Mystery author Matt Cost joins me today to chat about his new historical PI novel, Velma Gone Awry.
Bio:
Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014 he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries.
Matt has published four books in the Mainely Mystery series, with the fifth, Mainely Wicked, due out in August of 2023. He has also published four books in the Clay Wolfe Trap series, with the fifth, Pirate Trap, due out in December of 2023.
For historical novels, Matt has published “At Every Hazard” and its sequel, “Love in a Time of Hate”, as well as “I am Cuba”. In April of 2023, Cost will combine his love of histories and mysteries into a historical PI mystery set in 1923 Brooklyn, “Velma Gone Awry”.
Matt now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.
Welcome, Matt. Please tell us about your current release.
In Velma Gone Awry, we go back to Brooklyn in the Roaring ’20s and are introduced to Hungarian PI, 8 Ballo, who is hired to find the daughter of a wealthy businessman. The search will lead him to cross paths with Dorothy Parker, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Coleman Hawkins, Bugsy Siegel, Babe Ruth, and many more as he tries to uncover why Velma went awry.
8 Ballo’s mother was certain he was going to be born a girl, but when he comes out a boy, she writes down simply the number 8, as he has seven older siblings. She meant to change it to a real name at some point but never got around to it.
Now, in his mid-thirties, 8 is a college educated man, a veteran of the Great War, jilted in love, and has his own private investigator business. He enjoys his friends, a good book, jazz music, and a very simple life. When he is hired to find the young flapper daughter of a German businessman, life suddenly becomes much more complicated.
What inspired you to write this book?
I am a writer of histories and mysteries. Thus far, I have published three works of historical fiction and eight mystery novels. The historical fiction includes books on Joshua Chamberlain and the Civil War, Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution, and the fight for social equality in New Orleans during Reconstruction. I also have a Mainely Mystery series and a Clay Wolfe Trap series, both PI mysteries set in Maine. I decided to combine these two loves of mine into a historical mystery series. My daughter lives in Brooklyn, giving me ample time to research, and there was no time in history as exciting as the Roaring 20’s in New York City. Hence, Velma Gone Awry, set in 1923, is the debut of my Brooklyn 8 Ballo historical PI mystery series.
Excerpt from Velma Gone Awry:
Chapter 1
8 Ballo was sitting in his dingy office, feet up on the desk, reading the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, when the outer door opened with a bang.
The man who strode through the opening was a large fellow, a bit under 8’s 240 pounds, with a square chin, blue eyes, and carefully combed blond hair slowly turning to gray. He had a pencil-mustache that crawled across his upper lip, oddly gray-black and so not matching his hair.
It did not escape 8’s attention that a rangy lad with the alert look of a gunslinger filled the door momentarily before turning his back to stand guard. 8 would’ve been more impressed if the kid had checked the empty inner office before retreating to stand watch. There could’ve been a pack of assassins in there.
He, of course, knew Fritz Hartmann, as the man was one of the wealthiest in Bushwick, having a factory and storefront for the custom wallpaper that he shipped all over the country. 8 believed that the man also had his fingers in a sweatshop for women’s clothing, a sugar refinery, and several slaughterhouses.
“You’re 8 Ballo, private detective?” Hartmann’s tone was more an accusation than a question.
What exciting project are you working on next?
I keep quite busy. I am marketing Velma Gone Awry for an April release. I have another editing stage to do for two books that are with the publisher. The fifth book in my Mainely Mystery series, Mainely Wicked, comes out in August. The fifth book in my Clay Wolfe Trap series, Pirate Trap, comes out in December. I am currently doing my own edits for the second Brooklyn 8 Ballo novel, City Gone Askew, due out in April of 2024. And, I am writing a new series, tentatively titled, The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I wanted to be a writer since age eight. I wrote my first manuscript when I was twenty-three. I suppose that was when I considered myself a writer. That book was I am Cuba. It was first published when I was fifty-three.
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 write full-time. Seven days a week I get up in the morning and I write. There are many hats to wear as a writer, so I make sure to knock down three or four hours of writing in the morning. Then, I might be editing, promoting, presenting, signing, or something else for the business of writing. If not, I write some more.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I put headphones on, listen to cool Jazz, and write anywhere. At home, my desk is in the living room. I recently realized that the airport and airplanes are great places to write. Write on.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a writer since age 8, but I wasn’t in a hurry to get there. I figured writing was something I could do right up until my dead fingers were pried from the keyboard. So, along the way, I opened and owned a video store, a mystery bookstore, and a health club. After that, I was a junior high school social studies teacher for ten years before dedicating myself to a writing career.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
Write on.
Links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org
Thanks Lisa! This looks great.