In Reference to Murder

Author R&R with Mark Edward Langley

Mark Edward Langley was instilled with a love for the American West by his father. After many visits, his connection to the land and its people became irrevocable, but he was appalled at the way he saw Native Americans being treated. After spending almost thirty years working in the corporate world, he retired at the end of 2016 and began to focus on realizing his goal of becoming an author. He created a strong Navajo protagonist, a U.S. veteran who fights for his people and their land. Langley’s first novel, Path of the Dead, was released in August of 2018, and the follow-up, Death Waits in the Dark, was the recipient of the 2021 Gold Medal for Best Mystery of the Year in the Feathered Quill Book Awards.

Here's the description of the book:

In Death Waits in the Dark, as Arthur Nakai is attending the wake for a man he considered a brother while serving in the U.S. Marines, he receives a call from an old girlfriend whose sons have just been murdered. Feeling a deep and responsible obligation, Arthur investigates and soon finds himself embroiled in the multi-billion dollar world of oil and gas, coming face-to-face with an old adversary, Elias Dayton. Their paths crossed when Arthur was a member of the Shadow Wolves, an elite tactical unit within U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Now Dayton runs Patriot Security, a Blackwater clone that keeps the oil rigs, gas wells, and "man camps" secure from the Water Protectors, protesters pushing to stop the fracking and poisoning of Native lands.

While Arthur works through the case from his end, Navajo police chief Jake Bilagody tackles it from another angle, looking into the strained relationship between the oil company and the Navajo people, all while searching for a missing Navajo man who may have become an unwilling pawn on the reservation chess board. But when Arthur learns the identity of the boys' killer, he struggles to make sense of it—because if the clues are right, he will be forced to make a decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life.

Today, Mark stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching his novels:

 

I’ve been told by other authors that I do things a little bit backward. I start with a title, then create a story that fits it. Once I decide what the novel will be about, I begin by researching online anything that might fit the narrative. As with Death Waits in the Dark, I looked up everything I could about fracking because there are over 2,500 wells in the ninety-mile stretch of Highway 550 between Bloomfield, NM and Cuba, NM. I thought that would be a great backdrop for the story. Then, since I don’t live out there yet, I researched the pros and cons of it, followed by the native reactions given during meetings at local Chapter Houses to discuss the issue. I don’t like beating people over the head with viewpoints; I give all viewpoints and let the reader make up their own mind.

My reaction from the Navajo people concerning my writing is that they like the fact that I am bringing to light things that affect them on a daily basis—the alcoholism, the drugs, and poverty and the resulting and lingering affect the oil and gas industry is having on their beloved sacred land. With each book, I end up with a large four-inch binder of research to draw from. Since my stories represent life on and off the reservation, I have been lucky enough to develop a contact with the Navajo Nation Police Department, which is headquartered in Window Rock, AZ. They have been very helpful.

It wasn’t until researching my third book in the Arthur Nakai series, When Silence Screams, that my research began to affect me. The novel concerns itself with a fictional 19-year-old girl, April Manygoats, who was befriended by someone online with whom she arranged a meeting in Santa Fe. She was never heard from again. Then a 15-year-old girl goes missing, leaving behind nothing but her bicycle hidden under a bridge over an empty desert wash. To make matters even worse, a 22-year-old woman has been fished out of a power plant cooling lake on the reservation, missing something unthinkable.

Are the cases related? Or are they simply part of a bigger, more horrifying picture plaguing his beloved Dinétah? But—more importantly—will Arthur be able to piece together enough of the sadistic puzzle that will locate April . . . or is he already too late?

This story was sparked by the 5,712 missing and murdered indigenous girls and women who disappeared during 2016 alone on the reservations in the US and Canada. I listened to many interviews with family members, watched news reports, read stories, and printed out all of the fliers created during 2017 for the girls and women who were reported missing. My research then led me to the dark worlds of human trafficking, prostitution, and BDSM torture, all things I knew nothing about and wished to convey accurately.

As you can imagine, a great deal of time is spent plowing through anything that could be used in my novels. In fact, I am always collecting ideas for stories. I have an entire file drawer in my office filled with possible ideas. Since my subject matter is the land that I love, I feel a kinship with the people and the land itself, so my take on things is personal as far as where the stories take place, who is involved, and what the outcome will be.

To me, you can never have enough research. In fact, the next book I’m working on took me to a Zoom meeting with the Deputy Director of the New Mexico Livestock Board. I had emailed him explaining that I am a writer and was looking to develop a new series that would be built around some of their case files I had requested. He answered my initial questions and we set up a time to meet virtually. When I received the detailed case files, I read through them and began shaping how the story would play out and which characters would inhabit this particular world. The Deputy Director even invited me to take ride-a-longs with some of his inspectors so I could experience their daily duties first-hand. I am looking forward to that aspect.

Research is the backbone of your story; it's what drives your characters to do what they do and how they might react. I outline each chapter, but once I begin writing, the characters take over, and no matter how well I plan, they always lead me to a new level of dialogue, action, or outcome.

 

You can find out more about the author and his books via his website and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Bookbub. Death Waits in the Dark is now available via all major booksellers and Blackstone Publishing.

Author R&R with Charles Salzberg

Charles Salzberg has been a Visiting Professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and has taught writing at Sarah Lawrence College, Hunter College, the Writer's Voice, and the New York Writers Workshop, where he is a Founding Member. His freelance work has appeared in such publications as Esquire, New York Magazine, GQ, Elle, Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times Book Review. He's also the author of the Henry Swann detective series: Swann Dives In; Swann's Last Song, which was nominated for a Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel; and Swann's Lake of Despair.

In his latest book, Canary in the Coal Mine, PI Pete Fortunato works out of a friend’s real estate office after spending a mysteriously short, forgettable stint as a cop in a small upstate New York town. He lives from paycheck to paycheck, so when a beautiful woman wants to hire him to find her husband, he doesn’t hesitate to say yes.

