HISTORICAL MYSTERY AUTHOR MJ FINN ON DESIGNING AN HISTORICAL MYSTERY SERIES

M.J. Finn is an armchair pilot with a life-long interest in the Golden Age of Air Racing. Growing up in Chicago led to basing leading character TJ O’Connell there and provides an opportunity to describe the vibrant, growing city in the heart of the United States that was more than the stomping grounds for Al Capone and other famous criminals.

There are thousands of new books published every week on Amazon and other sites. This makes coming up with a unique story within the Mystery, Thriller, Suspense (MTS) category challenging. I was working with a writing coach who emphasized the need to come up with something that would stand apart from other books but still fit within genre expectations. His other advice was to write what I knew.

What did I know? I’m an avid reader of history and historical fiction, so setting the series in an historical period made sense. I also like thrillers and mysteries, so that meant fitting into the historical mystery/thriller space. But where and when to set the story so that it didn’t get lost in an ocean of books that had already been published? The Prohibition era in America was popular, especially for cozy mysteries, and many people identified Chicago with the era due to Al Capone and the gang wars. I grew up on the northside of Chicago, so setting the story there was an easy choice. Not only was Rogers Park a growing section of the city in that period, Al Capone had actually lived there for a year or so.

 

One of my other passions is flying and airplanes. The 1920s and 1930s have often been called the Golden Age of air racing, with plenty of unique characters, planes, and races. The National Air Races for 1930 were held north of Chicago, the only time they were held in that area. By making my protagonist a pilot, I could move him around the country for different settings, mysteries, and antagonists in future books. The possibilities were only limited by my imagination.

 

So now I had a basic concept for my series:

·      A young barnstorming pilot from Rogers Park in Chicago.

·      The first book would revolve around the 1930 National Air Races at Curtiss-Reynolds Field near Chicago.

·      Something forces this young pilot to solve a mystery that he’s involved in.

·      There needs to be life and death stakes and one or more mobs involved.

·      Many mysteries set in this period have protagonists from the upper class, who don’t seem to worry about money. This detective is from the middle class, and money will never be far from his thoughts.

 

A side benefit of writing historical fiction is doing research for each of the books. While some authors may see this as a chore or a necessary evil, I enjoy exploring different times and places and learning new things. While it was tempted to go too far down the rabbit hole of research, placing myself on a schedule to complete the first draft kept those temptations in check. I was lucky to discover the Rogers Park Historical Society and their series of books on the history and development of the neighborhood. The information and pictures were extremely helpful, and volunteers from the society answered a number of questions that came up as I wrote the first draft.

 

Curtiss-Reynolds Field later became Glenview Naval Air Station in WW II, so there was a lot of information about the field during that period available. Finding information and photographs from 1930 was more difficult, but cruising through newspaper archives and websites dedicated to air races uncovered a few gems. My home library was filled with books on racing planes and races from the period, so that was one of the easier research areas to complete. Then I ran into my first obstacle.

 

I wanted the pilot to be someone who had bigger dreams and visions than just racing planes. Someone who was an expert in one area, but who faces challenges in others. To make his financial challenges a bit more daunting, he became the first in his family to seek a college degree. It turns out they didn’t have degrees in aeronautical engineering at colleges in Chicago at that time. So, he ends up going to the Armour Institute seeking a Mechanical Engineering degree. Coincidentally, that’s where I went to school (it’s now the Illinois Institute of Technology). They have their yearbooks and school newspapers online, providing all the information needed to realistically include his college experiences. 

 

Now I was off to the races! There are currently three books in the series, with three more to follow in 2025. I hope you’ll fly along on TJ O’Connell’s adventures.

 

Fallen Aces

The Barnstorming Detective Series, Book One

 

All he wanted to do was fly his plane in the nationals, but they took that away from him. Now he’s seeking justice.

 

In the thrilling world of the 1930 Chicago Air Races, one young pilot's dream is derailed when disaster strikes.TJ O'Connell, a determined young Irish-American pilot from the north side of Chicago, aims to win the competition and fund his dream of attending college. However, tragedy strikes when a renowned American ace crashes during a practice run, and TJ is wrongfully accused of causing the disaster.

