This week, the Crime Cafe presents crime talk between Debbi Mack and crime writer Gareth Spark. If you enjoy this podcast, please feel free to share it! And please consider becoming a Patreon supporter. Thanks! :)

This week, the Crime Cafe presents Debbi Mack's interview with crime author Michael Zimecki. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter so we can provide podcast transcripts. Thanks! :)

This week, the Crime Cafe presents Debbi Mack's interview with crime thriller author Elka Ray. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter so we can provide podcast transcripts. Thanks! :)

Author Debbi Mack interviews thriller author Jame DiBiasio on the Crime Cafe podcast. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter so we can provide podcast transcripts. Thanks! :) Supporters get access to free books and stories, including my first novel, Identity Crisis, Donna Fletcher Crow's novel, A Very Private Grave, my short story "Jasmine", and advance looks at the third Sam McRae novel and my next release featuring a new protagonist. Along with all the perks you get as a supporter. So check it out! :)

Instead of the usual interview, this episode of the Crime Cafe features the Philip Marlowe radio episode “The Persian Slippers”. I hope you enjoy the show! :) Coming soon! A sneak peek at my upcoming novel for Patreon supporters!

Author Debbi Mack interviews crime fiction and noir author Jason Michel on the Crime Cafe podcast. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter so we can continue to provide podcast transcripts. Thank you! :)

Author Debbi Mack interviews crime fiction author Phillip Thompson on the Crime Cafe podcast. To buy any of the booka displayed below, just click on the cover. The interview transcript is below, if you’d like to read it. Or download the PDF copy and read it later. Debbi: Hello everyone. This is the Crime Cafe, your podcasting source of great crime, suspense, and thriller writing. I’m your host, Debbi Mack and before I bring on my guest, may I remind you—like you have a choice—that The Crime Cafe 9 Book Set and Crime Cafe Short Story Anthology are available for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, Kobo, Apple, etc. You can find the buy links on my website, debbimack.com and also we have a Patreon campaign. If you make a $5 monthly donation, you will get access to a lot of really great content; short stories and, for an addition $5 per month, get a free copy of our Crime Cafe 9 Book Set. That’s nine novels for free. So, consider it please and you’ll get our endless gratitude as well. Okay, having said that, it’s my pleasure to introduce my guest, a Mississippi native, a Marine, a journalist and speech writer, as well as the author of four novels, Phillip Thompson. Hi Phillip, it’s great to have you on. Thanks for being here. Phillip: Hi, Debbi. Thanks for inviting me. Debbi: Sure thing! There is so much I could ask you, because you’ve done so many fascinating things, but let’s talk about your crime writing. Phillip: Okay. Debbi: Your first novel was, Enemy Within. Tell us about the story and that protagonist. Phillip: Sure. That novel seems completely old now. I wrote it in the late 90’s and the protagonist is an ATF Agent named Wade Stuart, who’s investigating a white militia who is plotting to overthrow the governor of the state of Mississippi and also has a gun smuggling operation going. And Stuart who is investigating this kind of runs into a moral dilemma, but he starts to challenge his own thinking about the government that he works for, the government that he served and how that clashes with individual freedoms. And when I wrote it at the time, it was precipitated by something, an incident that I ran across on active duty and it made me start to think about, you know, what would really happen if Americans were confronted with individual freedoms, especially with gun rights? And this goes back, you know, 20 years. Back then it sort of seemed implausible if you will, but 20 years later it seems a little bit more relevant now than it did even back then. Debbi: Yes, absolutely. It seems like a very timely issue. Phillip: I thought it was then. It wasn’t so much then, but I think, you know years later… Debbi: You were ahead of your time [laughs]. Phillip: Apparently it was, yeah. Debbi: Well, I think that’s a very intriguing premise and I actually bought a copy of the story. Phillip: Oh, okay. Debbi: So, I’m looking forward to reading it. Phillip: Thanks. Debbi: Definitely. On your blog you mention you’ve tried to turn it into a screenplay, or did you turn it into a screenplay? Phillip: Well, I have a draft. I’m not necessarily a screenwriter. I did teach myself how to write screenplays a few years ago and I had this grand idea, oh, I’ll just turn my first novel into a screenplay, which is a lot, lot harder than it sounds. It’s a completely different form; screenwriting is. You’ve got 120 pages and you have to…there are rules that you need to comply with. So, I have a draft, but it’s very rough, and I don’t think it’s quite ready for prime time yet. Debbi: My sympathies are with you. I know what it’s like to try to adapt one’s own novel because I’ve done it. Phillip: Right, you’re a screenwriter yourself. Debbi: It’s very, very tough, and I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it actually. The person who asked me, the producer said, I think you can. Go right ahead and I’m like okay [laughs]. It’s tough, it’s really, really tough.

Author Debbi Mack interviews mystery author Daniella Bernett on the Crime Cafe podcast. To buy the book displayed below, just click on the cover. The interview transcript is below, if you’d like to read it. Or download the PDF copy and read it later. Debbi: Hello everyone. This is the Crime Cafe. Your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I’m your host, Debbi Mack. It’s a real thrill to be back for a fourth season of this podcast and before I get into introducing my guest, I would like to say two things. We have The Crime Cafe publications on sale on my website, debbimack.com under "Crime Cafe". You can find them at any retailer, online and if you happen to catch this podcast during July of 2018, they’re going for a special price on Smashwords. I mean a really low price, so check it out. And the second thing I wanted to say is we now have a Patreon page. If you want to support the podcast, there are all sorts of cool perks that go along with being a supporter, like early looks at novels and drafts and free short stories, video chats, that kind of thing. So, there is a lot there for people who support the podcast, including a free copy of the 9 book set if you support at the $10 or above level. So, having said that, let’s get to the podcast. Let’s get to our guest, our distinguished guest who is back for a second time; a return visit from Daniella Burnett who writes the Emmeline Kirby/Gregory Longdon series, mystery series. Welcome, Daniella. It’s great to have you back. Daniella: Thank you very much. I’m glad to be here again. Debbi: It’s wonderful to be here for a fourth season and to have you as well. Daniella: Yes, your program is so delightful and you give so many people an opportunity to hear about different authors and their mysteries. Debbi: I do my best [laughs]. Daniella: [laughs] Debbi: Right now you have a third book out. Is that correct? And you’re working on the fourth one and getting it published. Daniella: Actually the third book is out. The fourth book, The Checkered Past will be released on September 29th, and I’m actually working on Book Six at the moment. Debbi: Okay, yeah. Of course, we’re always working on the book that’s way ahead of what’s being published [laughs]. Or, you know, yeah. But, so everything always feels a little out of whack timewise [laughs]. Daniella: Yes, it does a little. Debbi: But, in any case, tell us a little bit about Book Three because I noticed that it gets into some dark secrets, as far as Gregory is concerned and Emmeline’s relationship with him. Daniella: Okay, well Book Three was, From Beyond The Grave, which took place in Torquay along the English Riviera in Devon. There’s a change in dynamic in Emmeline and Gregory’s relationship so that’s why I decided to take them out of their usual environment, which is in London so that we could focus more on their relationship and the change in dynamic of it and as you mentioned, in that book Gregory has always had secrets but his secrets are taking a different turn and are impacting the dynamic of their relationship. Debbi: Yes! And there’s a kind of a love triangle of sorts. Daniella: Yes there is a woman from his past that causes conflicts and a lot of grief for Emmeline in, From Beyond The Grave. Debbi: So that sounds intriguing and it ends up extending to a certain extent into Book Four. Daniella: Yes, it does because I am leaving something hanging at the end there to intrigue my readers and make them want to go to four, which will be coming out in September. Debbi: Yes! Daniella: Certain questions are answered in Book Four, but more questions linger. Debbi: My goodness! One of the things I was wondering, in Book Four you get into the very interesting subject of Nazi-looted art. Daniella: Yes, I do. Book Four focuses on a looted Nazi painting and a former IRA Commander because as I was developing the story line for my book,

Debbi Mack interviews crime fiction author David Swinson. To buy any of the books displayed, just click on the cover. The interview transcript is below, if you’d like to read it. Or download the PDF copy and read it later. Debbi: Hi! This is the Crime Cafe, your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. Before I introduce our guest, I’d like to remind you to check out the Crime Cafe story collections; a boxed set and a short story anthology. They’re on my website, debbimack.com. Just click on the link “Crime Cafe” and you can get to the buy buttons there, as well as see our merchandise and other stuff that’s cool, and subscribe buttons, of course, to the podcast. Also, get ready for our Patreon launch. I’m setting up an online community for supporters of the Crime Cafe and there will be great perks for anybody who contributes and exclusive content if you contribute at a certain level. It’s not a very high level, either. So, it’s monthly contributions and I would greatly appreciate your support for that. When that comes out, I’ll let you know. In any case, without further ado, I would like to introduce my distinguished guest… David: Oh geez! Debbi: A really great author who writes wonderful crime fiction, David Swinson. David: Hi! Debbi: Hi, David. How’s it going? David: Good, good. Debbi: Excellent. I met you online after reading, The Second Girl. I found a review, I can’t remember where it was, but somewhere or other a review popped up for, The Second Girl and I was just captivated by it. Not only because it’s set in D.C., which is, you know, I live near D.C., arguably Columbia is a suburb of D.C. David: Fairfax Station. Debbi: Yeah, but it was just such a wonderful story with a great protagonist. David: Thank you. Debbi: Now reading Crime Song, which is a stunning and wonderful follow up. It’s excellent and I would like you to tell us more about Frank Marr and the series and how and why you developed this character. David: Well, Frank Marr … I think The Second Girl was published in May of 2016 and then Crime Song, June of 2017 and then the third book is not coming out until February 2019. But prior to 2016, I mean Frank Marr was in my head seriously for years, I mean a long time. And I had written a couple of other books prior to The Second Girl and they got rejected and they were police procedurals and then I went back to Frank and said, listen I’m just going to have fun. I’m going to do something that’s so outside of me, and Frank Marr is totally outside of me. I mean, in certain ways I’d love to be like him. In certain ways I would not want to be like him at all. But nothing bothers him or affects him, I mean as far as like his habit and stuff like that. It’s like he’s almost blind to that kind of stuff. But I just sat down and had fun and wrote it, and when I gave it to my agent with the other two books I had written, she goes, “Are you sure you’re done?” You know? And that’s sort of like an indication, well, maybe I better go…but on this one she didn’t say that. She just said, this is good and she did not send it out wide, she only sent…I wanted her to send it to an editor who had turned me down like two times, Josh Kendall at Little Brown in Mulholland and he ended up falling in love with it. But Frank…before Frank was a retired cop turned PI, he was an actual burglar. Not a cop, just a regular burglar that got involved in some PI work. But he was also a burglar and that’s what, you know got him his money and stuff like that. But Frank Marr, he ended up changing and I made him a retired cop turned PI. It also used to take place in 1999, because that’s really when MS-13 was really active with trying to recruit young girls and stuff like that in high schools and I agreed with my editor. I mean 1999…I wanted to really get away from all the social media, because I can’t stand having to write about that stuff.

