Fiction Review

I’ve known JT Ellison for a few years. We run into each other most years at the Southern Kentucky Book Fest. Now, you have the chance to meet her, Wednesday, June 16 at 7 PM, when she appears at The Poisoned Pen with Heather Gudenkauf. JT is on book tour with her latest book, Field of Graves. And, she was kind enough to answer interview questions, to spend a little time In the Hot Seat. Thank you, JT.

J.T., welcome to the The Poisoned Pen’s blog. Would you introduce yourself to our readers? Tell us about yourself.

Thanks for having me! Let’s see, I’ve been writing thrillers for a decade now, and have 13 books published under my own name, and also co-write with the divine Catherine Coulter. I’m a wine junkie (see https://thewinevixen.com) and love golf and yoga. And kittens”“”“I have twin girls, silver mackerel tabbies, who are an absolute hoot. I love to travel and have been married for over 20 years to the love of my life. I live in Nashville, which is one of the best literary cities in the country. I also co-host a literary television series called A Word on Words, which was started over 40 years ago by the esteemed John Seigenthaler. Needless to say, I’m juggling a lot of balls, but I’m having a blast!

Why did you become a writer?

I’ve always been a writer, so that wasn’t a conscious choice. But after a college professor told me I wasn’t good enough to be published, I quit, went in a different direction, working in the White House and Department of Commerce before swerving into aerospace marketing. But the bug wouldn’t leave me alone, and after we moved to Nashville, I discovered John Sandford, and three books into the Prey series decided I was going to give it another try. That book eventually became FIELD OF GRAVES. So as to why”“”“I couldn’t stop myself, really. I was compelled, called, driven to it by the muse.

Field of Graves takes readers back to Nashville. I have all kinds of questions, but here’s the most important one. Let’s start with an introduction to your characters since it seems as if you’ve brought them together. Tell us about these people, please, with a brief summary of the book.

So FOG, as we call it, was my first full-length novel. I landed an awesome agent with it, but it didn’t sell, so I put it in a drawer and moved on to the next book in the series, which did sell, and kicked off my career. Last year, I revisited it and realized it wasn’t half bad. I did a full editorial on it, and it stands now as the prequel to the series.

This book introduced Nashville homicide lieutenant Taylor Jackson, and medical examiner Dr. Samantha Owens, and the whole cast of characters from the Taylor series, including Dr. John Baldwin, FBI profiler extraordinaire. It is the story of how Taylor and Baldwin met, how Taylor got her scar, all set against the backdrop of a killer who is trying to create his own apocalypse.

Taylor Jackson is a fabulous character to write. She’s the warrior goddess of Nashville, half cop, half rock star, and my own personal Athena. Sam Owens is her best friend, the lodestone of the series, the conscience, so to speak. They’re quite a pair. Add in Baldwin, and all sorts of mayhem ensues.

Tell us about Nashville as a setting.

It’s the perfect backdrop—we have it all, from gangs to debutantes. The city has a rich history, and it’s a beautiful southern town. We’re growing very quickly right now, so there are all the attendant problems with a city breaking out of its long-held boundaries. I wanted to show the city we live in, not the one seen on the news or the awards shows.

Can you give us a hint about the next book to be released?

Next in line is THE DEVIL’S TRIANGLE, the fourth “Brit in the FBI” novel with Catherine, coming March 14. It’s a crazy ride! I’m also working on a secret project (I’m always working on a secret project) and the fifth installment of the Sam Owens series, ALL FALL DOWN. No release date for that one yet, sometime next year, I’m sure.

Let’s go off topic. If friends come to visit, what’s your favorite place to take them?

We have a few awesome restaurants that we frequent, so there would definitely be food involved. We take people to Cheekwood Gardens, a brilliant botanical garden in west Nashville; to downtown Franklin, for the cool shops and great food. And golfing, of course! We have a pretty low key life here.

We’re going to turn the tables here. How would Taylor Jackson describe you?

Oh, that’s totally unfair! She’d see me as quiet, loyal, and tall. I think she’d like being able to look me in the eye. We share some odd biographical details, so I think we’d have a lot in common.

Bucket list. Everyone has one, either in their head or on paper. What’s next on your list? What do you hope to do soon?

American travel, actually. I want to go to Yosemite, and Yellowstone, the Black Hills and Montana, go back to Kennebunk, Maine and stay for a bit. I love the Northeast; I’d dig a summer trip to the Cape or Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket.

