So.

I've been away from blogging for a while. Miss me? Be honest now. Things are looking up here, job-wise and health-wise, and that means I'll do a better job of keeping up with ol' Bitter Water Blog.

Last month, I talked about setting up a separate blog just for book reviews and author interviews. I even asked you guys to come up with a name for the thing. The deal was that I'd pick a winner and award him or her a copy of Sam Millar's The Dark Place.

Well, I'm going to stick with having just one blog, as that seems more than enough to occupy my spare time right now. But that doesn't mean I've forgotten about you people who submitted blog titles for the contest. I threw all of your names into a hat and drew out two. That's right, I have two copies of The Dark Place and I'm giving them to...

Kieran Shea and Alan Griffiths. Send me an e-mail with your mailing address and I'll get them out to you right away (or what passes for right away in my world).

Watch this space for reviews and interviews (including Sam Millar) over the next few weeks.

Thanks for hanging around.

Marketing

"It's not enough anymore to sit back and expect the publisher to do everything, or people to notice you simply because you've published a book, or another book. Plenty of people publish books every year, but how many of them get the attention they deserve? You have to find a way to separate yourself from the herd, to make yourself something more than just another name on the shelf."
--John Connolly, interviewed in Crimespree #30 (on sale now).

Author Interview: James Hayman

James Hayman is a former creative director for a New York advertising agency who now lives and writes on Peak’s Island, Maine. Jim was kind enough to answer a few questions about his debut crime novel, The Cutting (St. Martin’s Minotaur, June 23).

PSB: Give us a quick pitch for The Cutting.

JH: On a warm September night in Portland, Maine, a pretty blond high-school girl is found dead in a vacant scrap yard, her heart cut from her body with surgical precision. The very same day a young business woman is abducted while jogging. Are the two crimes related? Ex–New York homicide cop Michael McCabe, now head of the Portland’s Crimes Against People unit is convinced they are and the race is quickly on to find the second victim before she suffers an identical fate.

With help from a mysterious Frenchwoman, McCabe and his team zero in on a sexual psychopath who’s been harvesting human hearts for both profit and sexual thrills. In the middle of it all McCabe finds he has to worry about less lethal matters, like the reappearance of his faithless ex-wife in both his and his daughter’s life.

PSB: Chicken or the egg time: which came first, McCabe or the idea for the main plot?

JH: McCabe. I knew I wanted to set my story in Portland. I also knew I wanted a hero who, like me, is at his core, a native New Yorker.

Like they say, write what you know about. McCabe and I have quite a lot in common. We were both born in New York, McCabe in the Bronx, me in Brooklyn. We both married beautiful brunettes and we both live with and love women who are talented artists. We both flirted with careers in the movie business. We both are die-hard New York Giant fans. We both moved to Maine. And we both enjoy rare New York strip steaks and good Scotch whiskey.

PSB: Though it stands on its own, The Cutting reads like the first book in a series. There are a lot of series characters out there—forensic pathologists, police detectives, PIs, bounty hunters, etc. How does a new writer make his or her character stand out in such a crowded field?

JH: Good question. As you point out, it’s all been done. Every size, shape, occupation, ethnicity, color and sexual orientation. About all that’s left for the new writer is create a sleuth who’s a trans-gender Siberian dwarf. On the other hand, that’s probably been done as well.

In the end, I decided not to even try to make my hero weirdly different. Instead, I simply tried to make him genuinely human.

McCabe, on the face of it, is the stereotype of all stereotypes, an Irish cop who drinks too much. I suspect a number of publishers rejected the book for that reason alone. What makes him work, I think, and why I think a couple of publishers were interested enough to make good offers, is that McCabe comes across as a real person with real flaws and real problems that other real people, the ones who read books, can relate to.

PSB: I like the notion that McCabe is haunted by the past, but must concern himself more with the present and future because of his daughter. He tries to shelter Casey, not only from the dangers of the world, but from her own narcissistic mother. Will you extend this subplot over successive novels?