Instead of the usual interview, this episode of the Crime Cafe features the Philip Marlowe radio episode "Trouble is My Business".

Debbi Mack interviews translator and crime fiction publisher Anne Trager. To buy Minced, Marinated, and Murdered, just click on the cover below. The interview transcript is below, if you’d like to read it. Or download the PDF copy and read it later. Debbi: Hi everyone. This is the Crime Cafe. Your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I’m your host, Debbi Mack. Before I introduce my guest, I’ll remind you to check out the Crime Cafe boxed set and anthology on my website. Just go to debbimack.com and click on the “Crime Cafe” link and you can find the buy buttons for both books and download them there. They’re sold at a very reasonable price and you can also find the podcast subscription buttons there and the Crime Cafe merchandise, so check it out. And now, it’s my great pleasure to bring on translator and crime fiction publisher, from France (living in France at any rate) Anne Trager. Hi Anne! It’s so great to have you on. Thanks for being here. Anne: Hi Debbi! I am thrilled to be here. Thanks so much for having me. Debbi: Well, I am very happy to have you. Let’s talk about Le French Book. Le French Book, is that correct? Anne: That’s correct, that’s correct. Debbi: Le French Book. Tell us about how you went to translating for others to founding a publishing company. Anne: Well, so it happened in 2012. I was working…I had been living in France for a really, really long time. I moved over here in 1985 just because I was obsessed with France and so I ended up in France and then I just stayed and I worked as a translator for a really long time. I worked in publishing in France and I worked in international communications for international companies here, well, in Paris at the time when I was living in Paris. And one morning, I just woke up and I said, you know I’ve got to do something here. I am reading these fantastic French writers in French. I love mysteries and thrillers and they just weren’t being translated into English. Now some were, but very, very few. I mean at the time there were only … like three percent of the books published in the United States were translations and that’s all languages together. So, imagine the tiny, tiny percentage of French books that were actually getting into English. This is still the case, actually. I mean we can only do much, but we do what we can, right? And it was really frustrating because I’d read these authors and I couldn’t talk to them to my friend and I couldn’t share them with the people I wanted to share them with, you know? And I said, actually I can do this. I have a foot in the U.S. because I’m American and that’s where I grew up and that’s my culture and I have a foot in France because that’s where I’m living and I speak French and I translate and I know about publishing. So, there you go. That’s how we started Le French Book. Debbi: That’s fantastic! How many titles do you publish a year? Anne: Well, it’s really variable. I mean I wish we could do more. So far we’ve published about 30 titles and it goes up and down, and we’ve had years where we’ve published more and years when we’ve published fewer, you know depending on any number of factors including the fact that translation takes a really long time and you know you need to spend time translating books. Debbi: Yes. I was going to ask who your favorite crime fiction authors, French or otherwise are? Anne: Oh, you know, that’s a really, really hard question. I mean we have published 30 titles. That’s not 30 different authors because we have some series, but I have a bunch of authors and in our…you know we publish a bunch of different authors and I’m very involved in each one of those books. And you really, really have to love a book to want to translate it because it requires actually getting into an author’s head, you know. Understanding who they are, where they’re coming from, what they’re trying to get across; getting into the story and building a br...

Debbi Mack reads Chapter 7 of her New York Times bestselling hardboiled mystery, Identity Crisis, on the Crime Cafe podcast. Here's the text of the reading: CHAPTER SEVEN By the time I recovered my wind, they’d gagged me and tied my hands behind my back. The rope was tight, making my wrists hurt. Having my arms stretched back was awkward, forcing me to use muscles I’d not used in ages. The car’s air conditioning was on full blast. I was freezing and sweating like a pig. On the whole, it was not an ideal arrangement. They took me somewhere. I can’t tell you where. I can’t even tell you how long it took. A blindfold takes away all sense of place and time. Being terrified doesn’t make things much better. When we finally got to wherever the hell we went, they guided me out of the car with hands gripping both my arms. We marched a few yards, then stopped. I heard the jingle of keys. No one spoke. A door opened and we went inside. The floor was hard and the only sound was the faint echo of our footsteps. We walked until we reached another door. More walking, then up a short flight of steps. Despite my fear, I was amazed at how well my other senses worked, taking up the slack caused by the blindfold. First, a hard floor, then a carpet, now bare floor again. The place felt warm and stuffy, but maybe I was just nervous. The guys holding my arms were firm, but not rough. Not gentle either, but they had no reason to be rough—yet. They maneuvered me around until I felt something against the back of my knees. One of the men grunted something like “siddown” in my ear. I complied with gratitude. My legs shook. Sweat dripped from my armpits and my stomach was jumpy. I desperately hoped I wouldn’t vomit—especially with the gag on. They bound my legs and took off the blindfold and gag. I was on a stage, facing a dark theater, squinting into two blinding white spotlights. When my eyes adjusted, I could see empty seats. What had I expected, a full house? “Ms. McRae.” A disembodied male voice, electrically amplified, boomed from the dark. I blinked and waited for more. “Ms. McRae,” the voice repeated in an implacable and monotonous tone. “It’s good to meet you.” I didn’t trust myself to say anything, so I nodded. “I’m sorry about the inconvenience. It’s important you know we’re serious.” No shit, I thought. I licked my lips, but my mouth had gone so dry it was a wasted gesture. “You do realize that?” I worked my mouth again and managed to say, “Yes.” It sounded like I’d swallowed ground glass. “Good. Let’s get down to business then,” the robotic voice droned on. “It would be good to do this quickly and painlessly, don’t you agree?” He could have been talking about killing me, for all I knew. I said, “Yes.” “Where is Melanie Hayes, Ms. McRae?” “I don’t know.” “What was that?” “I don’t know.” In my peripheral vision, I sensed a presence. A big, heavy, muscle-bound presence. “Is that your final answer?” Had I been kidnapped by Regis Philbin? “I just don’t—” Suddenly, I was facing left, my cheek stinging, but I hadn’t turned my head—someone had turned it for me. The slap had come fast and from out of nowhere. “Where is she?” I tried to catch my breath. “I … don’t know.” Another slap, harder this time. The lights were making my eyes hurt. My head throbbed. “Where is Melanie Hayes?” Again, I told him I didn’t know. I got a punch in the ribs. Then another. “Where is she?” I shook my head. It hurt to breathe now. Another hard slap followed by a punch in the gut. I gasped for air. “Stop that,” the voice commanded. “Give her time.” The muscle man stepped back. I got my time. Then the voice said, “What’s your business with Bruce Schaeffer?” How the hell had Schaeffer gotten into this? “Wanted to ask him some questions.” “About what? What sort of questions?” “Thought maybe he might know where Melanie is.” Pause. “I’m not sure I believe you.”

Debbi Mack interviews mystery author Richard Helms. To buy any of the books displayed, just click on the cover. The interview transcript is below, if you’d like to read it. Or download the PDF copy and read it later. Debbi: Hi everybody. This is the Crime Cafe. Your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I’m your host, Debbi Mack. Before I introduce my guest, I’d like to remind you to please check out the Crime Cafe Nine Book Set and the Crime Cafe Short Story Anthology. Both publications you can find on my website, debbimack.com when you click on the link Crime Cafe. You can also find the podcast subscription buttons there, as well as Crime Cafe merch. And with that, I would like to introduce my good friend and a great writer who also happens to be a multi-award winning author, a retired clinical forensic psychologist, and a retired college professor, Richard Helms. Do you go by Rick or Richard? Richard: I go by Rick. Debbi: Yes, I always call you Rick [laughs]. So, very cool, Rick. Thanks for being here. I’m so glad you could be here. Richard: Well, I’m happy to be here. I appreciate you having me today. Debbi: Well, it’s my pleasure and at this point, you said you have 19 published novels? Richard: Well, yeah. I have 19 that have been published. I think three of them are still in print. So, a bunch of them are available as ebooks, but most of my novels right now are out-of-print for any of a number of reasons. My own publishing company folded up back in 2011 and several of the books were on that, and Five Star (I’m one of the Five Star orphans). Some of you may not be familiar with Five Star. It was a division of Cengage Learning, which used to be Houghton Mifflin. It was Thomson-Shore and all these other, but anyway, they folded their mystery thriller line, I guess January of 2015 and I got the message on my birthday that my book publisher was going out of business. Not only that, but my books were going to be going out of print. So, the books that I had with Five Star are largely out-of-print at this point, but I have had 19 published up to this point beginning all the way back in 1980, which is probably before a lot of people watching this were born, when I had my first couple of novels published by World Karting Magazine. I was a go-cart racer back then when I was in college and Anne Bazzoli-Kugler with World Karting Magazine talked me into writing a series of stories about a driver named Karl Geary and the two books, Geary’s Year and Geary’s Gold were serialized over the course of about four years in World Karting Magazine. I immediately got to work and started writing an adult style thriller. At the time I was really reading a lot of Robert Ludlum and Ken Follett and David Morrell and so I decided I was going to write a Ludlum-style thriller called, The Valentine Profile because obviously getting published was so incredibly easy that all I had to do was dash it out and send it off and people would pay to publish it. I didn’t see another book in print for almost 20 years [laughs]. So… Debbi: This is not a place to look for overnight success. Richard: Well, most of the overnight successes I know have been doing this for about 20 years [laughs]. Debbi: Exactly! Exactly! Richard: At one level or another. I mean [Robert] Crais was writing for TV for years; Lee Goldberg, too. You know people who’ve been slaving away in the salt mines of writing in the back rooms of the story-runner rooms, and a lot of them are now coming out as novelists and doing a really great job. Debbi: That’s correct. That’s true. I was going to ask you about stock car racing and if you’d ever considered writing a NASCAR novel. Richard: Well, I wrote a novella, which is currently…I have a book of short stories that’s currently with my new book publisher. It’s Clay Stafford Books out of Nashville, Tennessee. But I’ve sent them a short story compilation that includes an unpublis...