What were the last books you recommended?

I do book recommendations every month in my newsletter, so this one had Harlan Coben’s Fool Me Once (it did, twice); Don’t You Cry by Mary Kubica, Tosca Lee’s The Progeny, and Deep Work by Cal Newport. I literally just finished Claire Mackintosh’s I Let You Go ““ wow, what a great book—and Alan Furst’s A Hero Of France.

What’s on your TBR (To Be Read) pile right now?

Several blurb books, plus I’m really looking forward to Victoria Schwab’s This Savage Song, but I’ll probably dive into Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld or Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty—she’s one of my favorite. Oh, and Before the Fall, by Noah Hawley and Forgive Me, by Daniel Palmer… Lord, I have a few lined up, don’t I? True confession, there’s 640 books on my Goodreads TBR… Yikes!

Thanks so much for having me, this was fun!

It was fun, JT. Thanks for sitting In the Hot Seat for us.

As I said, JT Ellison will be at The Poisoned Pen on Wednesday, June 16 at 7 PM. She’ll discuss and sign Field of Graves and Heather Gudenkauf will sign Missing Pieces. If you can’t be here that night, you can pre-order a signed copy of Field of Graves through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/1sqaefy

 

 

Have you seen Brian J. Davis’ Tumblr site, The Composites?  https://thecomposites.tumblr.com/

It’s fascinating. Davis makes police sketches of literary characters, based on the book description. In other words, we can see how the author portrayed the character.

Wait until you see Ian Fleming’s James Bond! Not quite how any of us might have pictured him. Recent sketches include John LeCarre’s George Smiley, Stephen King’s Carrie. Davis did a few sketches of George R.R. Martin characters.

It’s a fun site. You might want to check it out.

Some readers may have met Kate Carlisle at The Poisoned Pen. The author of Books of a Feather, the latest Bibliophile mystery, will be joining Laura Bradford and Paige Shelton at the Pen on Saturday, June 11 at 2 PM. She was kind enough to sit in the hot seat and answer questions.

Kate, cozy mystery readers who come to The Poisoned Pen may know you, but not all blog readers do. Would you introduce yourself to our readers? Tell us about yourself.

Before I started writing, I worked just about everywhere you can imagine, from law offices to libraries to TV game shows to vineyards. In a way, all of that—every bit of it—was an apprenticeship for my work as a mystery writer. Every experience is fodder for my books, and the variety allows me to craft mysteries with twists and turns that will keep readers guessing.

My tagline is “Smart. Funny. Murder!” and that’s my promise to readers with every book. I want to make you laugh while I make you think. I love when readers tell me they didn’t solve the murder until the very end.

Would you introduce us to Brooklyn Wainwright, and tell us about Books of a Feather (without spoilers).

I’m best known for the Bibliophile Mysteries. I’ve been a book arts hobbyist since I was quite young. I’ve always been fascinated by the book as an object, as well as the tales told on the pages. This fascination led me to create world renowned bookbinder Brooklyn Wainwright, who restores rare books while solving a modern day mystery attached to each.

Readers tell me that one thing they love about the Bibliophile Mysteries is figuring out how I’ve echoed the themes of the rare book in the contemporary mystery. For example, in RIPPED FROM THE PAGES, which came out in paperback last month, Brooklyn restores a first edition of Journey to the Center of the Earth, and the murder victim is discovered deep inside a wine cave on her parents’ California commune.

In BOOKS OF A FEATHER, my brand new hardcover, Brooklyn is approached by the president of a national birding society. The man is in an absolute panic. He spilled wine on a lesser known book of Audubon bird illustrations, the pride of his society’s collection. Can she repair it? he asks. She’s invigorated by the challenge, but when the man is murdered, she and her beau, British security expert Derek Stone, must find the murderer before Brooklyn becomes the next victim.

Just for fun, I’ve created a sort of literary scavenger hunt of bird references woven into the story. (You’ll find the Birdwatching Scavenger Hunt in the Secret Room at KateCarlisle.com.)

You’re currently writing two mystery series. Tell us how you juggle them – time, characters, ideas.

