Creative Alchemy

Introduction

Author Will Patching is fascinated by psychopaths. He has a website dedicated to just this topic. And the villain in his British noir mystery, Remorseless, is a character study in psychopathology.

Will and I had a lovely long chat about all sorts of disturbing subjects, including psychopaths and the absence of guilt that allows many a murderer to do what they do.

Will has also generously offered It’s a Mystery Podcast listeners a free copy of the audio version of his book, Remorseless! If you would like one please email me, mention the podcast and I’ll connect you with Will.

You can find Will and his books on www.RemorselessThriller.com. Also note that Remorseless is free on Amazon at the moment.

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on iTunes. And listen on Stitcher.

You can also click here to watch the video on YouTube.

 

Transcription of Interview with Will Patching

Alexandra: Hi everyone! I’m Alexandra Amor, and I’m here today with Will Patching. Hi Will!

Will: Hi Alexandra, thank you for having me.

Alexandra: Oh, you’re so welcome. How are things in Thailand this morning?

Will: Pretty warm, as usual. It’s a very nice place to be, beautiful scenery, spectacular place. I live on the island of Phuket. It’s a tourist destination, so I’m very very lucky.

Alexandra: That is nice. Well, that’s lucky. By way of introduction, I’m just going to tell everyone a little bit about you.

Will Patching is the author of “Remorseless”, a British crime thriller featuring forensic psychiatrist Dr. Powers and London Metropolitan Police Officer D.I. Jack Carver. Carver assists Dr. Powers as he tries to unravel the truth about violent psychopath Peter Leech, while battling demons of his own. So first I want to ask you, Peter, you’ve got a website dedicated to psychopaths?

Will: Mm-hm.

Alexandra: And as we were talking about just before the call… We talked about how your book is quite gritty. I think I saw it described somewhere as a British noir thriller, which is fantastic.

I noticed one of your reviewers described it as ‘relentless’. So are those the types of books you like to read as well?

Will: Oh, absolutely. I’ve been reading all sorts of books since I was a bookworm as a child. Mysteries, and thrillers, and crime fiction for me has been the biggest draw. And I think it’s the most popular genre generally anyway with everyone. So for me that was an area where I loved to read, and I always wanted to write.

I thought violent psychopaths were particularly fascinating, and I wanted to create a novel where one of the key individuals, the villain Peter Leech in this case, is actually a genuine psychopath and to put readers into his mind as part of that.

Introduction

One of my favorite things about the world of indie publishing is that authors can blend genres in ways that create books that are fresh and unique. My guest today, Stuart Jaffe, has done that with his paranormal mystery series set in North Carolina, featuring a ghost detective from the 1940s who makes himself known, and begins to work with, a detective in the present day.

Stuart shares two amazing true stories that went on to inspire some of the events in his Max Porter Mysteries. It’s such a cliche to say truth is stranger than fiction, but Stuart has some excellent examples that prove the reason that saying exists.

You can find Stuart and his books on www.StuartJaffe.com.

And on Twitter @StuartJaffe.

And on Facebook.

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on iTunes. And listen on Stitcher.

You can also click here to watch the interview on YouTube.

 

Transcription of Interview with Stuart Jaffe

Alexandra: Hi, everyone. I’m Alexandra Amor. And I’m here today with Stuart Jaffe. Hi, Stuart!

Stuart: Hi, Alexandra.

Alexandra: How are you?

Stuart: Thanks for having me. I’m doing fine. How are you?

Alexandra: I’m great. You’re so welcome. I’m so happy that you’re here. So just by way of introduction, I’ll let everyone know. Am I pronouncing your name, your last name correctly?

Stuart: It’s Jaffe.

Alexandra: Jaffe, okay, perfect. Stuart Jaffe is the author of the Max Porter Paranormal-Mysteries, The Malja Chronicles, The Gillian Boone novels, the Bluesman series, Real Magic, After the Crash, and much more. You’re a prolific guy, Stuart. His short stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. He was the co-host of the eclectic review podcast. And for those who keep count, the latest animal listening on his rural farm in North Carolina is as follows, one dog, four cats, one albino corn snake, three aquatic turtles, seven chickens, and a horse. But Stuart says that, thankfully, the chickens and the horse do not live inside the house. And so your black tarantula must have died. Is that right?