Within a day, Fortunato finds the husband in the apartment of his client’s young, stud lover—shot once in the head, case closed. But when his client’s check bounces and Albanian gangsters kidnap him in hopes he’ll lead them to a large sum of money the dead man allegedly stole, he begins to realize he’s been set up to take the fall for the murder and theft. In an attempt to get himself out of a jam, Fortunato winds up on a wild ride that takes him down to Texas where he searches for his client’s lover who he suspects has the money and holds the key to solving the murder.

Charles Salzberg stopped by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about researching and writing the book:

 

Researching: My Dirty, Little Secret

Years ago, I became friends with a guy I met when we worked the two lowest jobs at New York magazine. I was in the mailroom; he worked the photostat machine. Both aspiring writers, we quickly bonded and formed a writer’s group. A year or two later, his first novel was picked up by a prestigious publisher and he was, understandably, over-the-moon.

In his novel, which takes place in Alabama where he grew up in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, he mentions blue mailboxes. One day, he gets a call from the copyeditor informing him that during that era all mailboxes around Mobile were grey. They asked him to change it.

It seemed silly to me at the time. It’s fiction, right? So, what difference does it make if the mailboxes in his novel are blue or grey or polka-dot?

Over the years, as I began to get my own novels published, I realized it wasn’t silly at all. Facts do matter, even in fiction and there’s a practical reason why they do. What writer hasn’t received an email from a reader that goes something like, “I read your book and loved it, but on page 137 you said that 88^th Street runs east but it really runs west...”

That’s not the only reason accuracy is important. If readers can’t rely on the author to get facts right, it renders the whole work suspect.

Case in point. Bob Dylan’s memoir, Chronicles. On the first page, Dylan writes, “…then down to Jack Dempsey’s restaurant on 58^th and Broadway…” Only Dempsey’s wasn’t on 58^th Street, it was on Broadway between 49^th and 50^th streets (I used to pass it every day one summer when I worked as a messenger in the Garment District). If Dylan and his editors can’t get this fact right, how can we trust anything Dylan writes?

This is one reason why doing research, even when it comes to fiction, is essential.

Back when I was making a living as a magazine journalist, I developed my own approach to research. The temptation, especially when starting out, is to research the heck out of everything. But I soon learned there’s a risk with over-researching. The result can be that you get so bogged down in research that when it comes time to write the article, you’re overwhelmed to the point of freezing up, not knowing how you’re going to squeeze everything into your 2,000-word limit. So, you quickly learn to limit the amount of research you do.

I found the less research I did the better interviewer I became. If I knew too much about a subject going into the interview, I ran the risk of not asking the right questions, because I already knew the answers. Instead, I’d keep asking questions until I reached the point where I could successfully channel that information into prose my readers could understand.

I have friends who do just the opposite. They’re more comfortable doing heavy research. Their argument, and it’s a valid one, is that the more they know the less likely they’ll “miss” something important to ask. There’s no right or wrong, but rather it’s a matter of style.

When it comes to fiction, the goal is to create a world that makes sense, while at the same time keeping readers turning pages to find out what’s going to happen next. The last thing you want is readers getting stuck on that “fact” that’s not true, like where Jack Dempsey’s restaurant really was.

And so, if you’re wise, you’re obliged to get the facts right. In Canary in the Coal Mine, for instance, Pete Fortunato, a down and out PI, runs afoul of the mob. I needed to find a group that was especially violent and ruthless. The only way to do that was to research, which ultimately led me to the Albanian mob, a group so violent and unpredictable that even the Mafia won’t deal with them.

Fortunato suffers from anger management issues and insomnia (not a good combination). So, I had to research anger management groups to see the kinds of exercises he would have been put through. I also quizzed friends who suffer from insomnia to find out what that’s like.

For me, research often has to do with geography. I like writing about places I’ve never been—so Wikipedia, Google and Google maps come in very handy. My first crime novel, Swann’s Last Song, was written before the Internet was around. I wanted parts of the novel to take place in Los Angeles, the wilds of Mexico and Berlin. Only trouble was, I’d never been to any of those places. So, I interviewed friends who’d been there. I pored over maps. I read magazine articles. And then I sat down and plunked Swann into those places.

My best friend, who’d actually been to L.A. read the manuscript and asked, “When were you in L.A.?” “Never,” I replied. “Then how did you capture it so well?” Easy. Research. And after the book came out, I was invited to a small book club. One of the women, who was from Mexico, said to me, “you really got the Mexico part so well. When were you there?” She was surprised when my answer was, “Never.” And I can thank the research I did for that.

Oh, in case you’re wondering, I did absolutely no research for this essay.

 

You can learn more about Charles Salzberg at his website and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Canary in the Coal Mine is now available via Down & Out Books and is available in digital and paperback formats in all major online and brick-and-mortar bookstores.

Author R&R with Kim Hays

Kim Hays is a dual citizen (Swiss/American) who has made her home in Bern since she married a Swiss. Before that she lived in San Juan, Vancouver, and Stockholm, as well as the US, her birthplace. Since the age of seventeen she has worked at a wide variety of jobs, from factory forewoman to director of a small nonprofit and, in Switzerland, from sociology lecturer to cross-cultural trainer. She began writing mysteries when her son left for college. Pesticide, the first book in the Polizei Bern series, was shortlisted for the 2020 Debut Dagger award by the Crime Writers’ Association. Hays has a BA in English history and literature from Harvard and a PhD in cultural sociology from UC-Berkeley.

Pesticide is set in Bern, Switzerland, known for its narrow cobblestone streets, decorative fountains, and striking towers—until a rave on a hot summer night erupts into violent riots, and a young man is found the next morning bludgeoned to death with a policeman’s club. If that wasn't problem enough, the same day, an elderly organic farmer turns up dead and drenched with pesticide. When an unexpected discovery ties the two victims into a single case, seasoned detective, Giuliana Linder, has to work with her distractingly attractive colleague, Renzo Donatelli. But if Giuliana wants to prevent another murder, she’ll have to put her life on the line—and her principles.