JH: Yes. Casey, in The Cutting, is thirteen years old. At the cusp of the most difficult seven years in any parent’s life. She’ll be back. And so will Sandy. They’re both very much part of who McCabe is and what makes him interesting.

PSB: Let’s talk about the setting. You’re “from away,” like me, but you write with confidence about southern and coastal Maine. How tough was it to capture such a strong sense of place? Did McCabe’s status as a flatlander make it easier?

JH: I first came to Portland in the late 90’s and instantly fell in love with the place. For me, it seemed a natural place to set a suspense thriller series. It offers a gritty urban setting. Great architecture. Vibrant street life. Great bars and restaurants. The working waterfront. A lively arts scene. A long and rich history.

I’m very much an urban person. I could no more write a novel set in a rural landscape than I could jump over the moon. But writing about Portland? That was easy.

PSB: In a recent column for Crimespree Magazine, Craig McDonald noted that the events of 9/11 “…simply dwarfed any sense of urgency or gravitas one might try to build into a private eye novel or police procedural.” McDonald did a clever end-run around the whole thing by setting his novels in the 20th century. Do you think 9/11 is an obstacle for writers? If so, how do you make readers care about your protagonist’s fictional problems when the real-world stakes are so high?

JH: I couldn’t disagree more. I think the human tragedy and challenges of 9/11 offer a treasure trove of material for fiction writers.

This is obvious for writers of political and espionage thrillers. But I believe it’s also true for detective fiction and for literary fiction.

One very interesting “straight” novel I read recently is Netherland by Joseph O’Neill in which 9/11 serves as the catalyst for the break up of a marriage and all the events that follow.

PSB: Now it’s time for the mandatory question: who are your influences?

JH: Two obvious ones. Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch novels which are set in L.A. and Ian Rankin’s John Rebus series set in Edinburgh. McCabe has much in common with both characters. I like the writing. And I like the urban settings.

Others are less obvious. Peter Abrahams, Richard Price, Ian McEwan and Robert Stone.

PSB: What are reading now and what’s in your TBR pile?

JH: I’m halfway through what Rankin says is the last in the John Rebus series, Exit Music.

I’m also just starting my first George Pelecanos, who I think I’m going to like. Also Roxanna Robinson’s Cost.

PSB: Can you give us a teaser for your next novel?

JH: A young schizophrenic woman witnesses a horrendous murder. Unfortunately, nobody believes her. She is, after all, crazy.

Yeah

"Keep your head down and write."
--Craig McDonald, interviewed by Jedidiah Ayres. Now tool on over to Hardboiled Wonderland and read both installments of this excellent interview.

Fiction's Primary Purpose

"Were you schooled to believe that fiction’s primary purpose is to examine society? I sure was. But more and more I find said members of this society don’t read sweet fuckall. Like the former President. This is distressing. Then there are the boobs who don’t read fiction. Yeah, yeah…that doorstop on Alexander Hamilton is real cheery, but fiction can tell you how the meat tasted back then, how the streets sounded, what a whore really smelled liked. Next witness.

--Kieran Shea, interviewed at Bookspot Central.

Interviewed at Bookspot Central

Brian Lindenmuth recently interviewed me for a series called "Conversations with the Bookless" at Bookspot Central. Over the last couple of weeks, they've posted fascinating conversations with people like Patti Abbott, Greg Bardsley, Frank Bill, Keith Rawson, Jedidiah Ayres and others. My interview went live today. Check out it and leave a comment when you get a chance.

Author Interview: Tom Bale

I received an advance copy of Tom Bale’s Skin and Bones on Christmas Eve and finished it in time for Christmas dinner. This writer had me hooked from page one and I had a tough time putting the book down, even when the kids were opening their presents. Mr. Bale was kind enough to answer a few questions about Skin and Bones and his latest project.