Debbi Mack interviews thriller author Kristin Helling. To buy any of the books displayed, just click on the cover. The interview transcript is below, if you’d like to read it. Or download the PDF copy and read it later. Debbi: Hi, everyone. This is the Crime Cafe. Your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I’m Debbi Mack, your host. Before I bring on my guest, I’d like to say two things. First, check out my website and the link at debbimack.com. The link “Crime Cafe” where you can find all the buy links for the Crime Cafe publications, as well as the subscribe button for the podcast. Secondly, I’m putting together a Patreon campaign for people who would like to support the podcast. Yes, you can help keep the lights on here and keep the great crime, suspense and thriller talk coming. So, they’ll be great perks for people who get involved and donate as low as a dollar. So, please consider it and be on the lookout for the page. I’ll let everyone know when that’s up. But now, what you’ve been waiting for. My guest is Kristin Helling who “enjoys stories with a journey, whether it’s a journey across the globe, a journey through space, or a journey of finding oneself.” I like that. How’s it going Kristin? It’s great to have you on. Kristin: Good, thank you for having me, Debbi. Debbi: Sure thing. It’s wonderful. So, you’ve done a lot of different types of writing and that intrigues me, but we’ll start with your thriller writing. The Altruism Effect, tell us about the book. What is the book about? Kristin: Yeah, so the premise is based around a psychological experiment from our history, a real one. As I was studying psychology, I got my minor with my bachelor’s in psychology and it was just all of these cases from the past that have taught us so much about humanity, was just so inspiring to me and so I feel like the stories write themselves when I read these cases and so my series, Mastermind Murderers is based off of loose inspirations from psychological studies. So, the first book, The Altruism Effect is based off of the Stanford Prison Experiment that happened in 1971. So, yeah my protagonist is a psychologist herself. She’s graduated with her doctorate and she’s running a clinic with a few other graduates that she has come close with and she’s had a couple of horrific experiences, which relates back to the prison experiment. Kind of helps her guide herself through life. Debbi: I know as a lawyer, it affected me. Kristin: She went through the training to be a psychologist and that definitely came from my background in psychology as well as, you know the cases that I allude to as well. Debbi: Yeah, I thought it was interesting that you had that reference to the Stanford Experiment, because I think I’ve heard of it before and that’s just very scary. And where does The Bystander Effect go from this, the next book I assume in the series? Is it an extension of what happens before? Is it the same protagonist or does something else happen? Kristin: It is, yes. So, this is a four book series. So, I don’t think it’s a spoiler in saying that she survives [laughs]. Debbi: Thank heavens [laughs]. Kristin: And so the second book, The Bystander Effect opens up with the detective that speaks to her when she’s in the hospital at the end. He actually goes back and visits her after there’s been some time for her to heal and he actually approaches her to ask for her expertise in a case that he’s currently working on. So, he…because of the experience that she had, he’s finding similarities in some current cases he’s working on and he thinks with her experience and her education that she would be a really big help to the case. And so, with a lot of kind of going within herself and seeing if this was possible for her to even do, she ends up taking the job, and so the two of them work to try and solve the next case that comes up. That’s kind of how the rest of the series is line...

Debbi Mack interviews mystery author S.G. Wong. The transcript is below, if you’d like to read it. Or download the PDF copy and read it later. Debbi: Hello everyone. This is the Crime Cafe. This is your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I’m your host, Debbi Mack. Before I introduce my guest, I would just like to remind you to check out the Crime Cafe link on my website, debbimack.com where you can find buy links for the Crime Cafe Boxed Set and Short Story Anthology. It’s only $1.99 for the boxed set and $0.99 for the anthology and you can also subscribe to the podcast there. And now, it’s a great pleasure for me to introduce my next guest, a woman who writes in the hardboiled mystery genre, which I love and also has an awesome female protagonist, S. G. Wong. Hi, S.G., how are you doing today? S.G.: I’m doing well Debbi. How are you? Debbi: Fine, thanks! I had the pleasure of reading your first Lola Starke novel Die On Your Feet. I just thought it was so, such an interesting concept. S.G.: Thank you. Debbi: How about you tell us about Lola and her companion, so to speak, Aubrey [laughs]. S.G.: So, as you mentioned my series protagonist, her name is Lola Starke, and Lola lives in a city, I call Crescent City. I created a world for her and it’s based on 1930’s Los Angeles, but the premise is “what if the Chinese had colonized rather than Europeans” and then I also imagined ghosts being a regular part of life in Crescent City. So, Lola’s constant companion, Aubrey is invisible to Lola but she hears him. She hears him just fine. Oftentimes, she’s not happy about hearing what he has to say, but you know those are the best sorts of, you know partnerships. Dramatic partnerships are, you know, when they’re at odds. It’s really fun to write. So, Lola is a bit of a trust fund baby, but she’s actually also a private investigator. She chose that path because of her father who worked at one of the studios in town. So, since it’s based on, you know, not a very close reading of 1930’s era L.A., but sort of this Hollywood glamorized version that we all sort of have (those of us who don’t actually live there). So, there’s a movie studio, there’s a movie studio system and so Lola’s father used to work as a fixer for the studios and she’s kind of gotten into that sort of problem solving career. So, that’s who she is and her companion, Aubrey. Yeah, her ghost [laughs]. Debbi: That’s really something. The first book ends in a way that’s not really a cliffhanger, but really strongly suggests an interesting sequel. That’s all I’ll say about that. S.G.: I’ve actually…well so far, I mean now it’s 2018 isn’t it? There are three books out in this series so far, and I’m actually busily working on a prequel novella. It’s actually a re-working. I actually had finished it back in July of 2017 and then you know how it is, Debbi when you’ve done something and it’s okay, but something’s not quite sitting right with you, you know as the writer. And so I sat with that for months, and I finally decided in December I had to re-write the whole thing because it just was not quite working. So, I have no idea when that’s going to be out [laughs], but I’m working on it. And then, in terms of the continuing novel series, I have an idea to do three more books. Books Four, Five and Six I guess it would be. Sort of like a trilogy within the larger series because I have a really long story arc I want to explore. So, that’s what’s on deck I guess, as they say. Debbi: Wow, that’s fascinating. I realized that you had some books after the first one and I was curious about what kind of story arc Lola had without giving too much away over the course of those books. S.G.: Right. So far books One, Two and Three and thank you very much again for your lovely, kind words about book One, Die On Your Feet. So, the two books after that, the second one is called, In For A Pound and the third one is called,

Debbi Mack interviews mystery author Curtis Bausse. The transcript is below, if you’d like to read it. Or download the PDF copy and read it later. Debbi: Hi everyone. This is the Crime Cafe, your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I’m your host, Debbi Mack. Before I bring on my guest, I’d like to remind you that the Crime Cafe Nine Book Set and Crime Cafe Short Story Anthology, are available for sale on my website, debbimack.com and just click on “Crime Café”, and you’ll get to the buy links as well as the podcast subscribe buttons and the merchandise store. Now, having said that, I’m very pleased to have today with me mystery author Curtis Bausse [Pron: Bowse]. Did I say that correctly? Curtis: Well, it should be Bausse [Pron: Bose] normally, the French pronunciation. Debbi: Curtis Bausse. Curtis: I accept anything these days, you know. Debbi: But you go by Curtis, I assume. Curtis: Yeah, yeah sure. Debbi: Okay, Curtis, who comes to us from Provence. Am I saying that right? Curtis: That’s perfect, yeah. Debbi: Oh, fantastic! Well, it’s great to have you on and you are originally from Wales though. Curtis: Indeed, yes. Debbi: That’s awesome. Curtis: I grew up in Wales, educated in England and then I moved to France like ages ago. Shall we just say ages ago. Debbi: Ages ago. So you lived in Wales for a while. Curtis: I lived in Wales all my childhood and then went to school in England. I was actually, I’m pretty much Welsh. I’m 75%, but we lived very close to the border with England and I never learned to speak Welsh for example. I couldn’t understand Welsh, so my education is more English. Debbi: [agrees] Curtis: And then I moved to France. So, I’m a bit of a mix, yeah. Debbi: Okay, well I just have to ask, have you ever been to Portmeirion? Curtis: In Wales? Debbi: In Wales. Curtis: Uh, yes, a long, long time ago. Why do you have to ask that? Have you been? Debbi: I have to ask that because I’m a big huge fan of the TV show that was set there, The Prisoner. Curtis: The Prisoner. Yeah. Debbi: Whenever I see that place, I always think creepy, small town [laughs]. Curtis: You’re right, yeah. No, I went when I was a kid and that series was amazing. And I think afterwards it actually burnt down. Did you read about that? Debbi: I didn’t read about that, no. Curtis: There was a fire there in Portmeirion and I think that whole kind of set that they used burnt down. Whether they rebuilt it, I don’t know, but yeah. There was a fire there. Debbi: Wow! Because I know that there was quite an uproar after they aired the ending of the series. Curtis: Yeah. Debbi: To the point where Patrick McGoohan actually fled the country as I understand it. Curtis: Yeah, I didn’t know that. Debbi: Oh! I love that show though. So, what inspired you to move to France? Curtis: What inspired me? Well, my parents were always Francophiles. We came to France when I was a kid for holidays from the age of like eight or 10 onwards; you know we would come to France every year. I studied French at uni and I had what we call a sandwich year abroad when you study languages. So, I came to France during that year at the university and more or less fell in love with the country. Well, I was already pretty much, you know, and met my wife at that time. Debbi: [agrees] Curtis: And so settled there as soon as I left, as soon as I left uni in fact. Britain at that time (the UK) was not in a very great state. This is kind of the mid 70’s. More or less bankrupt and there wasn’t much that would, you know, want you to stay in Britain, and France was a very attractive proposition at that time. So, I came and settled and stayed ever since. Debbi: Huh. And where did you get the idea to write about Magali in your mysteries? Curtis: You mean where did I… Debbi: Why Curtis: …find her as a particular…

