Chuck Greaves was last on the Binge Reading Podcast in May, 2020. Now he returns to talk about his fourth book in the Jack MacTaggart series. The Chimera Club.

It's a fast moving behind the scenes look at LA nightlife with a wonderful twist.

As well as giving us an update on his other activities since he was last on the show Chuck’s going to talk about a recent adventure, a Grand Canyon canoe trip with an unexpected ending....

But before we get there, if you haven't heard the original interview with Chuck it can be found here: 

www,thejoysofbingereading.com/chuckgreaves/eco-thriller-la-law

Jenny: Before we get into talking about Jack MacTaggart, you've been having some adventures of your own Chuck haven't. You just recently you went away on holiday and something happened. Tell us about that.

Chuck Greaves' holiday misadventure

Chuck: Well, I was rafting down the Grand Canyon. I was supposed to be on a 14 day trip, and at about day eight, I was helicopter rescued and taken to the hospital with a nasty case of COVID.

Jenny: Terrible. I mean they reckon that when you're out in the wild, with all this fresh air. that you pretty much protected, but it seems not.

Chuck: Well, it was a group of 28 people and we were in pretty close proximity to one another. And as soon as somebody introduces the disease to the group it spreads like wildfire, that's exactly what happened to us.

Jenny: Yes. Were you having stops on the banks? Were you in contact with other people or did you all set off together and stay in an isolated group for the whole time?

Chuck: Yeah, we were in a pretty insular, isolated group. So it, there was a couple who traveled from Europe to join the group. And I suspect that was how it was introduced and then it kind of made its way around.

Jenny: Well, we're glad that you're back on deck and, hopefully not feeling too many long term consequences. So we are talking about Jack MacTagggart, the fourth book, as you know, I was a great fan of the first three.

A classic set up for an brain twister plot

This time Jack gets tangled up in a case, and it's a very interesting twisty beginning because the man who's being accused of murder is actually physically in Hong Kong at the time that the death takes place, but the police are still very confident they're going to make the charges stick. Tell us about that. It’s a really fizzy opening.

Chuck: The basic setup for the book, is what if DNA evidence pointed to only one possible suspect of the crime, but that suspect had the perfect alibi.?

So the way the case sets up, there's the murder of an amorous Hollywood producer, a sort of a Harvey Weinstein type character, who's found naked and tied to the bed posts in a luxury hotel in Los Angeles, stabbed.

Then they recovered DNA evidence from the sink in the hotel bathroom. There are two different blood types in the sink, the victim’s and another person’s. And when they run that DNA through the state data bank, it identifies one person who could only be the assailant. The problem is that assailant is 7,000 miles away in Hong Kong on the night of the murder.

So that's the scenario.

Jenny: And where on earth did that come from, in your head first up, was there anything that sparked that kind of scenario.

Chuck: Not a real case, but I did want to set up a situation that would be a puzzle to unravel. Let's put it like that.

Different book in terms of writing process

Jenny: And when you're writing a book like that, it's extremely intricate in the way that the plot weaves in and out with different revelations. Did you work it all out ahead of time, or was there a certain section where you just let things flow and the answers came.

Chuck: Yeah. This book for me was completely different, in terms of process from the previous three books, because I'm not an outliner, I'm not the kind of writer who starts with a detailed outline and follows it from beginning to end.