Mondays With Mike: Romance author Sandra Edwards

SANDRA EDWARDS WRITES in a in a variety of genre: contemporary, paranormal (mostly time travel and reincarnation themes), and hardboiled suspense with romantic elements. She's an active member of Romance Writers of America (RWA) and has won or been a finalist in numerous RWA-sponsored contests. She lives in the Lake Tahoe area with her husband, two kids, four dogs and one very temperamental feline.

Mike: Thank you for joining me today, Sandra. You have a very interesting variety of writing. Is there a common link among them all?

Sandra: Thanks for having me, Mike. I do write in various genres. But the thing they all have in common is that these genres are tangled with strong romantic elements. I write both single titles and series. Whether or not a book ends up as a single title or part of a series depends upon the story.

M: Can you give me a brief overview of some of your work?

S: Crazy for You is contemporary romance and is the first book I wrote (back in the 80s) and was originally intended as a single title. Over the years a sequel has been trying to emerge, and because this is one of my most popular books, I’ve started developing the sequel idea.

Incredible Dreams is a paranormal time travel romance that was born from my love of a good ghost story and my fascination with the 1940s. At this point, I have no plans for a sequel to this book, although I do have other time travel books in the works.

As for series works, Soul Searchers is a suspense series with paranormal elements. I’ve got a new series coming up. The Time Brokers combines one of my favorite genres (time travel) with the very hot paranormal element of vampires. The first book Staked brings a new twist to the vampire theme and will release this summer.

M: What started you writing?

S: I think I was probably born a writer, as I started spinning verbal tales at an early age, but it wasn’t until I was about 12 or 13 that I actually started writing them down. I wrote short stories in school to amuse my friends.

M: How did you get your first book published?

S: I’m an Indie author whose story is like so many others I know. I’ve won/finaled in plethora of RWA-sponsored contests and received numerous “requests from editors” via the contests, only to later receive rejections. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard, “your writing is too outside the box”.

JA Konrath [author of the Jack Daniels Mystery Series – Mike] is the reason I decided to go Indie (in July 2010), and I don’t regret that decision at all. To date I’ve sold around 30,000 copies of my books on Kindle and Nook.

M: I take it that all of your books are available as ebooks, correct? Are any available in traditional paper format?

S: Yes, all my books are available in ebook formats. Crazy For You, Secondary Targets and Incredible Dreams are available in print (via Amazon). Broken Wings (a novella) and Vegas, Baby (books 1 & 2 in the Soul Searchers series) will release in print later this summer as a 2-pack edition.

M: There has been a lot of discussion on this site, mainly by my co-writer Robyn Gioia about ebooks. Can you explain the process of producing an independent e-book?

S: A lot of work goes into producing ebooks independently. Since the entire process is on the author’s shoulders, it helps to be a bit of a control freak. Having your book edited by someone other than yourself is a must. If you don’t know one or two good editors, you’ll have to pay someone. Then there’s cover art. I’ve created some of my covers, others I’ve paid for. There are great cover artists out there who have reasonable rates. Once you have a professional-looking cover and a thoroughly edited manuscript, you’ll need someone to format it for the various e-readers. I do my own formatting (and I can be hired to format for Kindle and Nook). Once you upload to KDP (Kindle), PubIt (Nook) and Smashwords (which distributes to various outlets), your work isn’t done. People can only buy a book if they know about it. Marketing is a must (what works and what doesn’t is debatable, at best). It should be noted that even if you go the traditional route through a publisher, you’re still going to have to do the marketing yourself. Publishers rarely sink marketing dollars into new authors these days. So either way, the marketing’s going to be up to the author.

M: As an independent, how do you market your books?

S: I try to get myself on as many blogs as I can. I do cover/banner spots at various websites. I’m a regular visitor to a few reader-friendly forums such as kindleboards.com, nookboards.com and mobilereads.com.

M: How can someone purchase one of your books for find out more about them?

