Tag: #authorinterview

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: In Sunshine or in Shadow by Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles

Book Description

New York, 1908: The days are getting longer—and warmer—in Manhattan. Molly Murphy Sullivan doesn’t want to leave her home in the city, but typhoid is back, and she’s expecting. So she heads north with the children to summer with her mother-in-law in Westchester County. Molly tells herself it won’t be so bad, after all the countryside is pretty, and she’s determined to make the best of it. Even if she’s leaving her husband, Daniel, behind. And at least she’s not the only one heading north. Her great friends, Sid and Gus, are headed to the Catskills to visit Sid’s family.

Though her mother-in-law is a surprisingly excellent host, Molly quickly grows bored. And when Sid and Gus invite her to visit, Molly jumps at the chance to stay with them at an artist’s community. What a pleasant time they’ll have, so far from the city, although Sid isn’t so enthusiastic about having to visit her family in the nearby Jewish bungalow community. But deep in the Catskills, tensions are running high, and it’s not long before a body delays Molly’s return to Westchester.

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Elise’s Thoughts

In Sunshine or In Shadow by Rhys Bowen and Clare Bowles the focus is on the good friend of Molly Murphy, Sid. As with all these books readers get a glimpse of what is happening in the time period that is weaved throughout the story.  This book is very relevant because it delves into the Catskills before it became a resort and how antisemitism flourished, just as today.

Because of the typhoid epidemic in the city, Molly and her children decide to stay with her mother-in-law in Westchester.  Molly, who’s bored, visits her friends, who are staying at an artists’ retreat near Sid’s relatives. Sid’s grandfather’s alleged ill health was just an excuse to get her to the Catskill farm, where a matchmaker has brought possible mates for both Sid and her cousin Mira. 

Mira’s match, Mr. Simon Levin, has made many enemies. Sid’s match is a college professor she finds interesting but has no intention of marrying. While out walking in the woods, Levin is shot with his own rifle, and the local police immediately focus on Mira, as a suspect. After her friends beg Molly to help Mira, she unearths other motives for his murder.

The reader is kept guessing as to who the murderer was almost to the very end, with clues strewn throughout. Where it really shines is in the descriptions of life during that time period, 1908, and all the historical information on the early Catskill resorts. A riveting murder, fun characters, interlaced with tidbits of historical information make this story a great read.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How much are you involved in writing this story?

Rhys Bowen: Very involved. We talk through the story idea.  Then Clare does some research, and we see what we want to incorporate. In the first couple of books, we wrote alternating chapters.  Now Clare is writing more, but I am still going in and giving my suggestions.  I am still very hands on. Working with someone else is a gift because they have enthusiasm and new ideas.

Clare Broyles:  If I do write a scene or a chapter she reads it immediately for feedback, and vice-versa.

EC:  How did you get the idea for this story?

RB:  We realized we never focused on Sid and her Jewish heritage.  We thought it might be interesting to have her family wanting to have her married off. With the typhoid epidemic everyone wanted to get out of the city, but Jewish people were not welcome at the normal resorts.  They decided to go up to the Catskills and stay in primitive cabins. We used typhoid to get Molly out of the city. Even some upscale houses became sick. This is why we bought in the cook, “typhoid Mary,” who went from household to household affecting the families.

CB:  We wanted to write everything going on at the Catskills.  It had its beginning in 1903. Park Rangers were just coming into existence.  Their chain of command had them reporting to NYPD, a perfect line to Daniel. They had the mining in trouble. There was also the growing environmental movement that started to clash with the big quarry there. Plus, there was a Bohemian community of professional women. Ontera was its name. We fictionalized it. We wanted to show that it was a place where woman could be free.

EC:  Your story is very relevant today considering what happened on October 7th and the antisemitism going on in the US today.  Do you agree?

RB:  It is very relevant now.  It did not matter how respected someone was or how rich, it was hard for Jewish families to get out of NYC. They were still not welcome.  The police detective in this story exhibited the underlying antisemitism that comes out all the time. My health club is in the Jewish Community Center and there must be a guard outside and now there is a sheriff’s car.

CB:  There were stories around that time that had to deal with the ‘No Hebrews allowed” signs at the upscale resorts.  Unfortunately, this continues to be relevant throughout the years.

EC:  There is a portrayal of the different levels of Judaism. Please explain.

CB:  Sid’s family was wealthy and less religious versus the religious immigrant strain.

RB:  One of my oldest friends in New York picked up some tiny things we did to make it more accurate.  She did loads of research for us.

EC:  The Catskills?