Debbi Mack interviews crime fiction author Ray Flynt. The transcript is below, if you’d like to read it. Or download the PDF copy and read it later. Debbi: Hi everyone. This is the Crime Cafe. Your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I’m your host, Debbi Mack. Before I introduce my guest, a quick reminder that the Crime Cafe Nine Book Set and Crime Cafe Short Story Anthology, are available for sale at all major online retailers and some minor ones too. In any event, just go to my website, debbimack.com and click on Crime Cafe, where you’ll find the buy links as well as ways to subscribe to the podcast. And with that said, I’m thrilled to have on my program today, one of my old writers’ group buddies, and a great mystery author as well as a master thespian, Ray Flynt. Hi Ray, I’m very glad to have you on today. It’s awesome and thanks for being here. Ray: Well it’s great to be with you and we do have a history, even though you’re barely out of college and I’m 39 again. We do go back a few years. Debbi: Oh, please! Ray: I have fond memories of that writers group in Maryland for many, many years. Debbi: We miss you. Ray: It really kind of crystalized my writing, that group. Debbi: It’s a great group and I’m glad to be a part of it and we miss you and think of you often (at least I do). Your first mystery, I remember reading parts of that I believe. Ray: Absolutely. Debbi: Unforgiving Shadows Ray: Unforgiving Shadows Debbi: Yes. It kind of seems to set up Brad Frame’s backstory for kind of like the whole series that carries him through the whole series in a sense. Was that intentional? Ray: Yes, although it was not the first Brad Frame story that I wrote. Debbi: Ah, Okay. Ray: The first one that I wrote was entitled, Grateful Husband Loving Wife and it was not good, plain and simple. However, I thought when I finished it, it was a masterpiece you know. First of all, it was only about 40,000 words. It was not…I mean some might debate whether I’m a good writer now, but I was not a good writer back then and I rediscovered my manuscript for that book about 10 years after I’d written it and I started to read it and I thought, oh my god, this is just absolutely awful! Debbi: [laughs] Ray: So I know I’ve improved from then. So that was the first book and it really was I think unconnected character that I wanted to make Brad. One of the issues that (in my life) I wanted to infuse Brad Frame with was to create an investigator whose life had been informed by tragedy and that kind of shot him off into a different trajectory then he had been. In my own life, when I was in my mid 30’s, I had a younger brother (age 22) that died. And it was certainly a tragic event for our family. It was something that we were all dealing with; trying to come to grips with, did a lot of reading, etc. The second book that I wrote with Brad Frame as the lead character, was a book that later got published called, Lady on the Edge, and in that book it features a South Carolina ceramic artist whose son’s death had been ruled a suicide four years earlier. Brad Frame was in town and she reached out to him saying she didn’t believe that her son would commit suicide. As a mystery writer, it has to be a murder mystery and, in fact, that’s the case. But that book gave me the opportunity to explore suicide on families. Debbi: [agrees] Ray: So that was basically the second manuscript that I wrote…a book which was originally titled Death Scenes, and that is what became Unforgiving Shadows. …for me a little of the story…I think this is informative for writers. Some of my favorite authors growing up were like Reck Stout. So he had the Watson character that basically told his stories, you know. Debbi: [agrees] Ray: So originally I started off with the idea that Brad Frame, this wealthy member of the mainline in Philadelphia had hired a publicist to tell his stories and that cha...

Debbi Mack interviews crime writer K'Anne Meinel on the Crime Cafe podcast. Check out the show notes below. Or, if you’re in a rush, click here to download the transcript! And click here to enter her five-book giveaway! Debbi: [00:00:13] Hi, everyone. This is the Crime Cafe, your podcasting source of great crime, suspense, and thriller writing. I'm your host Debbi Mack. Before I bring on my guest, I'll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two ebooks for sale: the nine-book boxed set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy links for both on my website debbimack[dot]com under the "Crime Cafe" link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You'll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, along with our eternal gratitude for doing so. [00:01:03] It's my pleasure today to have on an author with more than 100 published works including short stories, novels, and novellas. She works in a variety of genres, including crime fiction of course, and she's a USA TODAY bestselling author. She is also owner of Shadoe Publishing, amongst her other accomplishments. So it's my great pleasure to introduce K'Anne Meinel. Thanks for being here today, K'Anne. K'Anne: [00:01:38] Thank you for having me. Debbi: [00:01:41] It's my pleasure to have you on. Glad you're able to be here. So you've written an impressive number of works. How long have you written and published fiction? K'Anne: [00:01:55] I've written all my life but I've actually only published about eight years. But I had books waiting. I wrote my very first complete novel in 2003 and I did it in two weeks. Debbi: [00:02:12] Wow. K'Anne: [00:02:13] Yeah. Debbi: [00:02:13] That's impressive. Was that your completed draft or did you have to amend? K'Anne: [00:02:21] I played with it for eight years before I actually sought out publishers. Got 20 rejection letters, and something told me to go with self-publishing which has worked for me. Debbi: [00:02:34] That's excellent. Yeah. K'Anne: [00:02:35] Once I published it, I did get approached by a publisher, and I should have read more of the reviews because they turned out to be con artists. I've never received any residuals. Debbi: [00:02:49] Oh my gosh. K'Anne: [00:02:49] They stole it, and then I got my rights back. Using my lawyers. And they've never stopped publishing it. They keep stealing. Debbi: [00:03:03] Oh, my gosh. That's awful. K'Anne: [00:03:05] Yeah, it was a horrible experience. That's why you know I caution people. Yeah. Anybody can call themself a publisher but watch what they do. Debbi: [00:03:15] Right. Absolutely. And self-publishing ... you have your own imprint. I also have my own imprint and I think that's very important. K'Anne: [00:03:23] Yeah. Because a lot of self-published authors, if they don't have a so-called publisher behind them, some stores won't even consider them. Debbi: [00:03:34] Yes, exactly. Exactly right. It gives you a more professional image. K'Anne: [00:03:41] It does. It does. And I've compared my paperback books to some of the so-called professional books. Some people that I may compete with or whatever, and I'm very pleased with what we've produced. And it was a learning curve. You know I didn't walk into this knowing anything, but I really enjoy learning. It's a challenge. I absolutely love formatting my books. Once the story is written, then tweaking all the little fine details like putting in a doodad here that most people wouldn't notice. But when you're looking at a paperback and it feels different, accordingly, and you don't know why, it's because of those details. Debbi: [00:04:29] Yes. Yeah I really like self-publishing and the flexibility that it gives you. K'Anne: [00:04:40] Well, they're trying to make it a little harder. I notice with CreateSpace going away, because Amazon is bringing it back under their umbrella and it's no longer going...

Debbi Mack interviews crime fiction author Adam Maxwell. The transcript is below, if you’d like to read it. Or download the PDF copy and read it later. Debbi: Hi everyone. This is the Crime Cafe. Your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I’m your host, Debbi Mack. Before we get started and I introduce my guest, let me remind you that the Crime Cafe Nine Book Set and Crime Cafe Short Story Anthology are on sale at my website, and all major retailers; Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, you name it, they’re there. Just go to debbimack.com and click on “Crime Cafe” to find the buy links. You can also subscribe to the podcast there. Plus, I’m going to be making a big announcement. It’s coming up soon, so stay tuned for the big announcement about the show. I guess what I’ve done is just made a big announcement about the big announcement! So, if that’s not from a Monty Python skit, I don’t know what is! And on that note, I’d like to introduce my guest, the very funny crime author, Adam Maxwell. It’s so great to have you here, Adam. Thanks for coming on. Adam: Well, thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure. Debbi: Awesome! So, your books seem to run the gamut from children’s to adult mystery and caper. How would you describe yourself as an author in one sentence? Adam: Eclectic! Debbi: Eclectic…fair description. Adam: Constructed perhaps [laughs]. Debbi: [laughs] Adam: I think there’s definitely two sides. The main two sides would be the crime writing, which it goes from crime to detective and a lot of little bits and bobs. Writing for kids was kind of an accident because I have a daughter and when she was maybe about 5 years old, I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the sort of books that were available and thought, well I can do better than that. And I’ve ended up writing five kids novels. Four have been published and one, Pirates vs. Ninjas, which is going to come out early next year. But, that’s kind of … it’s a destruction almost. It’s fabulous. It’s wonderful to do, but it’s not really where my heart is. It was rather where my heart for my daughter is and being terribly vain I obviously published them as well [laughs]. But, yeah the majority of the work I’m doing, at the moment I’ve got sort of the next two or three books in the series, the crime series I’m working on at the moment. That’s everything. I’m not sure. My daughter is getting to be kind of big, where she’s starting to read the Percy Jackson’s and The Hunger Games and I’m not sure…I’m not interested in writing that sort of thing so I think that’s probably it for the kids books for me. It will just be crime from now on, which I’m sure anybody who’s watching will be glad to hear [laughs]. Debbi: [laughs] It sounds like your writing career sort of started with your daughter. Adam: Yeah, I mean certainly I was doing a lot of stuff before then that was much, much shorter but the crossover between the crime and the longer works started to come with the kids’ books and then sort of now everything’s too long, so everything is novel length. You can’t have short ideas anymore because that’s when they turn into these enormously long plot ideas that you have. Debbi: Well, I think you could probably write short stories and novellas? Adam: Well, the next one that I’ve got coming out, it did turn into a novella, but it almost ended up as a novel. I think writing sort of heist-caper style plots; the level of complexity in there, it lends itself really well to having much longer, convoluted, to-and-fro sort of plots. Yeah, that’s how my brain works I suppose, so [laughs]. Debbi: [laughs] Well, I like it. I’m reading Cat Chaser and it makes me laugh out loud at points. The way your protagonist just stops when he falls asleep. I’m like, oh my god. What inspired you to write a mystery about a detective with narcolepsy? Adam: [laughs] Well I think…that was one that I had for a long time.