S: My books are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and various other outlets via Smashwords, including Sony, Kobo, Apple and Diesel. Links to Amazon, BN and Smashwords for each book can be found at my website.

M: Getting down to the actual writing: what are your writing habits? In other words, do you write each day, morning, evening, etc.?

S: My days are pretty routine. I spend a couple of hours in the morning addressing promo. I spend time as needed for technical things like formatting. My afternoons and evenings are usually spent writing and swapping critiques and beta reads with some of my author friends.

M: Anything upcoming?

S: Yes, as referenced above, the first book in the Time Brokers series titled Staked will release this summer. I’m also participating in a month-long blog tour in May. At the end of the tour I’ll award a new Kindle 3 to one lucky follower.

M: Can you tell me how that contest will work? There are more than a few folks here who would like a new Kindle.

S: Anyone interested in entering the contest will need to follow the blog tour (blog stops are listed at my website) during the month of May. Two or three questions will be posted about the participating authors (or their books) at each of the blog stops and will include a link to where the answers can be found. At the end of the blog tour everyone who sends me (via email) the correct answers to all the questions will be entered into a drawing for the Kindle 3 and a great starter library from the participating authors (approximately twenty books will be gifted to the winner). More info about the contest is available at my website.

M: Besides writing and taking care of two kids, four dogs, a cat (and a husband) do you have any hobbies? Or do you have any spare time?

S: I rarely have free time, but when I carve out a little block of it, video games (specifically RPGs) are my weakness. I especially love to play the Final Fantasy and Star Ocean series.

M: Thank you Sandra. Readers who want to contact Sandra may do so at sandra1@sandrawrites.com; her web site  and you can check out her Facebook page.

Mondays With Mike: Author Robert Kerr

I FIRST MET Robert Kerr at a book signing at the Joice, Iowa, Public Library in March of last year. He was promoting his book, Completely Restored, which involves a time-traveling family that begins restoring a century old home only to wake in the year the house was built. A school psychologist, he has followed an interesting career path: a welder, a carpenter, a mental hospital attendant, a mortician’s assistant, and a general Man Friday for an electrical engineer. He knows about restoring old houses, he and his wife, Joan, have rehabilitated five houses, including a Victorian-era house that inspired his book. Originally from Nebraska and the father of two grown children, he lives with his wife in Ankeny, Iowa. He reports that he is planning on retiring this year to devote more time to writing.

Mike: Welcome to my blog, Robert; I’m glad to have you here. First of all you need to tell me how you went from a mental hospital attendant, a mortician’s assistant to a school psychologist?

Robert: Actually, it has been an interesting journey. I majored in Psychology with the idea of going into counseling, but had to eat in the meantime. The mortician's assistant gig was while I was a college student. I lived in the mortuary with a room mate who was going into the "business". We helped with everything you would expect a mortician to do. I found it an excellent opportunity to observe people in many different states, from their best to their worst. It gives a rich source of characters and personalities to draw on in my writing.

After graduation, I took time off from school for a year to build the bank account up again before returning to graduate school. I received a call from an electrical engineer I had met at a seminar in college telling me of a job opening for a psychologist at the state hospital nearby. I applied and was hired to carry out behavior programs with mentally handicapped adults. I spent the summer and part of the fall working the three to midnight shift, tracking data, charting, and helping the clients with the routines of the ward. I also got quite a dose of the Watergate Hearings as that was all that was on our ward TV all day.

By October I was ready for a change and the same engineer who had told me of the state hospital job, hired me full time as the staff psychologist at his manufacturing plant. He was a true entrepreneur and inventor, specializing in equipment used by psychotherapists and psychiatrists. To say the least, he was an eccentric individual. We never knew when we came into the plant in the morning which personality would greet us. He was at once the hardest task master I ever worked for and at the same time one of the most supportive and encouraging people I ever had the pleasure to know. In the year I worked for him, there was never a dull moment; I had hundreds of unique experiences I could not have had anywhere else.

