5 Questions with Mystery Author Mike Martin

Mike Martin was born in St. John’s, NL on the east coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a long-time freelance writer and his articles and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines and online across Canada as well as in the United States and New Zealand. He is the author of Change the Things You Can: Dealing with Difficult People and has written a number of short stories that have been published in various publications across North America.

The Walker on the Cape was his first full fiction book and the premiere of the Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series. Other books in the series include The Body on the T, Beneath the Surface, A Twist of Fortune, and A Long Ways from Home, followed by A Tangled Web, which was shortlisted for the 2017 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award as the best light mystery of the year, and Darkest Before the Dawn, which won the 2018 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award. Fire, Fog and Water was the eighth in the series. He has also published Christmas in Newfoundland: Memories and Mysteries, a Sgt. Windflower Book of Christmas past and present.

He is Past Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers and a member of the Newfoundland Writing Guild and Ottawa Independent Writers.

A Perfect Storm is the latest book in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series.

SOCIAL LINKS:

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mike54martin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWalkerOnTheCapeReviewsAndMore

 

 

Q: What’s inside the mind of a mystery author?

There's always a story swirling around in there. Somewhere from the beginning of a crime to its ultimate resolution. When I'm writing I have to focus on the story intensely while I'm writing and then try and completely shut off when I'm done for the day. Not easily done, however, and many nights I'm creeping back downstairs to add a few more sentences or twists as they come to me.

Q: Tell us why readers should buy A PERFECT STORM?

A Perfect Storm is the latest book in the award-winning Sgt. Windflower Mystery series set in the beautiful little town of Grand Bank on the eastern tip of Canada. There are mysteries deaths and accidents, but there is also food, fun and great friends. It’s a clean cozy-like police procedural designed to warm your heart on a cool autumn evening.

Q: What makes a good mystery?

 

The twist is the main secret to a great mystery. That, and a great storyline with believable characters that people can relate to. They don't have to be like them, just believable.

 

Q: Where can readers find out more about you and your work?

 

http://www.sgtwindflowermysteries.com

Q: What has writing taught you?

Humility and patience. The humility to recognize that I am only a messenger. I connect to the creative current and the characters come and tell the story. Patience to wait for the story to come before I start writing it down.

 

Sgt. Windflower is back, untangling another swirling mystery, this one bringing the meth crisis and biker gangs to the quiet Newfoundland town of Grand Bank, feeling the sting of their deadly tentacles reaching all the way from Las Vegas.  He’s working with his familiar crew of RCMP characters – but wait, are some of the faces changing? New challenges for Jones, an unknown side of Smithson reveals itself, and what ever happened to Tizzard?  In the midst of putting the pieces of the puzzle together, Windflower and his beloved Sheila also find themselves navigating sorrows and surprises on the family front.

Come back to Grand Bank for more fun, food and cool, clean, Canadian crime fiction with Sgt. Windflower Mysteries.

ORDER YOUR COPY

Amazon → https://amzn.to/36sHEBz

5 Questions with James D. Bell, Author of 'Maximilian's Treasure'

James D. Bell is an award-winning author and retired Judge who received the highest bar association approval ratings ever given to a Mississippi Circuit or County Judge. He is listed in Preeminent Lawyers, Outstanding Lawyers of America and Top 100 Attorneys of North America.  The son of a Choctaw mother and a Mississippi businessman, Judge Bell is devoted to his wife, Joanne.  They live in Brandon, Mississippi and have four children.  Judge Bell practices law in Jackson, Mississippi, but is frequently called back to the bench by the Mississippi Supreme Court for short term assignments.

Q: What’s inside the mind of a legal thriller author?

A:  I’m drawing a blank.  Let me call John Grisham and get back to you.

Ok, I’m ready now.  At the core is a burning desire to see justice prevail.  My characters come alive in my imagination.  I can hear their dialog, see their expressions and smell the gun smoke.  Mystery and motive intrigue me, but my thoughts quickly turn to action, adventure and romance.

Q: Tell us why readers should buy Maximilian’s Treasure.

