Interview with mystery author Dana King

Helping me wrap up the week, and the month, is mystery author Dana King. We’re chatting about his new private eye crime fiction, Off the Books.

During his virtual book tour, Dana will be giving away a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a 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:
Off the Books is Dana King’s sixth Nick Forte private investigator novel. Two of the earlier books (A Small Sacrifice and The Man in the Window) received Shamus Award nominations from the Private Eye Writers of America. Dana also writes the Penns River series of police procedurals set in a small Western Pennsylvania town, as well as one standalone novel, Wild Bill, which is not a Western. His short fiction appears in numerous anthologies and web sites. He is a frequent panelist at conferences and reads at Noirs at Bars from New York to North Carolina.

Welcome, Dana. Please tell us about your current release.
Off the Books is the sixth Nick Forte novel, the first that takes him away from Chicago. In this book, Forte is hired to see why a traffic accident in a small downstate Illinois town that almost ended violently is not being more thoroughly investigated. Forte drives down and finds there is a lot worse going on in Lundy than traffic accidents – human trafficking for starters – and his client is among those who are not straight with him. Forte being Forte, things will not be left as he found them.

What inspired you to write this book?
Initially it was nothing more than it had been six years since I last wrote a Forte novel and I missed him. Not only him, but his daughter Caroline, his friends Goose Satterwhite and Jan Rusiewicz, and how Forte interacts with them and the other characters he meets along the way. I was looking for a story to use as a vehicle when The Beloved Spouse sent me an article about human trafficking that mentioned something that had not occurred to me and fit perfectly with Forte’s character arc. Never underestimate the power of serendipitous circumstance.

Excerpt from Off the Books:
I first saw him standing under the “employees only” sign near the exit to the truck service bays. Early twenties, a little under average height, short blond hair. Caroline was unaware of him, focused as she was on a three-way text conversation with her friends Maria and Arielle.

The next time the kid caught my attention he was half as far away, standing where the food court opened into the convenience store. I only noticed him this time because I recognized him, and he was the only Love’s employee on the floor. His name was Jimmy, and he was definitely looking our direction.

I’m an old-school father with an only child. A daughter, no less. My primary purpose in life was to make sure no one messed with her. Everything else—work, food, clothing, mortgage payments, staying out of prison—comes after. Jimmy hadn’t done anything wrong, but the Dadar had activated.

All fathers think their daughters are beautiful; I had empirical evidence. If the steady stream of boys circling the periphery of her life looking for an in wasn’t enough, I once overheard another kid in the band describe her to a friend as the “archetype of virginal beauty.” (What can I say? Magnet school.)

The next time I caught sight of Jimmy he stood three feet behind Caroline, checking her out with rapt attention. I sidled over, using my best stealth technique. He never saw me coming until I leaned in close and spoke in my most quietly menacing voice. “She’s thirteen years old.”

Jimmy evaporated faster than a snowflake in a microwave.

I still got it.

What exciting project are you working on next?
I’m in the midst of polishing what should be the final draft of my first Western. It’s a novel that passes itself off as a memoir. I don’t think I’ve ever had more fun writing a book. I expect to have it available by the end of the year, maybe as early as Thanksgiving.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
There are days even now when I wonder if I’m a writer, but all writers go through that. The profession is a petri dish for Imposter Syndrome. While I had some successes early on that led me to believe I had promise – finding an agent, for example – when it really hit home was when the first Nick Forte novel, A Small Sacrifice, was nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America. I have mixed emotions about awards, but receiving that kind of validation from people one would like to think of as peers can’t be beat. Anyone can get lucky once, but when I received a second nomination two years later for The Man in the Window I was confident I could do this.

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 retired from my day job three years ago so now I have all the time I want to write. Unlike most writers, I like to work in the afternoon, using the morning to take care of household chores and writing business, and evenings to relax. When writing a first draft I try for two sessions a day of at least 500 words each. On the rewrite I up that to 750 words twice a day. Later versions usually go chapter by chapter. While that doesn’t take anything like all day, I have found I do better sitting at the keyboard in short bursts, as leaving some things hanging works on my subconscious the rest of the day so it’s easy to pick up where I left off.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I don’t know how interesting it is – The Beloved Spouse might say it’s obsessive-compulsive – but when I’m ready to polish a book, as I am with the Western now, I have a rigorous process. On Day 1 I read the first chapter. Nothing else, though I might make a note or two. On Day 2 I edit Chapter 1 with the attitude that this will be the last time I make changes; then I read Chapter 2. On Day 3 I have Word read Chapter 1 aloud because no matter how much I tried to make Day 2 the finished product, there are always things I don’t like as much when I hear them read back to me. Then I edit Chapter 2 and read Chapter 3. I do that every day until the book is finished.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a trumpet player. In high school I wanted to play lead in a big band, then after I discovered classical music in college I wanted to play in an orchestra. I spent three years in an Army band before earning my Master’s in Trumpet Performance at New England Conservatory. Around the time The Sole Heir was born I realized I was a minor league talent trying to play in the majors and gradually segued into computers full time. That was over thirty years ago and I still miss it.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
First, thank you for coming by today. Whether my book interests you or not, I hope you enjoyed the interview. Most readers have no idea how writers, especially those with my limited footprint in the industry, appreciate them. Never be bashful about approaching a writer at a conference or any other event. I promise you it will make their day.

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