But, after a year, graduate school called and my boss helped convince me that if I wanted any kind of future, I had to pursue an advance degree and move on, which I did. After working in these two jobs for 15 months, I was committed to a career in psychology.

M: That is a wide range of experiences, tell me, what bearing has that background had on your writing?

R: Actually the main influence on my writing was the training I received in high school from a very dedicated English teacher who praised and encouraged me to write daily. Later, my experiences helped open my Nebraska farm boy's eyes to a larger world, one where I could use my training and experience to help students with difficulties in school find ways to succeed. And, after many years of writing essays, poetry, and short stories, which I never once tried to publish, I stumbled on to the true story of the Green Mountain Train Wreck and the role Dr. Elijah Jay played in the rescue effort; I was instantly hooked and couldn't resist intertwining his story with the adventures of a Marshalltown family who were taken back in time 100 years to the year when the house they restored was first built.

M: That brings us to your book, Completely Restored, can you give us a short synopsis of it?

R: An Iowa family completes the restoration of a 100 year old house only to wake up one morning in 1909, the year it was built. They quickly make friends with their next door neighbor, retired physician Silas Fischer. During their time-travel adventure they try to discover why they have been thrust back in time and encounter the Rev. Billy Sunday, magician T. Nelson Downs, the 1909 World Series and eventually the 1910 Green Mountain Train Wreck. In the bargain, the somewhat dysfunctional family pulls together to deal with their plight.

M: What gave you the idea for the book?

R: I have to give credit to my wonderful wife of 38 years who has always been a lover of houses, old houses in particular. Several years after we were able to unload the money pit that was our one adventure into old house ownership, she said to me over coffee one morning, "Boy I sure miss that old house." After spitting my coffee across the kitchen, I replied "anybody who would want to live in an old house should have to spend a year living in the year it was built!" She looked up at me and said that would make a great plot for a book and Completely Restored was born.

M: Where can the book be purchased?

R: The book can readily be purchased on Amazon.com for $14.95 plus shipping. 

M: Can you tell me a little bit about what else you write?

R: In terms of sheer volume, most of what I have written has been reaction to various social or political phenomena which have stirred strong feeling in me. As far as fiction, the novel Completely Restored and a few short stories are it. I have also penned a few poems for family members and dabbled in song writing with a friend from Marshalltown. Essentially I write about the things I become emotionally involved in and I in turn try to stir emotions in my readers. In my work with parents, teachers and kids, it has been important to do the same thing at times to motivate them to change or accept change in others.

M: As a writer, what is more important: Plot or Character?

R: As a reader, characters are what keep me reading and wanting more, but it always seems that the plot is what I find myself referring to when I recommend a story to others. As a writer, I have developed the plot first, then developed characters and finally made changes in the plot to accommodate the needs of the characters. That makes it sound like I hold characters in the highest importance; I guess I do.

M: What started you writing?

R: As I said my high school teacher Edith Payne was a tremendous influence on me. Everyone should have at least one teacher like her.

M: Tell me about your writing habits? Do you write each day, morning, evening, etc.?

R: Unfortunately, most of my habits are bad ones and my writing habits are no exception. I spent way too much time researching the story for Completely Restored, working on it off and on from 1993. Then in the summer of 2007, I began seriously trying to complete it and knocked out the first draft in 2 months. My serious writing usually takes place from 5 to 7 a.m., with quite a bit of coffee. This is the time of day when I am awake enough to type, but still not so alert as to get in the way of my characters lives.

M: Do you have anything on the drawing board; anything upcoming?

R: I am working on a sequel to Completely Restored in which the father and son go on a guy's road trip to Clear Lake in a restored 1965 T-Bird, but once again get transported back this time to the winter of 1959. One of them winds up being thrown in a mental hospital and they are both caught up in a murder. The working title is Car Crazy.

M: How about your spare time? Any hobbies, etc.?

R: Working on whatever house we happen to be living in is a hobby of mine in the same sense that capturing Moby Dick was a hobby for Captain Ahab. No matter how hard I try to avoid it, my spare time in the nicer months of the year always seems to go to some form of do-it-yourself project. (Did you catch the connection to Completely Restored there?)

