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.