been signed to write Sunny Randall novels. That means three of us who’re writing Bob Parker characters, have protagonists who exist in roughly the same universe. We must talk to each other because anything I do in a Jesse Stone novel might affect Ace’s writing of a Spenser novel. And I’ll be talking with Mike if our characters overlap.

Jesse attracts many different women. What about him is so alluring to them?

First of all, he looks like a young Tom Selleck. [Laughter]. Secondly, he’s the classic self-contained man who is very much to himself. And, he’s wounded. There’s a long tradition in literature of women trying to heal the wounded man. There’s a real pain in his soul and that’s very appealing to women.

There are elements of dark humor in your renderings of Jesse Stone. Will you talk about the role of humor in suspense/thriller fiction?

I have a somewhat cynical take on the world and that attitude is just part of hardboiled fiction. For me, when there’s no humor in a mystery or thriller, the book becomes turgid. It’s important to have humor in a story, even if it’s dark or cynical. There was always some humor in Bob Parker’s books—especially in the banter between Jesse and Molly. I’ve expanded it a bit because I’m not Bob Parker.

Jesse was a minor league baseball player until a shoulder injury cut short his career. Your descriptions of baseball are spot on. Is there a connection to your own athletic background?

There’s a connection to my own athletic dreams. [Laughter]. I was a jock; I played high school football and played a lot of organized sports. To this day, I play basketball five days a week. I feel that connection and understand how a guy like Jesse would judge himself by his athletic prowess. Many of the guys I grew up with judged themselves that way. I’m still an avid sports fan.

It was easy for me to imagine what it would be like for Jesse Stone to have been a great athlete and have an athletic future projected for you—to be one phone call away from becoming a Dodger—and then, suddenly, within a second, it’s all gone due to an injury.

The dialogue in “The Hangman’s Sonnet” is very realistic. Talk to us about dialogue in your novels.

Dialogue in novels is a kind of para-reality. No one really speaks like they do in books. People talk over each other; they go off on different tangents, and they repeat themselves all the time. I try to create dialogue as close to reality as possible, which is really a pseudo-reality. When you boil it down, no one would want to read an actual conversation between people.

My idea of dialogue is a kind of short-hand reality. You must move the plot along. No one wants to read a real, unedited conversation [Laughter].

What’s coming next from Reed Farrel Coleman?

I’ve already written the 2018 Jesse Stone novel. It’s called Robert B. Parker’s Colorblind. I wrote it before the last election, but it addresses a situation just like the one that happened in Charlottesville.

The next big project is this: I was hired by the film director, Michael Mann, to write a prequel novel to his magnum opus film, Heat. We hope it will generate a screenplay and a film.

Congratulations on writing “The Hangman’s Sonnet,” another high-octane and suspenseful Jesse Stone novel that keeps this engaging character alive for the enjoyment of millions of readers.

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‘I Know A Secret,’ A Conversation with Tess Gerritsen

September 5, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Tess Gerritsen was a physician and Board-certified internist before turning her talents to writing. The Rizzoli and Isles series, featuring a homicide detective and medical examiner, propelled Tess to the status of an internationally bestselling author; and was the foundation for the popular television series of the same name.

Tess has written standalone medical and crime thrillers; and her books have been published in 40 countries.

I know A Secret involves two separate homicides with unrelated victims. In both cases, the bodies bear strange wounds, yet the actual causes of death are unknown. Concurrently, Jane is struggling to save her mother from a marriage that threatens to bury her, while Maura is grappling with the imminent death of her own mother—the infamous serial killer Amalthea Link.

The investigation of the two homicides leads to a secretive young woman and just when Rizzoli and Isles think they’ve cornered a fiendish predator, the long-buried past surfaces and threatens to engulf everyone.

When we last talked, you described how your standalone novel “Playing with Fire” arose from an unusual experience you had. What led to the idea for “I Know A Secret”?

This book was also based on a trip to Italy, during which I visited a number of art museums and saw many Renaissance paintings. I had read the book, How to Read a Painting, which taught me how to look at a painting and recognize the characters depicted.

For example, Saint Sebastian was always depicted with arrows in his chest; Saint Lucy with her eyes in her hands. These symbols denote who these figures are.

As a crime writer, I began thinking: What if a killer set up his crime scenes the way a Renaissance painter would have arranged his paintings? It struck me as a fascinating modus operandi—a killer would leave symbols for somebody to interpret.

While “I Know A Secret” isn’t a horror story, there’s a good deal about horror stories and movies in the narrative. Tell us about that.

When I was growing up, I loved horror stories. My mother loved them, too, and she took me to every horror movie ever made.

My son and I made a horror film, Island Zero, and it’s currently making the rounds of the film festivals. Being involved in indie-film making with a horror movie, combined with a life-long enjoyment of the genre, gave me the idea for Jane Rizzoli to be faced with the first victim being a horror-film producer; and the final clue leading to the identity of the killer deriving from a horror film.

In addition to medical forensics, “I know A Secret” involves plenty of psychology about child abuse and memories. Will you talk about that?

I became interested in false memory syndrome—a condition in which someone believes something happened when it didn’t. Yet, it’s “remembered” vividly. Elizabeth Loftus did research which showed you can implant false memories in about twenty-five percent of adults.

She gave the subjects three real memories based on what their families had told her, and then provided them with one false memory. She asked the subjects to describe these four incidents from their childhoods in greater and greater detail as the weeks went on. By the end of the experiment, some of the subjects couldn’t tell which were the true memories and which one was false.

In the late eighties and early nineties, there was a widespread belief that satanic circles were committing sexual abuse of children. People were being put on trial for nothing. I wanted to explore that issue in the novel.

Near the end of “I know A Secret,” Maura and Daniel are getting together once again. Do you have plans for them in the future?

I think I’ve set it up as an imperfect love. But, it is love, and that’s the way so many relationships are. Nothing is perfect. This is the happiest they’re going to be.

Which character in “I know A Secret” was most compelling to write?

Holly was very challenging for me to write. I’d never before delved into the psychopathic side of a character’s personality. Holly just views other people as being usable and disposable. She has no sense of empathy for anyone, and I found that difficult to write.

How do you manage to keep the Rizzoli and Isles series fresh after so many books?

