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Author News & Interviews

Author Talk: Betty Webb, author of The Panda of Death: A Gunn Zoo Mystery

Mar 5, 2020

After wrapping up her 10-volume series featuring Scottsdale private eye Lena Jones last year, Betty Webb has resumed her Gunn Zoo Mystery series with the sixth entry, THE PANDA OF DEATH, which is now in stores. In this interview, Webb talks about how she decides which animal will be the key element in each of these novels, the premise of her new series and why she enjoyed doing the research for the opening installment, the authors whose works can be found on her nightstand, and the one aspect of the publishing industry that she considers to be an improvement over the state it was in when her first book came out in 1976.

Author Talk: Jane Thynne, author of The Words I Never Wrote

Jan 22, 2020

Jane Thynne’s latest novel, THE WORDS I NEVER WROTE, revolves around a chance discovery inside a vintage typewriter case, which reveals the gripping story of two sisters on opposite sides of World War II. In this interview, Thynne talks about her inspiration for the plot line and the research she conducted, her interest in family conflict as a major theme in the book, her fascination with prewar Europe and Nazi Germany, and why she incorporates real people into her fiction.

Author Talk: J.P. Smith, author of If She Were Dead

Jan 15, 2020

“Amelie and Janet are in love with the same man: Janet's husband. One knows it; the other doesn't. Or does she?” That’s the intriguing setup for J.P. Smith’s eighth novel, IF SHE WERE DEAD, a psychological thriller that, according to Booklist, “compels attention to the final line.” In this interview, Smith talks about unreliable narrators, the art of slowly building suspense that grows until it’s almost unbearable, writing from the perspective of a female protagonist, and why he doesn’t read many thrillers.

Interview: Matt Coyle, author of Lost Tomorrows: A Rick Cahill Novel

Dec 3, 2019

Matt Coyle revived the Raymond Chandler hard-boiled PI model, set in today’s fancy (and seedy) side of San Diego. LOST TOMORROWS finds protagonist Rick Cahill returning to Santa Barbara --- the city of lost tomorrows --- where, 14 years ago, he was charged with but not convicted of his wife Colleen’s murder. He attends the funeral of Police Sergeant Krista Landingham, his only alibi, who remained silent. Rick’s investigation into the deaths of Krista and Colleen is as intertwined as Napa Valley grapevines. In this interview, Coyle chats with Bookreporter.com’s Dean Murphy about his appointment as the 2020 Left Coast Crime Convention Toastmaster, the deaths of Rick’s friend and wife, and the next Cahill adventure.

Author Talk: Tim Maleeny, author of Boxing the Octopus: A Cape Weathers Mystery

Oct 25, 2019

Tim Maleeny is the author of the award-winning Cape Weathers series of mysteries and the bestselling comedic thriller JUMP. His short fiction appears in several major anthologies and has won the prestigious Macavity Award for best story of the year. In this interview, Maleeny explains why he took such a long break (11 years, to be exact) between his last Cape Weathers novel, GREASING THE PINATA, and the latest installment, BOXING THE OCTOPUS. He also talks about his decision to give Cape a sidekick like Sally, a trained assassin who brings a whole other dimension to the detective game; why he thinks the first book in the series, STEALING THE DRAGON, got such a positive response from the mystery community; and the three classic crime writers whose work he would want in his possession if he was ever stranded on a desert island.