Mystery author Matt Cost returns to Reviews and Interviews and chats with me today about his new thriller in his Clay Wolfe/Port Essex Mysteries series, Pirate Trap.
Bio:
Matt Cost is the highly acclaimed, award-winning author of the Mainely Mystery series. The first book, Mainely Power, was selected as the Maine Humanities Council Read ME Fiction Book of 2020. This was followed by Mainely Fear, Mainely Money, Mainely Angst, and now Mainely Wicked. His Clay Wolfe/Port Essex Mysteries include Wolfe Trap, Mind Trap, Mouse Trap, Cosmic Trap, and now Pirate Trap, the fifth in this series. I Am Cuba: Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution was his first traditionally published novel. He had another historical released in August of 2021, Love in a Time of Hate, and in August 2022, Encircle re-released his originally self-published novel, At Every Hazard: Joshua Chamberlain and the Civil War. Matt’s love of histories and mysteries is combined in the novel, Velma Gone Awry, book one in his new series featuring private eye, 8 Ballo, set in 1920’s Brooklyn. Matt 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 back to Reviews and Interviews, Matt. Please tell us about your newest release.
Clay Wolfe and Baylee Baker are back in the fifth installment of the Clay Wolfe/Port Essex series. In Pirate Trap they are tasked with finding a treasure buried some 300 years earlier by Black Sam Bellamy, the wealthiest pirate to ever live. When they are hired to search for the treasure by two antique dealers, Wolfe and Baker are skeptical, but over time they become believers. Especially as there are other players in the game, including a wealthy sex doll manufacturer and a motorcycle gang. The tension ratchets up to a stunning climax that will leave the reader gasping and grasping for every page.
What inspired you to write this book?
I read a story about Black Sam Bellamy summering with his pirate crew in Machiasport, Maine, and how it was rumored that he’d hidden vast riches in the area. The further I looked into the story, the more believable it was, other than the fact that nobody has ever found it. In Pirate Trap, the reason is, that he buried the treasure in Port Essex, meaning to come back for it, but then is shipwrecked and killed on the way to retrieve his one true love.
Excerpt from Pirate Trap:
“Clay,” she said. “What the?”
He looked back to the bikers who were starting to pass and realized they all had masks on. Skull masks. The white material glowing softly in the reflection of the streetlamp. The eyes were ragged rips in the fabric. They all had black hoods up over their heads.
Two bikes pulled over blocking their path while the other two stopped behind them. They got off their bikes.
“What the hell,” Clay said.
All four of them reached over their heads, as if orchestrated, and pulled gleaming cutlasses from scabbards hung from their backs. Slightly longer than a machete, shorter than a sword—the thick and curved blades flashed in the night air.
Clay looked at Baylee holding Frank. Confrontation seemed to be a poor option. What did these apparitions of the night want, he wondered?
“The circus was in town last week,” Clay said. “Did you fellows get left behind?” Why hadn’t a car come by, he wondered? Or people. The hum of activity could be heard just down on Commercial Way, but here, halfway up the hill, all was quiet.
“You take Frank and go get help,” he whispered to Baylee. He stepped forward toward the two masked figures in front who were holding the blades in front of them, menacingly, but not quite, threateningly. “Why don’t you be good little trick-or-treaters and scoot out of the way.”
Clay sensed movement from behind and half-turned as the broad side of a cutlass blade whacked him upside the head. He stumbled, but remained standing, his head ringing from the blow.
A skeleton stepped up beside Baylee with an old wooden pistol in his hand, flared at the muzzle. A blunderbuss, Clay thought through the ringing of his ears. Cutlasses and blunderbusses?
The skeleton placed the muzzle against the side of her head and cocked the ancient pistol with one thumb. Frank was snarling and yipping in his tiny voice. Baylee licked her lips and looked at Clay.
“Wait. Stop.” Clay shook his head to clear the cobwebs. “What do you want?”
What’s the next writing project?
City Gone Askew, the second book in my Brooklyn 8 Ball series, pubs on July 31st. Mainely Mayhem, the sixth book in my Mainely Mystery series, comes out in November. I am currently writing 1955, a PI historical mystery set in Raleigh, NC.
What is your biggest challenge when writing a new book? (or the biggest challenge with this book)
The descent after the peaks. Mystery books are marked by rising and falling tension. I usually have eight such peaks in my books. I greatly enjoy the rising tension that leads to the mini-climaxes within each novel, but care less for the descent of deescalating tension afterward.
If your novels require research – please talk about the process. Do you do the research first and then write, while you’re writing, after the novel is complete and you need to fill in the gaps?
My contemporary mystery novels require less research than my historical novels on the norm. That is not always the case, though, as in Mouse Trap where I had to become familiar with genetic engineering to write. For all my books, there is some preloading of information, and then a constant go back and forth between the book and google along the way. This is especially true for the historical books as I am constantly having to ensure smaller details as well as the bigger picture. What kind of toasters did they have in 1955? How much did a car cost in 1924? As well as what was the true story of segregation in 1955 Raleigh or the eugenics movement in Cold Spring Harbor in 1924. Newspapers.com has all of the newspapers for all of time it seems, and so one thing I do is read the newspaper every day for the year I am writing about. The Raleigh Observer and the Brooklyn Eagle are my two chosen newspapers.
What’s your writing space like? Do you have a particular spot to write where the muse is more active? Please tell us about it.
I do all my writing at my desk in the corner of my living room. I put headphones on, listen to chill jazz, with no lyrics, and disappear into my own worlds. If I am traveling, the process is similar, wherever I may be. I’ve found that airports are a great place to get writing done as you wait for your plane.
What authors do you enjoy reading within or outside of your genre?
BJ Magnani, Bruce Coffin, Jule Selbo, Joseph Souza, David Baldacci, Raymond Chandler, Elmore Leonard, James Lee Burke, and Edwin Hill to name a few.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers today?
I write because I love to write. It is a bonus if readers read and love what I write.
Links:
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Thank you for coming back to Reviews and Interviews!
Congratulations, Matt! Who doesn’t love pirate lore?