We recently purchased a cabin on a Central Iowa lake which has been our home-away-from-home this fall and winter. We have added those touches to the inside that have made it ours. This summer, after I retire, I hope to get back into a routine of writing every morning until 7 a.m. before I start the day’s chores on the outside of the cabin property. It should make a great place to settle in and do some serious writing.

M: How can readers contact you?

R: My email address is bkerr826@msn.com.

M: Thank you, Robert. It was great to have you with us today. 

R: Thank you, Mike.

Here is a link to Robert’s web page,and a link to purchase Robert's book, Completely Restored.

First Monday With Robyn: Ebooks continued . . .

By Robyn Gioia

When I originally started this thread on eBooks, I thought I’d chat a little bit and move on. I referred to the eBook trend as a tsunami (no disrespect to Japan) rolling over the publishing industry. The onslaught has and is quite literally bringing in a world of change. There is so much going on, I can barely keep up with the changes myself. It’s quite literally one of the hottest topic out there and worthy of all the news.

Many of you have heard about Borders, the mega bookstore that filed for bankruptcy. It’s closing many of its underachieving stores, including the store next door to me. Since Amazon reported eBooks have overtaken paper books in sales, it’s no wonder a store selling only one type of product is suffering. If a store today is to survive, it will have to morph into something different. I read where one independent bookstore owner has turned her store into a community center. The customers come in for coffee, chat with friends, discuss books, review titles, and keep up on the latest news in the book world. Sort of a book gossip center. She says business is up despite the changes in the industry. In the future, I envision more of this and bookstores offering download kiosks for eBooks at specially bundled prices; gems you wouldn’t normally hear about or find on the internet. Sort of sounds like TV cable, doesn’t it.



Times Square



I’ve learned a few more things about owning an eReader. My husband and I flew to New York for a day. He brought a large, bulky, hardback book, and I brought my Kindle which fits nicely into my purse. Because I had a meeting to attend, he thought he would bring his book along to read. Turns out, he had time to walk Times Square instead. Who is going to read a book when visiting New York? Anyway, he ended up lugging his book around with him without reading one word. He carried it through the museum, on the subway back and forth, into the restaurants, the Hershey store and every single place we went. Needless to say, it turned out to be a nuisance instead of a source of entertainment.

On our return home, he spotted a new David Baldacci book at the airport. He stood there reading the cover trying to decide if he had read it. Turns out he hadn’t. While standing in line to pay for it, he asked me to check the price on my Kindle. I pulled it out of my purse, and checked the online bookstore right there in front of a line of customers. It was the exact same price. Despite the annoyance of carrying the other book throughout the city, he decided he would rather read his new book in paperback form, so he went ahead and purchased it. I was secretly glad too because I didn’t want to share the Kindle on the way home. I was in the middle of my own book.

There are changes taking place in the digital book world almost daily. Barnes and Noble’s eReader the Nook, can do color, the iPad can show picture books, and interactive books are being perfected as we speak. Feeling left out? Your phone can be turned into an eReader too.

I mentioned before that my students have been reading Tom Sawyer on their eReaders. One of my students had to take her Nook in for service this week. She was upset too because she has all her notes recorded on it and every vocabulary word sticky-noted. Come to find out, because it’s a touch screen, too many fingerprints on the screen keeps it from functioning properly. One of my other students had to take her Nook into the shop where it was replaced. The Kindles in the room have not suffered the same fate. Probably because they aren’t touch screens.

My daughter came home last week and announced she was going to purchase a Nook. The touch screen is more intriguing than the simple menu on the Kindle, and she wants to borrow library eBooks. We stopped by the kiosk at Barnes and Noble to look it over. The first thing the salesman pointed out was how the Nook can download library eBooks and the Kindle can’t. He knew exactly what we wanted to hear. My daughter was tempted to buy it that minute, but she decided to wait a week so it wouldn’t be an impulse buy. Good girl. To be fair to the Kindle, I’ve been told that a Kindle user can request the app to download library books from Amazon but I haven’t done it yet. Why Amazon wants to lose sales that way is beyond me.