A:  You will find a treasure (a message) that will enrich your life, and you will be thoroughly entertained with explosive, fast paced action, courtroom drama, romance and belly laughs.  

Q: What makes a good legal thriller author?

A:  Motivation, imagination and experience.  I lived real life drama hundreds of times in courtrooms; where fear and courage are mixed with lies and truth and seasoned with foolishness and wisdom, resulting in crushed spirits and overwhelming joy.  I fell in love with the quest for justice the moment I first stepped into a courtroom.  I had a passion to write about my experiences, but for decades I lacked the proper motivation.  Every book and every movie used to have a purpose, a “moral to the story.”  I feel that we have lost that purpose with some of today’s entertainment.  I am motivated to bring back the moral to the story.  That is why I write.  Maximilian’s Treasure is packed with hidden treasurers for the reader to discover.  I drew upon my actual experiences to bring life to Maximilian’s Treasure.  I participated in many of the conversations, I dove the reefs, crossed the river, travelled the roads, climbed the cliffs, hung by my fingernails over the precipice, entered the cave behind the waterfall, just as described in the book. Ultimately, I found my Maximilian’s Treasure.  If you persevere, you will too.

Q: Where can readers find out more about you and your work?

A:  www.maximilianstreasure.com; www.judgebell.com ; www.vampiredefense.com, or my Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/VampireDefense/

Q: What has writing taught you?

A:  Don’t be intimidated by a blank page or blank computer screen.  Be intentional.  Set aside time to write and follow through.  Don’t quit.  Finish the story and start the next one.  Dream great dreams and do great deeds.

5 Questions with Cozy Mystery Author Susan McCormick

Susan McCormick writes cozy murder mysteries. She is also the author of GRANNY CAN’T REMEMBER ME, a lighthearted picture book about Alzheimer’s disease. She is a doctor who lives in Seattle. She graduated from Smith College and George Washington University School of Medicine, with additional medical training in Washington, DC and San Francisco, where she lived in an elegant apartment building much like the one in the book. She served nine years in the military before settling in the Pacific Northwest. She is married and has two boys, plus a giant Newfoundland dog.

Q: What’s inside the mind of a cozy murder mystery author?

A:  Everywhere I look, I see mystery book possibilities. A cutthroat music competition that comes every four years and only one scholarship is given? I see a mom who will do anything to help her child succeed. An arguing couple in a National Park? I see a husband who might lean too close to the edge and “fall off.” I am kind, sedate and boring in my real life, but my imagination is full of mystery.   

Q: Tell us why readers should buy THE FOG LADIES.

A:  THE FOG LADIES’ quirky characters, with spunky older women and one overworked, overtired, overstressed young intern will appeal to cozy lovers young and old. It is set in an elegant apartment building in San Francisco, one of the most unique and beautiful cities in the world.

Q: What makes a good cozy murder mystery?

A:  Characters drive a cozy, and I tried to create a memorable cast of characters that will hopefully survive this killer in their building and persevere for more mysteries to come. Another cozy feature is an enclosed setting, like the elegant apartment building in my story, so the victims and the killer are all known to each other and it is hard to hide.

Q: Where can readers find out more about you and your work?

A:  My website is https://susanmccormickbooks.com

and facebook https://www.facebook.com/susanmccormickauthor/

I also wrote a lighthearted children’s picture book about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, GRANNY CAN’T REMEMBER ME.

Q: What has writing taught you?

A:  Writing has taught me about a whole different part of my brain that I did not know existed. With my doctor work, sometimes a diagnosis or a concern about a patient will come to me in a dream, and these messages from my brain have always been accurate. Writing is the same. Though I try to plot and plan, my favorite part of writing is when characters I've created do unexpected things and get themselves into trouble. One of my characters, Enid Carmichael, discovers Starbucks lattes at the ripe old age of eighty. She loves the bitterness, the froth. I wrote that. Then she craved more, and the next thing I knew, she was stealing Starbucks coupons from her neighbor’s newspaper to feed her addiction. She did that. Not me. I have learned to give my characters a little space to be themselves, because the surprises they bring are a delight.