Kim stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about researching and writing the book:

It goes without saying that some of my research for Pesticide had to do with crime: I wanted to find out how the Canton of Bern police respond to riots and investigate murders and to make sure I knew which wholesale dealers in the city handle marijuana and which, heroin. I also needed to check locations, which meant visiting Bern’s alternative culture center, an enormous, graffiti-covered former riding school next to the main train station, and driving around the Three-Lakes region northeast of the city, scouting out a model for Haldiz, the book’s imaginary farming village. The most fun I had, though, was exploring the topic of organic farming.

I already had a romantic view of farming, passed on by my father, who spent the happiest summers of his childhood on his great-aunt and -uncle’s small farm in rural Louisiana. But I’m not the only one who glorifies the agricultural life—most Swiss have an idyllic picture of farming as well, delighting in Alpine meadows dotted with cows, sunny hillsides lined with grapevines, and spring fields full of yellow rapeseed. The reality is grimmer, since the number of farms in Switzerland has been shrinking for decades. Today there are fewer than 50,000 of them, with an average size of 50 acres. Swiss farmers receive the equivalent of three billion dollars per year in subsidies; in return for its generosity, the government regulates their farming methods. There are rules about what farmers must do to increase biodiversity; improve the welfare of livestock; reduce the use of poisons on crops, antibiotics in animals, and fertilizer on fields; and, in general, look after the land and water under their care. The rules for organic farms—which make up about 16% of the acreage used for agriculture—are the strictest. All Swiss farms are checked regularly, and, if they are organic, they have to pass very thorough annual inspections in order to be recertified year after year.

For Pesticide’s plot to make sense, I needed to understand what makes a farm “organic” (or bio in Swiss-German) and how an annual farm inspection works. So, before I started writing, I visited small organic farms in Bern and talked to farmers. I spent time at the offices of Bio Suisse, which manages the guidelines of the organic label, and I interviewed several farm inspectors, one of whom was an organic farmer herself.  She told me something that went straight into my book:

Don’t think of us as a kind of police force; it’s not like that at all. Most farmers like our visits. All year long they protect the soil and the water and keep their crops and animals healthy, and no one really knows how difficult that is or how many setbacks they suffer. But we inspectors know, and we make that clear to them—at least, I do.

Another issue I thought a lot about during the writing of Pesticide was how much standard German and Bernese dialect to use. While a little bit of unintelligible language provides local color, I had to keep reminding myself that too much of it becomes confusing and distracting. Still, a few words turned out to be hard to translate into English. One of these was the police role called “Fahnder.” Literally, the word means “searcher”—we’d translate it as “investigator.” Within the Canton of Bern police department, it’s a plain-clothes job involving a lot of research—both on the computer and in the field, and the different tasks are usually assigned by detectives looking into serious crimes. One of the two main characters in Pesticide, Giuliana Linder, is a homicide detective, and the other, Renzo Donatelli, is an investigator of this kind—he’s junior to Giuliana in rank and age and often works with her on her cases. In the end, I decided to call him a Fahnder, even in an English-language book. I’m not sure the same job exists in the American police force.

I consider research not only an important part of writing but a quintessential one.  Sometimes I gather more information than I end up needing for a particular book, but I find that the process of researching helps me figure out what I want to say in my novel. I’m sure this is true for most writers, not just me. I suppose I’m also influenced by my mother having been a reference librarian whose job was to find things out for people. It was work that she loved.

Google has changed the nature of that pursuit—but not its importance.

 

You can learn more about Kim Hays and her books on her website, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter. Pesticide is now available in ebook and paperback via Seventh Street Books at all major book retailers.

Author R&R with Michael Landweber

Michael Landweber has worked as a copy editor at the Japan Times, as an editorial assistant at the Associated Press, and worked for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and for the State Department. He also served as Associate Director for a non-profit called Partnership for a Secure America, which promotes bipartisanship in foreign policy and national security. His short stories have appeared in literary magazines such as Gargoyle, Fourteen Hills, Fugue, Barrelhouse, and American Literary Review. He is an Associate Editor at Potomac Review and a contributor for the Washington Independent Review of Books.

His new novel from Crooked Lane Books is The Damage Done, set in an Earth where violence has suddenly and inexplicably become a thing of the past. Fists can’t hit, guns don’t kill, and bombs can’t destroy. The U.S. president must find a new way to wage war. The Pope ponders whether the Commandment “Thou Shalt Not Kill” is still relevant. A dictator takes his own life after realizing that the violence he used to control his people is no longer an option.

In the first days after the change, seven people from different walks of life—who have all experienced violence—struggle to adapt to this radical new paradigm. As their fates intertwine, the promise and perils of this new world begin to take shape. Although violence is no longer possible, that doesn’t mean that some among us won’t keep trying. Mindless cruelty is still alive and well, and those bent on destruction will seek the most devious means to achieve it.

Michael Landweber stopped by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about researching and writing the book:

My approach to research is low key and ad hoc. Of course, I think research is important. If you are writing a novel about 16^th century France, you better study up. You weren’t there. Similarly, if your book is a military thriller that mainly takes place on a submarine, you’re going to need to learn a little something about submarines. But those are not the novels I write. So, in my own work, I believe research is important when necessary. The key is knowing when you don’t know what you need to know.

I often describe my books as literary fiction with a Twilight Zone twist. I start with a what-if question. What if you got trapped inside the brain of your younger self? What if time stopped and you were the only one not frozen? What if teleportation was a commercial means of transportation? And my most recent novel, The Damage Done, presents a world where violence is no longer possible. As you can see, most of my work hinges on ideas that are not particularly researchable.

Take my last book, The In Between, in which a couple loses their son while teleporting to Japan. When I started the book, I was very curious about whether anyone thought teleportation was even possible. (I would also note that good research is only successful if you are actually curious about the topic you are researching.) Turns out that subatomic particles may be able to teleport in quantum computing. That’s cool. But not that helpful for my story of losing a child somewhere between Omaha and Tokyo. So that was a research rabbit hole I didn’t go that far down.