On a personal note, I’ve had two eBook publishers interested in my middle grade mystery. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I may publish it myself since the rules are changing and I’ve been reading how some big name authors are going the same route. The whole thing will require some thought. The book isn’t up and running yet, but I would like to give you a sneak peek at the new cover. When I showed it to my class this week, they gave it a huge thumbs-up. If it had been available that moment, a lot of the class would have downloaded it on the spot. Hopefully it’ll be ready to launch sometime in early summer.

Until next month, take care, and happy reading.

* * * * *

Robyn is the author of, America’s REAL First Thanksgiving, St. Augustine, Florida, September 8, 1565, and the forthcoming novel, The Ghost, The Rat and Me, for an ebook publisher.

Mondays With Mike: Mystery & Thriller Author Austin Camacho

OVER THE YEARS Austin Camacho and I have attended many of the same conferences but, unfortunately, it hasn’t been until now that I’ve really had a chance to get to know him. Austin is the author of five novels in the Hannibal Jones Mystery Series, and two in the Stark and O'Brien adventure series. His short stories have been featured in several anthologies and he is featured in the Edgar nominated African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey.

He is a public affairs specialist for the Department of Defense. Born in New York City, he grew up in Saratoga Springs, New York and majored in psychology at Union College in Schenectady, New York. A veteran, today he handles media relations and writes articles for military newspapers and magazines. He also teaches writing classes at Anne Arundel Community College. Austin makes his home in Springfield, Virginia, as he puts it: “uncomfortably close to our nation's capital.”

Mike: Welcome to my blog, Austin, I’m happy that you can join us this week. Let’s start with your main character, Hannibal Jones. Who is he, where does he come from and is he based on anyone you know?

Austin: Hannibal Jones is an African American private eye based In Washington DC. He was born in Germany to an American soldier and his German national wife. When Hannibal's father was killed in combat at the end of Vietnam, Hannibal's mother raised him in Germany. After time as a police officer in NYC he joined the Secret Service but was asked to resign after refusing to cover up the bad behavior of the leader he was assigned to protect.

Hannibal's literary ancestors include Travis McGee, Simon Templar and Lew Archer, but I think his mixed heritage makes him unique.

M: A great heritage! I count five books in the Hannibal Jones series, can you give me brief two or three sentence description of each.

A: The Troubleshooter - In this prequel to Blood and Bone, Hannibal Jones is hired to free a Washington crack house from the drug addicts and winos that hold it. A powerful drug lord nearly drives him off, until he realizes that his success or failure will determine the fate of a neighborhood, and the future of one small boy.

Blood And Bone - Eighteen-year-old Kyle needs a bone marrow transplant, and his only hope lies in finding his father, a man who disappeared before Kyle was born. Hannibal Jones has two weeks to find the missing man, but his search turns up much more: A woman who might be Kyle's illegitimate sister, the woman who could be her mother, and the man who may have killed Kyle's father. Hannibal follows a twisting, winding path of deception, conspiracy and greed, from Washington to Mexico, pursuing the truth.

Collateral Damage - Bea's fiancé Dean has disappeared. Hannibal Jones finds Dean just before the man is accused of murder. All the evidence points to Dean, who can't remember what happened. Police believe that Dean might be following in the footsteps of his mother, who was convicted of killing Dean's father. Or was Dean covering for his mother, now out of prison and considered a possible serial killer? The trail leads from Washington DC to Germany, where Hannibal stumbles upon a third murder which seems linked to Dean's life. Hannibal must solve all three cases in order to clear Dean's name.

Damaged Goods - Anita Cooper was three times a victim. Her father's death crushed her dreams of college and success. Then her purity was drowned in powerless anxiety, and her virtue crushed by unspeakable humiliation. Rod Mantooth stole both her innocence and her father's priceless legacy, a secret treasure that could have rebuilt her life. Anita was lost until fate brought her together with Hannibal. Like a rolling mass of icy fury, Hannibal followed a twisted trail that led to Mantooth, the stolen treasure, and a final showdown in the icy waters of the Atlantic.

