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