Interview with Crime Fiction Author Rachel Amphlett

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Please welcome author Rachel Amphlett a brilliant crime fiction author who I’ve had the pleasure reading and interacting with. I’ve come to love her Detective Kay Hunter series, especially the audiobook versions narrated by Alison Campbell.

 

 

 

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About the Author: Rachel Amphlett

 

Before turning to writing, Rachel Amphlett played guitar in bands, worked as a TV and film extra, dabbled in radio as a presenter and freelance producer for the BBC, and worked in publishing as a sub-editor and editorial assistant.

She now wields a pen instead of a plectrum and writes crime fiction and spy novels, including the Dan Taylor espionage novels and the Detective Kay Hunter series.

Originally from the UK and currently based in Brisbane, Australia, Rachel cites her writing influences as Michael Connelly, Lee Child, and Robert Ludlum. She’s also a huge fan of Peter James, Val McDermid, Robert Crais, Stuart MacBride, and many more.

She’s a member of International Thriller Writers and the Crime Writers Association, with the Italian foreign rights for her debut novel, White Gold sold to Fanucci Editore’s TIMECrime imprint, and the first four books in the Dan Taylor espionage series contracted to Germany’s Luzifer Verlag.

 

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INTERVIEW

 

Do you outline your books or spontaneous?

I tend to do a bit of both these days. When I first get an idea, I’ll let it go around in my head for a bit, and then I’ll sketch out the opening scene.

From there, I’ll jot down any key scenes that have popped into my head and what Peter James refers to as the “gosh, wow!” moments dotted through the story that will hopefully keep you turning the pages but the rest is pretty spontaneous.

I figure with the detective stories that if I already know who the culprit is, then it spoils the fun for me and the reader trying to work out whodunnit.

 

 

 

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What’s your creative approach to writing scenes?

I’ve got a really tight process these days for writing. I’ll get an idea going around in my head, and then I’ll scribble that down in a new notebook and keep jotting down basic scenes as they crop up, and then I’ll take that and develop it into an outline of about 30 – 40 key scenes. For each scene, I’ll write a sentence or two about what has to happen in that scene, and then I’ll get stuck in and write. For example, Scared to Death took me nine weeks to complete the first draft using the above process. After that, there were weeks of editing, but I enjoy that as much as the writing because I keep discovering new things about the characters and story.

 

 

 

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When is your next book due?

 

The next Detective Kay Hunter book will be out towards the end of the year. I recommend readers sign up to my Readers Group on my website to be the first to find out the next book title and see the cover before anyone else!

 

 

This from a recent blog tour and book review of  Bridge to Burn, Detective Kay Hunter Book 7

 

 

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Blog Tour: Bridge To Burn by Rachel Amphlett

 

 

Bridge to Burn Cover AUDIO

 

 

 

 

 

 

When a mummified body is found in a renovated building, the gruesome discovery leads Detective Kay Hunter and her team into a complex murder investigation.

The subsequent police inquiry exposes corruption, lies, and organized crime within the tight-knit community – and Kay’s determination to seek justice for the young murder victim could ruin the reputations of men who will do anything to protect their business interests.

But as Kay closes in on the killer, tragedy strikes closer to home in an event that will send a shockwave through her personal life and make her question everything she values. Can Kay keep her private and professional life under control while she tries to unravel one of the strangest murder cases of her career?

Have you discovered the Kay Hunter British detective murder mysteries yet?

 

 

 

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It’s always great detective fiction in the Kay Hunter series. A body is found under bizarre circumstances leaving Hunter and her team scrambling to find answers. Lies, cover ups, deception, family drama–Detective Kay Hunter has her hands full attempting to solve a mind-boggling puzzle. This series is full of creative, entertaining plots that don’t disappoint.

 

 

Cozy Historical Mysteries with Lee Strauss

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Interview with Lee Strauss

Author of the Higgins & Hawke and Ginger Gold mysteries

 

 

* I love the historical cozy concept of Higgins & Hawke. Why the 1930’s in the city of Boston?