Debbi Mack reads Chapter 6 of her New York Times bestselling hardboiled mystery, Identity Crisis, on the Crime Cafe podcast. Here’s the text of my reading: CHAPTER SIX Detective Derry stopped by the office the next day. Jergins was with him, looking sullen and officious. “Things aren’t looking good for your client,” Derry said. “Now what?” “Garvey’s body was found in his apartment. A witness says Ms. Hayes was there that weekend, the weekend he was shot.” That creepy neighbor of Schaeffer’s, I thought. “So?” “Didn’t she have a protective order against this guy? Why would she want to see him?” It was a fair question. “I don’t know, but it doesn’t prove she killed him.” Derry took a deep breath. “I didn’t say it proved anything.” “Maybe it was someone who looked like Melanie.” “Anything’s possible. The witness identified her from a photo we found in her apartment.” “You searched her place?” He nodded. “Yesterday.” He didn’t mention the box or the state of the apartment, and I wasn’t going to bring it up. “Was there any reason for that, other than a witness’ statement?” “Fingerprints,” Derry said. “We found her prints at the scene.” “How do you know they’re hers?” I had to ask. “The bank where she works routinely takes its employees prints.” I was at a loss to understand or explain it, but I didn’t owe anyone any explanations. “What do you want from me?” “I just wanted to let you know we’re getting a warrant for Ms. Hayes’ arrest,” Derry said. I nodded. What could I say? I’d have done the same thing in their place. “So if you have any knowledge of Ms. Hayes’ whereabouts, now would be the right time to tell us,” Jergins barked. I could understand if the FBI didn’t offer courses in diplomacy, but I was starting to wonder if it should. Even Derry didn’t look happy about Jergins’ outburst. “If I had any knowledge of Ms. Hayes’ whereabouts,” I said, keeping my voice deliberately calm. “I would have told you by now.” Jergins squinted and scowled at me. “We thought it would be a good idea to check with you,” Derry said, sounding almost conciliatory. “Just in case.” “I understand. What about the murder weapon? Were her fingerprints on that?” “We’ll discuss that at the appropriate time, Ms. McRae,” Jergins said, interrupting. Derry’s eyes slid Jergins’ way. His cheeks reddened, and I didn’t think it was from embarrassment. “Really?” I said. “And when did you start working for the homicide unit?” “There’s an appropriate time and place for everything.” Jergins’ face was tight, making his big ears stand out even more. “We’ll discuss the murder weapon at that time and place.” “Now, I wonder when that would be. Maybe at the sentencing hearing?” Derry turned away. I didn’t know, but I could have sworn he stifled a smile. “With all due respect, Ms. McRae,” Jergins said. “We don’t know that Ms. Hayes will hire you to represent her.” “Why not?” “You represented her on a domestic violence matter. That doesn’t mean she’ll want you for this.” I looked at Derry. He was staring at something on my desk. I realized it was Melanie’s address book, still sitting beside the phone. “As far as I’m concerned,” I said, addressing my comments to both men, trying to bring Derry back into the conversation, “she’s still my client.” “Mr. Garvey’s dead,” Jergins said. “The case is moot, and you know it.” “Sure, the court case is moot, but I don’t consider the entire matter closed,” I said. “After all, your interest in her was sparked by that case. I haven’t closed the file. So it’s still an open case, from my standpoint, and she’s still my client.” Not bad, I thought. Pretty smooth, even. Derry kept looking at the book. The plain, dark cover had nothing to connect it with Melanie, but I couldn’t remember if her name was on the inside. Jergins sneered. “Very convenient. Keeps that attorney-client privilege intact.”

Debbi Mack interviews crime fiction author Vincent Zandri. The transcript is below, if you'd like to read it. Or download the PDF copy and read it later. Debbi: Hi everyone. This is the Crime Cafe. Your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I’m your host, Debbi Mack. Before I bring on my guest, don’t forget that you can buy the Crime Cafe Nine Book Set and the Crime Cafe Short Story Anthology for only $1.99 and $.99 each. Just go to my website, debbimack.com and click on “Crime Cafe” where you’ll find the buy links. While you’re there, please subscribe to the podcast on either iTunes or Stitcher, and if you’re watching this, you know that we’re on YouTube as well, so you can subscribe to that channel. Now having said that, it’s my great pleasure to bring on best-selling author, Vincent Zandri. Vince, I am so thrilled to finally have you on my show and to meet you this way, so to speak, after so many years of our first contact online. Vincent: I know it’s been so long. Debbi: So, thanks for coming on. It’s been many years and I remember one time you saying that you would love to meet and even though we haven’t gotten to meet in person, it’s nice to be able to do this. Vincent: Oh, Deb, I was probably just flirting with you at the time. Debbi: [laughs] Well, that’s very nice. That’s very kind and I’m quite, I guess, what’s the word...flattered. Vincent: Oh you can’t even think…you’re speechless. Debbi: I’m speechless [laughs]. Vincent: Well, truth be told, I was in awe of your first book and it did so well and you were like one of the groundbreakers who was one of the first people to like, “You know what? I’m not going the traditional route. I’m totally going to do this.” And, boom, you hit the New York Times with a great, great, great noir novel. So that’s why I was in awe of you, to be perfectly honest. Debbi: Oh, well that’s really nice of you to say. I am flattered Vincent. That’s kind. Interesting that you bring up genre because how would you describe your writing in one sentence? Are you mainly a thriller writer, a noir writer, a mystery writer, adventure? Vincent: If I had to sum it up in one sentence, I don’t know, this might sound namby-pamby, but I like to write what I like to read. Debbi: That sounds good. Vincent: Simple…yeah, and it’s as simple as that. You know, sometimes there’s like the literary Vince, a book like When Shadows Come, which Thomas & Mercer did which…like my mother or even some of my best fans will be like, “Huh? What was that book about?” And then there’ll be books like, The Shroud Key, for instance which I did under my own label which…and they’ll be like, “Oh my god, you’ve got to go to the next page, you’ve got to go to the next page, gotta go to the next page, gotta go to the next page,” and you eat it up like potato chips, right? Debbi: [agrees] Vincent: And then there’s the Vince who writes like psychological suspense like, I don’t know. Name one of my…The Remains for instance, which is like my big ass seller I guess and I even wrote that from a female perspective which is just sort of relentless. It’s sort of a combination of like, it’s got hardboiled in it. It’s got romance in it. It’s got adventure in it. It’s got that Hitchcock, psychological suspense in it. So it’s got all of it in there and now even more recently, I’ve ventured into (and I blame Richard Godwin for this) but I ventured into erotic noir a little bit. Debbi: Wow. Vincent: Yeah, which I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off and I’m still not entirely sure if I’ve pulled it off. Debbi: [laughs] Vincent: But, the reviews have been good and to me it was like, well a lot of noir and hardboiled fiction has a lot of sex in it anyway so just take it a step further. But I think it’s kind of working because and I think the plot is good. But anyway, the point being that I’m still experimenting. Debbi: Yeah.

