AN INTERVIEW WITH MYSTERY, SUSPENSE & THRILLER AUTHOR LUKE MURPHY

Today we sit down for a chat with mystery, suspense, and thriller author Luke Murphy. Learn more about him and his books at his website. 

When did you realize you wanted to write novels? 

It actually started later in my life. I’d always been an avid reader, so that helped. My first novel was published in 2012, when I was thirty-six. I wanted to be like the authors who I read and allow readers to escape reality and seek adventure in another world.

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication? 

I decided to try my hand and follow the traditional path to publication, so it was a long journey—months/year to write the novel, months/year to find an agent, months/year to find a publisher, months/year to release my book.

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author? 

My first three novels were traditionally published, and my last two are indie published.

Where do you write? 

I have a small office set up at my house, and I actually share it with my wife, who uses it as a sewing room.

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind? 

I like to have some background noise, so I usually have the TV playing in an adjoining room, usually on sports. But I have three young daughters, so there is always lots of noise LOL

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

My main character Calvin Watters has similar characteristics to me. Even though he is a 6’5” black man, he is a former athlete who has suffered loss—lost his mother to cancer at a young age and experienced a life changing injury. Both have happened to me.

Describe your process for naming your character? 

Primary characters are thought out. I want a name that suits the character, depending on who he/she is. I like to have a name that can also be substituted with a catchy nickname. For secondary characters, honestly, I grab the phone book and open to a page, choose a first name, then do the same thing to find a last name.

Real settings or fictional towns? 

Real

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has? 

Charlene Taylor always chews the inside of her mouth when she is nervous or excited.

What’s your quirkiest quirk? 

I always have to put on the left side of my clothing first. It started out as a superstition: putting the left one on first (skate, glove, elbow pad, shin pad, etc.). And it continues in my everyday life: left sock on first, left pant leg, left shoe/boot, etc. 

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?

My favorite book is The Quiet Game by Greg Iles. It has such a great story and cast of characters, and there is so much happening.

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours? 

I wish I would have started writing earlier in my life.

What’s your biggest pet peeve? 

People shortening words and being too lazy to write them out when communicating digitally.

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves? 

A book, a BBQ, I better say my wife in case she sees this (maybe I should have said my kids LOL)

What was the worst job you’ve ever held? 

I don’t know about “worst”, but roofing was definitely the most physically demanding and one that I would not want to do for a living.

What’s the best book you’ve ever read? 

Already named it.

Ocean or mountains? 

Mountains

City girl/guy or country girl/guy? 

Country

What’s on the horizon for you? 

Always working on a new book—slowly but surely.

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books? 

Red Zone is my fifth novel, but the first to feature both of the protagonists from my two series (Calvin Watters & Charlene Taylor). My readers have been asking for this for a long time, so I hope it lives up to their expectations.

Red Zone

A Calvin Watters & Charlene Taylor Mystery

The prodigal son…

Calvin Watters hasn't been back to USC since the day his scholarship and humility were stripped from the former running back. Calvin had cut all ties to the school, but now finds himself pulled back, when a woman's dead body is found on the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum football field.

…returns home

Detective Charlene Taylor's new homicide case, a freshman cheerleader’s murder at USC, is complicated. Charlene knows that the USC football team is a close knit family, and getting inside the trusted circle, as a cop, is unlikely.

Calvin Watters is a game-changer…

When Calvin and Charlene meet up on the Coliseum turf, Charlene sees an opportunity to use Calvin to penetrate the Trojan family circle. Little does the detective know, Calvin is now an outsider at USC, no longer welcomed—with many who will go a long way to see the former football star fail.

Can Calvin and Charlene work together to uncover the truth, or will their egos interfere with what could be a powerful partnership?

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