Higgins & Hawke is a spin off series from The Ginger Gold Mystery series which is set in 1920s England. Both leads originally met in Boston and lived in London in the same house. Haley Higgins exits the Ginger Gold series when her brother in Boston is murdered. Higgins & Hawke begins seven years later. Since I was already writing about the 1920s with Ginger Gold, I wanted a change of scenery and tone. The 1930s is a very interesting time in world and American history.

 

 

 

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*What’s your experience writing cozy mysteries versus other genres?

I’ve been writing cozy mysteries for two years now. Before that wrote in a myriad of genres including YA, romance, and science fiction. When I finally settled on cozy historical mystery, I found my “home.”

 

 

*How important is the setting in historical mysteries?

I would say very. The historical backdrop is almost like a character in itself. Readers love the details and historical trivia. Otherwise, you might as well stick to a contemporary setting.

 

 

*What’s the historical background of Boston in the 1930’s?

That is a loaded question. Like the rest of the country, its citizens were suffering from the great depression. There were large sections specific to ethnicity, especially Italians, Irish and Jewish, who didn’t exactly get along. As the war grew closer, anti-semitism became a real problem. It’s one of the reasons I gave Samantha Hawke a Jewish mother-in-law; to make those problems real.

 

 

 

 

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*What was the relationship like between Dr. Haley Higgins and her brother Joe?

Joe was the third of 3 boys and Haley the last and only girl. They were close in age, and Haley was largely a tomboy, so they were very close as children.

 

 

*What are the duties of the city’s pathologist assistant?

Like the title suggests, the assistant is supposed to assist the chief medical examiner in instances where a death may be suspicious or the cause of death undetermined. In Haley’s case she steps in for the chief most of the time. You’ll have to read it to find out why. 🙂

 

 

*Describe the relationship between Dr. Haley Higgins and Investigative reporter Samantha Hawke.

In the beginning Haley can’t help but feel suspicious. She has a history of bad rapport with the press, especially from when her brother’s case was new. However, as the book progresses, she sees Samantha as someone much like herself: a woman trying to make it in a man’s world, and they form a friendship.

 

 

 

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*In the Ginger Gold mysteries how did you select your settings?

It was pretty simple. I adore all the British mystery authors and TV shows and I wanted to set a mystery there.

 

*Do you have plans for more Ginger Gold books?

Yes. The 9th book, Murder at the Boat Race, is releasing in June.

 

 

 

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*What’s a typical writing day like?

It’s typical in that it’s never typical! But if I had to drill it down I’d say I tackle the business part of being a writer in the mornings and write in the afternoons. I really should flip that around, but that’s usually how it lands.

 

 

*What are the most challenging aspects of writing for you?

My husband and I started snowbirding this year, and so the warm weather, palm trees and beautiful beach is a huge distraction!  It’s a challenge I’m prepared to take on.

 

 

*How do you manage multiple writing projects?

I write one book at a time. I can’t plot and plan for future books, but when it’s time to write, I focus fully on the story in front of me.

 

 

 

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Ginger Gold Mystery Book 9 Murder at the Boat Club: A Cozy 1920’s Murder Mystery will be out JUNE 28, 2019 – Pre-order HERE

 

 

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The most recent Higgins & Hawke Mystery is Death on the Tower: A 1930’s Cozy Historical Murder Mystery 

 

Death by Treason . . .

When the body of a British National is found at the base of the common house tower in Boston, assistant medical examiner, Dr. Haley Higgins has no reason to believe it wasn’t suicide.

That is until Investigative Reporter Samantha Hawke gets an anonymous tip: the victim, a Mrs. Olivia Gray, was pushed from the seventh floor to her death.

The question is why?

Haley and Samantha work together to unravel secrets that go back to a time that no one wants to remember ~ when shameful acts were sanctioned, and death licked at everyone’s heels.

What did Mrs. Gray know, and who wanted to silence her?

 

 

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As Lee Strauss, I’m a bestselling author of The Ginger Gold Mysteries series (cozy historical mystery), A Nursery Rhyme Suspense series (mystery sci-fi romantic suspense), The Perception series (young adult dystopian), and young adult historical fiction. When I’m not writing or reading I like to cycle, hike and kayak. I enjoy traveling (but not jet lag :0), cashew lattes, red wine and dark chocolate.

