I have a mystery book blog tour, interview and a giveaway! Are you feeling spoiled? ;)
Release date: April 1st, 2013
Genre: Mystery
Tour: Irresistible Reads Book Tours
Buy From: Amazon
Richard McMann hangs by his arms from the rafters of Red Curtain Club- naked. His ankles are bound together and his throat is cut in what appears to be a gruesome still-life tribute to Christ’s crucifixion. There is no blood in spite of the gaping wound to his throat and his entire body is covered by what looks like a fine white powder. The salt granules scattered on the dance floor beneath his feet and the fact that his body faces due east, make his murder different yet similar to the death days earlier in a club a few blocks away.
South Dallas police detective, Olivia Gates and criminal psychologist, Dr. Will Green, engage in a game of wits with a serial killer who haunts the nightclubs of Deep Ellum, leaving behind ritualistic sacrifices of those people he believes deserving of the act. Is he a raging psychopath, killing just to kill, or is there method behind his madness?
Interview
Tell us 5 things that make you happy.
Five things that make me happy . . . well, I would have to say gathering together with my husband and four adult children, reading a great book, playing music with friends, eating a wonderful meal and drinking a fabulous iced tea all fall under things that make me happy.
What makes your perfect man, perfect? What do you look for in a hero?
In real life I’m not sure there is such a thing as a perfect man. Personally, I find flawed men more interesting because of the stories their imperfections tell. I like my heroes that way as well. The more character flaws, personal faults and baggage they have to overcome, the better. Will Green, the male protagonist in my novel Darkness Knows Me, keeps ploughing forward in spite of the fact that he knows there is no bloody way he can win. We expect perfect heroes to win, but we don’t expect flawed heroes to, which makes their hero moments more meaningful.
What qualities make up your least favourite heroine?
I dislike heroines who have been written with every attribute inherent to worldly perfection, (leggy, blonde, busty, etc.) but lack a brain, backbone and moral fibre. Probably enough said.
Do you have any quirks? When writing, or otherwise?
Well, I’m not certain if it’s a quirk, but I write lying flat out on the floor. An old football injury (Does that sound more interesting than an old ‘playground injury?’) to my neck makes sitting in a desk chair painful after an hour or so. I also tape colour 3x5 index cards to the walls so I can visualize how my story lines are progressing.
Do you have any hobbies that you take part in when you aren’t writing?
I haven’t been able to enjoy this hobby for a while, but when I have time, and we can all get together, I like to get out my guitars and play music with friends and family. We don’t play as much as we once did.
What do you like to read?
I wondered when you were going to ask that question, this being a book blog and all. I enjoy all genres of books, but I think my favourites are crime/mystery, literary fiction (especially foreign authors) and memoirs. I do enjoy a good humour book now and again. Just read Dawn French’s memoir, Dear Fatty. Loved it.
If you had to pick one of your characters to survive a zombie apocalypse with, who would it be and why?
I think if I were going to choose a character from my novel to survive the apocalypse with, it would have to be Verna Benton. However, it’s only because she would make a good and full meal for the zombies and I can outrun her chunky little self. Hopefully by the time they finished with her, they would be too full to eat me.
Tell us a bit about how the idea for your book came about.
In 2005, Dallas, Texas had trouble with cheese heroin being sold to the middle school children in the Dallas school district. The drug was cheap, a good high for a cost equal to a child’s school lunch, but easily overdosed on by the kids who bought it. Because it was a true situation for Dallas, and because I found the whole thing very interesting, I used the fake re-emergence of the drug as one of the story lines in Darkness Knows Me.
Which of the seven deadly sins are you most partial to? Which do you indulge in the most?
Well, sloth would definitely apply to Sundays after church at my house and gluttony if garlic chicken wings are involved. Fortunately, garlic chicken wings are not involved very often.
Who is the person who most inspired you? Either in your life, or writing?
In life, my mother has always inspired me to be a good person, (someone God would be proud of) to do my best and contribute positively to society. In my writing life . . . I think it’s every great author I’ve ever read and walked away from feeling transformed.
Do you have a favourite quote?
My mother-in-law is an author and when she heard I seriously started writing, she sent me an email with the following quote at the end of it- ‘Talkers talk. Writers write.” I wrote it in red on a 3x5 index card and taped it to the top of my computer screen. I think it says it all when it comes to serious writing.
Can you tell us a little about your latest project?
My latest project is the sequel to my Olivia Gates and Will Green crime series that began with Darkness Knows Me. I’ve tentatively named the next instalment, Boys Will Be Boys. This new novel will address teen homelessness in Dallas, and Olivia’s difficult past before she met Will.
Last but not least, if you could be anyone else in the world, who would it be, and why?
From a writer’s standpoint, I think I would have to say to be Mary Shelley during the Romantic Era would be quite an experience. Authorship and genres had such growing pains during that time, it would have been very exciting to be an author at the forefront of such literary change.
Thanks for the space on your blog. I really enjoyed the interview. Keep an eye out for those zombies or they’ll get you when you’re not looking!
Thank you, Chrinda. I promise you, I have my Zombie Survival kit well set up, and I'll be running when the brain-eating starts. I hope you get some garlic chicken wings soon!
About the Author
Chrinda Jones was born in 1964, in Sacramento,CA. She lived the first 30 years of her life in Oregon and has since lived in several different states across the U.S. She began learning to write in earnest when her four children started leaving the nest. She is the author of the Olivia Gates and Will Green crime series set in Dallas, Texas, of which “Darkness knows Me” is the first installment. A musician and lover of books, she lives in Murphy, Texas with her husband and her Jugg, Abby.
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