To get us started, Jo A. Hiestand has graciously consented to an interview. Stick around for the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this interesting interview and post about the series. Here we go:
Caroline: Where did you grow
up? Siblings? Locale? Were you considered a “bookworm” or a jock? Married, single? Children?
Jo: Hi, Caroline. I’m quite excited about talking with
you! I grew up in St Louis, where I
currently live. I’ve lived here all my
life except for the year I spent in England – Bolton, Lancashire – when I was
trying to get into folk singing professionally.
Through school, and even now, I’m a definite bookworm. I love to get lost in mysteries or British
history, imagining what things were like.
I’m still single but they say it’s never too late to marry!
Caroline: Who are your
favorite authors and favorite genres?
Jo: Hmmm, that’s a difficult
question about authors because I like so many.
My favorite mystery author is Ngaio Marsh, one of the Queens of the
Golden Age of Mystery writing. Her
writing is beautiful, her characters are so well drawn that they jump off the
page with life, and her plots are quite ingenious. I also like Charles Todd and Peter Lovesey,
as well as Ann Cleeves and Josephine Tey.
As you can tell from this list, I love mysteries! Daphne duMaurier is another of my favorite
authors in the romantic suspense category.
Bertram Fields, a lawyer who approaches historical mysteries from the
direction of proving it in court, is outstanding when he explains and makes
cases for those enigmatic subjects. And, while we’re in the history category,
Antonia Fraser is also brilliant with her books on the Guy Fawkes Plot, Mary
Queen of Scots, and Henry VIII’s wives.
Classic book author favorites are Charles Dickens, Alexander Dumas, and
Charlotte Bronte. When I want to laugh, I read Richard Armour and Mark Twain.
Throw in Walter de la Mare for atmospheric poetry, and you’ve got most of my
favorites.
Genres are mystery, of
course, British history from the Middle Ages through the Georgian period,
nature essays and biographies on the Plantagenets, Tudors and people involved
in court, such as Cecily Neville, William Cecil and Francis Walsingham.
Caroline: You’ve named some
of my favorite authors. My husband and I love mysteries from the Golden Age of
Mystery. What’s your favorite way to relax and recharge? Hobbies?
Jo: Music is always good to
recharge my batteries and relax to. Favored
categories are American and British folk, Dixieland, classical and baroque,
early virginal music, anything by Handel, and 1940s big band. Hobbies run the gamut from baking and playing
guitar to crewel embroidery and photography.
Caroline: Do you have a
favorite quote that sums up how you feel about life?
Jo: Gol, that’s easy. It’s “When Life gives you a rainy day, play
in the puddles.”
Caroline: I love that one. How
long have you been writing?
Jo: I’ve been writing
seriously since 1996. My first published piece was an article in Mystery Scene magazine, about my tour of
the Ngaio Marsh house-museum. My first
mystery novel was published in 2004.
Caroline: Where do you prefer
to write? Do you need quiet, music, solitude? PC or laptop?
Jo: I’m rather traditional in
my writing habits. I sit at a desk in my
home office and write on a 21” desk-style iMac.
I have a lot of maps, photos, and books that I refer to, so I need a
place to spread out. Plus, I like my
office environment. It’s filled with
mementos of my trips to Britain and things related to my protagonist McLaren
and the clan to which I belong. It all
creates a satisfying environment. In
general I like quiet, especially when I’m writing the first one hundred or so
pages of the first draft. I have to
concentrate! But I like music when I’m
attacking the second draft – baroque, especially Handel or Bach, is my
preference, because I tend to listen to vocals if they’re playing!
Caroline: I listen to
classical music when I’m writing. Are you a plotter or a panzer?
Jo: I don’t outline, but I
have paragraphs of notes, including what clues will be given when, or major
events that should happen in specific chapters.
I have to plot the basic story, know where I’m going so I can focus on
the outcome and get everything solved by then.
McLaren mysteries are easier for me to write than my police detective
Taylor & Graham series. In that one,
since they are police officers, certain things have to be done in correct order
by specific individuals. I have time
schedules and chain of command charts and who-does-what notes, and I still end
up getting something wrong, which necessitates large edits. McLaren, as an ex-police detective working on
his own, can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and he can do things a
serving officer can’t. It’s great fun,
but I still have to plot so I bring everything to a successful conclusion.
Caroline: Do you use real
events or persons in your stories or as an inspiration for stories?
Jo: The short answer is
yes! The more clarifying answer is I use
historical events for ideas. In McLaren’s
mystery LAST SEEN I used the Minstrels Court for the catalyst of the
murder. The Minstrels Court was an
on-going extravaganza of musicians, jugglers, acrobats, dancers, and other entertainers
who entertained at Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire. The event was so well loved and successful
that it endured for more than two hundred years. Leslie Smith, the curator of Tutbury Castle--where
the Court took place--suggested it to me as the perfect launch to the murder.
Caroline: Do you set daily
writing goals? Word count? Number of chapters? Do you get a chance to write
every day?
