What's the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?
I started with a real-life incident from my childhood. There are slight spoilers here, but the bit where Harry gets a bloodshot eye from a blowtorch accident, confronts several trespassing hunters, and then later learns that they were complaining about him at the local party store—that all happened to my dad. The scenario kind of wrote itself from that point.
If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of your book, what would they be?
You can absolutely include links—those are fine. I can’t open or verify them directly in the way a browser would, but I can keep them as part of the text exactly as you’ve written.
Here it is cleaned only for punctuation consistency (links preserved):
Harry: When the Fire Hits the Sea, by Joe Bonamassa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nBvcAVQtJ0
Liz: Willing and Able, by Prince
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OH4WlkqJLE
Christy: Big Boss Mamma, by Tami Neilson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WxeOu6v6F8
Mark: Rolling with the Punches, by Allen Toussaint
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWt52KXRyA8
Pam: Dead to Rights, by Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7cOquQYAak
What's your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?
My favorite is probably cozy mysteries, the same as I write. I also like supernatural things like True Blue, or the Kim Harrison books.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
Ha ha. I don’t have much of a TBR pile. I mostly buy books when I want to read them, and then I read them. I do have one last Nero Wolfe (Rex Stout) book that I haven’t yet read, which I’m saving for a special occasion. I re-read a lot, also.
What scene in your book was your favorite to write?
There were two, actually (again—slight spoilers ahead), both where Liz figures out something on her own. The first was when they were searching for the little girl, Tori, who is presumed lost in the snow, and Liz stopped, thought it through, and figured out where she is. The second is at the end, where Liz is the one who figures out the motive and explains it. This book is the first time that Liz has stepped up and solved things independently (or mostly independently) from Harry, so that was nice to write.
Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)
I seem to end up working on a lot of rough plot details while sitting in my doctor’s office parking lot. Is that quirky? My doctor is a couple of hours from me, and down many highways with potential traffic jams, so I always leave really early for check-up appointments. I often arrive a half an hour, or even an hour early, and end up sitting in my car and writing chapter overviews on a notepad with a pen.
Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?
I try to remember that it’s a big, wide world, and that what seems “the way everyone lives” in one place is not the same as “the way everyone lives” in other places.
If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?
I would like them to remember to review it (good or bad)! Oh, you probably meant something about the story, or a life lesson, or something. I just hope they remember an entertaining story and a satisfying conclusion to the mystery.
D.L. Mckown is the author of the new book The Body in Black Lake (The Hawkins Family Mysteries Book 3)
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