 

To clear his name and secure his future, TJ must find the truth with the help of allies he meets along the way. As they delve deeper into the aviation world, they unearth a web of secrets, rivalries, and prejudices that threaten to tarnish TJ's dreams.

 

From the gritty streets of Chicago to the dazzling heights of the racecourse, TJ must race against time to uncover the truth. Will he emerge victorious in both the hearing room and the skies, or will the shadows of suspicion forever eclipse his ambitions?

 

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AN INTERVIEW WITH MYSTERY AUTHOR LORIE LEWIS HAM

Photo by Lorie Lewis Ham

Today we sit down for a chat with mystery author Lorie Lewis Ham. Learn more about her and her books at her website where you’ll also find links to social media. 

When did you realize you wanted to write novels? 

I started making up short stories as soon as I could put sentences together. My first song and poem were published when I was thirteen. I’ve gone on to publish many articles, short stories, and poems throughout the years, as well as write for a local newspaper, and publish seven mystery novels.

 

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

My first mystery novel was published in 2000.

 

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

My first four books were published by a small press, the rest I have published myself though my Kings River Life Magazine. 

 

Where do you write? 

Mostly at the dining room table these days. 

 

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

I used to listen to Frank Sinatra but these days I prefer silence—or as much as you can have with a house full of pets.

 

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

With the first series, a lot. With the new one not as much of the plots, but many of the characters are at least loosely based on someone I know in the Tower District. I do share a lot of interests with my main character.

 

Describe your process for naming your character? 

I honestly don’t have a process. Some have come from gravestones, street signs, and most just from playing around with names until something fits. 

 

Real settings or fictional towns? 

My current series is set in a slightly fictionalized version of the Tower District in Fresno, CA (the arts district there)

 

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

Not sure if this qualifies, but my main character knows how to use a sword.

 

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

That is tough because the choices I’ve made have made me who I am and given me the life I have now, so offhand I am not sure. Maybe insisting that my father let me buy the ’57 Chevy Bel Aire convertible that was for sale across the street for only $1000.

 

What’s your biggest pet peeve? 

People not doing their research—as example, people on podcasts not making sure they have their facts or pronunciations correct, and people contacting me about a guest post or interview who obviously have never listened to our podcast or read Kings River Life.

 

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

Sherlock Holmes Collection, my pets, and a way to watch my favorite TV shows (this is assuming we are talking about objects not people). 

 

What was the worst job you’ve ever held? 

Waitress when I was pregnant.

 

Who’s your all-time favorite literary character (any genre)? Why?

Sherlock Holmes He’s quirky and smart, interesting, and loyal to those he cares about (Watson). Uses his brain, not his brawn. 

 

Ocean or mountains? 

Ocean

 

City girl/guy or country girl/guy? 

City

 

What’s on the horizon for you? 

Continuing to write more books in the Tower District Mystery series, babysitting the new grandbaby, and hopefully some travel.

 

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

If you like quirky places, theatre, and unique pets, be sure to check out the Tower District Mysteries. 

 

I recommend reading my books in order. Even though the mysteries stand on their own there is character development you miss out on and a through story that will hopefully be resolved in book 3. The first book in this series is One of Us.

 

One of You

A Tower District Mystery, Book 2

 

With her life on the California Coast behind her, Roxi Carlucci is beginning to feel at home in the Tower District—the cultural oasis of Fresno, CA—where she now lives with her cousin P.I. Stephen Carlucci, her pet rat Merlin, a Pit Bull named Watson, and a black cat named Dan. She has a new entertainment podcast, works as a part-time P.I., and is helping local bookstore owner Clark Halliwell put on the first-ever Tower Halloween Mysteryfest! The brutal summer heat is gone and has been replaced by the dense tule fog—perfect for Halloween!

 

She just wishes everyone would stop calling her the “Jessica Fletcher” of the Tower District simply because she found a dead body when she first arrived. But when one of the Mysteryfest authors is found dead, she fears she jinxed herself! The Carlucci’s are hired to find the killer before they strike again. Will Mysteryfest turn into a murder fest? How is the local gossip website back, and what does it know about the death of Roxi’s parents? 