CB:  It was based on fact.  Some background, there were some wealthy Jewish philanthropists that wanted to help Jewish immigrants. This was about fifty years before.  They bought large tracks of land in the Catskills to give to arriving families who instead of farming made money by renting out cabins.

EC:  How would you describe Mira, Sid’s cousin?

RB:  She is an interesting character. Not much of a fighter.  Not strong-willed or independent. She is hopeful. She is very young who has been a sheltered Jewish girl.  Sid and Gus gave her options in life.

EC:  You also go into arranged marriages?

RB:  Her role in life was to marry whoever her family chose for her and live happily ever after. We put in this quote from Sid, “This is how it is done in the old country.  Parents chose a spouse, daughters obey, with a question of dowry and financial advantage.  Love did not enter into it.” Gradually we see Mira gaining strength throughout the story. There were very few opportunities for women. Sid and Gus survived because they had money. Maybe this is easier than online dating now.

CB:  It is not just the Jewish community that does this.  We first considered to set it in Boston with Gus’ family.  Women at the time did not have much of a voice. Mira’s family did not force her into marriage but made that option the most attractive. I think Gus’s family in Boston would have done the same thing.

EC:  How would you describe the victim, Levin, who was chosen to marry Mira?

RB: He is brash.  He is someone who talks about how good they are at their job and how much money he makes. He is annoying and sleezy. He is not trustworthy but is clever enough to convince people he might be a good match.

CB:  He talks a good talk.

EC:  What about your next books?

RB:  The historical novel comes out in August titled The Rose Arbor. It takes place in 1968 with a little girl vanishing. The heroine is a journalist.  Her roommate is a police officer.  They go down to the South of England. Through their research they find out that three little girls evacuated during WWII also disappeared. This book is a jigsaw puzzle tying all the cases.

CB:  The next Molly book has Bridie growing up, a fourteen-year-old.  Ryan, a playwright, has written and acted in some motion pictures. Bridie is offered a part. It is titled, Silent as The Grave. It takes place in 1908. The very interesting part of the stories are the situations that lead to a murder.  The way the people acted and felt in history.

RB:  The special effects were all real.  Someone tied to the train tracks was real, taking terrible risks.  This all is presented in the book. It comes out the same time next year. All our books are linked to real time. We think about what happened then and how do we tie into it. I like to learn when I read. The sleuth character and how she handles things that stretch her makes the story interesting. When people write me fan mail, they never say that was a clever plot, but say “I love Molly,” which is what matters.

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Women by Kristin Hannah

Book Description


Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

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Elise’s Thoughts

The Women by Kristin Hannah is yet another home run.  It has become obvious for those who have read her books she must own stock in Kleenex because people will go through a tissue box. The novel is split into two parts: During the Vietnam War and after.

The story has a twenty-year-old, Frances “Frankie” McGrath, after finishing nursing school, deciding to serve in Vietnam as an Army nurse. Nothing can prepare Frankie for what awaits in Vietnam, a chaotic and destructive environment.

Her story shows how the friendship grew between three American military nurses serving in Vietnam: Frankie, Barb Johnson, and Ethel Flint, where they became a sisterhood.

These women served and sacrificed so much yet were dismissed and seamlessly forgotten. Vietnam was a dark thorn in American history, but it is also a tragedy the way those who served were treated when they came home. Through Frankie’s eyes readers can take a journey with her, going through bad times and ending with hope.

It is a story about patriotism, friendship, and remembrance.  These women who served in Vietnam were not only strong, but also courageous. As Hannah so brilliantly points out they should not have any shame, because it all belongs to Americans who mistreated them.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Why write about Vietnam vets now?

Kristin Hannah: I have wanted to write it for quite some time.  It has been on my mind for a long while. I wanted to focus on returning from war.  I saw this personally when I was a child. I think for a long time Vietnam was a subject people did not want to read about or talk about. I sought to show what life was like in the Vietnam hospitals with its horror, difficulty, and camaraderie. On a book tour I was told by both male and female Vietnam vets and their children how this was an unspoken trauma in their family for over fifty years.  If the book helps in some small way this makes me happy.

EC: The female lead, Frankie, a Vietnam vet, seems to have the same journey as many vets who come home and feel misunderstood. Agree?

KH:  It is a sad truth that we have often failed our veterans upon their return in how we care for them. This has been my soapbox for a while.  If we as a country are going to ask people to put themselves in harm’s way for us it really behooves us to care for them fully when they come home.  This is especially true of female veterans who are often forgotten in this equation.

EC:  Your earlier book, Home Front, was similar but focused on a war on terror vet?