Jo: Oddly enough, I have no
goals. I write most days because I love
to write, not because I have any deadline.
I can usually get an 85,000-word manuscript completed, from plot
inception to final corrections, in six or seven months.
Caroline: What a lovely and orderly office. Mine is embarrassing by comparison. What do you hope
your writing brings to readers?
Jo: Entertainment, first of
all. Then I hope they loved McLaren as
much as I do. I hope they learn
something of the place in which I place him, like Uther Pendragon’s Castle or
the tides of Morecambe Bay, or the endangered black rhino. I’m grateful, too, if they get immersed in the
story and like it. If they feel like
they’re actually running through the wood or walking in the rain or poking
through an abandoned house with McLaren, that gives me immense happiness. I know then that I’ve written it well enough
and poured out my soul.
Caroline: I confess you’re a
new author to me, but I’m eager to read your series. What long-term plans do
you have for your career?
Jo: I’d love for the BBC to
pick up the McLaren series and produce them for television, and for PBS to air
them in the States. I can’t control
that, but I’d be over the moon if that happened. For my own plans, I’d like to keep writing
McLaren mysteries as long as readers want them.
I’m toying with an idea for an historical series, but haven’t cemented
it yet.
Caroline: I hope that happens for you—and for your
readers. Would you like to tell us what you’re working on now?
Jo: Actually, it’s an
exciting project…at least to me! But
first a bit of explanation so you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Each McLaren book features a song that’s
important to the murder victim or to McLaren.
The lyrics are in the book. Fine. But I thought it’d be great if the reader
could actually hear the song, thereby feeling the emotional connection to the
victim or to McLaren. So I contacted
various St. Louis musicians and they’ve recorded the songs that go with each
book. These come on single-song CDs that
I sell on my website. Different
musicians and different style songs for each book. That’s the background. As of this writing, I’m nearly finished with
McLaren’s ninth book, FLIGHT PLAN. I
wanted something musically different for this book, so I asked my friend Robert
Chamberlin, a nationally-known composer, if he’d write a two-piano piece for
FLIGHT PLAN. He came up with the idea of
a six-movement piece, each movement based on a character or scene from the book.
The world premier performance will take place in autumn 2016.
|
LAST SEEN Companion Songs |
Caroline: How exciting. What
advice would you give to unpublished authors?
Jo: It sounds simplistic, but
writing is subjective. Just because one
editor at one company doesn’t accept your manuscript doesn’t mean it won’t be
accepted by a different editor elsewhere. Keep writing and keep
submitting. It can get discouraging, but
if you stop, you’ll never get published.
You’ve decided your own fate.
Don’t lose the chance to see your work in print. Keep at it!
Caroline: Excellent advice!
Share a fun fact readers wouldn’t know about you.
Jo: At a Girl Scout camping
competition I won first place in the log chopping contest.
Caroline: That is a fun fact.
Share something about you that would surprise or shock readers.
Jo: I was bitten by a rabid
skunk.
Caroline: Good heavens, how
terrible for you. I know your book is a series but tell us about the series.
Jo: LAST SEEN is the second
book in the McLaren Mystery series, featuring ex-police detective Michael
McLaren, who quit his job over a great injustice done to a friend. He now repairs dry stone walls in Derbyshire,
England, and investigates cold cases on his own. Six novels have been published by a former
publisher, so my current publisher is revamping/editing/tweaking them and
bringing them out as new editions under new titles (characters might be
deleted, scenes are added, dialogue edited, sometimes chapters are switched
around…). The series originally had the
word ‘song’ in all their titles, but this didn’t sound like the book was a
mystery, so I’ve come up with new titles for all the books. COLD REVENGE is the first book that’s
reworked and reprinted; LAST SEEN is the second book out. It’s 330 pages. I have two completed manuscripts that haven’t
been published, so they’ll be brand new to readers when they are published next
year.
Caroline: Can you give
readers a blurb about LAST SEEN?
Jo: Sure, I’m happy to!
One dark night, popular
singer Kent Harrison goes missing after his performance at Tutbury Castle. When his body's found in a forest, the police
investigation focuses on Kent's ex-wife, a local herbalist, a covetous
colleague, and even the curator of another castle who tried to lure Kent into
performing there. But his occasional
singing partner, Dave Morley, seems to have the biggest motive. He's dying to make his name, money, and the
big time, especially at the medieval Minstrels Court reenactment, where Kent's
appearance guarantees SRO. Did Dave
murder Kent to eliminate the competition...or had their partnership struck a
wrong chord? To entice him into
investigating, ex-cop McLaren's girlfriend plays detective. But Dena ends up in great danger. Now McLaren must not only solve Kent's murder
but also rescue her, a hard task when a blast of jealousy, anger, and lies
mutes the truth.
|
Tudbury Castle |
Caroline: How about an
excerpt?
