Monday, February 07, 2011

Criminal Stuff


I've been researching my next book, so I'm sorry I haven't been blogging as regularly as usual. I've been reading, reading, reading, playing way too much Scrabble on my iPad, and watching a lot of CRIMINAL MINDS on TV.

All grist for the mill, btw. Still, it doesn't result in much blogging.

But I just got off the phone with my buddy Mark Mynheir, retired cop and novelist. Have you read Mark's books? They're great, and of course they're realistic.

I tell this story all the time at writer's conferences, but I don't think I've told you.

Many many years ago I was teaching fiction at the Florida Christian Writers Conference (a good conference, BTW) and I had an entire back row of men. Many of them asked me to look at their manuscripts after class, and it seemed like nearly every man had a book centered around a Navy SEAL, an Army Ranger, or some other military action hero.

So this young man named Mark comes up and shows me his manuscript--about a Marine. I looked at him and said, "What IS it with you men and the military? For heaven's sake . . . what's your day job?"

Mark rather sheepishly told me that he was a homicide detective.

"A WHAT? Why on earth aren't you writing about that?"

"Because it's boring. I do it all day long . . ."

"It's not boring to me. And it won't be boring to other people. "

That night at dinner we probably made the other people at our table uncomfortable as Mark told stories about dead bodies and crime scenes and I egged him on, wanting more and more details.

Long story short: Mark sold a series of cop novels, and he's been writing ever since. His books are great, if you haven't checked them out. Here's a link to his latest.

And whenever I have a cop kind of question, guess who I call? Tee hee.

~~Angie

5 comments:

Kathy Cassel said...

Love Mark's books. They have that ring of authenticity.

I can see you two talking dead bodies over a meal : )

Linda said...

Mark is one of my favs for police novels. And they are NOT boring!

Unknown said...

Mark does write a great story.He has helped me about specifics of search warrants in Florida. Look forward to his latest.

Mocha with Linda said...

I've gotten out of sync with my blog reading and missed this yesterday. I didn't know his new book had come out. I loved his first one!

Anonymous said...

You two need to post a "Warning: Hazardous Material" sign on your dinner table for squeamish fellow conferees! But how blessed you both are. That he sought you out and heeded your advice. And you getting a police contact, which saves garnering much suspicion when seeking info. about dead bodies and police procedures.

Mary Kay