And that maybe is my main thought about research. The assumption is that every effort is a deep dive. But for me research can be quite limited and still valid. The goal for me is not to become the expert in every aspect of every thing I write about. Most of what I need to research does not require an extensive bibliography or interview schedule. My goal is to immerse the reader in the story I’m telling. So for me, research tends to be a series of targeted jobs. In and out, find out what I need, no fuss.

That doesn’t mean I’m not obsessive about what I’m writing. I spend countless hours making sure that the rules I’ve created for my worlds are airtight. In The Damage Done that meant creating a mental catalogue of all the ways people commit violence against each other and countering each with a creative way to thwart it. The time that I might have been reading reference books or chatting up experts is instead wiled away in an internal debate over things like whether bumping into someone purposefully on a subway platform constitutes a minor act of violence. There was research to be done, things I needed to know like how to make a Molotov cocktail or where people cross the Rio Grande. But each time I discover one of those factual stumbling blocks, I find what I need with as much efficiency as I can muster. I don’t linger.

So maybe that’s my true mantra on research. No loitering.

But who knows? Maybe I’ve got a historical novel or a submarine thriller in me somewhere that will require a more methodical style of research. For now though, I’m sticking with my need to know approach.

 

You can learn more about Michael and The Damage Done via his website and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The Damage Done is available from Penguin Random House via all major booksellers in ebook, print, and audiobook formats.

Author R&R with Tessa Wegert

Tessa Wegert is a journalist and former digital media strategist. Her business and marketing articles have appeared in such publications as Forbes, The Huffington Post, Adweek, and The Economist. She grew up in Quebec near the border of Vermont and now lives with her husband and children in Coastal Connecticut, where she writes while studying martial arts and dance. Tessa is also the author of the Shana Merchant series of mysteries, beginning with Death in the Family. The latest installment in that series is Dead Wind.

In Dead Wind, a body is discovered on Wolfe Island under the shadow of an enormous wind turbine. Senior Investigator, Shana Merchant, arriving on the scene with fellow investigator, Tim Wellington, can’t shake the feeling that she knows the victim—and the subsequent identification sends shockwaves through their community in the Thousand Islands of Upstate New York.

Politics, power, passion...there are dark undercurrents in Shana’s new home, and finding the killer means dredging up her new friends and neighbors’ old grudges and long-kept secrets. That is, if the killer is from the community at all. For Shana’s keeping a terrible secret of her own: eighteen months ago she escaped from serial killer Bram Blake’s clutches. But has he followed her...to kill again?

Tessa stopped by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about researching and writing her books:

 

Like most authors, I have a folder of story ideas that I refer to – even if those “ideas” are nothing more than a few overheard words or abstract lines – but for me, the writing process often starts with setting. That was the case with Death in the Family, the first book in the Shana Merchant series. I knew I wanted to write a mystery that paid homage to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and the Golden Age detective fiction I had always loved. I’d been visiting the Thousand Islands in Upstate New York for years, and setting a mystery on one of those islands, in a grand historic home, just made sense.

Setting inspired my new crime novel, Dead Wind, as well. A few years ago, prior to starting the series, I visited Wolfe Island in Ontario, Canada. It’s a small, flat, sparsely-populated island that houses a wind farm, and the turbines are absolutely massive. I was there on a day when a storm was rolling in, and a story unfolded right in front of me: a body found at the base of one of those towering turbines, the local police rushing to collect evidence before the rain, and a female investigator wondering whether the crime could be linked to the serial murderer who’d been terrorizing the community for months. When I sat down to write the book, which is the third in my series, I returned to the photos and videos I had taken that day, and I was off to the races.

I think that for mysteries in particular, a strong sense of place helps to pull the reader into the story and keep them invested. Setting can also help to shape the plot. In the Thousand Islands, where Dead Wind is set, there’s a big class divide – you have the year-round locals, many of them in the hospitality and restaurant trades, living alongside tourists from cities across the Northeast and the uber-wealthy owners of the area’s many private islands. In reality, everyone gets along beautifully, but when it comes to writing crime fiction, there’s no limit to the number of stories an environment like that can produce.

 

You can find out more about Tessa and her books via her website and follow her on Facebook and Twitter. Dead Wind is available in ebook and print formats from all major booksellers.

Author R&R with Len Joy

Len Joy's short fiction has appeared in FWRICTION: Review, The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Johnny America, Specter Magazine, Washington Pastime, Hobart, Annalemma, Boston Literary Magazine, and Pindeldyboz. He's also a nationally ranked triathlete and competes internationally representing the United States as part of TEAM USA. His first novel, American Past Time, was published in 2014 and was followed in 2018 by Better Days and in 2020 with Everyone Dies Famous.

In his latest work, Dry Heat, the day Arizonan All-American Joey Blade turns 18, he learns his ex-girlfriend is pregnant, he's betrayed by his new girlfriend, and he's arrested for the attempted murder of two police officers. Then things go from bad to even worse.

Len Joy stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching his work:

In my first novel, American Past Time, the main character, Dancer Stonemason, is a minor league baseball player in the 1950s who pitches a perfect game that ends up costing him his chance to make it to the major leagues. The novel covers the twenty years after the cheering stops as Dancer struggles to find his way in postwar America. My third novel, Everyone Dies Famous, picks up Dancer’s story thirty years later, with Dancer a grief-stricken old man, trying to come to grips with the death of his son. In my second novel, Better Days, the main character, Darwin Burr, has coasted through life on the fading memory of high school heroics. But when his boyhood vanishes, he risks everything to save him.

My new novel, Dry Heat, is the story of Joey Blade, All-American high school football player. On the day Joey turns 18, he learns his ex-girlfriend is pregnant, is betrayed by his new girlfriend, and is arrested for the attempted murder of two police officers.  

I was a good high school athlete in a small town back in the day when it was possible to play three sports. I have always been interested in the life lived after the crowds have all gone home. In my novels, Dancer struggled, Darwin coasted and Joey went to prison.

Put simply, I am following that adage, to “write what you know.” I understand athletes, the rush of having a crowd cheer for you, the wistfulness of no longer being able to do something that you loved, the challenge of moving on and growing up.

