BOOKCLUB FRIDAY ON A MONDAY--MYSTERY AUTHOR E.J. COPPERMAN'S NEW SERIES

E.J. Copperman is the author of thirty mystery novels. He advises you can count them if you like, but you’d have to count the first six under another name. Among them have been the Haunted Guesthouse, Agent to the Paws, Mysterious Detective and Asperger’s Mysteries, a collaboration between both those names. Learn more about E.J. and his books at his website. Today he joins us to talk about his newest series, the Fran and Ken Stein Mysteries.

Creating Characters from Scratch

Some years ago – and by “some” I mean a lot – the Haunted Guesthouse Mystery series was going strong and my publisher was interested in perhaps branching out a bit. (No, there aren’t going to be any more Guesthouse books and no, that wasn’t my idea.) Could I come up with something else that sort of touched on the paranormal without being, you know, scary?

 

Well, I wasn’t interested in frightening people so I started to think of things other than ghosts that could play into a mystery novel series. (My editor had been clear on one point: “NO ZOMBIES!” and I was more than okay with that.) Vampire detectives? It had been done. Werewolf detectives? Done. Invisible detectives? More than done. 

But one area of the Universal Pictures monster pantheon had not yet been written as a mystery series, in particular a traditional one without the horror theme, before. The idea struck me as perfect: Frankenstein, P.I.

 

Before you tune up and tell me Frankenstein was the scientist and not the creature, trust me, I know. But in this case, if the creation could be a person living in present times and in a familiar setting, there could be some fun to have with it. Suppose this was a descendant of the original creature, living generations later in New Jersey (I set everything in New Jersey in those days) and trying to solve crimes because his (the creature was male until Elsa Lanchester came along) ancestor had been so badly treated by the criminal justice system of his time. Suppose he had some mystery about his creation that he needed to solve over a series of books. Suppose I had a better idea than that.

 

I decided against the descendant thing. It was too complicated to figure out who the mother was, for one thing, because Elsa had been adamantly against such things. And I felt that over all that time, what made the creature special would have been diluted by genetics. Thawing him out from being frozen (which is closer to Mary Shelley) was a possibility but didn’t especially interest me.

 

But what if this creature was a woman? What if she was created outside the Frankenstein universe? What if…

 

Wait a minute. Frankenstein. Fran. Ken. Stein.

 

Suddenly I had a pair of siblings and that’s where it took off. Fran and Ken were (when the book opens) an adult brother-and-sister pair of investigators who had questions about how they were created, who the people were who created them (and to whom they refer as “our parents”) and why those people had abandoned them at an early age, reportedly due to concerns about the children’s security?

 

It took a while, but UKULELE OF DEATH, the first Fran and Ken Stein Mystery, was published on May 2, and it answers some, but not all, of the questions. The Steins have opened a detective agency that specializes in helping adopted people find their birth parents because Fran and Ken have some experience with growing up knowing very little of their lineage. When they stumble (or walk, more accurately) into a murder plot that seems to have something to do with their own situation, things get complicated in a hurry.

 

Years have gone by, but Fran and Ken are finally seeing the light of day. Their origin story is, let’s say, unique and their attitudes (not to mention their physical abilities) might be a little unusual as well. They know they’re different and they know why. But does that mean they’re not people?

 

It’s up to you to decide, but I’m glad you’re finally getting the chance. 

Ukulele of Death

A Fran and Ken Stein Mystery, Book 1

 

After losing their parents when they were just babies, private investigators Fran and Ken Stein now specialize in helping adoptees find their birth parents. So when a client asks them for help finding her father, with her only clue a rare ukulele, the case is a little weird, sure, but it’s nothing they can’t handle.

 

But soon Fran and her brother are plunged into a world where nothing makes sense – and not just the fact that a very short (but very cute) NYPD detective keeps trying to take eternal singleton Fran out on dates. 

 

All Fran wants to do is find the ukulele and collect their fee, but it’s hard to keep your focus when you’re stumbling over corpses and receiving messages that suggest your (dead) parents are very much alive.