 

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INTERVIEW WITH DETECTIVE KATIE SCOTT FROM AUTHOR JENNIFER CHASE'S THRILLER SERIES

Today we sit down for a chat with Detective Katie Scott from author Jennifer Chase’s Detective Katie Scott Thriller Series.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

I had a simple and quiet life where not much of anything ever happened. I liked my life, but my author sure knows how to turn up the thrills.

 

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

Even though I suffer from PTSD, I have the courage and perseverance to push ahead out of my comfort zone to catch killers.

 

What do you like least about yourself?

I carry a lot of baggage. I keep to myself about many things and I would like to be able to talk to my closest friends more.

 

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

Well, there have been a few things. But the one that stands out was when the bad guy locked me and my partner in a cargo container. I don't have to tell you how scary that was.

 

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

No, we rarely argue. Sometimes I question whether or not I should do something, but other than that we're fine.

 

What is your greatest fear?

No being able to save a victim and not being able to work another cold case.

 

What makes you happy?

It's having my good friends and my uncle to be there for me if I need it. And my military K9 Cisco always makes me happy, especially after a bad day.

 

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

Hmm. That's a tough one. I would have to say that my parents weren't killed in a car accident when I was a teenager. I would love to have more time with my parents especially after being in the Army and joining the police department.

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

Most of the co-characters are pretty cool. It's the bad guys and serial killers that really bug me—to the point of anger. I get tunnel vision and I will eventually catch them.

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

It would be fun to trade places with Denise, my friend and co-worker; she's such a kind and wonderful person. She works as the supervisor in the records division at the sheriff's department. I love spending time with her because her temperament is opposite of mine.

 

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

I respect my author. She always plans such exciting cases for me, but I remind her frequently that she needs to take some time off to relax. You can find her at her website.

 

What's next for you?

I'm not sure, but there are more cases for me to solve. My author keeps things quiet until I have to jump into action. There is another book in the series coming up soon.

The Fragile Ones

A Detective Katie Scott Thriller, Book 5

 

When the bodies of eleven and twelve-year-old sisters, Tessa and Megan, are found at the bottom of a ravine—dressed in matching pastel summer outfits, their small bodies broken from the fall—Detective Katie Scott is called to one of the most shocking and heartbreaking crime scenes of her career.

 

Carefully picking through the fragile remains, Katie makes the first of many disturbing discoveries: the girls were not biological sisters. The youngest, Megan, is a DNA match to a kidnapping case years before. The tiny number burnt into her skin the mark of a terrifying killer intent on keeping count of his collection.

 

Her PTSD from the army triggered, Katie is left reeling as she maps other missing children in the local area.Has this twisted soul found a way to stay nearby his victims? Could he be watching now as Katie hits one dead end after another? 

 

A wild storm building, matching a fiber found during the autopsy to a nearby boatyard is the break Katie needs. But when another girl goes missing, just as lightning strikes and the power goes out, Katie only has her instincts, her team and her service dog to rely on. As time runs out for Katie to finds the stolen child alive, who will become the next number on this monster’s deadly list?

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AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR MARILYNN LAREW'S LEE CARRUTHERS

Lee Carruthers from Marilynn Larew’s Leee Carruthers Series sits down with us for an interview today.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

I was a recent graduate of Yale’s masters program in Islamic studies and inhabiting a cozy cubicle at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, following money laundering and terrorist funding in North Africa when my life imploded. I learned that my father (also a CIA officer) was maintaining a second family in Falls Church, Virginia. This nearly destroyed me. I adored my father. I couldn’t believe he’d betray me like that. Everybody at the Agency knew I was his daughter. I just couldn’t go to work and see them stop talking when I walked past the water cooler. Sidney Worthington (a.k.a. Marilynn Larew) rescued me and posted me to Beirut to continue my money hacking. It was there that he/she sent me on the first mission not covered in my job description. I had to acquire a whole different skill set just to stay alive.

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

I like my self-reliance and unflappability best. They stand me in good stead when I’m doing a “little job” for Sidney

What do you like least about yourself?

Least? My smart mouth. It’s going to get me killed one day.