Writing two ongoing mystery series is a dream come true! Juggling characters and ideas isn’t too much of a problem because the series are very specific, so when an idea comes, it’s already attached to either the Bibliophile Mysteries or the Fixer-Upper Mysteries. Brooklyn Wainwright restores rare books; Shannon Hammer restores Victorian homes. Brooklyn lives in big city San Francisco; Shannon lives in small town Lighthouse Cove. Brooklyn’s parents followed the Grateful Dead on tour and settled in a wine country commune; Shannon’s dad ran the family construction company until Shannon took over, and now he lives in an RV in her driveway.

Juggling time, on the other hand, is a huge issue. How do I do it? Poorly. I’m always scrambling. I’ve discovered that panic is part of my process, and I’ve had to learn to live with the discomfort. I rely on deadlines to tell me when I absolutely must stop researching and revising and focus on telling the story.

(My time management has also been impacted the past year by taking care of my mother, selling our house, moving across the state, and—wait for it!—building a home. Because I needed one more thing on my to-do list.)

Deck the Hallways, the 4th in your Fixer-Upper series is due out in November. Tell us a little about that series.
I’ve always found Victorian homes to be deliciously evocative—especially when they’re in a spooky state of disrepair. My father was a general contractor so I grew up on construction sites. That, plus the fact that I tend to see murder around every corner made writing the Fixer-Upper Mysteries a natural fit. Protagonist Shannon Hammer took over Hammer Construction when her dad retired. She specializes in renovating Victorian homes in the northern California hamlet of Lighthouse Cove, a seemingly idyllic town haunted by dark secrets. Shannon gets help when needed from a group of close friends, the handsome local sheriff, and a sophisticated bestselling writer who set tongues wagging when he moved to town.

Readers can get a complete bibliography of my books in order of publication here: https://katecarlisle.com/books.php

Kate, I know you’ve been to Arizona before. What’s your favorite place to go when you’re here?

Anywhere Jenn McKinlay is, of course! Jenn is my partner in crime. Whenever we’re together, my face hurts from laughing. And she often serves cupcakes, so…

If friends visit you, where do you take them?

Right now, the answer is that I take them to the construction site of our new home. It’s not much to look at now, but it’s fun to describe what’s coming. You know that dream we readers all have of a cozy reading room with built-in bookshelves? It’s happening! And when I look up from my book, I’ll have a beautiful view of the mountains. Right now, we have zero bedrooms and one bath. 😉

Let’s talk about your bucket list, real or just in your mind. What’s next on it? What do you hope to do soon?

I would love to travel to Italy and back to Scotland. I would love to set a mystery series in another country. I really want a puppy. But honestly? In many ways I’m living my bucket list:

• Get published. Check!
• Hit the New York Times bestsellers list. Check!
• Write two ongoing mystery series. Check!
• Build a house. Working on it!

I couldn’t be happier! Or luckier. Okay, yes, I’d love to have one of my books hit #1, but that’s so far beyond my control as to be more of a dream than a goal.

One thing I am looking forward to is the American Library Association conference in Orlando. Librarians are my people! When Jenn and I did a signing at the conference in San Francisco, I kid you not, there were librarians in line who were shrieking with excitement. It was the most fun ever.

Guilty pleasures. What are your favorite TV shows?

I’m not sure I’d describe my favorite TV shows as guilty pleasures. Life’s too short to feel guilty about something you enjoy! Let’s call them market research because I gravitate toward shows with mystery and humor, just like my books. Suits, NCIS Los Angeles, Castle, Bones. I love Elementary, too. I also enjoy more somber mysteries, such as Blue Bloods and Law & Order in all its iterations. And I’ll watch anything on Masterpiece Mystery, of course.

What five words or phrases would Brooklyn use to describe you?

Oh, that is such an interesting question! Brooklyn would describe me as absent-minded, quirky (or she might say goofy), kind, thoughtful, and obsessed with food.

What’s on your TBR (To Be Read) pile right now?

Oh, so many books! The top three are The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny, Rockabye Bones by Carolyn Haines, and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, which somehow, I’ve never read. (Don’t judge me.) And I’ve got the newest Nora Roberts (Obsession) and Robert Crais (The Promise) set aside as a reward for when I finish this latest manuscript.

Thank you, Lesa and Poisoned Pen, for allowing me to spend this time with you! I appreciate everything you do to tell readers about my books.