I think what keeps it fresh is the two main characters are always evolving. Things happen to them and to their families, and they keep moving forward. For Jane, it’s to see what’s happening with her brother and parents. I also love the fact that her mom—who’s not a spring chicken—can still have a romance, despite her age.

The other thing that keeps it fresh is that every mystery comes from a different place—from an inspiration that’s unique. As I said, this one arose from Italian Renaissance paintings.

If you could read any novel again as though reading it for the first time, which one would it be?

One of the books I remember so well is Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove. I was so immersed in that story, I wish I could read it again as though it were for the first time. There are several books like that. I wish I could re-read The Lord of the Rings, as though for the first time. It’s an interesting thought: maybe if I reread some of these books, I’d probably discover new things about them.

For me it would have been “Watership Down.”

Oh yes. What a creative book. Can you imagine getting into the head of a rabbit? It was a fantastic book.

Will you complete this sentence: Writing novels has taught me________________?

It’s taught me to pay attention to my emotions. For me, what keeps a book going forward is the fact that characters aren’t settled. There’s something distressing about whatever situation they’re in. In order to write a well-paced novel, you must be cognizant of what’s bothering these people. Or, if I were in that situation—what would be bothering me? What would make me want to fix something?

In order to be in touch with my characters’ emotions, I have to be in touch with my own.

What’s coming next from Tess Gerritsen?

I’m working on a weird and different book. It’s an erotic ghost story.

It often drives my publisher crazy that I’ll jump from one genre to another. The book business wants an author to write in a single genre—the one in which you’re best known.

Well, when you’re Tess Gerritsen, you’ve earned the right to write what you want.

[Laughter] When you’re as old as I am, you realize there’s only a certain amount of time left to tell the stories you want to tell. [More laughter].

Congratulations on writing “I Know a Secret,” a fast-paced, dark, edgy mystery/thriller filled with unremitting suspense.

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‘Justice Burning,’ A Talk with Scott Pratt

July 31, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Scott Pratt is the author of the bestselling Joe Dillard series of legal thrillers which has sold over a million books. A former attorney, Scott worked as a criminal defense lawyer before writing his first novel, An Innocent Client. Although originally published by a major house, Scott decided to publish his novels independently, thus gaining control over the entire process.

Justice Burning is the second novel in a new series featuring criminal defense attorney, Darren Street. After having spent two years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, Darren Street—now exonerated—is trying to rebuild his practice, restore his reputation, reconnect with his son, and build a deeper relationship with attorney Grace Alexander.

Though tormented by nightmares of his prison stay, Darren is making progress until trauma strikes once again: his mother is killed in an explosion, but the police (and Darren) believe he was the intended target. Darren quickly discovers he hasn’t so easily overcome the horrors of prison and must now take matters into his own hands and face a deadly new foe.

Darren Street is a new protagonist in what is now a two-book series. What made you decide to leave Joe Dillard and take on a new series?

I haven’t left Joe, I just wanted to expand a bit. I wanted to write about an anti-hero. Though Joe has some anger issues, he’s a straight-laced guy and a family man. I wanted to write about somebody a little edgier, and a bit younger. After eight Joe Dillard books, I wanted a change. I’ve already written a third Darren Street book which will be published in February 2018. But, I’ll be going back to Joe and staying with him for a while.

There’s no courtroom scene in “Justice Burning.” The novel is very different from all your previous ones. Tell us a little about that.

I wanted to stay out of the courtroom. Darren was in such a transitional stage he wasn’t really practicing law. He’d been in prison, been released and was starting to practice, but then his mother was blown up. He’d negotiated the overwhelming trauma of being falsely convicted and imprisoned, and was starting to recover. Suddenly, he’s hit with another trauma—the violent death of his mother. It becomes a question of how much can the human psyche endure? The police basically told Darren who they thought had killed his mother. He went off the deep end and took matters into his own hands.

I wanted to make people see how a person can be so traumatized, he will abandon his usual moral code. Not wanting to return to prison, Darren became very calculating as he planned to settle the score.

It’s a huge change from the Joe Dillard books because Darren is an anti-hero.

That’s always a risk with an anti-hero, isn’t it? By definition, an anti-hero has significant character flaws.

Definitely. But just like artists don’t want to paint the same picture over and over again, and composers don’t want to write just the same kind of songs, novelists don’t want to write the same type of stories again and again. I wanted to challenge myself by tackling something quite different from the Joe Dillard series, and my editor at Thomas and Mercer encouraged me.

“Justice Burning” deals partly with the concept of justice in our legal system. What are the differences between justice, fairness, and truth.

In our system, I think justice is a gussied-up term for revenge. There may be elements of truth and some fairness, and occasionally justice or revenge is tempered with mercy.

Victims and criminals view justice very differently. Victims look at justice as, Get me some state-sanctioned revenge. Criminals view justice and say, Look at and understand what I did, and temper your revenge with mercy.

Justice is different things to different people.

Darren Street is suffering from symptoms of PTSD. As a former defense attorney, you’ve probably seen a great deal of this disorder. Tell us about the capacity of prison to evoke PTSD in inmates.

A majority of inmates suffer PTSD to some degree. Prison is a horrific experience. There are gangs where you must stay with members of your own race or ethnic group. Inmates are totally powerless. They see and experience abuses normal people cannot understand. They see guard-on-inmate violence, inmate-on-inmate violence, and inmate-on-guard violence. They see things such as superheated baby oil thrown into someone’s face. They live with the constant threat of annihilation. An inmate is constantly on guard for his life. One can get shanked for something as inconsequential as looking at someone the wrong way. It’s a Darwinian existence.

As far as politicians are concerned, the criminal justice system is a bastard stepchild. They don’t want to fund or think about it. They don’t want to reform prisoners, and the way the system is set up, they might be right. By the time someone is a hard-core criminal, that inmate’s personality is irredeemable. The inmates are simply warehoused. Once they’re released, they cannot cope with freedom.

“Justice Burning” is such a fast-paced story it could very well become a movie. Has there been Hollywood interest in either the Joe Dillard books or in the two Darrel Street books?

There’s been interest in the Joe Dillard books but so far, nothing has developed. I’ve been told the Darren Street books are more likely to generate movie interest because they’re edgier.