Dry Heat is set in Phoenix during the period from 1999 to 2014. Joey Blade, is an All-American high school football star, planning to attend the University of Arizona on a football scholarship in the fall. His family owns the largest engine rebuilder in the southwest.

In 1988 I bought a large engine rebuilder in Phoenix and for the next fifteen years I operated that business with my brother-in-law. On a summer evening in 1996, the son of one of my employees was riding in a car with two other boys and they were involved in a road rage incident with another vehicle. One of the boys fired a gun at the other car. It turned out that the driver of the other vehicle, who had instigated the confrontation, was an off-duty cop. They were all arrested, but the other two disappeared before their trial and my friend’s son was the only one prosecuted. He was looking at twenty years in prison if he lost at trial, so he took a plea deal for three years. One foolish mistake and his life was changed forever.

In my novel, on the day Joey Blade turns 18, he learns his ex-girlfriend is pregnant, is betrayed by his new girlfriend, and after a road rage incident where he is the innocent bystander, he is arrested for the attempted murder of two police officers.

It is not the story of my friend’s son. But that incident made me think about how easy it can be for any of us to have our lives turned upside-down in an instant. I imagined a character who had everything going for him and lost it. The challenge of the novel was not describing the incident or even the courtroom drama. The challenge was figuring out what Joey Blade does with the rest of his life.

I am a strong believer in what Robert Boswell’s describes as “The Half-Known World.” Boswell maintains that it is not necessary to know everything about your character. Let your imagine roam. Give your character the opportunity to surprise you. 

It is important, of course, to get the details right. It was easy for me to recreate the setting of Phoenix circa 2000, because I lived there. I didn’t have any experience with gangs or the criminal justice system, but I had good contacts. The mother of the boy who went to prison shared with me her son’s perspective as well as her own. One of my beta readers is a criminal attorney and he helped me with the trial procedures. I found numerous articles and blogs on gang activity.

It is easy to get caught up in the research, but it is important to have a light touch. The goal is not to show the reader how much you know. The goal is to tell a good story and keep the reader turning the page to find out what happens next.

You can find out more about Len Joy via his website and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Dry Heat is now available via all major online booksellers.

Author R&R with Emilya Naymark

Photo credit: Lynne Breitfeller

Emilya Naymark's short stories appear in Secrets in the Water, After Midnight: Tales from the Graveyard Shift, River River Journal, Snowbound: Best New England Crime Stories 2017, 1+30: The Best of Mystory, and in the upcoming Harper Collins anthology, A Stranger Comes to Town. She has a degree in fine art, and her artworks have been published in numerous magazines and books, earning her a reputation as a creator of dark, psychological pieces. Being married to an N.Y.P.D. undercover detective compelled her to create the character of Laney Bird, whose occasionally wild and, even more often, terrifying experiences are inspired by real events. When not writing, Emilya works as a visual artist and reads massive quantities of thrillers and crime fiction. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her family.

Behind the Lie is the second installment in Emilya's Sylvan series, in which NYPD detective-turned small town PI, Laney Bird, is in a fight to save lives—including her own—after a neighborhood block party turns deadly and ends with the disappearance of her friend and another woman. As people closest to Laney fall under suspicion, the local authorities and even her colleagues question her own complicity.

Emilya stopped by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching Behind the Lie:

 

My novels Hide in Place and Behind the Lie feature an ex-NYPD undercover detective. In my case, the research happened before the ideas for the novels even materialized. Being married to an NYPD undercover detective gave me a lot of my research ahead of time. In fact, it generated the story.

Once I had my novel’s plot, I sat down with my personal detective and asked him hundreds of specific questions—everything from how, exactly, an undercover makes a drug buy on the street (lots of acting), to what happens with the evidence in the precinct (the drugs get tested and whatever was confiscated gets vouchered, including cash), to what happens to an undercover during an arrest (they get arrested).

For those who don’t have a personal detective, I recommend finding one. Police officers are often very pleased to discuss their jobs. Many of them write, and if you know any who belong to the same writing association as you do, reach out! Take him or her out for lunch and ask away. Schedule a zoom. Offer a beta read in exchange for their hard-won wisdom. In addition to my husband, I interviewed three other detectives and one corrections officer.

I read everything I could find on racketeering cases against the Russian mob. The Shulaya gang case in Brighton beach was a treasure trove, and I downloaded the official indictment and referenced it for plot ideas. And really, when it comes to the Russian mob, no ideas were too wild.

My detective’s teenage son is a firebug, and I spent countless hours watching instructional videos on building homemade flamethrowers (it’s super easy), breathing fire, and juggling flaming torches. I downloaded and read elaborate instructions and journals written by people who practice fire breathing for a living.

One of the characters in Behind the Lie is a research scientist, and I’m fortunate to have a research scientist in the family. I needed to know how medical compounds are tested and how drugs get approved for human use. He gave me thorough notes.

Another part of the novel takes place inside a residential facility for at-risk youth. I found a similar establishment near me and read about its troubles. Whatever I put into the novel, no matter how drastic it sounds, came directly from the news. Then I spoke with a psychiatrist who works with residential programs, and she gave me the procedural details I wouldn’t have gotten from just reading articles.

Because my novels and stories revolve around crimes, I downloaded the entire NYPD Patrolman’s Guide, all 1000+ pages of it. It’s been quite useful because my police officer characters have to know procedures and what crimes come with what charges. The Patrolman’s Guide is an exhaustive manual for both.

I bought several handbooks for private investigators, which are a goldmine because they list not just how to run a case, but what tools of the trade to use, down to the brand names and models.

In general, my best sources are the news, legal and judicial websites, and professionals who work in the pertinent fields.

For me, there can never be too much research or too much information. A great deal of what I learn doesn’t make it into the books, but it gives me the confidence I need to write about a subject as if I know it well. Or, more importantly, as if my characters know it well.

 

You can find out more about Emilya Naymark via her website and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads. Behind the Lie is available via Crooked Lane Books and can be purchased through all major booksellers in ebook, print, and audio formats.