Give us a quick pitch for the book.
A killer goes on the rampage in a quiet Sussex village before apparently taking his own life. Only Julia Trent knows that the gunman wasn't acting alone, but after being chased and almost killed, no one wants to believe her account of the massacre. Joining forces with Craig Walker, a journalist and son of one of the victims, she sets out to discover the truth. What she finds is that the killing didn't start on that cold day in January, and worst of all, it won’t end there…

How is it doing so far? Have you gotten some good press?
It’s selling well, I believe, and the reaction so far has been very positive. Some great reviews in the national and local press, and from a lot of well-respected crime fiction websites and bloggers. Knowing how many books are out there competing for attention, I’d have been delighted with half a dozen reviews, but so far it’s had about twenty.

Here in the U.S., we’ve grown accustomed to seeing the aftermath of mass killings on the evening news. I found the massacre in Skin and Bones so disturbing because Americans don’t usually think of such things happening in England. Your characters mention other (presumably real) shootings that have occurred. How common are these incidents in your country?
Shooting sprees have occurred in the UK. I'm glad to say they're extremely rare events, but perhaps all the more shocking for that reason.

How did you avoid ending up with a “ripped from the headlines” feel?
I think that's mostly down to the bizarre way in which this story originated. The entire opening sequence, where Julia enters the village and gets chased by the gunman, came from an incredibly vivid dream. I woke up with every detail right there in place, and frankly I couldn't believe my luck! (Normally when I get an idea in a dream, it falls apart under closer examination, but this one didn't.) From that point onwards, I quite deliberately didn't look too closely at any real incidents, either in Britain or elsewhere, although I used the basic structure of the official report into the Hungerford massacre when putting together the police report in my novel.

Tell us how you came up with your protagonists, Julia Trent and Craig Walker.
Because of the way the opening sequence came about, Julia was there from the beginning. The essence of her character developed quite naturally during those first chapters, where she's already being pushed to the limit. With Craig, it wasn't quite such an organic approach. His character took longer to develop, and actually changed a fair bit during the various drafts.

One of the things I love about Julia is her inner strength. She has experienced terrible things and lives in fear of more, but still she persists in uncovering the truth. Was that mix of strength and terror difficult to get down on paper?
It was a tricky balancing act at times. If she's too scared she’ll come across as drippy and unsympathetic; make her too strong and you risk losing plausibility. In terms of fine-tuning to get the right mix, I owe an awful lot to my editor and my agent, both of whom gave me some very useful advice on that score. It also helped that most of my first readers were female, including my wife, my sisters and my friend Claire. They made it a lot less daunting to create a female protagonist.

Skin and Bones has three main villains (and a small host of hired goons). All three are complex characters and, as much as I wanted to hate them, I found myself empathizing with each of them to a certain degree. How did those characters evolve as you wrote?
I’m glad to hear you empathized with them, as that’s exactly what happens to me during the writing process. I always set out to create bad guys with no redeeming features at all, and then inevitably find myself bringing out their more human, sympathetic qualities.

There are a couple of gruesome scenes involving an electric saw and some nylon cord. As seen through Julia’s eyes, the violence is horrific but it somehow never feels gratuitous. That level of violence is necessary because of what it reveals about the character inflicting it, but did you have to struggle with these scenes?
Not at all! I find the scenes with a lot of action and violence are by far the easiest to write. The ones I really struggled with were those that explored the hint of romance between Julia and Craig. In fact, quite a lot of those scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.

I think Skin and Bones will be well received in the States. Any news on when it’s coming out over here?
That’s very kind of you to say so, but at the moment it doesn’t have a US publisher. I'm hoping that if it does well enough in the UK, it might generate some interest in America. My UK publishers hold World English rights, so I’m sure they’ll do their best to get a US deal if they can.