Russian Roulette - Hannibal Jones is forced to take a case for a Russian assassin. He must investigate Gana, the wealthy Algerian who has stolen Viktoriya, the woman his new client loves. Evidence connects Gana to Russian mob money and the apparent suicide of Viktoriya's father. Then more deaths follow, closing in on Viktoriya. To save the Russian beauty, Hannibal must unravel a complex tangle of clues and survive a dramatic shootout on Roosevelt Island, side-by-side with his murderous client.

M: I also count two standalones, again can you give me a brief description of each?

A: Not standalones, but the start of a separate adventure/thriller series:

The Payback Assignment - While fighting for their lives, mercenary soldier Morgan Stark and jewel thief Felicity O'Brien learn they share a psychic link that warns them of danger. They then combine their skills to get revenge on the man who double-crossed them both and left them to die in South America.

The Orion Assignment - Morgan Stark follows Felicity O'Brian to her native Ireland to defend her uncle's Catholic parish from Ian O'Ryan, an IRA terrorist. Trying to separate patriotic mercenaries from heartless terrorists leads them to a sniper mission on the rocky Irish coast, a deadly high speed motorcycle race in Belgium, and a final confrontation on an island off the coast of France where Morgan could die by slow torture if Felicity doesn't find him in time.

M: Which is easier to write, the mysteries or the adventure/thriller? Which is easier to sell to a publisher? And have you ever written a standalone novel?

A: I’ve never written a stand-alone because I tend to fall in love with my characters and can’t stand for them to languish in limbo. Besides, it’s so much easier to deal with story when you already know your characters and how they will react to whatever you subject them to. As far as my novels are concerned, the action thrillers are easier to write than the complex puzzles I write for Hannibal Jones to figure out - but the mysteries are more fun. Right now, nothing is easier to sell to a publisher. I do think a series is easier to market if the publisher thinks you can draw a readership.

M: What started you writing?

A: I’ve been a big reader since I can remember, and I read the kind of stuff I write. I’ve always loved stories of great heroes. After reading thru all 24 Tarzan novels, all the James Bond and Travis McGee books, and I think all of the Destroyer books I wanted to do it myself. After getting hooked on the Nero Wolfe series and the Lew Archer books I wanted to learn to do that too. For years I wrote for my own amusement but eventually we all want to share our vision with the world, right?

M: What are your writing habits? In other words, do you write each day, morning, evening, etc.?

A: Until a few months ago I worked on a novel every day. I still write every day, but now more of that is blog or social media content, and I write reviews for the International Thriller Writers and the American Independent Writers. I tend to do most of my work during my lunch hour (like right now working on this interview piece) and early weekend mornings.

M: Anything upcoming?

A: The third Stark & O’Brien thriller, The Piranha Assignment, should be on bookstore shelves in October. Meanwhile I’m working on the next Hannibal Jones novel and a Hannibal Jones stage play for a local production company.

M: A stage play! How difficult is that to write? It seems to me that adapting a novel as a play would be a rather difficult undertaking.

A: Actually, I'm adapting a short story. It's challenging because you can't just change locations whenever you feel like it - can't have a dozen scenes. And of course, you can't let action carry the story, it's all about dialog.

M: How did you happen to get involved in the playwriting business?

A: I went to see a play at a local theater. I got into conversation with the woman sitting in front of me, who turned out to be the director. I told her I was a mystery author and she asked if I'd like to try to write a play for them.

M: When and where is the play to be produced? And will you have a part in it?

A: I'm afraid it's way premature to discuss when or where the play may be produced but I'll sure let you know as soon as I can. And no, I will NOT be appearing on stage. I want people to actually watch the play when the time comes.

M: Do you have any hobbies, etc. for your spare time?