Thank you, Kate! If you would like to order copies of Kate Carlisle’s books, and pre-order an autographed copy of Books of a Feather, check our web store. https://bit.ly/1TKuu5S

Penguin Random House does a series of “Papercuts”, short interviews with their authors, and they make them available for use. John Grisham recently spoke about the authors that influenced him.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UHRyR8UzC4&w=560&h=315]

Did you know John Grisham writes the Theodore Bloom: Kid Lawyer series for middle-school readers? If you’re interested in buying them for a young reader in your life, they’re available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/1PALOdB

Today, I’d like to welcome Laura Bradford who is the author of several mystery series. On Saturday, June 11, Laura is joining the Coffee & Crime Book Club at 10:30 AM to discuss the most recent book in her Amish mystery series, Churn for the Worse. Laura has a busy day. At 2 PM, she will then join authors Kate Carlisle and Paige Shelton, where she will discuss the first book in her new series, Eclair and Present Danger. Thank you, Laura, for sitting In the Hot Seat.

Laura, I don’t know if you’ve been to The Poisoned Pen before or not. So, would you introduce yourself to our readers? Tell us about yourself.

Sure! My name is Laura Bradford. My two biggest accomplishments in life are my daughters. After that, I can say I’m a writer (as you know) who also loves to read, bake, and travel (when funds allow). Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2006, I’m an advocate for those living with this disease.

I live in New York with my family.

Why did you become a writer?

I fell in love with writing when I was ten years old. I’d always been an avid reader, but the moment a childhood friend and I sat down to write our own books, I was hooked. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to be (besides a mom).

Early on, I thought I wanted to write for children. But once I sat down to take my fiction writing dream seriously, I realized I wanted to try my hand at what I loved to read—mysteries.

When you’re at The Poisoned Pen, you’re meeting with the Coffee & Crime book discussion group to talk about A Churn for the Worse. Tell us about your Amish mysteries.

I’ll start by referring you back to my childhood again. I was a huge Laura Ingalls Wilder fan. I loved everything about that time period and often wished I could be Laura.

So as niche market of Amish romances was really taking off, I looked around and thought, why not an Amish cozy?  And so I was off and running.

To write an almost 1800’s style lifestyle (in many ways) juxtaposed against the modern world really spoke to me. And before I knew it, I had Claire Weatherly (my English gift shop owner) and Detective Jakob Fisher (the local detective who was once Amish, himself).

The very nature of the Amish way of life, sadly, makes them prone to crime. They don’t pose for photographs, they keep large amounts of money in their homes, and they are wary of police. As a cozy mystery writer, I couldn’t ask for more.

I’ve enjoyed weaving a mystery that showcases the Amish. I do a lot of research for each book to make sure I’m portraying the Amish correctly. But my favorite part of the series has to be Detective Fisher. Writing a man with such layers has been a dream come true.

I often wish this series had been marketed better and thus reaching a larger audience. It’s a cozy, yes, but I think it has a wider appeal than that.

That same afternoon, you’re signing the first in a new series, Eclair and Present Danger. Would you introduce your amateur sleuth and tell us about this new series?

The only thing Winnie Johnson has ever wanted to do is bake. It’s an interest that grabbed hold of her heart at a young age and charted her path from that day forward. Her bakery—Delectable Delights—is the culmination of that dream.

Until Nick Batkas, her landlord, decides downtown Silver Lake is the next “it” town and raises Winnie’s rent so high she can no longer stay in business.

Or can she?

Winnie is summoned to a local attorney’s office for the reading of Gertrude Redenbacher’s will. But instead of money she could have used to keep her bakery open, Winnie inherits her late friend’s cat (who hates Winnie) and an old vintage ambulance that Gertie’s late husband had been restoring prior to his death.

With all hope now gone, she closes her bakery for the last time.

Through a series of incidents (including finding her across-the-street neighbor’s body), Winnie comes up with a plan to keep her business running via Gertie’s ambulance.

And thus, the Emergency Dessert Squad is born.

I had great fun writing this book (and the two that will follow in March 2017 and January 2018). Perhaps more fun than I’ve ever had writing. The concept is strong, the characters fun. And I’m so excited to sign the debut book, Éclair and Present Danger, at The Poisoned Pen.

Can you gives us a hint about your next book to be released?

I’m going to have a busy 2017 with a sixth Amish Mystery (whether that’s with BPC or not), a 12th Southern Sewing Circle Mystery (written as Elizabeth Lynn Casey), the 2nd Emergency Dessert Squad—Silence of the Flans, and the first three books in my Tobi Tobias Mystery Series with Kensington’s E-line.  It is my hope that this E-series will help draw new readers to all of my work.