Who are your main influences as a writer?
Stephen King was a major influence during my teens. Hemingway and Graham Greene are the two literary writers that I idolized, and in terms of crime writing specifically, I’d single out John Sandford, Michael Connelly and Martin Cruz Smith, although there are many, many other writers who I read both for enjoyment and for what I can learn from them.

What were the last three books you read?
Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, whose writing is so beautiful he can make anything fascinating; One Under by Graham Hurley, part of a great series of police procedurals set just along the coast from me in Portsmouth, and Gone Baby Gone by Dennis Lehane. I've only recently discovered his work, and after reading just two of his books I'm in awe of him.

Tell us a little about your current project.
The next book is provisionally called Terror’s Reach, and it’s about a criminal gang that seizes control of a wealthy island off the Sussex coast. It introduces what I'm hoping will be a series character: a former cop, estranged from his family and forced to live under a false identity after an undercover operation went disastrously wrong.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I’m looking forward to your next novel.
Thank you.

***

Note to readers: Even though Skin and Bones is not yet available in a US edition, it can be ordered from Amazon. Just click on the link in my introductory paragraph. And be sure to visit Tom Bale's website for news and sample chapters.

Tune in Tomorrow

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for my interview with UK crime writer Tom Bale, author of Skin and Bones. It's been a busy week on the ol' blog. I'll probably go on hiatus next week, since it's a school vacation.

Ten Authors on Their Pivotal Books

Last week, I asked people to send in comments on “pivotal books.” It was a slightly different take on the “book that made me want to be a writer” theme—which has been done a gozillion times. What interested me were the books which, when read by someone who was already writing, affected the direction of that reader’s work. I received great responses from nine authors whom I admire: Michael Haskins, Lyman Feero, Kieran Shea, Patti Abbott, Sophie Littlefield, Dave Zeltserman, Dawn Potter, Clair Dickson and Sandra Ruttan. We’ll start with my pivotal book and move on to theirs.

By 1987, I’d been writing for a decade but was only then becoming serious about it. Most of my stories were lousy pastiches of Michael Moorcock, H.P. Lovecraft and Roger Zelazny’s “Amber” novels. I was spending weekends at my then-girlfriend’s house, and one rainy Sunday needed something to read—hey, our activity choices were limited with both of her parents home and on the alert.

Anyway, I was tired of flashing swords, cunning sorcerers and eldritch terrors from beyond the stars. Nothing wrong with those things, but I had the urge to try something new. Tonia’s father had just finished reading a novel called The Beans of Egypt, Maine by Carolyn Chute. Now, I’d heard of this book, which had been out for a couple of years. It was the center of regional controversy for its unflattering take on rural Maine life. I picked it up and figured what the hell.

This novel floored me; not because it was a brilliant piece of writing, but because the language and the subject matter were so raw and honest. Chute wrote about the Maine that I knew. Her characters—warts and all—were people I saw every day of my life. Many of the books I read in high school left me cold because I could not relate to the characters. The very idea that someone could write a novel about common, salt-of-the-earth people in an empathic and nonjudgmental way came as a revelation. It was also the first time I became aware of how the landscape of a story shapes character and plot, how the setting itself can be a character. Reading The Beans of Egypt, Maine became my road to Damascus moment as a writer.

Since my first encounter with Beans, other writers and books have affected my work—hell, most of the good ones do. But it was Carolyn Chute who set me on the path I’ve been following for the last 22 years. It isn’t a great book, but I still love it and reread it every couple of years.

Michael Haskins (author of Chasin’ the Wind): An interesting question! I would have to say it was James Lee Burke's In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead. Two reasons for that, 1) he had his character, Dave Robicheaux, see ghosts (Confederate soldiers), 2) I'd been reading his books in order and I realized at this point that Burke is one of the greats because you smelled the aromas of New Orleans and stench of the swamps while you read. I would kill to have those abilities!