KH:  My passion for wanting to focus on returning veterans led me to write Home Front. This was the beginning of my rearing up to write this book, The Women. By speaking with a Blackhawk pilot who deployed, Teresa Burgess, a warrant officer, helped me to find authenticity.  She also helped me to understand when women are considered in combat and when they are not. This idea that someone can be a Blackhawk pilot rescuing soldiers in a hot landing zone and not be considered in combat just stayed with me. One of the things the Vietnam nurses heard when they came home and tried to get help for their emotional trauma, “well you were not in combat so why would you have any issues.”

EC:  Your dedication in The Women was very powerful.  Do you want to explain it?

KH: It summarizes the book. It is my discovery of why I wrote this story. It was shocking to see that even the male Vietnam vets brushed off what nurses went through. The women were continually confronted with their invisibility and lack of remembrance for their service even by the VA and those who should have known better. Women have served as nurses in wars for ages. It was weird to me how consistently they were overlooked. They have been marginalized or forgotten.

EC:  You do explain that the Vietnam veterans, unlike other vets, were treated horrifically, which included being called baby killers, being flipped off, and spat upon.  Why put it in?

KH:  This is why I wanted to write about the Vietnam era.  As a child I remember how they were treated when they came home. My best friend’s father was shot down and I wore his POW bracelet for decades. This stayed with me. I always wanted to write about this terrible and dark period of American history because it so important for healing, individually and as a nation.  We need to recognize and remember their service. I think in many instances they lived in the shadows about what they went through.

EC:  You also delve into PTSD?

KH:  Remember this is a time when there was no help for PTSD for the men either. This is the beginning of the treatment and the understanding of it.  The male vets faced daunting challenges to getting help as well, especially in the late 1960s. These vets came home to a toxic American reaction to their service. I do not think it can be overstated about how it affected their healing and wanting to get help.  This was entirely new.  The WWII vets came home to ticker tape parades of gratitude and honor, while the Vietnam vets, both male and female, came home to horror.

EC:  Do you think PTSD played a huge role in the book?

KH:  In my first draft I did not include it because I wrote about it before in Home Front and The Great Alone, the dark side of PTSD. But the truth is, in reading about the Vietnam era vets it felt wrong not to talk about this journey of theirs including emotional trauma, flashbacks, nightmares, and responses they did not understand.  There was this layer of shame and silence that overlayed their service. I had to have Frankie experience what so many of her sister and male counterparts experienced.

EC: Do you think wars now and in the past helped women who served be more empowered, many breaking the glass ceiling?

KH: I agree. I met a woman who was a nurse over there, became a lawyer, and is now a judge in Southern California. She said that one of the things learned after being a nurse in Vietnam is that “we can do anything.” I thought how true and powerful.  The women who I met have a wide range of careers. The 1960s was a time when women’s roles were much more prescribed, yet these women broke out of it and realized their own strength and power. Women should be able to do anything they want.

EC:  How would you describe Frankie?

KH: I created Frankie to be a woman of her time, someone coming of age in the 50s and 60s.  She realized her own strength but became broken by her Vietnam experience.  Because of her lack of healing, she makes choices that destroy her.  She must fight with her girlfriends at her side as well as her own self to become the best version of herself.  She has learned from her mistakes, a survivor.  At times very competent, angry, fragile, anxious, and unhinged.  She is very smart, honest, and compassionate. Not necessary all these things all at once, a before and after.  When she came home to stateside after the war, she is fighting between the woman she was raised to be and the woman the Vietnam War turned her into. It takes her a long time to accept this new version of herself. She had to forge an unfamiliar and sometimes an unsupported path.

EC: What about the friends Ethel and Barb?

KH:  Barb was the rebel rouser. They both are loyal and helped each other and Frankie.  They are strong and believed in each other. This is a presentation of female camaraderie during war. One thing I always heard is that war can be the best of times and the worst of times simultaneously. The best of times is the friendships they made, and they felt they did something that mattered.  Barb, Ethel, and Frankie were literally saving lives. This all comes together that created powerful bonds. 

EC:  You have a recurring theme in all your books?

KH:  Yes, female friendship is something I cared deeply about.  It is important to me that Frankie was healed by herself but also with her girlfriends. They saved her.

EC:  What about Frankie’s relationship with her father?

KH:  I found in my research how often these women who served felt unsupported by their own families, both on leaving and on returning. The father was part of the greatest generation who taught Frankie to be proud of her family’s military service.  He was proud when his son went off to war, but embarrassed and ashamed when his daughter did the same thing. I think many women in Vietnam did not have the support of their own families.

EC:  Frankie’s love interests: Jamie and Rye?