As a bestselling author of legal thrillers, what has surprised you about the writing life?

I’ve been surprised by how anonymous the writing life can be. I’m glad for it because I’m a private person. Nowadays, I can write a bestseller from my writing room upstairs, and it can go out on Amazon and sell very well without my having to do a single book signing or appear in public.

What’s coming next from Scott Pratt?

The ninth book in the Joe Dillard series is coming after the third Darren Street book.

Congratulations on penning “Justice Burning” a hair-raising and propulsive thriller that raises questions about the law, the penal system, revenge, and what constitutes justice.

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“Deadfall,” A Conversation with Linda Fairstein

July 25, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Linda Fairstein, the internationally bestselling author of the Alexandra Cooper novels and former Manhattan assistant district attorney, has written Deadfall, the latest in the series.

Killer Look, the book immediately preceding Deadfall, ended with Alex and Mike on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art where Alex’s boss, D.A. Paul Battaglia was shot in the head.

Deadfall, the 19th book in the series, picks up the story with Paul Battaglia falling dead into Alex’s arms. Alex immediately becomes the prime suspect, based not only on her proximity to the shooting, but also due to her tension-filled relationship with Battaglia and the fact that he made a series of telephone calls to her shortly before his death. Despite being a prime suspect, Alex, along with Mike, sets out to find the truth. They soon find themselves immersed in the case files of Battaglia’s associates, and in a world of secret societies involved with big game hunting on U.S. soil.

“Deadfall” begins only a few hours after the previous novel, “Killer Look,” ended. Did you already have the idea for “Deadfall” in mind when you ended “Killer Look”?

Unlike most suspense novels, Killer Look had a shocking ending.

My agent and editor loved the cliffhanger element of that book, and it made it so easy for me to begin to write Deadfall.

The novel starts six hours after Battaglia was killed. In Deadfall, Alex Cooper is both a witness to the murder and the prime suspect. Writing the first one-hundred pages was so exciting for me because I’d never before had her in that predicament.

Alex immediately becomes a suspect in the murder. Her interrogation by Detective Jaxson Stern is brutal. Tell us about that.

Yes, Alex becomes a suspect. I turned the tables on her. As a suspect being interrogated, she finds herself having the same reactions to questioning as other people have had when she’s been the questioner.

One of the first things I learned as a prosecutor was the art of interrogation. I learned it from colleagues in the D.A.’s office, and from the best homicide detectives in the NYPD. It’s an extraordinary skill when it’s done well. It’s terrifying when it’s done wrong or badly. As an interrogator, Jaxson Stern has an axe to grind and there may be no getting out from beneath it for Alex.

To make matters worse, Alex is still recovering from PTSD due to her having been abducted two books earlier. Tell us about that.

I wanted to write Devils Bridge partly through the eyes of Mike Chapman, the other major character in the series. So, at the beginning of that novel, Alex is kidnapped. Part of the reason I wanted to do that is the fact that many women readers have developed crushes on Mike. [Laughter]. I also thought having Alex deal with PTSD was important because she’s seen it in so many victims of various crimes with whom she’s been involved as a prosecutor. I wanted to explore how she would react after having survived being kidnapped.

In Deadfall, she’s still suffering from PTSD, but her predicament jolts her into wanting to get back on her feet.

The book’s title “Deadfall” has more than one meaning. Will you describe them for us?

I’d never heard the word before. When I was researching this novel at the Bronx Zoo, among other places, I first heard the term ‘deadfall.’ The zookeeper explained that in nature, when lighting or some other phenomenon has felled trees and creates a huge tangle of brush, it’s called a ‘deadfall.’

The other meaning of the term, which is appropriate to this book, involves hunters laying a trap by digging a pit and covering it with brush and branches so when an animal walks on the covering, it falls below to its death.

It also refers to the victim, Paul Battaglia, on the first page of the novel, falling dead into Alex’s arms after being shot.

I love how you bring current and recent events into your novels. In “Deadfall,” there’s mention of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death. Tell us about that.

Antonin Scalia was a charismatic law professor at the University of Virginia where I went to law school. When he died, I was completely surprised that he died at a private hunting lodge and game preserve, and was a member of an order involved in shooting big game. I was also surprised that Scalia died alone in a cabin and there was no investigation into the cause of his death. When I looked into it, I was amazed by the number of conspiracy theories surrounding his death. It played into this very secretive world of hunting clubs and preserves all over the country which fit easily into the novel.

And the issues of species extinction and of hunting, and smuggling plays an important role in “Deadfall.”

Yes, it does. I love animals and I’ve become increasingly concerned about the probable extinction of many species of animals in the next few years. There are many animals that will no longer live on this planet if the current rate of decline continues. Some are hunted for their body parts and this frequently ties in with drug smuggling. It seemed a natural issue for me to tackle in this novel.

The dialogue in each new Alex Cooper seems edgier than before. Is that a fair statement?

Yes, it’s very fair. When I wrote the first six books in the series, I was still a prosecutor. I was very careful about language because I still worked for the government. It took me a few years after leaving the DA’s office to loosen up. Over the last three books, with Alex having been kidnapped and with her becoming a suspect, another side of her has emerged. It probably reflects more of me than the character. Alex is feeling very liberated, as do I. I’ve always loved writing dialogue. It’s always been my favorite part of storytelling.

Can you complete this sentence: Writing novels has taught me_________________?

Writing novels has taught me how difficult it is to use language well. I’ve always been a voracious reader and never thought about the process of writing. But writing about the same characters in this world I’ve created, and wanting to express things sharply and clearly, has taught me a great deal about the use of language. It’s taught me about using words, how to put them together, how to be clear, and ultimately, by learning how to better express what I want to say, I’ve learned more about myself.

What’s coming next from Linda Fairstein?

The next Devlin Quick mystery is coming. It’s a middle-school grade book called Digging for Trouble and will be coming out in November. It’s set in Montana where there are many dinosaur bones which play into the story.

Congratulations on penning “Deadfall,” the nineteenth Alex Cooper novel in an addictive series that’s become an annual staple in so many readers’ literary diets, including my own.

