Next Big Book Thing: Author Interview

How did you come up with the title? “I’d Kill For You” is a fairly common, everyday phrase, and I like it as the title of a mystery novel because it says romance and murder both at once. In fact it seems such a natural as the title of a mystery, I’m a little bit amazed no one else has grabbed it, but no one has.

What was the hardest part about writing this book? If you are asking money for your ware, everyone has the right to tell you precisely what they think of it, and to be brutally honest. And you have no right to object. Unless they’re your friends, of course. You can’t depend upon your friends to be honest critics, nor should you.

Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it? How the process obsesses one. Writing is not an avocation one can leave at home. Ideas for additions or improvements present themselves at the most inconvenient times and places. Suppose that a cobbler couldn’t leave home and go ten feet in any direction without being accosted by shoes possessed of their own will and voice, making importunate demands to be mended or resoled. That’s something of what it’s like to be a writer.

How much of the book is realistic? There are varying levels of verisimilitude in mysteries. Private eye mysteries are realistic in that private eyes do exist, although they don’t usually investigate murders. Many private eye mysteries have some pretty unlikely things happening in them, and mine is no exception, but I like to think that nothing strictly impossible happens in “I’d Kill For You.”

What are your goals as a writer? Entertaining the reader is my main goal, but I always say, if you can’t manage to entertain your reader you should settle for trying to piss him off a little. Either way, he’ll remember you.

What books have most influenced your life? “Bleak House” by Dickens opened my eyes as to what is possible in a work of literature. It is the only book which has both made me laugh out loud and made me cry. Some books have done one or the other. “Bleak House” is the only book that has done both.

Who is your favorite author and why? Dickens is my man. I’ve often thought that every mystery reader should be a Dickens fan. He’s magic. Putting yourself in the hands of the old magician is an unforgettable experience, as he takes you through the story and shows you the plot from many different angles. I find that every novelist has to stop to describe a room and its contents at some point, and there are few authors that can do that with any real wit and artistry. Dickens is one of them.