Author R&R with James McGrath Morris

James McGrath Morris is a biographer and award-winning writer of narrative non-fiction. His works include The Rose Man of Sing Sing: A True Tale of Life, Murder, and Redemption in the Age of Yellow Journalism, which was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year; and, Jailhouse Journalism: The Four Estate Behind Bars. He is also the author of the Kindle Singles Revolution by Murder: Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, and the Plot to Kill Henry Clay Frick. In 2019 he received the BIO Award, which is given to a writer who has made a major contribution to the advancement of the art and craft of biography. 

His newest book is Tony Hillerman: A Life, which offers a balanced portrait of Hillerman’s personal and professional life and provides a timely appreciation of his work, including the almost accidental invention of Hillerman’s iconic detective Joe Leaphorn and the circumstances that led to the addition of Jim Chee as his partner. Hillerman’s novels were not without controversy, and Morris examines the charges of cultural appropriation leveled at the author toward the end of his life. Yet, for many readers, including many Native Americans, Hillerman deserves critical acclaim for his knowledgeable and sensitive portrayal of Diné (Navajo) history, culture, and identity.

James stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about "How Hillerman Taught Me To Accept My Mistakes":

 

In 1979, I wrote Tony Hillerman a fan letter. I was then working as a reporter in Jefferson City, MO, and I was curious to find out if the state’s capitol had been the model for his book The Fly on the Wall.

Apparently I wasn’t the only person to ask this question. “I run into reporters all over who say, ‘I know which State Capitol you are using. You use Jefferson City, Missouri or . . . ,’” said Hillerman. “You know they tend to be alike. It was actually based on the Capitol at Oklahoma City, where I had worked.”

I had briefly meet Hillerman the previous year or two when I was working as a journalist in Albuquerque, NM, where he lived. In my letter I reminded him of our passing acquaintance and asked about the possible connection between his book and Missouri’s capitol.

He replied. This was several years before his Navajo mystery novels became best-sellers generating such extensive fan mail that he ceased being able to write back. In his letter to me, Hillerman, unfailingly polite, said his fictitious capitol building might include some similarities with Missouri’s but was based on Oklahoma’s.

Then Hillerman asked if I had spotted the mistake in the book? I had not. So as not to give it away instantly, the author had taken the sheet of stationery out of his typewriter and put it back in upside down. That way the answer appeared upside down so I could not read it immediately.

When I flipped the page, I learned that the protagonist John Cotton had removed his shoes in a nighttime visit to the capitol, so that the men chasing him would not hear his steps on the marble floor, but he never put them back on. He then walked through streets wet with sleet, took a cab ride, and arrived at the final scene in the house of the Democratic Party state chairman, all in stocking feet.

“Readers do pay close attention. I get letters from ones who just read to find errors,” Hillerman said. “The best one I’ve ever had,” Hillerman commented with regard to reader complaints, “was when I got a call at 10 p.m. one night. The fellow said, ‘I used to have a lot of respect for you until I’ve just been reading Dance Hall of the Dead. Don’t you know deer don’t have gall bladders?’”

Over the course of eighteen Navajo novels, Hillerman would err no more than most writers but his immense readership included many eagle-eyed fans who eagerly pointed out mistakes. Re-reading Hillerman’s books and studying his papers in the course of preparing  a biography of his life, I found the author had a healthy attitude about the small errors he made. He accepted the fact that they were inevitable and unless they were major, errors could make for a good story. And, Tony Hillerman loved a story.

I’ve come to adopt his approach and often think about how, usually with a laugh, he recounted to audiences some of the mistakes he had made in his books. Over time, he grew fond of the one involving John Cotton’s shoeless night trek through bad weather, frequently sharing it with readers, like with the fan who wrote him in 1979.

 

You can learn more about Morris and his work via his website, and also follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads. Tony Hillerman: A Life is available today from the University of Oklahoma Press via all major booksellers.

Author R&R with Robbie Bach

Robbie Bach is best known for founding and leading the team that created the Xbox. Today he is an entertaining storyteller and catalyzing voice who writes books and speaks to audiences on leadership, creativity, strategy, and civic issues. He also serves on the national board of governors for Boys and Girls Clubs of America and Magic Leap, an augmented reality company, and is the co-owner of Manini’s, Inc., a gluten-free pasta and baking company. In 2015, he published his first book, Xbox Revisited: A Game Plan for Corporate and Civic Renewal. His first thriller novel, The Wilkes Insurrection, debuts today.

In the novel, the relative calm at Offutt Air Force Base is shattered when commercial Flight 209 crashes down onto its runway. From the flaming wreckage, Major Tamika Smith must try to rescue survivors and make sense of the tragedy. But this isn't just an isolated incident. In a time of national unrest and division, a cunning shadowy mastermind is tearing down the United States from the inside out, playing law enforcement like puppets. Soon, thousands are dying and there are precious few leads. Can Tamika and an unlikely collection of committed Americans stop the destruction in time to rescue a nation descending into chaos?

Robbie stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing the book:

 

People, Places and Things

By nature, I’m a detail oriented person, so when I set out to write my debut novel, The Wilkes Insurrection, I made an early commitment to getting things “right.”  For fiction to be believable, it has to have a level of accuracy that commands the reader’s respect and attention.  Since my storyline involves avionics, virtual reality, the military, politics, the dark web, and more, it required substantial research to augment whatever knowledge I already possessed in those areas.  And I used the full range of techniques to gather the data I needed.  Think of this as the “People, Places, and Things” of an authentic story.

My writing actually began with a number of short chapters for four or five characters that were running around in my head.  At the time, I had no clue how they might fit together or how a plot would develop.  But each of them had a profession, a personal background, and a life history that needed to be genuine.  Some of that I could create out of thin air – but I quickly ran into the constraints of facts and reality.  As an example, my main protagonist, Major Tamika Smith, is a reservist in the Air Force.  Since I’ve never served in the military, I did plenty of web-based research on ranks, functions, and base locations.  I also interviewed or received written feedback from two Generals, a Lieutenant Colonel, and two Captains in the Air Force with particular focus on military etiquette, communications, and procedure.  Making the People believable – likeable in some cases and despicable in others – was foundational for the plot.