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‘The Boy Who Saw,’ A Conversation with Simon Toyne

July 4, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Simon Toyne was a highly successful writer, director, and producer in British television. He worked on many award-winning shows. Now, he is a full-time novelist, whose first book, Sanctus, became part of an internationally bestselling trilogy. His second series features a mesmerizing character, Solomon Creed.

In The Boy Who Saw, Solomon Creed is a mysterious hero who has no memory of who he is, or from where he came. The only clue to his identity is a label stitched inside his jacket saying: “This suit was made to measure for Mr. Solomon Creed.”

The jacket fits perfectly, but there is a second name on the label: the name of the tailor who made the suit and an address in Southern France.

Solomon heads to France in search of this man, hoping to discover more about his own identity. But instead of answers, he finds a bloody corpse with the Star of David carved into its chest and the words “Finishing what was begun” written in blood on the wall. Solomon continues his quest and finds himself amid a decades-old conspiracy that threatens his life and the well being of France.

It’s clear that The Boy Who Saw explores some dark themes based on some recent political events. Will you tell our readers what those events are and how they relate to the novel?

The central story revolves around a killer who has murdered a tailor and is trying to get the names of other people to kill. Along with the body of this tailor, the police discover a wall in his shop on which is written in blood, ‘Finishing what was begun.’ The ritualistic murder suggests it had something to do with the Nazi deathcamps. The victim, this tailor, was one of only four survivors from a specific death camp.

As the anniversary celebrating the end of the Second World War looms, someone is trying to complete the murders that began seventy years earlier. The novel is also set amidst the current political shift in both America and Europe—the turning toward hard, nationalistic right wing politics. The nationalists are looking for scapegoats, just as the Jews were scapegoated by Germany in World War II.

The entire story is really about the importance of remembering our history; otherwise, it will repeat itself. While it’s a thriller, with Solomon becoming a suspect who must escape and clear his name, it deals with modern themes and larger concerns set against the backdrop of a survivor’s memoir which ties it into what is happening today.

I like to explore a relevant theme through my writing, but I didn’t want to do so in a non-fiction format. I wanted it to be a dramatic rendering so it would be an exciting read that would still explore these larger themes and questions.

While it’s a true thriller, The Boy Who Saw, also deals with the beguiling mystery of memory, both on a grand scale and for an individual. Tell us more.

Memory is a theme that permeates all the Solomon Creed books. Solomon is a sort of genius in the sense that he knows virtually everything about anything. He has a Wikipedia-like mind. He knows history; he can speak many languages; but he can’t remember anything personal. His story, both in this book and in the rest of the series involves him being on a journey back to finding himself.

In this book, he’s in France because he’s wearing a beautifully tailored jacket with a note in the pocket saying it was made expressly for him. And in tiny stitching is the name and address of the tailor who is the person who was killed at the beginning of the book. Solomon knows he must have met the tailor, but of course, he has no recollection of it.

In the world-at-large, populism is rising at the same time the people who lived through the Second World War are dying off. So, I felt it was crucially important to tell this story lest we repeat our pasts.

The Boy Who Saw begins unravelling some of the mystery of Solomon Creed’s life. Do you intend to reveal more of it as the series progresses?

Yes. When I started writing these books, I knew who he was and what the ultimate revelation will be. I want each book to take place in a different location, with a distinct element of mystery, each addressing a specific moral dilemma or question. I want each volume in the series to solve a mystery, as Solomon goes through these experiences on his way to finding out historical bits about himself. By taking part in these difficult and dangerous experiences, he will learn more about himself. And of course, I want to take the reader on that same journey with Solomon.

It’s a gratifying challenge for me as writer to tell a satisfying story with a beginning, middle and ending in each book, but also with a thread running through it. It’s as though each book is a bead on a necklace.

There’s something mystical and mythological in your books. I’m reminded of the Myth of the Birth of the Hero by Otto Rank. Will you talk about the “myth” of Solomon Creed?

Even though the Solomon Creed books are modern thrillers, they have historic backstories, whether it’s The Searcher or The Boy Who Saw. And, though the books are thrillers, Solomon isn’t a stereotypical action hero. He’s somewhat ethereal. Typical action heroes have solid pasts—they’re ex-cops or ex-military who use their skillsets to solve crimes. With Solomon, the biggest mystery is himself. He lacks that centeredness. He has a mythological—nearly a supernatural—quality.

Yes, he bleeds and is mortal, but I wanted him to have a somewhat mythical dimension. And the novels raise the question—perhaps even the possibility—that he’s been reincarnated. There’s a tension and a question about the reality of Solomon, and he keeps cropping up in these historical contexts. I like playing with that possibility. As a reader, I enjoy characters who assume a quality of being slightly larger than life, someone who’s slightly other, or heroic. In fact, this Solomon Creed series is effectively, an odyssey of self-discovery.

You left a successful television career to begin writing your first novel. What motivated you to do so?

I was thirty-nine and perhaps it was a classic midlife crisis. I’d done everything I had wanted to do in TV. I always had this notion that I wanted to tell big stories. Approaching forty, I felt I was getting stale with my TV work, and told my wife I’d love to write a book and get it out of my system.

It would mean taking time off from my television job, which was all consuming. I didn’t want to write at night when I would be tired, and leave open the possibility of blaming any failure on fatigue. If I was going to fail, I wanted it to be an honest failure.

When I told my employer what I wanted to do, he offered me a one year sabbatical. That was certainly a sensible way to go, but I turned it down. I felt I had to remove the safety net and take on the dare for myself—without the security of knowing I could go back. I knew writing a novel would be very hard, and wanted to remove any possible temptation to give up and return to my old job.

We saved up some money. I quit my job; we rented out our flat, and went to live in France for six months. That’s how it started.

My first novel Sanctus was a hit and was translated into twenty-seven languages.

What, if anything, keeps you awake at night?

I’m a good sleeper. With three young children, I’m worn out at the end of the day. I do have fitful sleep when I’m about two-thirds of the way through a book. At that point, I know everything I’ve written needs a good deal of work, and there’s a deadline looming. I know I’ll have to tidy things up, and it feels like I’ve got this terribly heavy weight on my back. That’s also the point in the writing where I think the idea that I first thought was really good, suddenly seems like the worst idea anyone has ever had. [Laughter]. And, I still have to show up every day and finish this thing that’s fallen out of favor.

