Mystery author James Polkinghorn chats with me today about his new suspense, Liquid Shades of Blue.
Welcome, James. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
I am a semi-retired lawyer residing in Key West, FL after a long career as a trial lawyer and litigator based in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. I live with my wife, Becki, and our dog, Major Tom. I was born in Pittsburgh, PA, and moved with my family to Fort Lauderdale where I completed high school. I earned my undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Florida.
Please tell us about your current release.
Liquid Shades of Blue finds disgraced Miami lawyer turned Key West bar owner Jack Girard confronting traumatic events in his past as he recounts the seven days following his mother’s apparent suicide in a tony Miami Beach condominium. It opens with Jack waking groggily to discover that he is in bed with a beautiful woman after a night he remembers only in fragments. His attempts to recall are interrupted by his ringing phone. It’s his father, an infamous Miami trial lawyer known as The Duke, calling to tell him his mother is dead and that he must return to Miami immediately. So begins Jack’s literal and figurative journey back to the glittering city of his triumphs and shame. As he uncovers the facts of his mother’s death and edges closer to the truth, Jack confronts tragic events in the past and imminent danger in the present. Jack’s story, in which he questions his own motives and memory in the telling, climaxes in a deadly confrontation on the waters of Biscayne Bay as the sun rises on another glorious tropical morning.
What inspired you to write this book?
I had the idea of a young man discovering himself through the exploration of family tragedy for many years as I went through my legal career. I finally took the time to flesh it out in this book.
What exciting project are you working on next?
I’m presently writing a follow-up novel, The Somber Blue Sea.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I considered myself something of a writer for most of my life, having always excelled in composition classes all the way through college. I became an able legal writer during my career but had never drafted long-form fiction until I got around to writing L Liquid Shades of Blue. I consider myself a writer now.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I still maintain a consulting position with my law firm, so I do not write full-time. On writing days, I usually devote 3-4 hours, which generally exhausts my power of creative concentration. I find spending more time than that is less enjoyable and more like an actual job, something I’m avoiding at this point in my life. Aside from writing, I enjoy water sports of all kinds, spending time at the gym, attending sporting events, playing the guitar and reading.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I don’t get writer’s block. When I sit down to write, the words flow, for better or worse.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be Perry Mason. I came up short.