KH:  Rye was Frankie’s brother’s best friend.  Over the course of her in country and at home life she falls in love several times.  Some of these love stories prove to be helpful and some are difficult.

EC:  The way Jamie was described I thought of Robert Redford in the movie, “The Way We Were”- do you agree?

KH:  Me too. I said in the book that he looked like Robert Redford in the movie, “This Property Is Condemned.”

EC:  Did the movie or TV show MASH come into your mind?

KH:  I mention it in the book because it came out in 1972/73. I grew up watching it.  It took me awhile to figure out what war were they talking about. I was astounded by those who said, “there were no women in Vietnam,” considering MASH was on. Women have served as nurses throughout wars.  How is it that these women were completely forgotten, even by the people who ought to know better. 

EC:  The emphasis in the book is that those women who served in Vietnam were forgotten?

KH: And they were not thought about. I saw this cartoon where someone pulled a military uniform out of the attic, and someone asked when did your grandfather serve.  They responded, “it was my grandmother.” It is so indicative to me that people automatically think soldiers are just male. There were over 10,000 women serving in Vietnam.

EC: Is The Nightingale still going to be made into a movie?

KH: It got stalled for a couple of years because of the pandemic and then got tripped up because of the writer’s strike and the actor’s strike.  I think we are finally on track to film in 2024, fingers crossed.

EC: Do you have any control over your books being made into movies?

KH: Control is not a word I would use. For The Nightingale they have been good about keeping me involved that includes me reading the script and giving input. This is as much as I can hope for as a novelist since I do not want to do the heavy lifting.  So, I must give up control to the people who hopefully know what they are doing.

EC: Is this book, The Women, going to be made into a movie?

KH: Warner Bros. has picked it up and they want to do a big screen.  I do not have control, but I do have input. I feel very much I am a part of the team, and this is a great feeling.

EC:  Next book?

KH: Right now, I am thinking about some things.

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Double Grudge Donuts by Ginger Bolton

Book Description

When the Fallingbrook Arts Festival rolls into town weeks before she’s set to tie the knot, Emily expects talent and friendly competition at the week-long summer series to go together like coffee and double fudge. But the fun crumbles fast after a lively bagpiper takes first place on day one and turns heads for the wrong reasons—all before Emily and her tabby cat find him dead in a clear case of murder. Along with a distinctive weapon at the crime scene, several strategically placed items leave disturbing clues about the killer’s identity, including a broken piece of a Deputy Donut mug . . .

While detectives aren’t sure who silenced the bagpiper’s music, they don’t trust Emily or her family to tell the truth. With her nuptials and career on the line, Emily launches an unsettling investigation to save herself from trouble and bring a dangerous figure to justice. The search not only brings too many suspects into the picture, but also leads to a strange discovery on Deputy Donut’s rooftop. A discovery that tells Emily she better get cooking, because someone may be watching her every move . . .  and carefully plotting to turn a wedding into a funeral!

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Elise’s Thoughts

Double Grudge Donuts by Ginger Bolton is a scrumptious read.  She combines tasty treats with likeable characters within a riveting mystery.

The story has a murder but also a happy ending for Detective Brent Fyne and Deputy Donut Café owner Emily Westhill. It begins with the Fallingbrook Arts Festival with Emily expecting lots of talent and friendly competition at the week-long summer series that will go together with coffee and donuts. She is half owner along with her ex-father-in-law Tom. She’s thriving and happy. Someone who is strong, intelligent, empathetic, and smart.

Their relationship was a no go for a while because Brent was the detective partner of Emily’s late husband. In fact, unlike some of the other cozy mysteries Brent does not chastise Emily or get upset with her for investigating as an amateur sleuth. He relies on and trusts the information Emily finds and he’s happy for her to call for backup anytime she feels the need. Brent admires these things and doesn’t berate her when she finds clues for him.

During the contest bagpiper Kirk MacLean interrupts other performances with a noisy rendition of “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean,” but despite that rudeness wins the contest. Kirk’s antics continue when he drowns out a teen barbershop quartet. He’s annoying, playing the pipes up and down the street even in the middle of the night while others are sleeping. After speaking with people, Emily finds out that he’s not well-liked. The next morning tragedy strikes when Emily finds the piper dead and calls the police. The list of suspects is long and include a local guy who lost first place to him, Emily’s own parents, the owner of the local café, and other friends of Emily.  She with help from some of her friends decides to investigate and find the real killer.

Bolton worries about jumping the shark after the marriage but has nothing to worry about because the focus of her stories are the characters personalities and a plot that has many twists and turns.  Readers are kept guessing in these fun and exciting mysteries. Not to mention mouthwatering donuts.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper:  How did you get the idea for the story?