Stuart: Yeah, that was a old, old tarantula. It outlived most tarantulas. And we didn’t actually know…I don’t know if you know much about tarantulas. But most spiders, they shed their skin.

Alexandra: Right.

Stuart: And so they do it by…they lay on their back, and then they crawl out of it.

Alexandra: Oh, okay.

Stuart: So when they first start to shed, you think they’re dead because they’re on their back. So it took us about a couple days to realize, “Oh, that’s it.”

Alexandra: Oh no!

Stuart: But yeah, we lost that. We had bunnies. We’ve had other animals. We’re trying to reduce a little bit but I never win that argument.

Alexandra: No, I bet you don’t.

I’m really interested in the Max Porter Paranormal-Mysteries. That’s the thing that really piqued my interest. And since this is a show about mystery novels, I thought that would be a great fit. And the thing that intrigues me about them so much is that they combine sever...

Introduction

Setting in mystery novels is so important to me. My favorite mystery novels always feature a strong element of setting – Robert B. Parker’s Boston, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles’ Shepherd’s Bush area of London, and Lawrence Block’s New York City, just to name a few. Former journalist Joel Mark Harris joins me today to talk about setting in his wonderful John Webster series of noir mystery thrillers.

Joel and I both live in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Vancouver is also the setting for Joel’s novels. On today’s podcast we discuss how important setting is to Joel, as well as the research he does for his main character, John Webster, who is a soldier back from Afghanistan, who is struggling with PTSD and substance abuse problems.

Joel’s cat Phantom also make a special guest appearance!

You can find Joel and his books on www.JoelMarkHarris.com.

On Twitter @JoelMarkHarris. And on Facebook.

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on iTunes. And listen on Stitcher. Or watch the interview on YouTube.

Transcript of Interview with Joel Mark Harris

Alexandra: Hi, everyone. I’m Alexandra Amor and I’m here today with Joel Mark Harris. Hi, Joel!

Joel: Hello. How are you?

Alexandra: Very well, how are you?

Joel: Good, thank you. Thanks for having me.

Alexandra: Oh you’re so welcome, my pleasure. It’s nice to have another Vancouver writer on the show.

Joel: Yes. Yeah.

Alexandra: That’s pretty exciting. I’ve had writers from Thailand so far, the eastern United States and U.K., so finally someone from my hometown. So by way of an introduction I’ll just let everyone know, Joel Mark Harris is an award-nominated journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and producer. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, he graduated from the Langara Journalism School in 2007. After working various jobs in the journalism and PR fields, Harris wrote and produced the award-winning feature-length film “Neutral Territory,” which we’ll have to talk about. I’d love to know more about that.

Joel is also the author of the “John Webster” mystery thriller series of books, which is primarily what we’re here to talk about today. So, tell us a little bit about John, Joel. He’s an investigative journalist and he’s back from the war in Afghanistan.

Joel: He comes from way back when I was in school and some of my teachers had some really fascinating stories about times when they were in the field, and there was no one in Afghanistan, but some of them had been to Iraq, and some of them had been into conflict zones like Africa. And I just loved those stories and I thought they were super fascinating, so John really came out of those stories. He comes back from Afghanistan and he suffers from all that war and all the trauma that he experienced over there, so he tries to fit back into normal life, into Vancouver, and he has a really tough time.

Coastal Rhode Island forms the setting for a series of cosy mysteries by author Amy Saunders. Amy’s readers describe her characters as ‘a joy to meet’ and her books as fun and exciting.

Sit back, relax and let’s get to know the Belinda and Bennett stories a little better.

You can find Amy at AmySaundersAuthor.com.

And on Twitter @Amy_Saunders

And on Facebook.

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on iTunes. And listen on Stitcher.

You can also click here to watch the interview on YouTube.

Transcript of Interview with Amy Saunders

Alexandra: Hello everyone I’m Alexandra Amor, and I’m here today with Amy Saunders. Hi Amy.

Amy: Hello.

Alexandra: So just by way of quick introduction, Amy Saunders is the author of the Belinda and Bennett mysteries, which is a cozy mystery series set in the fictional coastal town of Portside, Rhode Island. Since 2010 she’s also published three stand-alone mystery novels, and recently launched the first book in a new young adult series. Her love of mysteries started as a teen and finally led her to pursue novel writing.