Enough about writing. I don’t know how much time you have in Arizona. What would you like to see while you’re here?

I’ll have just about 30 hours in Arizona before I head back home to New York. I want to immerse myself in as much of the local culture (read: food) as possible in that time frame.

If friends come to visit you, what’s your favorite place to take them? 

The Central Park Zoo. Specifically the sea lions. I’m kind of addicted (and I know them all by sight).

Everyone has a bucket list, whether it’s written or in our head. What’s next on your list? What do you hope to do soon?

To rent a cottage on the beach for a month. I picture myself writing with the ocean breeze drifting in around me…  

What were the last books you recommended?

Linda Castillo’s Amish Thrillers.  I think her writing and her character development is incredible.

What’s on your TBR (To Be Read) pile right now?

I’ve been making my way through the Myron Bolitar books by Harlan Coben.  I’m finishing up FADE AWAY right now.  

Thank you, Laura, for sitting In the Hot Seat.

As I mentioned earlier, Laura will be appearing at The Poisoned Pen on Saturday, June 11 at 10:30 AM to discuss A Churn for the Worse. She’ll be back at 2:00 PM that same day to discuss and sign Eclair and Present Danger. I hope you have time to meet her at one of these programs. If you can’t make it, Laura’s books can be ordered here. https://bit.ly/24XXT09

In “Grave Disruptions” in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Elizabeth Little recently interviewed Laura Lippman about Wilde Lake, her latest book. We thought we’d share the link to that article. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/grave-disruptions/

We can get Wilde Lake for you, if you’d like. Just check the Web Store. https://bit.ly/1WAdwcJ

 

Earlier this week, Kevin Hearne hosted a Scifi Extravaganza at The Poisoned Pen. What makes it so special? Well, if you’re a science fiction or fantasy fan, how about these names? Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson, Pierce Brown, Beth Cato, Adam Christopher, Ryan Dalton, Leanna Renee Hieber, Jason Hough, Mary Robinette Kowal, Tom Leveen, Michael Martinez, Brian McClellan, Joseph Nassise, Sarah Remy, VE Schwab, Scott Sigler, Michael J. Sullivan, Sam Sykes, Dan Wells, Django Wexler. People lined up early to get wristbands, meet the authors, and get books signed.

Most of the pictures aren’t labeled. After all, it was a party of sorts – balloons and everything. But, if you’re a fan, you’ll want to watch for your favorite authors.

And, most of you didn’t think of The Poisoned Pen for science fiction and fantasy, did you?  Don’t forget to check the Web Store when looking for books. https://store.poisonedpen.com

This month’s book chat features June cozy mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime and Obsidian. The Poisoned Pen Bookstore will host two of these featured authors, Laura Bradford and Kate Carlisle, along with Paige Shelton, Saturday, June 11 at 2 PM. And, Laura and Kate will both be “In the Hot Seat” next week. Watch for those interviews.

Readers who follow my personal blog have seen my cat, Jinx, often enough in the book chats to recognize him. For those of you who have never seen one, meet Jinx.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCStmm7l-1k&w=560&h=315]

And, here’s the list of the mysteries featured in the book chat, June 7th releases.

Murder, Handcrafted – Isabella Alan – 5th Amish Quilt Shop Mystery
Title Wave – Lorna Barrett – 10th Booktown Mystery
Eclair and Present Danger – Lorna Barrett – 1st Emergency Dessert Squad Mystery
Books of a Feather – Kate Carlisle – 10th Bibliophile Mystery
Murder at Fontainebleau – Amanda Carmack – 5th Elizabethan Mystery
Dead End Street – Sheila Connolly – 7th Museum Mystery
The Diva Serves High Tea – Krista Davis – 10th Domestic Diva Mystery
The Black Cat Knocks on Wood – Kay Finch – 2nd Bad Luck Cat Mystery
A Golden Cage – Shelley Freydont – 2nd Newport Gilded Age Mystery
A Premonition of Murder – Mary Kennedy – 3rd Dream Club Mystery
Sense of Deception – Victoria Laurie – 13th Psychic Eye Mystery (1st time in paperback)
The Calamity Cafe – Gayle Leeson – 1st Down South Cafe Mystery
A Shattering Crime – Jennifer McAndrews – 3rd Stained-Glass Mystery
Purl Up and Die – Maggie Sefton – 13th Knitting Mystery (1st time in paperback)
Knit to Be Tied – Maggie Sefton – 14th Knitting Mystery (hardcover)

Did you miss John Hart’s recent appearance at The Poisoned Pen on his book tour for Redemption Road? You can feel as if you were in the audience if you watch it on Livestream at https://livestream.com/poisonedpen/events/5455741

If you would like to order a signed copy, a large print copy, or a cd audio of the book, we hope you order it through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/1sJtrbY

 

On June 7, Poisoned Pen Press will release A Few Right Thinking Men by Sulari Gentill.