Debbi Mack interviews crime fiction author Art Taylor. The transcript is below, if you’d like to read it. Or download the PDF copy and read it later. Debbi: Hi everyone. This is the Crime Cafe. Your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I’m your host, Debbi Mack. Before I bring on my guest, I’ll just remind you that the Crime Cafe Nine Book Set and Crime Cafe Short Story Anthology are available for sale on my website, debbimack.com. Go there and click on “Crime Cafe” and you’ll find the buy links. So, now that that’s been said, it’s truly a pleasure to introduce my guest, the awesome Art Taylor. Art, it’s really great to have you on the show today. Thanks for coming on. Art: It’s a pleasure to be here. Thanks for inviting me. Debbi: I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed reading Del and Louise’s adventures on the road. But the first thing I wanted to ask you before I got to that was, you’ve seemed to have made a career out of writing short stories. Now was that intentional, or are you just drawn to the short story format? Art: Well, two things. Number one I think it’s tough to make a career from short stories. There’s a lot of great markets out there, both anthologies and mystery magazines and, of course, online. But, you know, in terms of actually making a career of it, I don’t think you reach as wide a readership as you might with a novel. Which is one of the reasons why I was very pleased to have On The Road with Del & Louise come out—to have a book out there as well. But the short story form is one that I particularly appreciate. You know, I started reading Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine way back when I was in late elementary school and middle school. In fact it was one of these fundraising drives that the school did where you go door to door to sell magazine subscriptions to raise money for the school. I ended up, don’t remember if I sold any magazine subscriptions, but I bought one myself to Ellery Queen’s and that’s where I first started reading, you know, short stories, mystery short stories at an adult level; building off of having read Nancy Drew and The Three Investigators and that sort of thing. So, the short story, I was always a big fan from the very beginning. And, of course, having been in writing classes both in high school and in college and then went on to graduate school, the short story is sort of the focus for a number of reasons of a workshop setting. Something that people can bring in, can be discussed in full, as opposed to like a novel portion, which I think is harder to workshop. And so, for a couple of reasons, both as a reader and as a writer, I have kind of both fallen in love with the form and then fallen into the form as a writer. I enjoy it. I admire it and then I admire people who can write book-length pieces as well. Debbi: Well, I have to say that I admire anybody who can master the short story form because I think it is the toughest. Art: It’s a, you know, it can be a challenge. I’ve heard, in fact, one of my writing professors (speaking about grad school) who has published, gosh twenty novels, told me once, she said, “I’ve never been able to write a short story.” It is too different for her. And so we hear short story writers like me who are saying that, you know, we wish we could write at the novel length more naturally. It’s more of a chore for us. I hear it in the other direction. A good short story, it is a different approach. People think of it maybe sometimes as an apprenticeship. I’m going to start writing short stories as an apprenticeship toward writing a novel. But they really are two different things. You’ve got to write with great efficiency, have to streamline things, and every little detail not only has to count, but it also has to do a lot of work. The right detail. The right line of dialogue. The right little bit of action. So, I think there is a different kind of challenge there than with a novel which in many cases wo...

Debbi Mack reads Chapter 5 of her New York Times bestselling hardboiled mystery, Identity Crisis, on the Crime Cafe podcast. Here's the text of my reading: CHAPTER FIVE Saturday morning is one of the few times I find driving on Route 1 bearable. No traffic to speak of, so there’s plenty of room to maneuver around the potholes and bumps and scars in a road that hasn’t been paved in God knows how long. Normally, Route 1 is like one of those driver’s ed movies—cars making sudden lane changes, darting out randomly from hidden entrances, left and right. That morning though, I cruised past the shopping centers of Beltsville, sailed right through the two sets of lights at Rhode Island Avenue, where traffic usually snarls, and breezed into College Park without even getting stuck behind a Metrobus. I was up early because I’d awakened at four that morning with Ray on my mind for the first time in almost a month. I’d thought about him quite a bit during the month after we last saw each other. When I didn’t hear from him, I decided I had a choice between driving myself crazy and not thinking about him. I chose the latter. After an hour of alternately staring at the ceiling and the inside of my eyelids, I figured it was time to rise and shine, or at least rise. I showered, fed Oscar, scarfed down a bowl of Cheerios, and brewed a double-strength cup of dark roast to go. Then I grabbed the P.O. Box key and headed out. The post office was on Calvert Road where it dead-ended at the railroad tracks. My route took me past the University of Maryland, my alma mater, a hilly green sweep of campus dotted with colonial brick buildings. Across Route 1 from the campus, the matching brick buildings of fraternities lined a horseshoe-shaped street. Calvert was a residential road that connected with the old U.S. highway in the nerve center of the college town where the bars were. They used to have lines out the door when you could drink beer at eighteen in Maryland. Now, the drinking age was twenty-one. Some of the bars closed, but the rest hung on, continuing to do a solid business with a still young-looking crowd. I turned onto Calvert, and after countless stop signs, reached the post office. It was a few minutes before ten, so I listened to the car radio, tapping my fingers to the music on the wheel and feeling highly caffeinated blood coursing through my veins. At ten on the dot, they unlocked the front door and I went inside. At the box, I paused before inserting the key and opening the little door. Two letters were inside. Again, I hesitated before reaching for them. It’s like I expected someone to run up and slap cuffs on me if I did. For checking my own P.O. Box that I didn’t know I had, for God’s sake. Neither letter had my name on it. One was a piece of junk for “Boxholder.” The other bore the name of Gregory Knudsen. That guy the FBI man mentioned. What did he have to do with Tom and Melanie? Maybe Knudsen was the identity thief. Could he have been working with Tom Garvey? Or Melanie? The box was in my legal name, clearly a woman’s name, but apparently, other people could have mail delivered to it. I still didn’t have any answers. I was only assuming the P.O. Box was connected with my credit situation, but I couldn’t think of any other reason for it. I looked at the envelope again. Just a regular white business envelope. No return address. A New York City postmark from a couple of weeks ago. I considered opening it, but that was tampering with someone else’s mail, a federal offense. Wonderful. I checked the flap. Someone had done a crummy job of sealing it, only licking the middle. One slip of the thumb and … Reluctantly, I put the envelope back in the box. It could be evidence and was not my mail. I probably shouldn’t have this box key, I thought. I didn’t really want to talk to the postal clerk—what would I say? The best place to go with this was the cops,

Debbi Mack interviews mystery author Daniella Bernett on the Crime Cafe podcast. The transcript is below, if you’d like to read it. Or download the PDF copy and read it later. Debbi: Hi everyone. This is the Crime Cafe. Your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I am your host Debbi Mack. Before we get started, I’d like to mention that you can buy the Crime Cafe Box Set and Anthology, as well as Crime Cafe merchandise on my website. Just go to debbimack.com and click on “Crime Cafe” and look for the buy links. And while you’re there, please subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. Thanks! Now I’d like to introduce my awesome guest who’s just released the third novel in her mystery series. It’s Daniella Bernett. Hi Daniella, I’m so glad to have you on today. Daniella: Hi, hi Debbi. I’m glad to be here today too! Debbi: Awesome! Well, let’s talk about your series. Even though, strictly speaking it’s the Emmeline Kirby/Gregory Longdon Mystery Series, I see Emmeline as a very strong and independent female protagonist. Do you think of her as the primary protagonist of the two? Daniella: Yes, I do. Yeah, she is definitely the primary protagonist. Emmeline is a journalist, so she’s inherently curious about many topics. So, of course murder would intrigue her and she would want to see that justice is done and to ensure transparency and she’s also a bit reckless, which gets her into trouble a lot of the time. But, I have Gregory there who’s a jewel thief. He balances it out. He’s on the other side of the law, so who better than the criminal to know how a fellow criminal’s mind works. And yet the two of them do have similarities because for Gregory he’s a gentleman and murder is not the done thing. So, of course he cannot let a murderer go free. So, in that sense, they are similar and their paths cross and they work together to see that justice is done. Debbi: And of course they’re both a little bit attracted to each other; more than a little. Daniella: Oh, yes well they do have a past. They are former lovers, but in my first book, Lead Me Into Danger, they hadn’t seen each other in two years and Emmeline literally runs into him in Venice after she witnesses two men tried to murder a fellow colleague of her. And then they become embroiled in a chase for a Russian spy in the British Foreign Office and so on and so on and things take off from there. The first book, Lead Me Into Danger, takes place in Venice and London. Debbi: Those are exotic places. Daniella: Yes. In the second book, Deadly Legacy, which is about a hundred million dollars in stolen diamonds, and murder of course. That one takes place entirely in London. And then my new one, From Beyond the Grave, which just came out, it takes place in Torquay, in Devon which is along the English Riviera. Debbi: Wow! You pick some very interesting spots to set your stories. How do you choose the locations? Daniella: Well, first of all, I’ve been an Anglophile since I was a little kid, so England, anything about England always attracted me. So when I started writing my stories, of course my characters had to be British, they had to take place in England or in the British Isles. So, that’s why they take place in Britain. Debbi: In Britain. And how did you choose Venice or the other place? Daniella: Venice, well Venice is, aside from London, Venice is one of my favorite cities. I adore Venice! I’ve been there several times and I simply love it and Venice itself has its own history of intrigues; political intrigues and Machiavellian machinations and so forth. So, naturally that fit in quite well with my storyline. Debbi: [agrees] Where do you see Emmeline and Gregory going? Can you give us a hint of where they might be heading in future books? Daniella: Well, to start, let’s take it from Beyond the Grave, which is the book that just came out. Emmeline is, you know, she hasn’t seen Gregory,