Lyman Feero (genre-defying author of “The Switch” and other stories): The seminal work that shaped my writing career is actually the oeuvre of Edgar Allan Poe. I started writing because of Stephen King but it was Poe that shaped me. As a kid I loved "The Raven" and started writing poetry when I was ten. At the same time I found King and read his works voraciously. I started reading Poe's short stories and found them just as appealing as King's. "The Tell Tale Heart," "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Pit and The Pendulum," became easy favorites. Still it was King I fashioned my works after in high school.

Then came college. I branched out and read more obscure works by Poe. I read his Dupin detective stories, his essays on short stories and the creative ideal, his minor short stories like "Eleonora" and "Hop Frog." I always felt a little stifled by one genre. As I looked at the broad spectrum of Poe's work I realized that he was not simply a horror writer of the American Gothic tradition. Instead he was a storyteller who used many means to tell a story, even going so far as to create his own genres to do so. It was then that my long journey to tell stories beyond genre began.

Kieran Shea (author of “Shot Back,” “Thoroughly Yours” and other kick-ass crime stories): I'm not going to bullshit you, I mean every single book I read has me second guessing ANYTHING I attempt.

About twenty years ago, just before I was scrabbling in the Washington-DC theater scene and getting my first understudy acting gig (equity mind you) I picked up Sam Shepard's (out of print) short story/essay collection The Motel Chronicles.

Fuck me. That is it....that is all. All...I...ever...want...to...achieve.

When I read SS's TMC one night I bitch cursed that talented fucker like I was lanced with a cod hook. I had no idea, none, ZERO...just how hard so little words could slash.

So, I read Sam and kept pushing the slim volume on my friends, saying...read THIS.

Only a decade later did I realize the accuracy of Shepards's hawkish aim....

Sam Shepard.

Pure. Acid. Watershed.

Patti Abbott (Derringer Award-winning author of “My Hero” and other stories): For me it would the series of short stories (mostly published in The New Yorker) written by John Updike about the Maple family. They were eventually collected in the volume Too Far to Go: The Maples Stories and filmed in TV drama starring Blythe Danner and Michael Moriarty. The stories took the couple from their first married days through the dissolution of their marriage. My very favorite of the stories is titled "Giving Blood," where the two lie at right angles to each other giving blood, and thinking about the state of their marriage. It is incredibly sad.

Sophie Littlefield (author of the forthcoming A Bad Day for Sorry): When I stumbled on an early short story collection by T. Coraghessan Boyle in the 1980s - not even sure which it was, though a quick search gets me thinking it might have been Descent of Man - I was riveted. I was in my first year or two of college, home for the summer, broke, bored, and trolling for something new at the local library. I was shocked that you could write in such an unvarnished way about human appetites and still get published. There was also an element of emotional violence in Boyle's work that struck a resounding chord in me, one which, it turns out, later formed the basis for most of my own work. Also, some of the stories were also just so wonderfully, unapologetically, fantastically weird. I had certainly never heard of magical realism and, if I had, would have assumed it wasn't allowed in Missouri.

I wondered which of the librarians had test-driven the book - I was under the impression there was some round-table vetting process - and hoped I would not meet her eye by accident, because surely she would know: reading the book, I was convinced, had marked me forever.

In those days I felt deeply ashamed that I was so viscerally attracted to raw writing. A decade later, books like Mona Simpson's Anywhere But Here made me see that you could reveal the drama at the core of human relationships without necessarily having to introduce sex and violence into the story. Though damn if those don't make handy story elements.

Dave Zeltserman (author of Fast Lane, Small Crimes and Pariah): This one’s easy. A Hell of a Woman by Jim Thompson. The book blew me away, and changed the way I thought about writing. I realized after reading this book that you could break every rule in writing if you can make it work.

Dawn Potter (author of Boy-Land and Other Poems, Tracing Paradise: Two Years in Harmony with John Milton and the forthcoming How the Crimes Happened ): David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I've recently finished an essay called "Dickens the Novelist: A Love Letter," which is coming out someday in The Sewanee Review.