I also write younger YA fantasy as Elle Lee Strauss.

 

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Interview with Marc Rainer Author of the Jeff Trask Crime Drama

 

 

Mob Rules Jeff Trask

 

 

 

MOB RULES: A Jeff Trask Crime Drama

 

Assistant United States Attorney Jeff Trask moves from Washington, D.C., to Kansas City, where he begins an investigation into an international drug ring smuggling the deadly combination of fentanyl and heroin from the southern border to the Eastern Seaboard. In this case, Trask is fighting a rival whose criminal genius rivals Trask’s own intellect, and—while Trask is bound by the legal code and his own set of morals—the mob boss on the other side of this battle is unencumbered by such restrictions. The investigation forces Trask to choose whether to operate within the legal system ot to venture outside it in order to bring down the murderous kingpin.

 

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW

MARC RAINER

 

 

Mob Rules has a very compelling plot. What was your creative approach to writing it?

As with all my books, I try to mix in quite a few real experiences from 30 years as a federal prosecutor with a plot that is also generated by one or more real cases, changing the names to protect the guilty as well as the innocent. I’m trying to return realism to the crime drama genre. Nobody outrunning machine gun fire or doing superhero stuff or solving the world’s biggest case alone. As in most avenues of life, it’s teamwork that’s essential and that wins for law enforcement. I hop into the heads of my characters and just keep asking myself what each character would do next in the real world. I try not to rush from one mental outline point to the next.

 

 

 

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What was behind the move from Washington, D.C. to Kansas city for Jeff Trask?

That was also somewhat autbiographical. After a few years in DC, I transferred to Kansas City, where I spent the last 25 years of my career as a federal prosecutor. I was tired of “the swamp” in my real life, and actually got tired of fighting it even in my fictional alter ego. It was time to move, both for me and foor Jeff Trask.

 

 

 

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What kind of investigation and what is he dealing with there?

Kansas City has always had a Mafia problem. I was assigned to the organized crime strike force unit when I got to Kansas City, and worked in that unit for a dozen years. It was this unit that made the case agains the Mafia in Vegas, the case upon which the movie “Casino” was based. (They ran that investigation before I arrived.) Trask has the same experience, and his first big case pits him against the mob in KC. The Mafia has always had its own weird and perverse set of loyalty codes, hence the title: “Mob Rules.”

 

 

Who else is helping Jeff on the investigation?

An old friend from the Air Force JAG named Cam Turner who is also a federal  prosecutor (a character based upon a real friend who paved the way for my transfer to KC), and a blended team of federal agents and Kansas City police detectives.  Since KC straddles the stateline between Missouri and Kansas, the investigative team includes detectives from both Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas. I worked several major cases with the KCMO Police Department’s Career Criminal Unit, and that unit is prominently featured in the book. The cooperation between local and federal authorities was a very pleasant change from DC, where all the investigative agencies were constantly stabbing each other in the back. We had a little of that in Kansas City, but nothing like what I saw in Washington.

 

 

 

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What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

This book probably has more humorous episodes included than did all the previous novels put together. That dark cop humor is an essential ingredient in writing a realistic police procedural, because it’s an essential ingredient in police life and culture. All the funny scenes were taken from my time in KC, and all—believe it or not—were real, as I indicated in the author’s notes at the end of the book. Even the funny truth is usually stranger than fiction. At any rate, it was nice being able to build in a few laughs for the audience instead of having to stay in “hard-boiled” or “gritty” mode the entire time.

 

 

 

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Marc Rainer is a former prosecutor in the federal and local courts of the District of Columbia and the Western District of Missouri (Kansas City), and a former circuit prosecutor for the US Air Force’s Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps. A graduate of the US Air Force Academy, he has more than thirty years eperience in the prosecution of major cases. He is married to a former Air Force OSI Special Agent, and lives in a suburb of a major American city. The first book in his Jeff Trask crime drama series, Capital Kill, has been ranked #1 in Amazon’s kindle store’s mystery series sales rankings.

 

MarcRainer.com