What’s coming next from Simon Toyne?

I’m well into Solomon Creed’s third book which is set in England.

Congratulations on penning The Boy Who Saw, a propulsive thriller with historical, philosophical, mythical, political and religious undertones, a novel that hooked me from the first page and propelled me to the vary last one.

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A Good Story is Disturbing

June 6, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

As David Mamet once said to me, “If Hamlet comes home from school, and his dad asks him how school was, and Hamlet says, ‘It was fine, Dad,’ it’s boring.”

Whether you’re writing a literary novel, a psychological, medical, legal or spy thriller, or even a cozy mystery, for a novel to be engaging, it must center on human conflict and disturbance.

Without chaos, there’s very little story to tell.

If you think you’ve got a story worth telling, before you start to write, reflect upon what you’ve enjoyed when reading fiction, and also remember those books you just couldn’t plow through. Where did those writers go wrong?

The scintillating stories you favored most likely brimmed with conflict. An engaging novel is disturbing. It presents chaos and upheaval—either within the characters’ minds or in their lives. These clashing interactions and relationships between people are at its core.

As readers, we crave disturbance and uncertainty. We live vicariously through the anguish, turmoil, and trouble the characters must endure in an attempt to reorder the chaos propelling the story.

This dynamic holds true no matter the genre.

And, it’s as old as storytelling itself: consider The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Within their pages we find incest, murder, kidnapping, wars, and nearly every other conceivable horror that can beset human beings.

When writing my own novels, I keep conflict center stage. And, with surgical precision, I use my expertise as a forensic psychiatrist to bolster that chaos.

For example, in The Lovers’ Tango, Bill Shaw, the protagonist, is not only on trial, accused of murdering his wife, but the reader is kept off-balance experiencing all that led up to the courtroom, and ultimately that which follows the jury’s verdict.

Despite my years working as a forensic psychiatrist testifying in many trials, I avoided making the courtroom scenes an exposition of arcane language and legal concepts. Instead, I kept the focus on conflict, and did so through dialogue, the engine driving this and many other novels. I employed my knowledge of the courtroom and psychiatry in the service of heightening the tension, but didn’t allow my professional fund of knowledge to drown out the chaos and turmoil.

As for using any writer’s knowledge in a specific field or endeavor, be it medical, legal, military, financial or otherwise, a balance must be struck so the expertise doesn’t burden the all-important role of pacing. It’s fine to employ that which you know well, but it must play only a supporting role to the tension and conflict driving the novel.

Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow perfectly illustrates this maxim. Turow skillfully imbued his novel with legal expertise, but the tension in the story derived from the chaos of the characters’ lives. His legal knowledge added color, authenticity and depth.

Jonathan Kellerman’s latest novel, Heartbreak Hotel, achieves this same goal, integrating his knowledge of psychology into a riveting tale about the death of an old, mysterious woman.

We read novels to experience vicariously something far different from our daily lives. We want to be titillated, frightened, angered, overjoyed, heartbroken or moved in some kinetic way as we turn the pages.

If we want to immerse ourselves in a field of study, there are many non-fiction books available to provide such information.

When you’re ready to write, keep in mind those novels which kept you turning the pages as opposed to those you put down after a chapter or two.

“Write what you know” isn’t always the best advice.

Write to tell a story that captures the imagination and makes a human connection with the reader.

And one final but essential piece of advice: remember, dialogue isn’t just what characters say to each other, it’s what they do to each other with words.

Make your dialogue count. It should be thrusting the tension and hence the storyline forward.

Most of all, aim to make the reader regret when the book is coming to its end.

No matter what your primary field of study had been, when you write a novel, your basic aim is to tell a good story.

Don’t get lost in the weeds of expertise.

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‘Heartbreak Hotel,” A Conversation with Jonathan Kellerman

February 27, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Jonathan Kellerman, the bestselling author of forty-one crime novels, is known to mystery-lovers everywhere. With a doctorate in psychology, Jonathan has applied his knowledge not only to his novels, but to those he has co-written with his wife Faye, and son, Jesse. All three of them are bestselling authors. Additionally, he has written two children’s books and many nonfiction works, including Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children, and With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars. He’s won the Goldwyn, Edgar, and Anthony Awards, and has been nominated for a Shamus Award.

Heartbreak Hotel, is the latest novel in Jonathan’s acclaimed Alex Delaware series. Along with Sue Grafton’s “Alphabet series” The Alex Delaware series is one of the longest running on the literary landscape.

Heartbreak Hotel begins with nearly one-hundred-year-old Thalia Mars asking Alex to come to her suite at the Aventura, a luxury hotel with a checkered history. Thalia asks him questions about guilt, criminal behavior and victim selection. When Alex inquires about her fascination with these issues, Thalia promises to reveal more in their next meeting. But when Alex shows up the next morning, Thalia is dead in her suite.

Alex and homicide detective Milo Sturgis find themselves peeling back many layers of Thalia’s long life, and nearly a century of secrets slowly emerge—secrets that unleash an explosion of violence.

Alex Delaware has evolved over the years. Tell us a bit about that evolution.

It’s funny because it wasn’t a conscious decision to have Alex evolve over time. People reading the earlier books are in a better position than I am to see the changes in him. I rarely read my earlier books unless I’m doing research for accuracy. My son, Jesse, said the earlier books are a bit more literary, there’s more verbiage and description in them than in the later novels.

While I don’t age Alex in real time, he’s mellowed out over the years. Maybe you’re the better judge than I am. Maybe he’s mellowing as I’ve mellowed over time. [Laughter]. I must say, I don’t want him to lose his edge. I still want him to be compulsively driven because that’s what drives a crime novel forward. I don’t think there’s anything more boring that a crime novel in which the protagonist is really laid back.

The dialogue in Heartbreak Hotel is edgy and realistic. Talk to us about the importance of dialogue in your novels.

Dialogue is interesting. When I first started writing novels, I felt creating dialogue was a weakness of mine. I thought my strengths were playing with language and description. I’m a visual person. I’ve been a serious artist for most of my life. I was able to paint and draw like an adult when I was ten. I tend to perceive the world in a visual manner.

