Interview with mystery author Mike Nemeth

Mystery author Mike Nemeth is chatting with me today about his new multicultural romantic mystery, Parker’s Choice.

During his virtual book tour, Mike will be giving away a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn participant. To be entered for your chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit his other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:
Mike Nemeth, a Vietnam veteran and former high-tech executive, is the author of four murder mysteries in which ordinary people face moral dilemmas in extraordinary circumstances. Defiled became an Amazon bestseller in the Crime Fiction Noir category. The Undiscovered Country won the Beverly Hills Book Award for Southern Fiction and the Frank Yerby Prize at the Augusta Literary Festival. The book inspired singer/songwriter Mark Currey to compose Who I Am. Parker’s Choice, won a Firebird Award for thrillers and American Fiction Awards for Diverse and Multicultural Mystery, and for Romantic Mystery. His latest novel, The Two Lives of Eddie Kovacs, was released in late 2022. Mike’s short pieces have appeared in The New York Times, Georgia Magazine, Augusta Magazine, Southern Writers’ Magazine, Deep South Magazine, and the Writers’ Voices anthology. In 2018, he was named Atlanta’s Best Local Author by Creative Loafing magazine. Mike lives in suburban Atlanta with his wife, Angie, and their rescue dog, Scout.

Welcome, Mike. Please tell us about your current release.
After serving time for a crime he didn’t commit, Parker and his wife, Paula, hide from an old enemy in an Atlanta suburb. Their new beginning is disrupted when his new boss solicits his help with a fraud that will ship thousands of American jobs overseas and Parker suspects his mysterious and elusive birth father is involved. Then a body is pulled from the Chattahoochee River and Parker believes Paula has murdered his enemy, but police think Parker did it. He and his brilliant colleague, Sabrina, who can trace her roots to Virginia slaves, steal the “smoking gun” that will expose the fraud and go on the run, pursued by cops and crooks. After a violent showdown in a frightening New Orleans cemetery, they connect the dots between murder, fraud, and a man from his mother’s past. Loyalties are torn. What will be Parker’s Choice?

That’s the back cover copy, but the book is really about how an unbiased white man confronts racism, how easy it is for law enforcement and the judicial system to get it wrong, and how traditional morality has been supplanted by self-interest.

What inspired you to write this book?
I wanted to explore how scary and unpredictable it can be to be caught up in the American judicial system. I also wanted to touch upon the difficulty that white people face in confronting racism.

Excerpt from Parker’s Choice:
“You’re wrong, Paula, I’m not having an affair.”

“You’re lying, Parker, and you’ll regret it.”

“Your drinking has ruined our marriage. You have to get sober.”

“I should have divorced you while you were wearing pinstripes.”

“That would have saved us our current mess, wouldn’t it?”

“Screw you. I’ll figure out how to escape.”

Parker forced himself to calm down. “How long do you have to stay?”

“Till I’m sober, imbecile.”

Parker recoiled, then decided that maybe he deserved some abuse. “Ah, sure. I mean, how long is the program?”

“Twenty-eight freaking days. It’s already been a nightmare, filling out forms, stripping for a physical, peeing in a cup. It’s demeaning.”

“Hang in there, Paula. It will be worth it.”

She sucked in and exhaled smoke. At rehab, they let you substitute one addiction for another. “I’ve gotta go,” Paula said. “Group therapy session. Should be a barrel of laughs.”

“Wait. Have you heard from the police?”

“Nope. We can’t have cell phones in here, might arrange for someone to break us out, so Jordyn is holding it for me. We’re allowed one call today, like we’ve been arrested, then no more calls for the first two weeks.”

“The police will ask you about your gun.”

She paused to think about his warning. “Well, they’ll have to wait for visiting hours. It’s just like prison.”

“They recovered Grace Walker’s body from the river.”

A long pause, a smoker’s hacking cough. “Good,” Paula said. “She was evil.”

“Did you shoot them both?”

What exciting project are you working on next?
After four romantic murder mysteries I’m now working on a young adult historical fiction story. It’s a cathartic, back to the beginnings sort of project. How do people become the adults they become.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
When a reader of my first novel said, “Hey, I liked it.”

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 work at being an author seven days a week from 7:30am-2pm. When I’m working on a manuscript, everything else lies fallow. When I’m between books, I work at building readership. It’s basically like running a small business.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
My Belgian Shepherd, Scout, lies next to my desk as I write. I read passages aloud to her and she lets me know if they’re any good.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be William Goldman. Then John D. MacDonald. Then John Le Carre. In college I thought I’d be a lawyer but the Vietnam War intervened and I was introduced to computers. I used high technology to support my family until I retired in 2016 and became the writer Mike Nemeth.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I want readers to know that writers are grateful to every reader who takes the time to read their work and that writers treasure every review.

Links:
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