This is the first of eight Rowland Sinclair Mysteries set in 1930s Australia. This first one was originally published in Australia in 2011. And, A Few Right Thinking Men recently received a starred review in Library Journal.

Gentill, Sulari. A Few Right Thinking Men. Poisoned Pen. Jun. 2016. 368p. ISBN 9781464206351. $26.99;
pap. ISBN 9781464206375. $15.95; ebk. ISBN 9780987068569. M

“In 1931 Sydney, Australia, unemployment is high and tension is mounting, especially among working people who feel the upper class are handing them a raw deal. Rowland (“Rowly”) Sinclair was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but has taken up the mantle of gentleman communist. He is, after all, a bohemian artist. His older brother is embarrassed by Rowly, but when their elderly uncle is murdered at home, Rowly sets out to uncover who might have wanted a sweet old man dead. As Uncle Rowly was a silent partner in a speakeasy, gangsters might have had it out for him, but our sleuth soon learns that fascist politicians make bad bedfellows. While the vintage Down Under settings might make this debut, which was short-listed for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best First Book, comparable to Kerry Fisher’s Melbourne-based Phryne Fisher 1920s mysteries, Gentill works in historical events that add verisimilitude to her story. There are more political machinations going on here than Phryne could ever contemplate. VERDICT Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for bringing another award-winning Australian crime writer to U.S. shores. Her witty hero will delight traditional mystery buffs.”

Sulari Gentill is as fascinating as the setting of her mysteries. She was kind enough to agree to sit in the hot seat for an interview. It’s my pleasure to introduce you to Sulari Gentill.

Sulari, although The Poisoned Pen has followers worldwide, I’m sure many readers are not familiar with your work because your books have, until now, not been published in the U.S. Would you introduce yourself?

Hello ““ I’m Sulari Gentill.

I’m Australian though I was born in Sri Lanka.  My family emigrated when I was still a baby, and we embarked on what seemed like a trek around the planet.  I started school and learned to speak English in Zambia, and we arrived in Australia when I was six.  That’s longer ago than I care to admit.  For the most part I grew up in Brisbane, at a time when it was still really an overgrown country town.  I attended my local school, built club houses in the mulberry trees by the Brisbane River and plotted world domination with my friends.

In time, I set off to University to study Astrophysics and somehow came out with a law degree.  I was duly admitted as a barrister and solicitor to the High Court of Australia and embarked on a career in the corporate sector.  Whilst practicing law can be creative, they don’t really like you to just make things up…or admit to it anyway.  Writing seemed liked a better way to indulge my fondness for fabrication.

Nowadays I live on a small truffle farm in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains with my husband, Michael, and our sons—two wild and fearless boys whose plans for world domination are more advanced than mine ever were!

Why did you turn to crime writing?

To be honest, it was a whim.  I simply decided to write a novel one day… I was a serial hobbyist, you see, and I’d finished the welding course and needed something else to do with the time I wasn’t lawyering or wrangling my boys.  There was no grand plan, no epiphany, just a sense of curiosity as to what the stories in my head would look like on the page.

Once I began writing however, it soon became clear that this was more than a passing fancy.  Writing seemed as natural a breathing and the consequences of stopping as dire.  Most of my other hobbies fell away as I became consumed with storytelling.  I’m still as delighted and excited to write as I was that first day.

Would you introduce us to Rowland Sinclair?

Why, certainly.

Dear readers, allow me to introduce Rowland Sinclair, who hails from one of the wealthiest and most respectable families in 1930s Australia.  An artist and a gentleman, Rowland is the unrepentant black sheep of the Sinclair pastoral dynasty. He blithely flouts the expectations of conservative Sydney, courting scandal and keeping company with entirely the wrong crowd.  Adamantly indifferent to politics, Rowland walks a fine line between his conservative birthright and his more libertine associations.  He is twenty-six years old at this first meeting, and living in the family’s exclusive Sydney mansion into which he has invited a louche band of penniless artists and poets.  He is a loyal friend, a passionate painter, a dry wit, and hopelessly in love with woman who won’t have him.