Here's the final paragraph of that essay: I love David Copperfield so much that I can hardly bear the idea of taking it apart to critically examine its insides. I really don’t care how or why it works. All I want is to keep rereading it forever. As David says about his friend the Micawbers, “I had grown so accustomed to [them], and had been so intimate with them in their distresses, and was so utterly friendless without them, that the prospect of being thrown upon some new shift for a lodging, and going once more among unknown people, was like being that moment turned adrift into my present life.”

Clair Dickson (author of the “Bo Fexler, PI” stories): The book that impacted my writing the most would be Raymond Chandler's The Lady in the Lake. I read the book in college, maybe seven or eight years ago now. I'd been writing for years before then, even dabbling in mysteries. In my quest to better understand the genre I was writing in, I came across Raymond Chandler. And I fell in love with his prose by the end of the first page. By the end of the book, I wanted to be the next Raymond Chandler. I love the way that Chandler plays with words. Everything I've read since then has not been able to compare. Chandler was my first taste of darker writing-- where bad things do happen to good characters and where no one bothers to find a silver lining. My kind of writing.

Sandra Ruttan (author of the Nolan, Hart & Tain series and editor of Spinetingler Magazine): "Criminous kids are bad enough, but Ruttan, a disciple of the Val McDermid school, takes things a bit further. To say more is to give away a terrific plot."

Margaret Cannon's review (of The Frailty of Flesh) in The Globe and Mail hit the nail on the head: a key book that had an undeniable influence on my writing was Val McDermid's Wire in the Blood. I read it at a time when I was exploring new-to-me authors, and much of what I'd read to that point had followed the point of view of the protagonist, who was almost always a cop. WITB chilled me to the bone with scenes told from the killer's perspective, and through the eyes of victims.

This one book, more than any other I can think of, made me consider carefully the use of point of view in storytelling. The added perspectives give the reader a God's Eye overview that allows you to see how it is - or isn't - coming together, and heightens the suspense as the investigation unfolds. I had always thought not knowing who did it, or why, kept people turning the pages, but WITB taught me that a great writer can divulge details and draw you in deeper at the same time.

WITB was also one of the first books I read that forged a bond between the reader and a central character and then killed the character. The sense of loss only amplified my desire to see justice done by the final page.

Every time I sit down to write I carefully consider the point of view I'm using, and what perspectives I'll use in the work as a whole to tell the story, and whether or not I'm limiting the perspectives to cheat the reader into false suspense, or whether the other perspectives add depth and richness to the story, and sometimes, I ask myself if letting a character live is pulling a punch that weakens the overall effect of the story being told. These are valuable lessons learned from one of the greats of our genre, and lessons I'm glad I learned early on.
***

There you have it. I want to thank everyone who took time out from their busy schedules to respond. If anyone else wants to talk about a pivotal book, feel free to add a comment.

Speaking Canadadan: An Interview with Sandra Ruttan (and how you can win a copy of her latest novel)

Sandra Ruttan is the author of Suspicious Circumstances (Tico Publishing, 2007), What Burns Within (Dorchester, May 2008) and The Frailty of Flesh (Dorchester, October 2008). The latter two novels feature her series characters Nolan, Hart and Tain. Sandra is also the head honcho at Spinetingler Magazine and a reviewer for Mystery Bookspot. A native of Canada, she recently relocated to the U.S.

Give us a quick pitch for your latest novel, The Frailty of Flesh.

Nolan confronts one of his demons, Tain wrestles with a crushing wound from the past and Hart suffers a devastating loss as the personal and professional lives of the constables collide with tragic consequences. Sounds cheery, doesn't it?

Tell us a little about the genesis of your three protagonists: Constables Tain, Craig Nolan and Ashlyn Hart.