GINGER BOLTON: A cozy writer said that there was a bakery that was about to close. The nine police in this small town decided to buy it so they run this bakery. I used that to jump start the series with a bakery donut shop somehow connected to law enforcement and first responders. I thought donut shops is a great place to pick up a lot of clues. For this book there was an incident that I based the murder weapon on. 

EC:  Do you like donuts?

GB:  I like the plain old-fashioned donuts with nutmeg. I actually cook donuts but do not do it often.

EC:  How would you describe Brent?

GB:  Brent is gentle, kind, loving, and thoughtful.  He keeps a neutral face when he needs to.

EC: How would you describe the relationship between Emily and Brent?

GB:  In the beginning of the relationship, he and Emily were standoffish because he was her first husband’s detective partner who got killed in the line of action. They share this major grief. When they finally got around to speaking with each other they bonded over communicating about their shared grief. 

EC:  Do you think you will jump the shark by having them get married?

GB: I hope I do not jump the shark by having them get married. This is a worry for me. I thought this was going to be the last book in the series.  But then the publisher wants two more books. 

EC:  How would you describe the victim?

GB:  Kurt the bagpiper is devious and mean.  He interrupts other performances.  Nobody really likes him.

EC:  How about your next book?

GB: The next book is titled, Blame The Beignets and is based on the famous New Orleans donuts. It will come out the end of November with Emily discovering a body while kayaking with her assistant a suspect.

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Deepest Kill by Lisa Black

Book Description

For software pioneer Martin Post, the third richest man in America, his private compound on the Florida coast is a sunny no-man’s-land separating his family from the rest of the world. Now, expert forensic analysts Ellie Carr and Rachael Davies of the renowned Locard Institute have been summoned to its dark side.

Martin’s pregnant daughter, Ashley, had ventured on a day trip in her motorboat into the Gulf, only to wash up dead on a nearby shore. Although the local coroner determined her death was an accident, Ellie and Rachael soon confirm Martin’s gravest fear: His daughter was murdered. Was it a kidnapping gone wrong? Or something even more brutal? Ashley and her husband, Greg, had been working working with Martin on a revolutionary new defense initiative for the US military – could espionage have played a part in her death?  Martin believes Greg is behind the murder, and the spoiled charmer does set off Rachel’s deception radar.  If the widower didn’t kill Ashley himself, why isn’t he more upset that she’s dead?

Drawn into the Posts’ increasingly dangerous family dynamic, Ellie and Rachael must work hard and fast to discover what secrets are buried at the heart of the crime. Because the churning waters of the Gulf are getting rougher. And soon, Ellie and Rachael  themselves will be in danger of getting crushed in their depths.

***

Elise’s Thoughts

The Deepest Kill by Lisa Black brings back forensic investigators Dr Ellie Carr and Dr Rachael Davies of the Locard Institute.  Once again readers get a glimpse into the forensic world as Black uses her own experiences as a forensic scientist to intertwine information within the riveting plot and readers will not be disappointed.

Carr and Davies are asked by billionaire Martin Post to investigate his pregnant daughter’s death.  Ashley had taken out her boat into the Florida Gulf, and just disappeared until her body washed ashore.  Both scientists determine that her death was not accidental but murder. Her husband, Greg, is considered the number one suspect. But because Greg, Ashley, and Post were working on a revolutionary defense initiative for the US military, some think that foreign agents might be involved. Thus, FBI agents Michael Tyler and Luis Alvarez are brought into the investigation.

Also adding to the storyline is the coast setting and the weather that appear as a character. Not to mention that Black gives more details of Ellie’s backstory whose mother died under suspicious circumstances and her death was also ruled drowning.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

Lisa Black: Throughout the series readers will discover more of Ellie’s history that is relevant to what is happening. This story popped into my head as I was thinking about defense contracting and the Laci Peterson case. I describe it as the Laci Peterson case if her father was Bill Gates, although I never worked on it.  I did watch a documentary about it.

EC:  Do you like switching off from featuring as the main character, Ellie, and Rachel?

LB:  I want both in the story.  It depends on what needs to be done because their expertise is in different areas. It depends on what they are investigating.  If it deals with pathology and anatomy Rachel will be featured more, but if it is about fingerprints then Ellie will be featured. It depends on what is called for with the investigation.

EC: Deception, detection, and body language are mentioned.  Does it play a role in forensic analysis?