Tell us about A Few Right Thinking Men, without spoiling the story.

Written into real historical events, A Few Right Thinking Men is set in the tumultuous world of New South Wales in the 1930s.  It was time of extreme politics and social upheaval.  Communism appealed to the unemployed and working classes and the establishment gathered in secret fascist armies.  The story follows Rowland Sinclair, artist and gentleman, who manages to avoid politics almost entirely, until the brutal murder of his beloved uncle involves him in a dangerous infiltration of clandestine militias. In his dogged search for justice, he finds himself embroiled in treason and conspiracy as Australia moves to the brink of revolution.

Why did you pick the 1930s in Australia as the time period for this series?

My husband, Michael, happens to be an English teacher and an historian. I have always used him shamelessly to edit and sanity check my work.  When I first began to write, I would foist upon him manuscript after manuscript steeped in the mythology of the Ancient Greeks, filled with characters like Agamemnon, Menelaus, Odysseus and Achilles.  He would go through the pages, struggling with the pronunciation but dutifully providing me with comment and correction, until one day he broke down and demanded to know why I couldn’t “write something about people with names like Peter and Paul?”

Of course I ignored him…initially at least.  But writing can be quite an isolating obsession.  I spend a great deal of time in my own head, and whilst that’s fine for me, it is hard for those who live with me.  A great part of the challenge in being a writer is to make your imaginary world work with the real world in which you actually live.  And so I made a pragmatic decision to build a bridge towards the poor man who had married a lawyer and then found himself financially and otherwise tied to someone who refused to do much else but write.

I looked for a story to which my husband could relate, which would engage his imagination as much as mine.  Michael’s particular area of expertise is the extreme political movements of the early 1930s in New South Wales, and so, I set the Rowland Sinclair Mysteries in that context.

By doing so, I rather conveniently ensured that Michael would continue editing my novels—he cares far too much about the genuine history of the time to let me play with it unsupervised!  I also procured for myself an invaluable source of information.  It is one thing to read about a time, and another to have the opportunity to discuss it with someone who is an expert in that period of history.  For me, dialogue with an historian affords a richer understanding and fuels the kind of creative excitement that is fundamental to bringing an era to life.  

If you’re working on something now, what can you tell us about it?

I’ve very recently completed and submitted the manuscript for the eighth book in the Rowland Sinclair series… I expect I’ll be working on edits rather soon.

I’ve also just finished my first contemporary crime novel and am knee deep in a couple of speculative novels for young adults. In addition I’ve started writing a trilogy set in the early colonial era—tall ships, convicts, bushrangers, that sort of thing.  I expect one of these works in progress will soon begin to dominate my time and become my obsession, but at the moment, they are all equally full of potential and possibility.

Many of us will never get to Australia. When friends come to visit, what’s your favorite place to take them?

Australia is a very big country.  In that big country I live many hours from any capital city, in a very small rural town.  The distances are such that many of the sights for which Australia is famous (The Sydney Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, the Barrier Reef, Bondi Beach, Uluru etc) are too far away to be included on a sightseeing tour from my home in the Snowy Mountains.  But these mountains are themselves iconic in Australian culture.  It was here that the image of the hard-riding Australian stockman was forged.  It is also here that some of our mightiest rivers begin in peaks of the High Country.  The region is steeped in Indigenous history and post-settlement folklore.  I take my visitors to see kangaroos and brumbies up close, to waterholes in which platypi swim.  I show them limestone caves, scar trees and hot springs.  I take them to bush poetry slams and dances in tiny country town halls.  At night I show them the broadness of our sky and point out the Southern Cross.

Where would you like to go in the world, someplace you’ve never been?

Greece, New York, Paris… there are many places I’ve only been in my books.

What five words or phrases would Rowland Sinclair use to describe you?

To be honest, Rowland would be more likely to describe me with a sketch as opposed to words, but if he were forced, I believe he would say I was:

• Quite mad,
• Loyal,
• Stubborn,
• Prone to find humour in odd places, and
• Far too hard on the hero of my books.

Thank you, Sulari, for taking time for the interview.

If you would like to order a copy of the first in the Rowland Sinclair series, A Few Right Thinking Men, you can order it through the web store. https://bit.ly/1sO1j89