 

Ukuleles aside, it’s becoming clear that someone knows something they shouldn’t – that Fran and Ken Stein weren’t so much born, as built . . .

 

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--AN INTERVIEW WITH MYSTERY AUTHOR E.J. COPPERMAN

Today we sit down for a chat with mystery author E.J. Copperman, who when asked what genres he writes, answered, “Allegedly cozy, definitely humorous (we say “funny” in my house.)” Learn more about him and his books at his website and blog.

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

When the 25^th consecutive screenplay didn’t sell. I think I always wanted to write novels but didn’t believe I could until I couldn’t tame a script idea and it came out as a novel. You live and learn. 

 

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

Five days. I pitched the book to 150 publishers via email and got one response. The publisher there said to send him the first 10 pages “and if I laugh reading those, I’ll read the whole book.” The next email read, “I laughed on page 3.” Sold the book five days later. It’s never been that easy again. 

 

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

I am traditionally published. I’m too bad at marketing and promotion to publish myself. 

 

Where do you write?

In New Jersey. 

 

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

It can go either way. If someone in the house is doing something nearby that might distract me, I plug in the headphones and play something without lyrics. Strauss. A lot of Strauss.

 

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

Since my first three books, which took my circumstances but exaggerated them shamelessly, nothing I have written has had the slightest hint of truth in it. I make stuff up. That’s what I’m good at. 

 

Describe your process for naming your character?

I hate naming characters. I usually go by sound rather than word choices. If I think a character needs a hard consonant on the front of their name, it’ll have some bearing. Then I tell myself this is a placeholder name and I’ll change it later, but I never do. 

 

Real settings or fictional towns?

Fake, fake, fake. Although Sandy Moss lives in Los Angeles, which is allegedly a real place. My characters will drive through real towns, but never live there. 

 

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

Samuel Hoenig has autism-spectrum behaviors, so he does things some people will find quirky. To best evaluate a person’s character, he’ll ask them their favorite Beatles song. And he won’t take no for an answer. 

 

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

I write novels for a living. What’s quirkier than that?

 

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

Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo by Joe Adamson. People think I’m kidding but I’m not. It’s a brilliantly written book on a subject I’m passionate about, and it sounds like something I’d have written, only smarter. 

 

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

I would have skipped the 20 years trying to sell screenplays and started writing novels sooner. 

 

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

His name’s Gizmo. He’s a beagle, and he resents you calling him a peeve. 

 

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

1. My wife, because she’d see me through it.
2. A luxury yacht and someone to sail it.
3. A book called “How To Get Off A Deserted Island Using Only a Book.”

 

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

Movie usher. They were showing an awful movie and I had absolutely nothing to do but watch it four times a day. They could have nailed the stupid uniform coat to the back wall of the theater, and I would have been able to sleep through it without anyone knowing the difference. Unless I snored, in which case someone would have to alert me that there was a person snoring in the theater and I would have had to tell myself to be quiet.

 

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

Oh, there’s no way you’re getting me to answer that one. I have friends who are authors. Suppose I don’t say it was one of theirs. Heck no. But the Adamson book listed above is definitely my favorite. 

 

Ocean or mountains?

Um… see answer below. 

 

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

I like to visit cities. If I get too far away from buildings and movie theaters, I tend to curl up in the fetal position and whimper. 

 

What’s on the horizon for you?

The line between the land and the sky. Why? Do you see something else?

 

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

You can find out anything worth knowing at www.ejcopperman.com and you can buy discounted copies of many of my books at www.cohencoppermanbooks.com. Otherwise, pick one up and see if they’re your style.

 

And Justice For Mall

A Jersey Girl Legal Mystery, Book 4

 

Sandy Moss is faced with a client who won’t let her off the hook: eleven-year-old Riley Schoenberg walks brazenly into Sandy’s office and tells her she wants Sandy to mount an appeal for her father, who is in prison after being convicted of murdering Riley’s mother. And just to make it interesting, he’s confessed to the crime.