The Wilkes Insurrection takes place all over the United States – and also has a scene in Afghanistan.  Strong fiction requires putting the reader “on location” by describing the scene well and creating a sensory image for them.  While I had been to some of my plot locations, many others were new for me.  In some cases, like Kandahar, Afghanistan, I relied on internet imagery, location descriptions, maps, and other forms of research to create a picture in my own mind.  But as often as possible, I visited my sites personally.  I went to Washington, DC for a Boys and Girls Club Board of Governors meeting.  I spent hours during breaks Ubering between Arlington National Cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Pentagon (in a suit in August, no less!) taking pictures and notes on various locations.  The next morning, I got up early and took a 7 AM Amtrak train to Baltimore, again to familiarize myself with the train (spoiler alert:  and it’s bathrooms).  Making the Place real – sometimes glorious and sometimes in destruction – is essential for a thriller.

Beyond the characters and locations, I was very focused on various technical details.  For a reader, there is nothing worse than going through a story and thinking, “Oh, I know that’s not right.”  I worked for Microsoft for 22 years, including being a founding leader and Chief Xbox Officer for that business, so people assume I understand technology deeply.  In fact, I have no formal technical training and don’t play video games(!).  So when I delved into the dark web, cybersecurity, and virtual reality in my novel, I had more exploration to do.  As an example, I met with over a dozen startup CEOs in the Seattle area who were building virtual reality products to understand the business and technical challenges they were facing.  From these interviews, I created a series of business issues for a mythical company, Cybernoptics, that framed an important portion of The Wilkes Insurrection plot.  Because of my background, I know that plenty of people with technical skills will read my book – and I want them to know that getting the Things accurate mattered to me.

Not all research and reference work requires extensive effort.  The internet, if used carefully, has a wealth of information that can fill in small gaps.  This was immensely helpful as I worked to get some very specific details correct.  So how many passengers can fly on a 757? How fast can world class female sprinters run the 400?  Or, how tall is the Oroville Dam?  There are also some areas where being less specific is helpful.  A successful author once told me that you either have to say “they made love,” or take the risk of getting very, very specific.  I choose the latter!!

Finally, I will point out, that despite my search for accuracy, I believe in literary license.  As an author, I had to gauge the fine line between authenticity and a reader’s willingness to suspend disbelief in the rush of a great plot.  That is an essential part of the art of writing great fiction.

 

You can find out more about the author and the book via this website, and also follow the author on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The Wilkes Insurrection is currently available in hardcover for in-store pick-up or shipping from all major booksellers. The ebook version will be available November 2.

Author R&R with Lorie Lewis Ham

Lorie Lewis Ham lives in Reedley, California and has been writing ever since she was a child. Her first song and poem were published when she was thirteen, and she has gone on to publish many articles, short stories, and poems throughout the years, as well as write for a local newspaper and publish six mystery novels. For the past eleven years, Lorie has been the editor-in-chief and publisher of Kings River Life Magazine, and she also produces Mysteryrat’s Maze Podcast.

Her latest novel, One of Us, is the first in the new Tower District Mystery Series set in Fresno's dining, arts, and entertainment hub. It centers on children’s book author, Roxi Carlucci, who finds herself starting over again after her publisher drops her book series. With no income, she has to pack up her life on the California Coast, along with her pet rat Merlin, and move in with her cousin, P.I. Stephen Carlucci, who lives in Fresno. 

Stephen talks Roxi into helping out with a community theatre production, which is also a fundraiser for a local animal rescue. Little did she know that someone would be murdered during a rehearsal, and that she and Stephen would be hired to find the killer. The culprit has to be one of Roxi’s new acquaintances, since the theatre was locked at the time of the murder, but no one seems to have a motive. Could the local gossip website hold any clues? Can Roxi and Stephen stop the killer before he strikes again?

Lorie stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching her novels:
 

My books tend to rely heavily on the old adage “write what you know.” A lot of that comes from the fact that I prefer to sit down and write the first draft without doing a lot of research and editing—then later do what research is needed to fill in the gaps. Writing what I know makes that possible. I am very much a pantser! The only real exception is information I need for the murder.

My first book series was published in the early 2000s and featured a gospel singing amateur sleuth named Alexandra Walters. I spent over 20 years singing gospel music with my family. It was set in a fictional version of my hometown. The new book, One of Us, is set in one of my favorite local places to hang out in, the Tower District of Fresno, CA.

When I first decided to start a new series, I was going to have my main character Roxi Carlucci run a small animal rescue—I ran one out of my home for over 10 years. But by the time I actually got around to working seriously on the first book, the mystery book world had been flooded with books involving animal rescue, so I decided to change things up a bit—although there is an animal rescue connection in the book. The plot of the book involves community theatre—something else I have a connection to. And by the end of the book, Roxi becomes a podcaster—something I have been doing for the past three years with my podcast, Mysteryrat’s Maze.

Roxi also works as a part time P.I. with her cousin Stephen, which isn’t something I have done, but it is something I did a lot of research on for my first series in which Stephen also appears. The Carlucci family has ties to the Mafia, something I also did a great deal of research on for my first series. Now saying I did research into those things may seem to contradict what I first said, but the difference is that they were things I already had an interest in and already knew something about.

When it comes to the mystery side of things there is still a certain amount of “write what you know” as well. As soon as I was old enough that I didn’t need my parent’s permission, I went on several ride-alongs with the local police department—partially because I wanted to be a mystery writer, but also because I considered becoming a cop. For those same reasons, I took some Criminal Justice classes at community college—funny enough I knew enough from all of my mystery TV watching and reading that the classes were a breeze.

For the rest of the details of the crime I have a wonderful library of How Dunnit Books and a couple of great resources I can go to and say—“Hey if this happened how do you…?” One is a former chief of police, and the other many of you may know, mystery author D.P. Lyle.

For any other little things along the way, I am thankful for the internet! Especially during a pandemic. While finishing One of Us I went online several times to double check details about the Tower District like street names and business names, since I couldn’t go there in person. So for me, research is mostly what I know and what I already love!
 