My wife Faye is an auditory writer. She has an amazing ear and can imitate people after hearing them speak once. I learned to write dialogue from Faye, and from reading Elmore Leonard. I realized when you write dialogue, it must sound like people talking. But of course, it’s not like people talking because when they talk, the conversation is replete with ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ and pauses. Dialogue in a novel is an artifice in which you construct a false reality. I learned to keep it snappy and to open my ears to what people say and how they say it. The rhythm of dialogue came easily to me because I’m a musician and understand cadence and timing. Over the years, I’ve tried to make the dialogue better, because I don’t want it to seem stale. I think I’ve improved writing dialogue by listening to people talk and by keeping the dialogue brief, avoiding too much running on and on.

In Heartbreak Hotel, Alex’s internal thoughts and descriptions often reflect on issues larger than the novel itself. An example: “Some cops toss a room with the abandon of deranged adolescents. My friend’s grooming may come across as hastily assembled but he puts things back exactly where he found them.” Your novels not only tell a story, but serve as a vehicle for commentary about life. Tell us about that.

I think that’s just naturally the way I see the world. You as a psychiatrist and I as a psychologist must acknowledge we got into this field because we see things in multiple dimensions.

I never set out to write a ‘message book,’ but things concern me, and by dealing with larger issues, I hope to elevate the story beyond it being just a good crime novel. And, I call what I write a ‘crime novel’ rather than a mystery, because the story is always propelled by the crime.

Of course, my experience as a psychologist informs my writing. For example, as someone who worked with children in oncology, an event like a terrible cancer diagnosis can become a catalyst for unlocking all kinds of other issues. That awareness colors my writing in the sense that a specific crime can open up a Pandora’s box of reactions. Every crime impacts people, and trauma can bring out the best or worst in them, whether in a novel or in real life.

Alex Delaware had a difficult childhood. As psychologists, both he and you know the indelible effects of the past on current functioning. How does Alex’s past affect his present life?

I developed and evolved Alex’s past as I got to know him better by writing books about him. When I wrote the first one, When the Bough Breaks, which was published in 1985, I had a certain notion back then about Alex. I never thought I’d get published or that it would become a successful series. I learned about Alex along with my readers, and things began falling into place. I parcel his childhood and all of Alex’s personal history into the books very judiciously. In some novels, he’s a protagonist; in others he’s a consulting psychologist. Of course, his past has impacted his interest in psychology and in wanting to set certain things right.

You once said, “Psychology and fiction are actually quite synchronous.” Tell us more about that.

I think both involve attempts to better understand people.

As a psychologist, I love my work because I learn about people and what drives them.

As a writer, I get to play God by creating characters, and then get to see how they react to difficult situations.

What unifies psychology and fiction is they are both avenues to explore more about the human condition.

If you could read any one novel again as though reading it for the first time, which one would it be?

“I’ve never been asked that question. [Laughter] That’s a tough one. The Count of Monte Cristo was the seminal novel in my life. I read it as a youngster. It struck me as an amazing book. There was so much going on: adventure, comradery, relationships and revenge.

What’s coming next from Jonathan Kellerman?

I’m working on the next Delaware novel. Jesse and I have a book coming out called Crime Scene. It’s the beginning of a new series. I always wanted to write a novel about a crime scene investigator, which is what this novel concerns. Jesse and I wrote it together and we’re now outlining the second one.

Congratulations on penning Heartbreak Hotel, another Alex Delaware mystery that goes far beyond its genre. It’s a compelling psychological crime novel with deeply imagined characters told in a literary style that kept me turning pages to the very end.

Mark Rubinstein’s latest book is Bedlam’s Door: True Tales of Madness and Hope, a medical/psychiatric memoir.

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‘Desert Vengeance,’ A Conversation with Betty Webb

February 17, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

As a journalist, Betty Webb has interviewed U.S. presidents, astronauts, and Nobel Prize winners, as well as homeless people, the dying, and polygamy runaways. The Lena Jones mysteries are based on stories she covered as a reporter. She is a member of the National Federation of Press Women, Mystery Writers of America, and the National Organization of Zoo Keepers.

Desert Vengeance, the 9^th Lena Jones mystery, begins with Lena waiting in the parking lot of a prison on the day when “Papa” Brian Wycoff is to be released. Lena has every intention of killing this man who raped her when she was 9 years old while living in the Wycoff home as a foster child.

The next day, Norma Wycoff, the perpetrator’s wife and enabler, is found dead, shot through the eyes. A few days later, Brian Wycoff’s body is found after he was tortured to death. Suspicion first falls on Lena, and then on Wycoff’s other victims, the now-grown men and women he abused when they were children in his care.

Events escalate and lead to a series of twists and turns in the story.

Lena Jones is an intriguing character. Tell us a bit about her.

Lena had a very traumatic childhood. She was found on a Phoenix, Arizona street with a bullet in her head when she was only four years old. From there, she began a journey through foster homes. In one of the homes, she was raped by a man she called Papa Bryan, her foster father. That added more trauma onto her pre-existing ones.

After having been a police officer, she’s now working as a thirty-nine-year-old private detective. Desert Vengeance begins with her showing up at the prison on the day her rapist is scheduled to be released. Lena’s carrying a hunting knife. She’s a haunted woman trying to deal with the hand life has dealt her. Vengeance is on her mind.

Desert Vengeance is the 9^th mystery featuring Lena Jones. How has she evolved over the course of time?

At the beginning of the series, in Desert Noir, she would have uncontrollable fits of rage. She began anger management therapy; it was somewhat successful. She also had a terrible fear of closets, which in the third book we learn derives from her foster father having hid in her bedroom closet, before jumping out to attack her.

After a great deal of therapy, she’s improved, but her anguish continues to haunt her.

Desert Vengeance is a classic mystery novel. What are the major elements of a mystery?

First, a crime is committed and we don’t know who did it. Conversely, in a thriller or suspense novel, you may actually see the killer do the crime and might even know his identity.

In a mystery, there’s usually a detective, and that detective is often more important than the crime. I like to see an exploration of the detective’s psyche as well as of everyone’s psyche the killer has harmed. In this novel, the victim is a perpetrator—he’s a serial child molester. I didn’t want to explore his psyche because I don’t really care why a man rapes children. But, I wanted to delve into the psyches of Papa Bryan’s many other victims, not only Lena’s.