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

In Hong Kong Central she had me escape from a walled village in Hong Kong’s New Territories by poking roof tiles out and hoisting myself up into the rafters. I then climbed down the side of the wall using a rope made of torn up curtains and dropped to the ground, just missing a truck in the parking lot. If I’d hit it, I would’ve broken my back. I always say it’s better to be born lucky than smart.

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

All the time, mostly about the crazy thing she wants me to do. In The Spider Catchers, she had me steal an SUV and escape from a terrorist camp. In Dead in Dubai, she nailed me in a wooden box and put me on a ship bound for Karachi. She knows how I hate small spaces.

What is your greatest fear?

I fear two things: small spaces and heights. She knows that, but she keeps putting me in places like that any way.

What makes you happy?

Safety. I like a nice quiet night at home, possibly reading something on my Kindle. The little jobs I do for her/Sidney are going to get me killed one day.

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

If I could rewrite anything, I’d rewrite my father’s story I adored him. I thought he was the greatest man on earth. To find that he had another family and a daughter with big blue eyes and curly blonde hair broke my heart. It also left me with serious trust issues. I have a great deal of difficulty trusting men, which has seriously messed up my love life. I also don’t much like cute little blondes.

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

Two of the characters in my books bug me, for different reasons. In The Spider Catchers, Alicia should never have been sent into the field. She was too inexperienced and too naïve. She managed to fall in love with a human trafficker and wind up in a terrorist camp, and I had to go after her.

The second person bugs me on a really personal level. In Hong Kong Central, Secret Service Special Agent Jennifer Evans is a beautiful blonde with a perfect figure. She is the partner of Jim Sanders, a man I grew to love in Paris. She broke us up. When we all met up again in Hong Kong, she tried to keep us apart, a thing Jim said would never happen again, but she did her best. Blondes give me a pain in the first place, and her constant interference made life difficult for both of us.

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

Besides me, there are only two continuing characters in the series – Mike Donovan, Sidney’s chief researcher, and Sidney Worthington himself. Mike has to stay in place. He does all the research heavy lifting for me when I’m in the field. Sidney? Yes, I’d love to trade places with Sidney for a while. I’d love to be the caller rather than callee. I’d call him in the middle of the night and tell him to pack up and leave in the morning. Then I’d send him to Aden or the Central African Republic and see how he likes dodging bullets.

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

Marilynn is a historian, retired from the University of Maryland System, where she taught US frontier history, the history of the Vietnamese war, Vietnamese military history, and the history of terrorism. You can see she likes vicarious violence. She knows her terrorists though. She told me while we were working on The Spider Catchers that whenever she thought of something rotten for the terrorists to do, before the week was out they actually did it. She said it made her feel really creepy. She also studied money and banking. Her dissertation was on the Cincinnati bank that started the Panic of 1819. I think her most unusual publication is about Vietnamese military history in 300 BC. She lives with her husband Karl, who is also a novelist, in a 200-year-old brick farmhouse on the Mason-Dixon line in Pennsylvania.

Her website is www.arilynnlarew.com. There you will find introductions to all of my adventures and a short story about me and an atomic bomb, which is free if you sign up for her newsletter. You’ll also find an introduction to the adventures of a colleague of mine, Baltimore PI Anne Carter. I think you’ll like it.

What's next for you?

I’m not sure. I left the CIA without much thought of what I would do next. I just knew I was tired of the never-ending job of putting money launderers out of business only to see them back in under a month.

I have to go somewhere though. The apartment I lived in in Paris belongs to the Agency. She wants me to go to Boston. I ask you. Boston in the winter? I have a friend who has an IT business near Boston. He’s been after me to come and work with him for a long time, and she wants me to do that, but I’m not sure that information technology is what I want to do. I might have been saved by the bell. Sidney called me last night with a little job he wants me to do in Hanoi.

Hong Kong Central

Despite the fact that she quit the CIA, Lee Carruthers is in Hong Kong doing a little job for Sidney Worthington. He thinks something is wrong at Wong’s Antiques. Lee finds Henry Wong—just as he’s being kidnapped by the Chau Fong Triad. What does a Triad want with an antiquities dealer? That’s one of many questions, as Lee reunites with an old lover, is caught in the middle of burgeoning democracy demonstrations, and uncovers secrets that may once again upend her life.

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