Craig Nolan has a lot of personal issues that he's been trying to control, and in The Frailty of Flesh they come bubbling to the surface. Craig's work, and his identity as Steve Daly's son, are his salvation. When his image of his father is threatened and there are problems at work Craig starts to come unglued.

This has a direct impact on Ashlyn Hart, who's personally involved with Craig. Ashlyn is a level-headed person and usually handles things better than Craig and Tain. Due to the subject matter of the first book it was necessary for Ashlyn to be physically attractive, but I don't think of her as quite the knockout some have assumed she must be. I think of her as pretty, but with such a compelling personality people warm to her quickly.

Tain is the closed door of the bunch. He tries to keep everything buried, to keep his personal life completely off limits to his coworkers. In reality, he doesn't have much of a personal life now, but that's because of the tragedy that haunts him, and in The Frailty of Fleshreaders will learn about the personal loss he's suffered. Frailty tests his relationship with Ashlyn as well.

The dynamic between these characters is one of the more interesting aspects of the series. How much planning goes into their relationship and how much is just a matter of putting the three of them together and seeing what happens?

A lot of it is about putting the three of them together and seeing what happens. There were certain things I knew when I started What Burns Within. I knew how it would end. I also knew that the second book would test the relationship between Craig and Ash.

Beyond that, I don't know that much book to book. I look at the natural reactions these individuals would have to each other and the situations they're dealing with, and that's how things unfold. By focusing on character impact and reaction I think it helps me keep the characters consistent. It also allows them to evolve organically as the series progresses. I really like having three protagonists because you can show the reader different facets of the character's personalities through the different interactions. It's also a lot easier to nudge one person to cross a line than it is to get two people to look the other way when you're doing something you shouldn't do. This adds an extra layer of personal tension to the story arcs that makes writing them interesting.

Your series has dealt with some heavy issues like religious fanaticism, rape and child abuse. How have readers responded?

A few people have been wary about the subject matter, but I haven't received any hate mail or strong complaints. Reviewers seemed to pick up on the sensitivity displayed in dealing with the subject matter of the first book. I don't try to exploit these types of stories for shock value, or just use them to manipulate the reader into caring more. The reality is, cops who are confronted with a murdered or missing child are usually going to find it harder to cope with than the murder of a prostitute. I've dealt with child issues in the books because I had a lot of things I needed to get out of my system after working with abused children.

I think my biggest challenge centers on the fact that I don't try to give easy answers. The conclusion doesn't come wrapped up with a bow on top. The stories center on how the events affect the protagonists, and while other lives are touched on, I don't try to give the "sexually-abused-as-a-child-in-front-of-the-fireplace-so-he-became-a-pyromaniac" answer. In a procedural the focus is more on the evidence than on the psychology, and there's almost a sense of reluctant acceptance on the part of the constables. People commit atrocious acts, and they have to see them with their own eyes. Sometimes it really gets to them, but they have to try to focus on the investigation rather than their feelings. That's a tough thing to do when you're confronted with the body of a four-year-old child, just weeks before Christmas, which is the situation Tain and Ashlyn find themselves in at the beginning of The Frailty of Flesh.


So what's next? Are you working on the next novel in the Nolan, Hart and Tain series or something else?

Yes, and yes. The deal for book three in the series, Lullaby for the Nameless, has just been announced. In Lullaby readers will finally find out what happened on the first case Nolan, Hart and Tain worked together when a new case directly connects to the old one. It will be told with intersecting timelines, and should be published next November.

I'm also working on another book that isn't a procedural. It's a real departure for me from what I've done to date, but that's all I'm saying.

You've lived in Maryland a few months now. Are you pretty well settled in or still adjusting to life in the States?

Still adjusting. Every now and again I get called out on speaking 'Canadadan', as my stepdaughter calls it. It's the little things you don't realize you can't get here that sneak up on you. A few weeks ago Brian and I were heading to Baltimore to pick up Jon Jordan, Ayo Onatade and Penny and Denny, to deal with some pre-Bouchercon things. Jon asked if we were bringing donuts and I just about said, "There's no Tim Hortons here."