 

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR E.J. COPPERMAN

E.J. Copperman is the author of the Haunted Guesthouse mystery series, whose fourth novel Chance of a Ghost was recently published. Other titles in the series include Night of the Living Deed, An Uninvited Ghost and Old Haunts. Learn more about E.J. and his books at his website. -- AP 

 “I hate writing; I love having written.”—attributed to just about every author ever

I write almost every day. That is, I write fiction almost every day. Other times, I write non-fiction or grocery lists or blog posts, or something, but I devote at least part of most days to the creation of some completely made-up story or another. Quite often, that involves working on the Haunted Guesthouse mystery series in which Alison Kerby has purchased a Jersey Shore Victorian to turn into a guesthouse, only to discover it is inhabited by its previous owner and a private detective, which would be trouble enough, except that they’re both dead.

When a Haunted Guesthouse book deadline is not looming—as one is not now, for a couple of months, anyway—I devote myself to other stories, some of which are proposals for more mystery series that might or might not happen, while others are “standalones,” one-off stories not meant to launch anything other than a reader’s interest for the course of one book, if possible.

Each novel or short story consists of a plot idea to get it going, characters to populate it who must at the very least be interesting, dialogue that should sound like people talking, a few memorable scenes for readers to, um, remember, and various other elements. All of these carry with them certain levels of difficulty for the writer, and they vary from writer to writer depending on one’s inherited gifts. I’m pretty good at dialogue and I like characters, so I don’t worry too hard about those.

But I absolutely hate giving my characters names.

Don’t get me wrong; I don’t think these imaginary people should run around without the benefit of an identifier. I don’t want them to have to tolerate being called “hey, you” or “Number 642” or anything like that. I agree the characters should have names, but the fact remains that I would pay cash money—if I had any—to someone who could come up with believable monikers for the walking, talking figments of my imagination who populate these tales.

I would change every single name I’ve given every single character in every single story I’ve ever written. Except that then I’d have to name them again, and I’d only want to change those names, too.

The usual M.O. is that I hit that moment where a character needs to stop being “the guy with the red hat” and take the plunge into personhood in my head. That requires a name. I knew this was coming, so I take a deep breath (and possibly a Tums) and sit there gazing stupefied at my office for the better part of ten minutes with absolutely nothing resembling a thought in my head. Honest, for those periods of time, I could be classified as a form of plant life.

I stare at the spines of books on my office shelves, but let’s face it, the names on those would have been used up years ago, since I don’t have that much room for books on my office shelves.  Besides, they’re generally names of other authors, and how would that look? So I give that up and look around at objects in the office to see if those will suffice. Charlie Fax Machine? Too ethnic. Joanne Souvenir-Baseball-Autographed-by-Graig-Nettles? A little cumbersome.

Finally, I close my eyes (you’d think I’d have enough experience to just skip to this step, but no) and try to come up with sounds that could be name-like. K-k-k-Karen? Maybe. The character’s a man, but I can work around that—I have a name I don’t hate! Now she (because now it’s a “she”) needs a last name; dammit! (No, “Karen Dammit” doesn’t sound good, and some people get touchy about stuff like that.)

M-m-m-Malone? “Karen Malone?” Eh.

I’ll stick it in there with the promise to myself that this is only temporary, a placeholder, and I’ll come back and fix it another day. Which never comes.

Karen Malone it is.

Wait—I haven’t used that one yet! I’m saving this name—there’ll probably be a character coming up I could saddle with it.

Temporarily, of course. I’ll change it in revisions.

Suuuuuuuuuuuure I will.

Chance of a Ghost, the fourth novel in the Haunted Guesthouse mystery series, takes a more personal approach: This time Alison Kerby is searching for a ghost close to her heart, her departed father who has been mysteriously absent from his ghost-seeing daughter's life. There's a chance she might find him now--but she'll have to solve another ghost's murder before she can. 

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