Amy the first thing I wanted to ask you was, I think it was on your website you mentioned that you wrote your first mystery novel as a challenge in 2009. Can you tell us about that, and what was the challenge?

Amy: Well, I had always done short stories. So I don’t know, I thought I didn’t have the patience or the longevity to go through with the book. I get bored with things, and I had trouble following through with even short stories. I just kind of thought, “Well, I don’t think I can do that.”

But then actually because of NaNoWriMon, the novel writing in a month in November, that gave me the idea to try. I couldn’t actually do it in November, but I thought, “Well, let me just do it by myself in January and see what happens.” Because I had time. And my sister really encouraged me to do it. She was like, “I think you’ll like it. I think it’ll be good for you.” Because I talk a lot. So she was like, “I think novel writing will be perfect, because you talk incessantly”. I thought, “All right, let’s give this a roll.”

I just went for it on January 1st in 2009, and I wrote actually what became “The Jesters Apprentice” a couple of years later. And that was basically… Yeah, I was in love. I just decided, this is perfect. This is what I want to do, and I kind of set off on writing “Deadlocked”, which was my first stand-alone.

Alexandra: Oh okay. Okay, great. And so the Belinda and Bennett series, which has quite a few books in it.

Tell us a bit about the characters, Belinda and Bennett first of all.

Amy: Belinda is actually kind of a little bit like me. Not totally, she’s a little more tenacious, and a little less timid than I am. Bennett is kind of… He’s a little more serious, and a little more straight laced than I am.

I’ve always loved “Pride and Prejudice”, and I like how Elizabeth and Mr Darcy are kind of similar bu...

We’ve all met lots of grim, gritty and damaged mystery novel detectives. In her Mike Malone mysteries, set in England’s Lincolnshire county, Milly Reynolds has turned that trope on its head.

 

In the introduction I share the motivation behind It’s A Mystery Podcast, including my love of talking to artists about their art. I come from a family of voracious readers, and we are always looking for our next favorite mystery. I am also an independent author and I began to notice that many amazing books are being shared with the world but they sometimes have trouble finding an audience in the increasingly competitive book market. I’ve taken these two elements of my life and married them. Think of the It’s a Mystery Podcast as a matchmaker between great books and eager fans of mystery novels.

Each Monday I will post a new episode featuring an interview with a mystery author you may not have heard of. And most authors will have a book available for free (or for a very low price) so that you can give them a try with little or no risk. For example, my guest in this episode, Milly Reynolds, has quite a few of her books available for $0.99.

Milly Reynolds is the author of the Mike Malone mystery series. After a short career in banking and teaching, Milly decided to try her hand at writing her own crime series. She has always loved the mystery detective genre. While she would never dare to try to emulate some of her heroes, she did want to try and create a series that was quirky, didn’t take itself too seriously and contained some humor. And so, Mike Malone was created.

You can listen above, read the notes and links below or watch the interview on YouTube.

You can find Milly Reynolds at www.MillyReynolds.co.uk.

And on Twitter @MillReynolds

And on Facebook.

 

Transcription of Interview with Milly Reynolds

Alexandra: Hello, everyone and welcome to It’s a Mystery podcast. I’m your host, Alexandra Amor and I’m here today with Milly Reynolds. Hi, Milly.

Milly: Hi Alexandra, how are you?

Alexandra: Very well, how are you?

Milly: Doing fine, thanks. It’s dark and gloomy here in the UK.

Alexandra: Is it? Yeah, the sun it just coming up here in Vancouver. By way of introduction, I’ll just tell people about you. After a short career in banking and teaching, Milly decided to try her hand at writing her own crime series. She has always loved the mystery detective genre. While she would never dare to try to emulate some of her heroes, she did want to try and create a series that was quirky, didn’t take itself too seriously and contained some humor. And so, Mike Malone was created.

The main character in your “Mike Malone” series is Detective Inspector, Mike Malone. So, why don’t you tell us a little bit about him?

Milly: Well, he’s based on somebody that I used to work with. You see a lot of detectives who have lots of bad baggage behind them. They are troubled characters. Mike isn’t. Yeah, he’s got a bit of a back story, but on the whole, he’s a lovable chap. He’s non-threatening. He’s safe. He’s trustworthy. He’s somebody you can go to. This is the chap that used to work with. I describ him as the teddy bear at the end of the bed. Someone you felt secure with and this is how I portray Mike.