LB:  Not really, it was what a detective does.  But a class was offered for the police officers in detection and deception.  I was allowed to attend it. It was a two-day class which I found interesting.  I got a lot of ideas for this story. For example, what was told about people’s feet.  I put a scene in about it.  People know that they should cover their faces, but a person’s feet can betray them. There must be a baseline that should be interpreted.

EC:  Did the setting play a role in the story? I laughed when I read what you said about your husband and moving to Florida.

LB: I live in Florida now. I have accepted the move he wanted to make, but still would rather have stayed where I was because I loved Cleveland where my job and family are.  I wanted to present how I felt when I first came here.  It was a shock. I hoped to have a little fun presenting an outsider’s view of Florida.  There are hurricanes, and in summer it is hotter than heck and very humid.  Florida has two seasons, raining season and not raining season.

EC: What about the boat scenes?

LB: When I was a child in Lake Erie, we had a boat, so I am comfortable around boats. I love boats. This was also inspired by the Laci Peterson case because they think the husband dumped her body in the water.

EC:  You put in the forensics about the water?

LB: Yes, being in the water changes a body. The way it decomposes and what happens to it after death. A body is affected greatly after being submerged.  This helped me to keep the mystery going.

EC:  Was the father’s dead wife presented like a hologram?

LB: No.  I was basing it on smart phones, Alexa, and Siri, all the artificial types.  He just gave it his wife’s name so when he asked a question he referred to her name.

EC:  How would you describe Ellie?

LB:  Someone who wants to fit in, committed, athletic, and does not handle change very well. She does have insomnia.  Having to move around a lot as a child has made her a little insecure. Having her adjust to new living situations made her crave stability. She was always raised by aunts, uncles, and cousins.

EC:  How would you describe the husband, Greg?

LB:  Energetic, amiable, rich, shallow, and arrogant. Picture a spoiled frat boy. He is used to women giving him what he wants because he is cute and the rest of the world giving him what he wants because he is rich. He was born rich.

EC:  What about your next book?

LB:  It is titled Not Who We Expected. The plot has this aging rock star trying to make a comeback.  He calls the Locard Institute because of his missing daughter and is very worried after the boyfriend turns up dead.

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Chaos Agent by Mark Greaney

Book Description

A car accident in Japan.

A drowning in Seoul.

A home invasion in Boston.

Someone is killing the world’s leading experts on robotics and artificial intelligence. Is it a tech company trying to eliminate the competition or is it something even more sinister?

After all, artificial intelligence may be the deadliest battlefield gamechanger since the creation of gunpowder. The first nation to field weapons that can act at the speed of computer commands will rule the battlefield.

It’s an irresistible lure for most, but not for the Gray Man. His quest for a quiet life has led him to Central America where he and his lover, Zoya Zakharova, have assumed new identities. With a list of enemies that  includes billionaires, terrorists, and governments, they need to keep a low profile, but the world’s deadliest assassin can’t expect to hide out forever.

Eventually, they’re tracked down and offered a job by an old acquaintance of Zoya’s. He needs their help extracting a Russian scientist who is on the kill list. They reject the offer, but just being seen with him is enough to put assassins on their trail.

Now, they’re back on the run, but no matter which way they turn, it’s clear that whoever’s tracking them is always going to be one step ahead. Since flight’s no longer possible, fight is the only option left, and no one fights dirtier than the Gray Man.

***

Elise’s Thoughts

The Chaos Agent by Mark Greaney brings to life artificial intelligence, which takes center stage in this plot. Just as with other issues like biological weapons and cloning, Greaney talks about how AI can weaponize drones and robots.

The plot starts off quiet enough as Court and Zoya settle down together in Central America in hope of living a quiet life.  But that comes to a quick end after Zoya is approached by an old contact who needs her to extract a Russian scientist from a deadly situation.  To make matters worse, they are attacked by a team of professional assassins.

It seems that multibillionaire Anton Hinton is building a lethal autonomous weapon controlled by artificial intelligence.  His reasoning is that he wants to bring some sanity to the world where human wars could be a thing of the past. Putting the pieces together, Court and Zoya realize that someone is killing the world’s leading experts on robotics and computers.  Because he is afraid for his life, Hinton hires as his new chief of security, Court’s old teammate, Zack Hightower. Eventually, they all band together to stop this powerful AI computer, Cyrus for destroying the world.

The plot has nonstop action.  The best Gray Man books are ones with the supporting cast of characters, which includes this one. Readers should take the plot as a word of warning as to what happens after AI is weaponized.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

Mark Greaney: I was watching a lot of TV about developing artificial intelligence. Then I read a few books about AI run amok.  I was looking into the dark side of AI. Robotics, AI, and lethal autonomous weapons melted together. It was fascinating for me to write about. I am always looking for something different to write about.  The idea of the private sector creating something dangerous was interesting to me.  