And last weekend we went to Gettysburg. How weird is that? I live where Civil War battles were fought. I'm fascinated by the local history. I've always loved Baltimore, since Homicide was on, but getting to live here and explore the area is wonderful.

Canada is not known as a hotbed of crime fiction. I think a lot of Americans have a notion of Canada as a sort of idyllic place where nothing bad ever happens. That's mostly because we're too lazy to learn about other countries. Did your agent or publisher try pressuring you to set your novels in America or to "write American"?
My first agent did talk to me about relocating the series. He was Canadian though. I think it was harder years ago, and that things have started to open up a bit. I don't blame Americans. I think this trend goes down to unoriginal promotional platforms because of the constraints of the publishing industry. The same standard things are done for most books, to greater and lesser degrees, and publicists don't really have the proper time to come up with a specific marketing campaign for each book. If they did they could find ways to sell Canadian content easily. The 2010 Olympics are in Vancouver and Whistler, and there have been all sorts of interesting issues with protestors and construction. I have three RCMP officers in the Greater Vancouver Area. There's so much material I could mine there, and people often like to read books set where they're traveling. There isn't a lot of well-known commercial crime fiction set in the GVA, and this seems to me like a natural sales avenue for the books, but it's outside the scope of what the publicists are usually able to do.

That said, the publicists at Dorchester have been fantastic, and I feel they've done everything possible to work my books. I've been fortunate. They're big fans of the books themselves and it's great to know that you have a supportive team working with you. The Canadian setting hasn't been an issue for my editor at all and they want a third book, so obviously the books can sell.

Now that I live in the U.S. I think I'd feel more comfortable with a U.S. setting.

As for "writing American" I do have to use American spelling, and occasionally I slip up. Last week my stepdaughter asked, "What's this word? C-o-l-o-u-r?" She's in grade 1 and she knows how to spell tougher words than that, but the Canadian spelling threw her off. She's always reminding me I live in Westminster now, so I have to say and spell things right. She gives me a harder time than my editor does.

How are things going with Spinetingler? I got the impression for a while last year that you might ready to call it day.

It was very hard to stay on top of it when I was getting divorced. I do feel that if it can't be done to a certain standard, it should fold. Having said that, it's hard to balance life and writing and the ezine. I've been fortunate. Bookspot Central adopted Spinetingler and they handle the web design and uploading. Jack Getze has joined as a regular editor. James Oswald was reviewing submissions for most of last year, and did a fantastic job. The team that works with me is what keeps Spinetingler going.

Who is your all-time favorite crime writer and who do you think is an up-and-comer?

Ian Rankin. I know, I know. One of these days people will start asking who my second favourite is, just to get a different answer. :)

As for an up-and-comer, that's hard. It's easy to point to Sean Chercover and Cornelia Read, both of whom inspire me. I think Steve Mosby is poised for a major breakthrough, and I also think Russel D. McLean has a long career ahead of him. There are a few debut authors I'm looking forward to reading, including Grant McKenzie, Kelli Stanley and Rebecca Cantrell.

Of course, there are several others. It's impossible to come up with a conclusive list.

Parting shot time: what do you most want everyone to know about Sandra Ruttan?
Recently, on a panel at Bouchercon I said that people who encounter me online often seem to think I'm a hard ass. Someone from the front row piped up with, "Yes, you're a lot different in person!" I'm actually pretty easy-going.

I have a real split personality. By nature I'm an extrovert, but because I can get intimidated easily I tend to shy away sometimes. It's something I have to work on.

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Want to win a signed copy of The Frailty of Flesh? Damn right you do. So send your name and address to patricksbagley@yahoo.com (with the subject header RUTTAN DRAWING). I will throw all entrants' names into a hat and let one of my kids pull out a winner. The deadline for entries is 12:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) November 1.