Jo: Here you go:
Rawlton Hall appeared hardly more than a
silhouette against the fading evening sky
by the time McLaren eased over the brick wall and dropped to the ground. The
impact barely made a sound and he glanced at the dark shape before him, half
expecting it to jump in fright. He crouched at the base, hardly daring to
breathe, and glanced around. From his low angle, the turrets seemed to scrape
the clouds that crawled out of the west, their bellies dark and holding the
scent of rain. A shaft of moonlight spilled onto the crenellation and down the
wall, and threw back pinpricks of light from the leaded window.
McLaren drew in a breath, trying to still his racing
heart, and half stood. The sounds of crickets and owls remained unchanged, as
did the splash of the brook. He glanced at the Hall, waiting to be bathed in
spotlight glare or attacked by dogs. But the night remained unchanged. Nothing
seemed upset by his presence. He snapped on his torch and made his way to the
car park.
Other than two estate vehicles at the far corner, it
was devoid of cars. No watchman appeared from the booth near the main road; no
dots of torchlight marked the grounds. McLaren walked slowly as he swept his
torch beam across the rock-strewn surface. Time crawled with him, having no
presence other than his breathing and the sporadic calls of night birds. A
breeze played across the grass and wound through the trees, bringing a drop in
air temperature and the pending rain scent closer. He glanced at the sky as
thunder rumbled in the west, then pushed on.
He’d covered the bulk of the area when a car slowed on
the road. The headlight beams flicked to high as the car stopped on the verge.
The purr of the idling engine bore into McLaren’s ears and he ducked behind the
booth and turned off his torch. The motor stopped, a car door slammed, and a
figure stepped across the stream of light, shutting it off momentarily. As the
shape moved onto the verge the footsteps dulled. A muffled “Damn” floated over
to McLaren, followed by the crunch of disturbed gravel.
McLaren crouched behind the booth, his palms against
the wood surface, his stare on the moving shape before him. The form paused at
the entrance to the car park and stopped for what seemed like an eternity.
Waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, McLaren wondered? The gravel
crunched again, moving toward the other end of the lot, coming toward him. The
sound continued until the figure stopped at the point closest to the Hall.
Moments later, a bright light snapped on, directed at McLaren; he flattened
himself on the ground. The light holder seemed not to notice him, for the beam
immediately shifted downward and began sweeping sideways in meter-wide arcs.
The examination of the car park lasted for nearly a
half hour. McLaren shifted his position several times to keep out of the
searcher’s view, for that’s what the person obviously was doing. Looking for
something. But what? Or was it just nerves, perhaps returning to the scene of
the assault to find something that might have been left behind? He could think
of no other explanation that fitted this midnight visit.
The figure finished his hunt and retraced his steps,
but more haphazard this time. He hurried, the light flitting over patches of
gravel that looked newly disturbed. When he’d finished with the lot, he walked
around the perimeter, venturing onto the lawn and periodically probing the
grass. Several times he would straighten and throw something toward the Hall, a
twig or stone or coin, McLaren thought. Once the figure even pried something
from the soil, but dropped it with an angry “Hell.”
He stood at the patch the torchlight playing over the
expanse of gravel in random bobs and jerks. It disappeared behind some trees,
focused on the roots and soil around the trunks, then emerged to shine again at
waist-level as it pointed at the ticket booth.
The footsteps moved faster this time, the crunch of
gravel firm and headed toward McLaren.
He kept the booth between them, creeping as quickly as
he could to the opposite wall as he corkscrewed around. The figure evidently
didn’t hear, his light and gaze on the ground. When the light suddenly snapped
off and only the rumble of thunder sounded, McLaren froze. Should he remain
there or move? What was the person doing?
Despite the warmth of the night, perspiration soaked
McLaren’s shirt. His pulse throbbed in his throat. He considered tiptoeing
around the booth’s corner and jumping the man, but if he mistook the man’s
position, coming face-on, and the man saw him…
The gravel shifted and the steps turned the way they’d
come. McLaren stepped back as the light played into the lot. When the figure
cleared the booth, McLaren lunged forward.
His fingers reached for the man’s clothing as he found
himself falling. The torches crashed to the ground, and McLaren and his
adversary were plunged into darkness. Arms and legs thrashed as both men fought
for control. McLaren grabbed a wrist but felt it turn and slip from his grasp.
His palm pushed against the ground to keep him upright, but he crumpled as a
shoe kicked his side. He fell in a rush of pain and blackness.
Caroline: Ooohh, very
intriguing. Where can readers find your books?
Caroline: How can readers
learn more about you?
Jo: Well, I’ve got a Facebook
page and I have a website. Those are,
respectively:
and
McLaren has his own website,
too! He’s got touristy type articles of
interesting spots in Britain, notes on music (no pun intended), occasionally
there’ll be recipes, and there’s information on up-coming books and their
companion CDs. That site is
www.mclaren-mysteries.com
Caroline: Is there anything
else you’d like readers to know about you?
Jo: I’m not sure they could
stand any more!
Thanks for inviting me to
chat, Caroline. I hope you invite me
back some time! Jo
Caroline: Anytime, Jo, just
let me know and you’ll be welcome.