Debbi Mack interviews mystery author Ellen Byerrum on the Crime Cafe podcast. The transcript is below, if you’d like to read it. Or download the PDF copy and read it later. Debbi: Hi everyone! This is the Crime Cafe. Your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I’m your host, Debbi Mack. Before I introduce my guest, a quick reminder that The Crime Cafe 9 Book Set and Crime Cafe Anthology are available for sale from all online retailers, regardless of what device you use. So, go to debbimack.com and click on “Crime Cafe” to find the buy links, subscribe to the podcast and buy awesome Crime Cafe merchandise. With that then, it’s my great, great pleasure to introduce the awesome fashionista crime writer, Ellen Byerrum. Hey Ellen, how you doing today? Ellen: I’m great Debbi. I’m so happy to be here. Thanks for asking me. Debbi: Sure thing! It’s wonderful to have you on and so let’s talk about Lacey Smithsonian. I had to laugh when I read your bio on your website and you described Washington, D.C. as “a city rich in history, culture, political drama and crimes of fashion”. Ellen: That is true. I absolutely believe that. Although now that we’ve moved to Colorado, I sometimes feel I owe an apology to Washington. I’m now living in a town, I’m living in a town where people when they dress up they have to wear their good fleece. So, that’s the difference in our towns. Debbi: Oh my gosh! Well at least their wearing something interesting like fleece. Ellen: Well, yes but everybody’s wearing it. Or you know, just your average gym wear because everyone here’s into, you know sports, gym wear, skiing and in Washington lots of people wear suits. Debbi: Right! And dull suits at that. Ellen: I know. We just want to perk them up a bit. Debbi: Well, D.C. is hardly the fashion center of the country or the world. Ellen: Well, I like to call it the city that fashion forgot. And I also think it’s the home of the congressional comb over and I often wonder why, why it is that congressmen and senators don’t have the typical male baldness patterns. I think that there’s a lot of plugs going on. That’s just a guess, and Botox. Debbi: You might have something there. I think you may be on to something. Before we actually start talking much about Lacey Smithsonian I wanted to talk about your days as a journalist. Tell us a little about your journalistic escapades. I think I spit that word out right finally, escapades. Ellen: Yes, that’s great. I was a reporter in Washington, D.C. for BNA, now Bloomberg BNA for 17 years and I mostly covered the Occupational Safety and Health Administration which is great if you’re a mystery writer because you learn all the horrible ways people die on the job. Debbi: Yeah absolutely, wow! Ellen: Yeah. Debbi: It’s funny how real cases like that can inspire so much can’t they? Ellen: They really can and you know I was horrified to find out that people have actually died in vats of chocolate. Debbi: Oh my gosh! Ellen: You think you make that stuff up but it turns out it’s real. So that was, yeah it was great and you know someone died in a vat of cherries. So, very tragic but odd you know. Debbi: It is. It’s just amazing! Truth truly is stranger than fiction. Ellen: Yeah, it really is. And of course I started out on a small western newspaper. And I think the highlight of my reporting days then is when I crawled through a massage parlor window. Debbi: [laughs] Ellen: To get inside to interview the girls as it were. Debbi: Whoa, very Brenda Starr. Ellen: [laughs] Debbi: Old reference. Ellen: Yeah, it was a crazy town, so I was happy to get back east. Debbi: Well, I have to ask you what inspired Lacey Smithsonian as a character. Ellen: Well, I love mysteries and I was reading them constantly and I love women characters, you know sleuths, the detective character and they were rough and they were tough and they were smart...

Debbi Mack interviews crime fiction author Dave White on the Crime Cafe podcast. The transcript is below, if you’d like to read it. Debbi: Hi! This is the Crime Cafe. Your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I am your host, Debbi Mack. Before I bring on my guest, I’ll just remind you that The Crime Cafe 9 Book Set and The Crime Cafe Anthology are on sale at all major online retailers for $1.99 and $.99 respectively. So, just go to my website debbimack.com. That’s debbimack.com and click on Crime Cafe and you’ll find the links for the books, as well as how to subscribe to this podcast. And with that, I’d like to introduce now, it is with great pleasure that I introduce now my guest, Dave White; the highly acclaimed Dave White. Dave: Hello. Debbi: Thanks for being here Dave. It’s great to have you on. Dave: Thank you. Thanks for having me. I’ve been looking forward to this for a while. We’ve been talking about this for a while, so this is nice. Debbi: This is awesome! I’m so glad you could be here because I’ve seen you so often at conferences and I’m such a shy person, I don’t know why I didn’t just walk up to you and say, “Hi Dave, I’m Debbi”. Dave: I’m shy too. It takes a lot for me to introduce myself to people, so I get it. I understand. Hi Debbi! Debbi: Hi Dave! And you’re from New Jersey. I am originally from New York, so that’s all the more reason why would should know each other. Dave: Exactly, exactly. Debbi: So, you’re the author of the sixth book so far series, correct? The Jackson Donne books. Dave: Right, there are five Jackson Donne books and one standalone called Witness to Death. Debbi: Oh, Okay! That’s a Jackson Donne also then? Dave: No, Witness to Death is a stand….wait, now I gotta count my books. There are six books total and five Donne. Debbi: Ok, five Donne done. Dave: Yes, exactly! Debbi: So, tell me a little bit more about the character Jackson Donne. Dave: Jackson Donne is a, we can go through a long history here. He’s a former private investigator. In the first novel, When One Man Dies, he was a private investigator, mourning the death of his fiancé and asked to solve a hit-and-run where one of his close drinking buddies was killed. And from there, the series kind of grew because Donne clashed with his former cop partner, Bill Martin, several times throughout the series and Martin kind of became an arch enemy for a couple of the books. Since then, Martin took Donne’s private eye license, got it taken away, Donne kind of became a freelancer and tried to go back to college and he was very much like, you know they pull me back in. Every time he thinks he’s out of the private eye or the crime business he gets pulled back in. He’s been on the run to Vermont at one point. He was in prison. He’s had quite the five-book life. Debbi: Oh my goodness! I was going to ask you about his journey as a character. It sounds like he’s had a rather rough one. Dave: Yeah! Debbi: I think of this right away. His fractious relationship with the police. What was it that caused that rift between himself and the police? Dave: In the books, Donne was a narcotics agent with…there was a New Brunswick police narcotics committee I guess you would call it as part of the police force and they were corrupt. They were stealing drugs, they were doing drugs, they were skimming money off the top anytime they busted someone up and what Donne finally realized was he was going down this dark hole, he became a drug addict (that sort of thing), so he turned in the narcotics force; everybody except his partner, Bill Martin, who he kind of let off easy. He kind of destroyed the narcotics force, but Martin was able to keep his job. The rest of them went to prison and Donne left and become a private investigator. So that’s kind of what started it because now all the cops kind of hate him for turning in these guys and Martin really holds a grudge because...

Debbi Mack interviews thriller author Zoë Sharp on the Crime Cafe podcast. The transcript is below, if you’d like to read it. Debbi: Hi everyone! This is the Crime Cafe, your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I am your host, Debbi Mack. Before I bring on my guest, let me remind you that The Crime Cafe 9 Book Set is available for sale at all major and some minor online retailers. The Crime Cafe Short Story Anthology is also available online for sale and it’s $0.99 for the anthology and $1.99 for the boxed set, so check it out. Just go to debbimack.com and look under “Crime Cafe” or “Books” to find the books there. And with that, I would like to now introduce an author who created one of the most awesome female protagonists ever. The character is Charlie Fox and the author is Zoe Sharp. Zoe, it’s great to have you here today! Zoe: Thank you very much for inviting me, Debbi. It’s a pleasure to be here. Debbi: I can’t tell you how happy I am to have you on! So, you have one of the most fascinating bios ever! You actually wrote your first novel at 15? Zoe: I did! It dates me horribly to say my father typed it up with carbon copies. And it went out to publishers and received what’s known in the trade as rave rejections. So, it still sits in a box in the attic and my father, bless him, keeps threatening to get it out and put it on eBay. Debbi: Oh, that’s so cool! Zoe: At which point I remind him that it won’t be long before I am choosing his nursing home and he should be nice to me. Debbi: Good for you! And you became a photojournalist. I think that’s very cool and you mention that Charlie Fox grew out of the death threats you received as a photojournalist. What was that about? Zoe: Yes! That was, that was a weird set of circumstances. I was working in the motoring field. I was involved with a lot of auto magazines and I was sent to see a collection of cars with a guy. When I arrived two things happened. The guy was very surprised to see that I was not on my own as he was clearly expecting, and the collection of cars did not exist. So, it was around the time when a real estate agent in the UK, called Suzy Lamplugh, who’d gone to show a client around a vacant house, and was never seen again. And the death threat letters started, you know, shortly after that incident. And I was kind of wondering whether it was the guy who’d been hoping to get me on my own. So, it tends to concentrate your mind. Started me learning an awful lot of self-defense. But it also sort of sparked off the character of Charlie Fox. Debbi: Well I can just imagine. That must have been very scary. Zoe: It was first annoying and only afterwards when the ramifications sank in did it get a lot more scary. Debbi: [laughs] Yeah. Well I love Charlie Fox. When I was a kid watching action movies, it was always the women who put themselves in harm’s way and who would do what I would call “tripping over their shoelaces”. Running with the man and then they would fall or something. Zoe: Yes, always sprain their ankle. Debbi: Exactly! They would need some sort of help. But, I’ve always enjoyed strong women on movies and on TV. When I was a kid I used to watch The Avengers and I just loved Mrs. Peel and, and Honey West. I’m dating myself now. But… Zoe: It was exactly those kind of characters that I wanted to get to with Charlie Fox. And it still bugs me that even now you have to specify that a female character is strong. Debbi: Yes. Zoe: Whereas you don’t have to do that with a male character. Nobody ever describes, you know, Lee Child’s Jack Reacher as a strong male character because you just, you kind of assume that unless there is something very specific about the character, he is going to be strong just by the very fact that he’s male. So, I like to write about capable female characters and even in the stand alone, I’ve done the female character of Kelly Jacks, is still very capable and,