I get many emails from former foster care children who assume I am a former foster care child. Fortunately, I’m not. It’s important to me to delve into the psychological impact a crime has had on its victims.

Mystery writers like to drop little clues throughout the novel. If the readers are clever, they often can solve the crime themselves along with the detective. To an extent, mysteries are formulaic. When I was younger, I read Agatha Christie’s mysteries. After reading several of them, I noticed she had a habit of dropping a clue approximately every eleven pages. More than half of those clues were red herrings.

In Desert Vengeance, I was able to drop many clues because a number of Papa Bryan’s victims were still around. As Lena Jones was interviewing them, they would drop what could have been real or false clues.

Do you have a specific method for creating a mystery novel?

Yes. I make a very detailed outline before I write the first word. I denote the length of each chapter; where the chapter takes place; who is involved in each chapter and what will take place. I do that until I have outlined the entire book. But, something happens every time I write another book: by the second or third chapter, I dismiss the outline and go rogue. Desert Vengeance is the only book in the entire series where the killer turned out to be the person I actually planned to be the killer. In my other books, someone else did the deed.

What do you love about writing fiction?

I was a journalist for twenty years. When I wrote a story, I would sometimes think the story was so weird, it couldn’t be made up. One of the things I love about fiction is that it must be believable.

Which writers have influenced you as a novelist?

I like reading J.A. Jance’s novels because she writes about Arizona, too. I love reading books by Peter Robinson. I worship the ground Kate Atkinson walks on. She blends genres; she’s almost a fantasist. She hides everything in a mystery, but when you get into one of her novels, you’re off to magic land. I enjoy reading writers who stretch the genre a bit.

What’s coming next from Betty Webb?

I have another series called the Gunn Zoo series. After retiring from the newspaper business, I returned to one of my early loves—animals. I began volunteering at the Phoenix Zoo. I decided to write mysteries set in a zoo. So, I set an entire series in a zoo. My sleuth is Theodora Bentley, a zookeeper, who lives on a houseboat in Monterey Bay. An animal is featured in each book. The next one is called The Otter of Death.

Congratulations on writing Desert Vengeance, a beautifully-crafted mystery featuring an intriguing protagonist and a book with some of the most unexpected twists in the genre.

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‘What You Break,’ A Conversation with Reed Farrel Coleman

February 7, 2017 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Reed Farrel Coleman is well-known by thriller lovers everywhere. He’s the author of many novels and the winner of the Shamus, Barry, and Anthony Awards as well as being a three-time Edgar Award nominee. His books include the Moe Prager series and the Gus Murphy series, among others.

What You Break features retired Suffolk County cop Gus Murphy who’s caught up in a heinous crime committed decades earlier. Gus’ friend, ex-priest Bill Kilkenny, introduces him to a wealthy businessman who wants Gus to look into the motive of the brutal murder of his granddaughter. That’s when Gus finds both his own life and that of his girlfriend Magdalena, in imminent danger.

Tell us about the title, What You Break, and how it relates to the story.

We’re all familiar with the sign in many stores saying, If you break it you own it. To me, What You Break is the story of people who have things in their lives that have been broken. Some things they themselves broke; some things, broken by others. It’s a story about who accepts ownership of what they’ve broken and who refuses to do so. And it’s about the price one pays for the damage done.

We’ve all broken things in our lives, but how many of us have paid the price for having done so?

Gus Murphy is a somewhat cynical guy whose life has taken some terrible turns. He’s a complex character with different facets to his personality. Will you tell us a little about him?

If you look at my other popular protagonist, Moe Prager, and compare him to Gus Murphy, they have similar back stories: both were cops; both have families; both become private investigators, but Moe has always been cynical, whereas Gus, had been an optimistic guy, who believed in people even after twenty years as a Suffolk County police officer. However, after Gus’s son dies unexpectedly, while playing pick-up basketball, Gus is in the process of becoming someone different—someone the old Gus wouldn’t recognize. Gus is becoming cynical, and he’s far less optimistic about the future. He has a darker view of people. Gus is evolving, and my goal in the series is to see who Gus becomes. I think that’s what makes the series interesting.

Two of the issues in What You Break are guilt and redemption. Will you talk about that?

In classic hard boiled fiction, a crime is committed. The PI or cop comes on the scene, and his duty, against great odds, is the restoration of balance and of some small measure of redemption. In What You Break, guilt and redemption are explored in what I think are interesting ways.

There are two characters about whom Gus has very different feelings. Both have committed terrible crimes. Can Gus restore any humanity to either one of those characters? And, do they want it restored? Gus dirties himself by trying to redeem both of them, but we won’t talk specifics because we don’t want to put out spoilers.

One of the things I loved about the first Gus Murphy novel, Where It Hurts, and now in the second one, is that Gus comments to himself about the human condition. How does this relate to crime novels?

Let’s think about the arena in which Gus operates. It’s the worst and most emotionally trying arena. It’s one reason why people are drawn to war movies: the characters are operating in the most emotionally heightened conditions possible. Murder does the same thing. You deal with people who are in the most extreme situations, which exposes them for who they really are. In day-to-day life, we all do a great deal of covering up about who and what we are, but when we’re stressed and pushed, that’s when our true selves are revealed.

Seeing people in this heightened state of reality gives Gus insight about them and on himself. It’s a great arena for him to be an observer of the human condition.

In What You Break, Gus appears to be evolving in relation to his son’s death. Will you talk about that?

Immediately after his son’s death, he was grief-stricken, but I think his major reaction was anger at how dare the universe operate in a way he could never have imagined. He always had everything he wanted; a job he loved, a wife and family, a house and a pension. When his son died, the rug was pulled out from under his feet. He was angry at everyone and everything. Also, he was angry at himself.

What You Break takes place three years after his son’s death. He’s become more philosophical. He used to think there were answers for everything. He now realizes that sometimes there are no answers, and sometimes even when there are answers, it barely matters. It’s an interesting dilemma for Gus, because as a PI, he’s in the business of providing answers.

How much of Reed Farrel Coleman is embodied in Gus Murphy?