A: Spare time? What’s that? Actually, reading and writing are just about what I do for fun, except for hitting the range to poke 9mm holes in paper targets.

M: Where can we purchase your books? Are any available as ebooks?

A: All of my books are available in all book stores, but you probally won’t find them on the shelves except in VA, MD and DC. They’re all on Amazon.com of course, and are all available as ebooks.

M: How can readers contact you?

A: Readers can go to my website and hit the “contact Austin” button to send me an email. Or they can go to my Facebook fan page and send me a message. If they go there they can also get in on the discussions. Or they can always email me at ascamacho@hotmail.com . I really love to hear from readers and I answer every message and email, but not always on the same day.

M: Thank you for joining us, and good luck with The Piranha Assignment and the play!

Mondays With Mike: Author Jeff Markowitz

AS READERS TO this blog know, I love to attend writer’s conferences where I can meet fellow writers. One of my “finds” as a fellow is New Jersey’s Jeff Markowitz. I don’t really know why I hit it off so well with Jeff, perhaps it is because he travels from New Jersey to Chicago; but it is most likely because my family is from Philadelphia and most of my relatives are in the Philly-Jersey area. Besides, most folks here in the Midwest tell me I sound like a Jersey-ite at times. Anyway, Jeff writes the Cassie O'Malley Mysteries. He holds a Bachelor's degree in psychology from Princeton University and graduate degrees in special education and human services. For the last thirty-five years, he has worked in New Jersey’s non-profit sector developing community-based services for children and adults with autism.

“Recently,” he says, “I discovered that I also have something of a flair for killing people.” Hummmm?

Mike: Jeff, welcome to my blog. To get started, please tell us a little about your main character, Cassie O’Malley.

Jeff: My alter-ego, Cassie O’Malley is a tabloid reporter and amateur sleuth. She is a woman whose life has failed to live up to her expectations. A Princeton graduate now in her late thirties, Cassie has been a widow for nearly fifteen years. Her dream of becoming a big-time investigative reporter has been replaced by the reality of her job writing outlandish stories about space aliens and psychics for a barely reputable tabloid magazine. And when the long time owner/editor sells the magazine, even that seems to be crumbling. And then there's the small matter of the dead bodies...

Cassie used to have her own blog. She once wrote:

Some of you are not convinced that I am real. Some of you are of the opinion that I am a fictional character in the Cassie O'Malley Mystery Series written by Jeff Markowitz, that I am only a fictional character in the Cassie O'Malley Mystery Series. You can believe that I am a fictional character in a mystery series. But there is another possibility. Perhaps Jeff Markowitz is the fictional author of my life story, my nom de plume. Perhaps...

Thankfully, Cassie has lost interest in blogging.

M: And that answers the question: Who is the real person here? Okay, in what kind of adventures does Cassie get involved? What is the story behind each book?

J: The Cassie O’Malley Mysteries weave elements of Pine Barrens history, geography and folklore into traditional, amateur sleuth mysteries. There are currently three books in the series.

Who Is Killing Doah’s Deer? When the deer in Doah Township begin dying in large numbers, under mysterious circumstances, Cassie is on the story. But when she discovers a dead body among the deer, she is thrust into the middle of a murder investigation. Before the murder can be solved, Cassie must sort fact from fiction as she is confronted with questions of local politics, marital infidelity, Pine Barrens folklore, Siamese triplets, sea monsters, pterodactyls, plesiosaurs and the elusive Jersey Devil, leaving Cassie finally to grapple with the question, Who Is Killing Doah’s Deer?

A Minor Case of Murder. When Andy MacTavish brings minor league baseball to White Sands Beach, not everyone welcomes the club. Birders are especially upset by the location of Sand Skeeter Ballpark, but will they resort to murder to protect the birds’ nesting areas? When a woman dies at the ballpark, during the final game of the season, Andy asks Cassie for help. Is it murder? Is the dead woman the intended target? Does the dead woman signal the end of the dispute or is this just the beginning of hostilities?