EC:  What do you personally think of AI?

MG:  It can be used by the military or for cures to cancer. It depends on how it is used.  I am fatalistic about it, knowing it is coming whether we want it to or not. I am nervous as I write about in the book.  If the enemy does it and revolutionizes the way countries fight it will become a game changer. I read a line that said, ‘If a scenario cannot be anticipated, then we cannot test it.’ AI can act in ways they are not taught.

EC:  For example, Israel drops leaflets and warns the Gazans before they bomb, but I do not think AI will do it.

MG: Absolutely. AI does not have any judgement or morality. Now AI are basically large language models.  Once in the real world there is no telling what might happen. They clobbered US pilots in simulators with the human pilot never getting a shot off. In the book, Cyrus, the AI agent, is aggressive. War game simulations have AI on the attack, to fight, and attack.  This is also a vulnerability because it can make mistakes that will hurt it.

EC: Is it like biological weapons where all the countries say they are not pursuing them or use them?

MG: I do agree with that analogy.  Some years ago, a bunch of Google employees threatened to quit because the company was working with the US military on object recognition to process drone feeds.  All these employees got on their high horse and refused to work with the defense department.  This killed the whole project. At the same time Google had tons of projects with Chinese firms. All of these are dual use, can be operational in the military. 

EC: I was thinking of the debate over cloning to get the perfect person-are we for it or against it?

MG:  Yes.  In some ways it is good, to eliminate diseases, but it would also be possible to get a Master Race. This is very concerning to me. It is coming down the pike, AI, one way or another.  The US did put export controls on the chips that make high level AI and China cannot acquire them. Regulations will help. Everything I read is that the sophisticated AI are prone to making mistakes.

EC: Why the Albert Einstein quote in the beginning of the book?

MG: He was talking about the nuclear age.  The leaders of the AI industry, the gate keepers that told Congress, they are scared about what is behind their own gates. They asked for regulations. But they also fought against some regulations that were in England. People asked if they could do it, but no one asked if they should do it.

EC:  Did you want to show that Court, as with some in the military, miss the action and adrenaline rush?

MG:  A little bit of a version of it.  I played it up in other books more.  He sees himself as someone that should be used for good not evil. I think he feels a little bit listless when he is not doing what is right to make the world a better place. He has this moral compass with right and wrong incredibly important to him.

EC:  How would you describe the relationship between Zoya and Court?

MG: They have trust issues.  Sometimes they feel betrayed. Court has a vulnerability but has let his guard down for Zoya.  What is programmed into him is to go into flight if he senses any kind of deception from her.

EC: Would you kill off any of your main characters?

MG: I have not written the next book yet. I honestly do not know.  I can kill any of my characters at some point.

EC: Can you describe how you came about to write the two intense scenes with the autonomous robots and drones?

MG:  I watched a lot of videos.  Everything in this book is based on existing or emerging technology. There is no science fiction. The robot dogs with rifles on their backs exist. The drones that land on the roof is also real. The hexacopters that are remotely piloted and carry explosives we are seeing a ton of that in the Ukraine War. When building an action scene, I think of the enemy capabilities and the heroes’ capabilities.

EC:  This book had a cliff-hanger so can you tell anything about the next book?

MG: I don’t look on it as a cliff-hanger. The entire story played out is resolved but in the last twenty-five pages is something new that came about. I had the idea while writing the middle of this book. There will be a wild ride in the next book.

I also have a book coming out in June titled Sentinel. It is the second book in the Josh Duffy series. This book takes place in Africa. Duffy is a diplomatic security agent. The series is sold to TV.

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Murder at the Breakers by Alyssa Maxwell

Book Description

As the nineteenth century comes to a close, the illustrious Vanderbilt family dominates Newport, Rhode Island, high society. But when murder darkens a glittering affair at their summer home, reporter Emma Cross learns that sometimes the cream of the crop can curdle one’s blood . . .

Newport, Rhode Island, August 1895: She may be a less well-heeled relation, but as second cousin to millionaire patriarch Cornelius Vanderbilt, twenty-one-year-old Emma Cross is on the guest list for a grand ball at the Breakers, the Vanderbilts’ summer home. She also has a job to do—report on the event for the society page of the Newport Observer.
 
But Emma observes much more than glitz and gaiety when she witnesses a murder. The victim is Cornelius Vanderbilt’s financial secretary, who plunges off a balcony faster than falling stock prices. Emma’s black sheep brother Brady is found in Cornelius’s bedroom passed out next to a bottle of bourbon and stolen plans for a new railroad line. Brady has barely come to before the police have arrested him for the murder. But Emma is sure someone is trying to railroad her brother and resolves to find the real killer at any cost . .