Actually, unlike Moe Prager, who is very much like me—he’s a better-looking, less intelligent and braver person than I am—Gus isn’t me at all. People think only someone who has suffered tragedy could write such a book, with Gus having lost his son. That kind of tragedy hasn’t befallen me. I’m grateful not to be Gus. I’m enjoying imagining someone in that situation and seeing how he goes on with his life.

What has surprised you about the writing life?

What’s surprised me is how hard it is. As much as I love writing, the fact is it’s hard work. Even if I don’t feel well, I sit down and write. If I had another job, I might call in sick, but the job of writing is always there, right in front of me. I always tell people who say they would like to write, if it’s not a calling and you earn a living doing something else, keep doing that something else. It has to be a labor of love to write.

What’s coming next from Reed Farrel Coleman?

I’m writing the 2018 Jesse Stone book, it’s Robert B. Parker’s, The Hangman’s Sonnet.

Congratulations on writing What You Break. It’s a gripping and beautifully crafted novel about a fascinating character whose complexities and observations about life elevate the novel beyond its genre, and which the Washington Post described as an “evocative mystery readers will remember as much for its charged sense of place as for any of its other considerable virtues.”

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‘Santorini Caesars,’ A Conversation with Jeffrey Siger

September 21, 2016 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Jeffrey Siger, a former Wall Street attorney, gave up his legal career to write mystery thrillers. Living on the Greek island of Mykonos, he has written his eighth novel in the Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series. His books have been nominated for the Left Coast Crime and Barry Awards.

Santorini Caesars begins with the assassination of a young demonstrator by trained killers in the heart of protest-charged Athens. Chief Inspector Kaldis, convinced the killing was far more than what it seemed, takes the investigation to the beautiful island of Santorini where he encounters a secret gathering of Greece’s top military commanders who are devising their own response to the uncertainties and political crisis facing their country.

It could be a coup d’état, or something else since Greece has a history of deposing duly-elected governments. The international intrigue escalates as the threat of another assassination looms, and Kaldis moves to expose what is going on and tries to stop it.

Andreas Kaldis is an intriguing character. Tell us a little about him.

Andreas is a second generation cop living in a land where police are not highly regarded. No matter how the political winds blow, he stands up for what he believes is right. He deals with the issues confronting his country and has the authority to investigate crime as well as political corruption.

How has he evolved over the course of eight novels?

For his first assignment, Kaldis started off on the island of Mykonos. He was sent there as ‘punishment’ for having been too closely on the heels of certain corrupt officials back in Athens. On Mykonos, he met Yanni Kouros, who becomes his sidekick for the rest of the series. Kaldis gets married and eventually returns to Athens. There, he is promoted to his present position of Chief Inspector and is empowered to investigate a variety of crises confronting Greece.

Each book in the series is essentially an element in a mosaic exploring a crisis for Greece as well as for Europe. Whether it be the relationship of Greece to the church, its relationship to its own government, the situation with migrants, or other social and political issues, each book delves into a contemporary problem.

The island of Santorini plays an important role in this novel and almost becomes a character. Tell us about this island’s history and role in the novel.

Santorini has probably been more firmly fixed in the world’s imagination than any other Greek island. It’s said to be the lost island of Atlantis. Enormous earthquakes and volcanoes have happened in this area. If you look at Santorini, it’s the view from the caldera, the rim of what once was the volcano, that is one of the world’s most intriguing vantage points. You will see blues and greens you’ve never seen elsewhere. Strangely, the very earthquakes that destroyed much of the island, are responsible for it having become an important Greek tourist destination.

How does the current refugee crisis in Europe make for fertile ground in writing your mystery novels?

Are you reading the draft of my next book? [Laughter]. That’s precisely what I’m writing about. The refugee situation is a crisis for the world. If you live in the Middle East or Africa and fear for your children, you look toward Europe as a safe haven. The only rational wish is to get your children out of these places.

That’s the motivation driving this migration by refugees. It will never end until the world recognizes something must be done politically and environmentally. Greece has become the filter-trap for refugees. Previously, Greece had a homogeneous population. With the influx of a million refugees into a country of ten million people, there’s been a ten percent increase in population. The politics have become more polarized. There are now people of different faiths and cultures in the country. Everything has become intensified. This has given rise to the growing power of right-wing parties. These dynamics are playing out in a country that doesn’t have the money to sustain itself because Greece is basically bankrupt.

Each pressure creates a reaction and that’s very rich fodder for my books. Living on Mykonos, I have access to people in government and business, so my writing becomes informed. Andreas Kaldis is the perfect vehicle for expressing concerns about these compelling national and world issues.

What made you give up practicing law to become a full- time novelist?

When I was younger, I always thought I’d become a writer.

I went to school with a kid with whom I played football. One day in class, he stood up and read something he had written. The teacher said, ‘All of you writers…if you work hard, you’ll be able to write like this young man.’ I never believed I could write as well as he did, so I became a lawyer.

That guy’s name is John Edgar Wideman, who went on to write Philadelphia Fire, which won the 1990 PEN/Faulkner Award. He’s a distinguished novelist.

Years later, someone who read my writing encouraged me to begin writing full-time. I had a successful law practice and didn’t want to give that up to become a struggling writer.

But, while practicing law, I sat down and wrote a book which was very well-received. A friend urged me to pursue writing full-time. It was after 9/11, and I said to myself, ‘Life’s too short.’ I walked away from my law practice, began to write full-time, and have never regretted a moment of it. I teach mystery writing at a university and tell my students, ‘Writing is a lousy way to make a living, but a wonderful way to make a life.’ Not having become a writer earlier allowed me to more comfortably practice my art as a writer.

Which authors in the mystery/thriller genres do you read?

When I’m writing, I don’t read other mystery writers. It can throw me off my game. My favorite writer is Cormac McCarthy. Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mysteries are a favorite of mine. If I named all my favorite writers, I’d probably lose a number of friends [Laughter].

What’s coming next from Jeffrey Siger?

You already anticipated my next book. I’m involved in a project dealing with the refugee crisis and haven’t as yet determined how I’m going to handle this issue in the next Andreas Kaldis novel, but it will get done.

Congratulations on writing Santorini Caesars, a novel that’s both a rock-solid mystery and comments incisively about so many issues besetting Europe and the world today.

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