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder. Cassie O’Malley is back in a Christmas mystery that will keep you laughing and guessing until the final showdown. At odds with her new boss, Cassie finds herself covering the shopping mall at Christmas. Cassie wants nothing to do with the assignment. Then Big Mack turns up dead in the men’s room, his throat slit. Sensing an opportunity for fifteen minutes of fame, mall security guard Oliver Berryhill spins a heroic tale of his confrontation in the men’s room with the loan shark. The police are skeptical, but Big Mack’s son, the even bigger Little Mack is determined to avenge his father’s murder. Barely a week later, a second body turns up in the employee break room and Cassie finds herself covering a double homicide. In a race against time, Cassie must solve the double murder before a third victim is killed.

M: We both were together in Chicago at the recent Love Is Murder conference. There was a lot of talk this year about ebook, and my regular contributor, Robyn Gioia, has also written extensively about ebooks. Is any of your work in ebook format?

J: Like most authors, I have gradually begun to put my writing on kindle. My first book, Who is Killing Doah’s Deer? is now available on kindle and I expect the entire series to be available later this year. Additionally, I have several short stories available on kindle.

The Sound Bite and Other Stories – What does a mystery writer write when he's not writing mysteries? A political candidate struggles to find an answer that will satisfy reporters when they discover his secret past in The Sound Bite. A single mother confronts her decision to place her son in a state psychiatric hospital at Christmas in State Home for the Holidays.

Twelve Steps and Other Stories – A man has a drink with his dead brother in the ghost story, Twelve Steps. And in Gilligan Finds a Body, a body is found floating in the water off of Fells Point.

M: How did you get started writing?

J: It took me thirteen years to write my first manuscript. Twenty-seven years if you count the re-writes. The Last Bodhisattva isn’t a mystery. It's a modern Buddhist parable, a cross between On the Road, by Jack Kerouac, and Monkey, a 500 year-old Chinese folk novel generally attributed to Wu Cheng-En. I began writing the book in 1975, at the age of 23, and wrote on-and-off for thirteen years, completing it (for the first time) in 1988. I tucked the manuscript away in a file cabinet and went about my life. Every few years, for the next fourteen years, I pulled The Last Bodhisattva out of the cabinet and did a re-write. The Last Bodhisattva never worked as a novel. But, after cutting approximately 60,000 words, it made for a pretty good short story. In 2006, The Sound Bite was published in Woman's Corner Magazine.

M: How did you finally get your first novel published?

I don’t think many people realize that the Mystery Writers of America used to have a publishing agreement with iUniverse. As a result, in 2004 I joined MWA and published my first mystery with iUniverse. In 2005, iUniverse was the major sponsor of Love is Murder. I made the trip to Chicago, met the Acquisitions Editor for Five Star, and several months later signed my first traditional publishing contract.

M: Do you have any advice for a novice writer looking for a publisher?

You mentioned before that you enjoy attending writer’s conferences. As do I. The first time I went to Love is Murder, I made the trip on the advice of a friend who said, “If you want to be a writer, you have to start going to the places the “real” writers go.” I have found the mystery community to be an incredibly supportive community, but no one will come looking for you. You have to “go to the places where the real writers go.”

M: What upcoming projects are you working on?

J: I’m currently writing the next book in the Cassie O’Malley Series. Cassie is investigating the death of the local library director.

M: Besides writing, do you have any hobbies – or do you have any spare time?

J: In my spare time I drink scotch and complain that I don’t have time to write. (Actually, I just came back from a week of snowshoeing in the White Mountains. If you’re interested, the photos are posted on my facebook page).

M: How can readers find you?

J: Readers can find me at my website and can leave a comment on the contact form, or can send an email to jeff@jeffmarkowitz.com.

Readers might also be interested in my blog. The blog address is cumbersome (http://doahsdeer.xanga.com/) but you can also follow the link from my website.

M: Thanks, Jeff. And that “cumbersome” blog is linked to on the right column under “Mike’s Blog List.” Happy writing!