***

Elise’s Thoughts

Murder at the Breakers by Alyssa Maxwell is now a Hallmark movie on the Hallmark Mystery Channel. It has just been released last week.  As with most books that have been made into movies there were changes made but the overall arc of the plot was still intact.

In 1895 a society page writer, Emma Vanderbilt Cross, witnesses a murder while attending a ball at a Vanderbilt mansion in Newport Rhode Island. She soon gets drawn into the investigation after her brother is arrested.

Whether watching the movie or reading the book readers will be enthralled with the characters and the riveting plot.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: This was made into a Hallmark movie.  Can you comment.

Alyssa Maxwell: One of the executive producers, James Walsh, toured the Breakers.  He thought of making a historical mystery set in Newport. As he walked through the bookshop, he saw my book.  After reading it he contacted my agent.  It met a need he had been looking for.

EC: Do you agree there were differences between the movie and the book?

AM:  Yes.  Emma’s romantic interest was different. Katie the maid was not in it.  Jack Parsons, a person of interest was not in it. Once the filming rights were sold, typical for most deals like this, the writer is no longer a part of the project. My creative input was writing the book, while the production company can interpret it however, they may see fit. It is a big project of the book to be condensed to a 1.5-hour movie.

I think Nanny was a combination of Nanny and Katie, the maid.  Nanny is not Irish in the book but was in the movie.  In the book she married someone named O’Neal, but she was not Irish herself.

Obviously, Emma was not romantically involved with the Detective Jesse. Maybe they felt bringing the romance in earlier it would be more appealing. They also made Jesse younger.

EC:  Were you happy with the way the characters were portrayed in the movie?

AM:  Yes, if more movies are made the characters will settle into their roles.  I thought that Emma’s personality was captured as being determined, strong-willed.  Derrick captured the teasing quality, and Jesse the steady, concerned detective who respects her insight into the crime. Brady was portrayed as the rash brother.

EC: Are they going to make future movies?

AM:  I do not think that decision has been made yet.

EC:  The idea for the book story?

AM: I am married to someone born and raised in Newport.  I fell in love with this place because it is so atmospheric and historical.  I knew in my mind I would set it here.  Then I decided on the period of the Gilded Age because it is so visible in Newport, especially the mansions. The Breakers Mansion is the biggest and most ornate, owned by the Vanderbilts. I chose that date because the first Breakers burnt down, and this was the night honoring it being re-built.  I put in the murder from my research with the rivalries in the railroad industry.

EC: Why did you choose to write about the Vanderbilts and not someone else?

AM: The Breakers is one of the very biggest mansions.  It is like the crown jewel in the preservation society of Newport’s County treasure chest of houses.  Plus, there is the familiarity that so many people have with the Vanderbilt family, with their connection to the railroad industry.  This was their vacation home that they went to every summer.

EC: How would you describe Emma?

AM: Protective, independent, stubborn, determined, and spirited.  She is focused, grounded, loyal, and head strong. She does belong to different worlds and sometimes that feels like she is being pulled in two different directions. On one side she is an ordinary Newporter and on the other side a distant cousin of the Vanderbilt family.  She leans to the ordinary Newport side which she sees as the ‘real people.’  She is a champion of the ordinary people of Newport.

EC: Do you think her parents deserted her?

AM:  In a way yes. Being in the art world they are oblivious. They went to Paris to pursue their dream. The did know they left Emma with her nanny who is more like a grandmother to her. She also has her stepbrother, Brady.

EC:  How would you describe Brady?

AM:  He is irresponsible, rash, reckless, and loyal.  He means well but is not disciplined.

EC:  How would you describe Derrick?

AM:  Charming, curious, and confident.

EC:  What about the relationship between Derrick and Emma?

AM:  He enjoys teasing her, which flusters her.  She finds him impertinent at times. At times he toys with her emotions because he is attracted to her.  He sees that independent side and does not want to push it down.

EC:  The younger generation in the book appears to do whatever they want.

AM:  The young aristocratic men are cavalier, arrogant, self-absorbed, and do not deal with life’s challenges. Being the sons of millionaires, they are spoiled and feel invincible as well as entitled.

EC:  Next book?

AM:  It will be out in August and is titled Murder in Vinland. There will be a member of the Vanderbilt family, Florence Vanderbilt Twombly involved.  Emma will be the sleuth and will still have the cast of characters surrounding her.

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.