What are some of the Inspirations for your books?

Mystery: “Secrets in the Ice”

 I’ve always enjoyed a good mystery, and when I was younger, I read all kinds of books (from The Hardy Boys to Edgar Allen Poe to Agatha Christie).  A few years ago, I decided I would like to write a mystery, and since I enjoy Upper Michigan’s scenery so much, that area became my setting.  Winter up there is so different from Florida, that I selected this time of year, and coming up with the types of murders I would write about was easy – the UP has ice-covered lakes in the winter, and putting someone in the lake so people could see their frozen faces looking up through the ice intrigued me.

Interview With Elizabeth Craig

I based some of the characters on people I know, specifically Paul and Lisa (me and my wife), and expanded on some of our adventures together.  My wife loves chocolate, so I had to put something in about that.  I am the opposite of a handyman, and I have a difficult time following my wife’s train of thought sometimes, so I wanted to include a little about those items as well.  The wildlife in the UP is awesome, so I put some scenes in with wolves and a story about a beaver (both of which are true), and one about a moose (which I wish was true, but hasn’t really happened to us yet). 

Interview With OmniMystery News

Prejudice is an unacceptable evil, so I wanted to include some examples and character reactions to prejudice.  I decided to make a couple of the characters experience something different when this evil was present in certain situations, making them go through some scary moments. 

Initially, I ended the story differently but decided to change it to the way the book ends now.  I added the epilogue, so I hope you like the way it turns out. 

Suspense: “Deathly Silent”

With my first novel, Secrets in the Ice, I wanted to keep the identity of the killer a surprise until the very end.  With Deathly Silent, however, I decided to introduce the killer in the first paragraph, taking the reader on a journey to find out what could make this person become so cruel.  I also wanted to see if a person in that state of mind could actually see what he had become and turned his life around before it was too late.  The story is loosely based on an actual event, but the main character in real life didn’t come after the guilty parties with a vengeance.  I wanted to see what would happen if that person, who had lost almost everything, could have reacted if he had given in to the temptation to get back at those people.  Could such a wonderful person really have such a dark side to him if everything important to him was taken away?

Interview With Agent Provocateur

I was actually working on another novel when the idea for this came to me while visiting the set for the story.  I put myself in the owner’s position and wondered if I could have forgiven those who covered it all up and set him up to take the fall.  After exploring my own feelings for a month or two, comparing them with the right response and other possible scenarios, the entire story came pouring out so fast I dropped the other novel to keep up with this new idea.  I could never even consider doing what the main character does, but I could see how someone could get into that state of mind and take things into his own hands when nobody else would seek justice for him.

It surprised me to find out how dark some parts of the story could become, so I had some beautiful scenes of the main character with his wife and daughter to help show the love that this man still possessed, even though such terrible events. 

Those scenes are some of my favorites in the story, and they ended up becoming such key components to make it all fall in place the way I wanted them too in the last few chapters.

Romantic Comedy: “Escape From His Past”

Interview By Serious Reading

My wife enjoys good, romantic stories, especially ones that make her laugh, and although I don’t want to write romance novels, I decided to write something romantic and funny that she would enjoy.  I picked out various parts of our own lives that we find humorous and are common areas for arguments in many relationships, then tried to develop a story around a couple that’s similar to each of us in certain ways. 

 I enjoy stories that have small children, where we get to see them at their best, so I added a daughter to the relationship.  Although her character was added later, she’s my favorite one in the story.  I naturally wanted to show the man as the sensible one and the woman as the irrational one who doesn’t make sense but to be fair to my wife, I tried my best to show the woman’s point of view fairly (even though I don’t understand it much of the time). 

In many relationships, friends and family often provide input to help couples get through difficulties, so I had to include some of that as well for each character.  In addition to the bad advice the main characters get, I also have a key person who provides good advice to each of them by the end of the book, but the question is whether it’s too late for the couple to put it to use and work things out. 

Historical Fiction: “A High Price to Pay”

I remember my Grandmother telling my mom family stories that were passed down from her Grandmother, and some of them were about the Civil War.  My Grandmother’s Grandmother said she would bring food to the haystack, where her father and another soldier were hiding since they were deserters from the Confederate Army (a North Carolina regiment).  It turns out my Grandmother’s father-in-law was part of Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg, and his brother was shot in the head just before that battle and survived.  Then my wife’s Great-Great Grandfather and Great-Grandfather were both in North Carolina regiments during the Civil War, one a deserter and one surrendered at Appomattox. 

Book Review By Stacy Alesi’s

The family histories were so fascinating that I put them all together into one story, “A High Price to Pay,” including what I know about each of my ancestors and my wife’s ancestors, and their involvement in the war.  I only wish my Grandmother had lived to see this book published because I think she would have enjoyed seeing it all come together with the way it did.  It’s fictional, but I tried to make it as historically accurate as possible. 

Book Review By NetGalley

My family visited Gettysburg, Petersburg, Appomattox, and other Civil War battlefields over the years, walking in the footsteps of my ancestors and the soldiers they fought alongside.  It was a moving experience for me each time, realizing that the war touched the lives of so many American families.  I wanted to create a story that showed the impact of the War on one small North Carolina town, especially one family, and I was very pleased with the result.