Debbi Mack interviews crime fiction author Seth Harwood on the Crime Cafe podcast. The transcript is below, if you'd like to read it. Debbi: Hi, everyone this is the Crime Cafe, your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I'm your host Debbi Mack. Before I introduce my guest, I'd like to remind you that The Crime Cafe 9 Book Set is available as well as The Crime Cafe Short Story Anthology. They're both available online on all major online retailers for $1.99 for the boxed set and $0.99 for the anthology, which is a real deal. Just go to debbimack.com and click on either Crime Cafe or my book link to find the Crime Cafe buy links. Now, having said that I am very pleased to introduce the author that I once called the ‘Golden God of Marketing’, Seth Harwood. Hey man, how you doing? Seth: Hi, thanks for having me on. Debbi: I am so happy to have you on. I’ve admired your business savvy and your writing for years, and I gotta say it seems like a million years ago that I first heard about Jack Wakes Up. But I had no idea that you had serialized it as a podcast before publishing. So see—you were way ahead of the curve on all of us. When did you start the podcast? Seth: I started it in 2006 in the summer. I had been a big fan of audiobooks and so I saw that the way that I could put this book out was to put it out as audio in a way that people could get it on the web and interact with it. And that seemed to make so much more sense than putting it on the web as text. So there were guys like Scott Sigler and Tee Morris and a few others at a website called Podiobooks and they were ahead of me, but it was still like very early stuff. I mean you know it's years before something like Serial comes along and people really know what a podcast is. But what we were doing was serializing our books as podcasts. So I did it Jack Wakes Up, I started and then I really found an audience that I could connect to. And I feel like for so long as a writer, that's what I had been looking for and even having gone past that to get books published by big presses, small presses, all different kinds of presses; that interaction with readers, that feeling of I knew people were waiting for my stuff to come out each week. I knew that they were invested in the story and I would hear from them. That level of interaction—that was the best thing ever really. And so you know it was great that I did that and my goal at the time was to get enough of an audience so that publishers would take me more seriously and publish me. And looking back on it now, what I was doing then was even better than working with publishers. And so now I'm going back to that, and I think you've done a lot of self-publishing, other guys have done self-publishing and you know just to find a way to sort of work with the audience directly; I think that's the best thing that we can do. But the rest of the story, yeah, and you probably know more about that than I do. But the rest of the story is that I did like five or six books as serialized audiobooks, podcasts. I put them all out for free, built in audience. And then I started doing Crime Wave, which is how I met you, because I wanted to get more crime stories to that audience that I had and I wanted to help other authors get into the podcasting stuff and sort of helped get their work out there. So, yeah, it was really great and it was a very intense period of my life where from you know 2006 to about 2009, I was doing roughly a podcast a week of 30 minutes of fiction, mixing, recording, editing, putting it out, doing the web posts. And sometimes two a week when I was doing my own stuff and Crime Wave. So it was really a lot of work. Debbi: I know how much work goes into it personally of course. And so that must have been quite hectic for you writing, podcasting, all of that—to be a good time manager. Seth: It must be a good something. But what I did that was helpful was that,

Debbi Mack interviews thriller author Lawrence Kelter on the Crime Cafe podcast. The transcript is below, if you'd like to read it. Debbi: Hello, everyone this is the Crime Cafe, your podcasting source of great crime, suspense and thriller writing. I'm your host Debbi Mack. Before I introduce this week's awesome guest, I'll just remind you that the Crime Cafe boxed set—that’s nine books in the boxed set—and the Crime Cafe Short Story Anthology can be purchased online at any online retailer for the very reasonable price of $1.99 for the boxed and $0.99 for the anthology. You can get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, whatever. The buy links are on my website debbimack.com. And with that said I'm thrilled to introduce my guest Lawrence Kelter, a fellow New Yorker and thriller author. it's great to have you on Larry. Lawrence: It's great to be here. Please, let's stick with Larry. Debbi:  Larry. [laughs] Lawrence: If I get Lawrence you know, I'm gonna assume that I've done something wrong or I'm in big trouble. Larry works just fine. Debbi:  I know what you mean cause when people call me Deborah, I always think of my mother. Deborah! Lawrence: Exactly. Debbi: Exactly. I first got to know your work through the Stephanie Chalice thrillers and I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. Lawrence: You're about the only one who does pronounce it correctly. Debbi: Stephanie Chalice. I like that. What a great protagonist she is. What inspired you to go with that series—to write it? Lawrence: I was a big and I still am, a big fan of Nelson DeMille and I got sucked in by his John Corey character. At the time, he only had a couple books in that series, but now he's up to, I guess about seven or eight in the Corey series. And what I liked about him was he had this ascerbic personality and he's always making smart-ass comments. And I like the punch of having a smile when I read. You know, there’s a lot of great authors and you know I can't take anything away from them, but they're very, very dry and they'll just go through pages and pages of description. How he approached the crime circle and there was an inner circle and outer circle and the third circle and it's like, it takes you four pages to get through the crime circle. And it’s “What the …”, you know? I really like DeMille’s character, and I said you know I'd like to do something like that. I hadn't written at the time. And I can't copy John Corey. So I kinda borrowed some of his personality traits and I imbued them in a woman, so to speak. Debbi: Excellent. Lawrence: Yeah, so Chalice is supposed to be fun, quirky, a little too savvy for her own good, a little too smart-alecky for her own good, but I think that makes the character memorable and fun. Debbi: Yes, absolutely and it underscores how she's a human being, she's not like a .... I don't know, a stereotypical woman or whatever you wanna call it right. Lawrence: Right. Debbi: I like the fact that you can write that. So, much is said about men writing women and women writing men. Lawrence: Right. Debbi: I don't see why men can't write women as authentically as women can. Lawrence: Well, I'm several books into it now. You know, when I first started out there were some comments saying that she wasn't a real woman, that she was too much of a man's vision of a woman and some of that I think was real or right. I think I kinda absorbed those comments and refined her personality as I went along, and she’s seven whole books and three novellas into the series at this point. So, yeah, she's gone through a lot of changes and you know there's a lot of work involved. She starts out as a single gal detective and then she gets a partner that she falls in love with and, by the seventh book, she's got a child, she's married and has a child, so you know she's gone through an evolution, so to speak. Debbi: And do you picture writing more of that series and where do you think sh...

Debbi Mack interviews crime fiction author Timothy Hallinan on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Debbi Mack interviews thriller author Sue Coletta on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Author Debbi Mack interviews thriller author Michael Parker on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Author Debbi Mack interviews thriller author Peg Brantley on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Author Debbi Mack interviews thriller author James P. Carse on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Debbi Mack reads Chapter 3 of her New York Times bestselling hardboiled mystery, Identity Crisis, on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Author Debbi Mack interviews crime fiction author Allan Ansorge on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Author Debbi Mack interviews thriller author Patrick Kelly on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Author Debbi Mack interviews thriller author Paul Casselle on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Author Debbi Mack interviews travel mystery author Maria Hudgins on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Debbi Mack reads Chapter 3 of her New York Times bestselling hardboiled mystery, Identity Crisis, on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Author Debbi Mack interviews crime fiction author Simon Wood on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Author Debbi Mack interviews thriller author Reece Hirsch on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Debbi Mack reads Chapter 2 of her New York Times bestselling hardboiled mystery, Identity Crisis, on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Debbi Mack reads Chapter 1 of her New York Times bestselling hardboiled mystery, Identity Crisis, on the Crime Cafe podcast. Please consider lending support to the Crime Cafe podcast on Patreon. The text is below! CHAPTER ONE I’ve never been a morning person, and if there’s one thing I don’t need before my first cup of coffee, it’s a visit from the cops. But at 8:45 on a Friday morning, two of them waited for me at my law office. I shut the door on the steam heat—typical July weather in Maryland—and shook my sticky blouse loose. Seven years in practice had taught me many hard lessons. One of them should have been never to wear dry-clean-only blouses in the summer. Sheila, the seventy-plus receptionist and secretary for the accounting firm where I sublet space, gave me a brief wave while answering the phone through her ever-present headset. Her long, bony fingers clacked away at the keyboard without skipping a beat. Both men stood as I approached. I recognized Detective Martin Derry of the Prince George’s County police. I wondered what the homicide investigator wanted with me. “Good morning,” I said. “Morning, Ms. McRae.” Derry had light blue eyes, the color of lake water in January. “I need to speak to you about one of your clients.” Derry’s companion was tall and gangly, as if loosely constructed of mismatched bones. His frizzy reddish-blonde hair was short, making his head seem too small and his nose and ears too big. He peered at me with his head cocked to one side, like a pigeon. “Let me have five minutes, OK?” Derry nodded, and I trudged up the steps to my office. I didn’t have any clients charged with homicide. Since I’d left the public defender’s office, most of my criminal clients were yuppies with first-time DWIs or habitual traffic offenders, so I was dying to find out what he wanted. Whatever it was, it could wait five more minutes. I went through the daily routine of opening the Venetian blinds, turning down the thermostat on the ancient window unit, and booting my computer. I started a pot of dark roast coffee, placing my mug on the burner to catch it as it dripped out. When I felt ready, I invited them in. They each did a cop’s visual sweep of my office before they sat down. No doubt, they were impressed by the plush furnishings—a used desk, two guest chairs, a metal filing cabinet, a small hutch for my supplies, and tables for my fax, copier, and Mr. Coffee, most of which I’d bought at a state surplus outlet. My one indulgence was a new high-backed desk chair. “This is Special Agent Carl Jergins, FBI,” Derry said. “Sam McRae,” I said, extending my hand. Jergins worked my arm like a pump. FBI? I wondered what was up. Derry sat stiffly upright. Dark-haired and mustached, he had a solemn, squarish face. In a charcoal gray suit, starched white shirt, and red tie, Derry was one of those people who manage to look dapper, no matter what. We’d met years before when I’d defended the man accused of killing his fiancée. Derry treated me with complete, almost excessive, professionalism. I tried to ignore the charged feeling in the air when he was around. “We understand you have a client named Melanie Hayes,” Derry said. I stared at him. “She’s not—” I couldn’t finish the thought. “No. It’s her ex, Tom Garvey. He was found shot to death.” “Oh, my God.” “We know you represented her in a domestic violence matter,” Derry said, watching me closely as he spoke. “You understand why we need to talk to her.” I nodded. “When did this happen?” “Over the weekend,” Derry said. “I’ll be present when you question her.” It was not a request. Derry bobbed his head in brief acknowledgment. “When was the last time you spoke to Ms. Hayes?” “Last Friday.” “On the phone or in person?” “In person. She came to the office.” “And you haven’t spoken to her since?” “No. Why?” Derry leaned back in his chair. He appeared to think about whether to answer th...

The Crime Cafe presents Philip Marlowe in the old-time radio episode, "The King in Yellow".

Author Debbi Mack interviews legal thriller author Allison Leotta on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Author Debbi Mack interviews mystery author Terry Ambrose on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Author Debbi Mack interviews true crime author Denise Wallace on the Crime Cafe podcast.