You can learn more about Lorie and her book One of Us on her website mysteryrat.com and find her on Twitter and Facebook. One of Us is available on Amazon; for the Nook and paperback on Barnes and Noble.com; and on Kobo. You can also hear an excerpt from One of Us read on the Mysteryrat's Maze podcast via this link.

Author R&R with Larry (and Rosemary) Mild

Rosemary Mild (a graduate of Smith College and former assistant editor of Harper's) and Larry Mild (digital systems and instrument designer for major Government contractors in the signal analysis field), are cheerful partners in crime who recently released Death Rules the Night, their fourth Dan & Rivka Sherman Mystery Series. The Milds are also coauthors of the popular Paco & Molly Mysteries; Hawaii adventure/thrillers Cry Ohana and Honolulu Heat; and three volumes of short stories, many of which appear in anthologies.

Making use of his past creativity and problem-solving abilities, Larry naturally drifted into the realm of mystery writing, where he also claims to be more devious than his partner-in-crime and best love, Rosemary. So he conjures up their plots and writes the first drafts, leaving Rosemary to breath life into their characters and sizzle into their scenes. A perfect marriage of their talents.

In Death Rules the Night, reluctant sleuths Dan and Rivka yearn for a tranquil life as owners of The Olde Victorian Bookstore in Annapolis, Maryland. When copies of a tell-all book on the prominent Atkins family go missing from the bookstore, from all the local libraries, and even from the author's bookshelves, Dan wants to know why. But the price of "why" brings threats, stalking, break-ins—and a brutal murder. He and Rivka fear for their lives.  

The Atkins family secrets are weaving a sinister web. Tom Dwyer, a retired truck driver, is ready to confess to a crime that he and Frank Mulhaney, another driver, committed twenty years ago. Frank plots revenge on Tom. Bookstore clerk, Ivy, hears ugly gossip aimed at derailing her wedding. Will the family secrets finally see the light of day? And will the killer ever be caught?

Larry stops by In Reference to Murder today to take some Author R&R on researching and writing mysteries:

 

A Little Research Goes a Long Way

Researching for a novel can be fun. Who doesn’t like to learn a little something every day? An era of history, a science fact, a bit of poetry, a touch of foreign language, a dash of art, a part of the anatomy—endless tidbits that can enhance and add credibility to what we authors write.

But beware of the consequences that I fell victim to by researching too much. You ask: How much is too much? In my earliest attempts at novel writing, I got so wrapped up in the research, showing off my erudition, that I allowed it to deteriorate my plot. I took the research so far, adding fact after fact, that I had to keep modifying the plot, molding it to the research until I was unsure whether I was writing fiction or nonfiction. My first and second attempts at a novel went south. Did I learn my lesson? Finally, yes. Now I include only the relevant research that fortifies the plot, engages the reader, and moves the story forward.

For years the general guideline has been “Write about what you know”—so you don’t have to delve deeply into a subject where only genuine scholars mine.

Rosemary, my wife and coauthor, and I draw heavily on our own personal experience, but only as a starting point. We’ve published short stories set in countries where we’ve traveled: Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, England, and Italy. But we’ve also ventured into the future with a sci-fi novella. Aside from personal experience, where do we get our research? Like most authors, often we rely on the Internet, the dictionary, and thesaurus. Local newspapers are filled with police beats and extensive accounts of crimes. For a particular setting, the local papers can provide authentic flavor.

Six of our seven mystery novels are set in Maryland, where we lived for most of our married lives. Our newest, just out, is Death Rules the Night, our fourth Dan & Rivka Sherman Mystery. Reluctant sleuths Dan and Rivka, owners of The Olde Victorian Bookstore, find themselves stymied. Copies of a tell-all book about a famous Annapolis family have disappeared from the bookstore, from all libraries, and even from the dead author’s bookshelves. Dan wants to know why. But the price of “why” brings threats, stalking, break-ins—and a brutal murder. He and Rivka fear for their lives. The prominent Atkins family—and their eighteenth-century house—harbor secrets unknown even to the three unhappy sisters living there. As I invented the story, I gave it credibility by incorporating historical research: the fictional Atkins family’s “role” in the American Revolution, the Underground Railroad, and Prohibition, as well as eighteenth and nineteenth century architecture relating to the family house.

How do we keep from going overboard in our research? In Hot Grudge Sunday, our second Paco & Molly Mystery, our detective and gourmet cook are on their honeymoon at the national parks out West. They’d rather smooch than sleuth, but conspirators and thieves disrupt their bliss. Rosemary and I took this fabulous tour ourselves and drew on our own photos, maps, and tour brochures to be accurate. But we had to rein in our research to keep from sounding like a travelogue instead of an edge-of-your-seat mystery. For accuracy, we called a park ranger at Yellowstone and she allowed us to send her a copy of some of our dramatic scenes. In one, we had a suspect’s wrists handcuffed in front of her on the bus. The ranger wrote back, “No way” and corrected other details as well.

My inspirations come from unexpected places. In Death Goes Postal, our first Dan & Rivka Sherman Mystery, I focused the plot on rare fifteenth-century printing artifacts that led to a trail of hair-raising violence. I chose that subject because, in my seventh-grade shop class, I learned about Printing. But as I did the research I needed, I worked hard to build a strong, suspenseful plot and fresh, realistic characters. We created Dan and Rivka as a Jewish couple in their mid-fifties, very much like us in personality. So I wove together what we knew about Historic Annapolis and Bath, England, plus some esoteric research that gave depth to the story. But we took off from there, with a plot involving stalking, kidnapping—and murder.

Of course, I wound up with a pile of factual data I couldn’t possibly squeeze in. Was the time wasted? Yes, in terms of that particular novel. No, in terms of making me a more rounded person. Whatever research I do, it now depends on two words: credibility and enhancement. Will it add either to a gripping plot or to fleshing out the characters?

 

You can learn about the Milds and their books via their website, or follow them on Facebook or LinkedIn. Death Rules the Night is available in print to order from all major booksellers.