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Tim Maleeny | Relationships Can Be Murder


Jump
Tim Maleeny

AVAILABLE

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June 2009
On Sale: June 5, 2009
Featuring: Sam McGowan
294 pages
ISBN: 1590585747
EAN: 9781590585740
Hardcover
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Also by Tim Maleeny:
Hanging the Devil, November 2023
Boxing the Octopus, November 2019
Greasing The Pinata, July 2012
Stealing the Dragon, August 2009

Mysteries and Thrillers have always been popular for their fast pacing, smart dialogue and unexpected plot twists. And as both a writer and a reader, I'd certainly agree those are essential ingredients to any page-turner.

But what about relationships? I'd argue that characters drive plot, and your empathy for the characters, as a reader, is what drives suspense. It's your relationship with the characters — and their relationships with each other — that makes a mystery work. And it's the tension in those relationships that keeps you up at night turning the pages.

Think about it. Does the action matter if you don't care about the people involved? We've all been to movies where we're sitting on the edge of our seat, mouth full of popcorn, knuckles white as cars tear through narrow city streets on the big screen. And yet we've also been to movies where a similar car chase nearly puts us to sleep, and even the final explosion as a car tumbles down the cliff only lingers as an after-image inside our drooping eyelids. The only different between those two movies was our empathy — or lack thereof — with the people in the cars.

My latest novel JUMP begins when the city's most despised landlord plummets twenty stories from the roof of his own apartment building. Was it suicide or did someone help him jump? Well, it turns out that everyone living on the top floor of the building had reason to want him dead. But the murder isn't the real story in this novel, it's only the catalyst for uncovering the relationships between an eclectic bunch of strangers who call themselves neighbors. Library Journal referred to the "fast-paced, rollicking humor and characters right out of a 1930s Agatha Christie country house mystery" and ForeWord Magazine said, "This is one hilarious yarn [with] one of the most bizarre collection of tenants since One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest." Though the literary and film references couldn't be more different, clearly both reviewers were struck by the characters, which brings me back to relationships and their ability to drive a story.

My story opens with a dead body and ten likely suspects, which puts in motion a plot reminiscent of the classic whodunits that I read growing up. But the characters all have a contemporary twist, along with backgrounds and personalities that are spring-loaded for complicated relationships and, in some cases, trouble.

One description of JUMP said it was "a handy guide for finding true love in the midst of a multiple homicide," and in some respects I actually think of it as a cross between a classic mystery and a modern romance. Because as the murder investigation develops, the relationships between the neighbors change, alliances shift and romances entangle, until in the end no one is exactly the same person they were at the beginning of the book. And as readers, don't we always get caught up in the passions of our favorite characters?

I like car chases as much as the next guy, but only if I care about who's driving. Thanks for reading.

TIM MALEENY.com

 

 

Comments

20 comments posted.

Re: Tim Maleeny | Relationships Can Be Murder

JUMP sounds like an interesting premise...a modern-day "Murder on the Orient Express?" As a reader, I agree that the characters and their relationships in a story are key.
(G S Moch 8:31am June 18, 2009)

If the relationships don't work, neither does the book! JUMP sounds like a terrific read.
(Karen Barnett 8:33am June 18, 2009)

I absolutely loved your write-up and I would definitely buy this book! This is the kind of fiction I crave!
(Laurel La Porta Whetstone 12:07pm June 18, 2009)

Oooh sounds like cluedo in novel form.
(Sarah Keery 12:15pm June 18, 2009)

I like discovering the layers in mysteries and trying to figure out where the distractions are sprinkled in .
(Alyson Widen 12:29pm June 18, 2009)

Book sounds good...just proves there's more than one way to get rid of a 'slumlord'! LOL
(Karen Haas 12:30pm June 18, 2009)

Hello Tim,

Your book sounds like something I can sink my teeth into. The characters relationships are what I truly love. Have a great day.
(Roberta Harwell 1:11pm June 18, 2009)

This sounds like a great read! I'll have to check it out!
(Kelli Jo Calvert 1:25pm June 18, 2009)

"Jump" looks like a good mystery - right up my alley! Thanks for the great post.
(Cheryl Snyder 3:02pm June 18, 2009)

I love a good mystery!
(LuAnn Morgan 4:13pm June 18, 2009)

This sounds like just the kind of book I love to read. I love thrillers/mysteries. If the characters don't have good chemistry then the story just falls flat. Best Wishes!
(JoAnn White 4:26pm June 18, 2009)

I believe an emotioal attachment-wether negative or positive is essential to a good mystery. Sometimes its a small victory to let the bad guy get his. The solution then becomes the story. I am quite impressed that you have been compared to the indonitable Agatha Christie and would love to read "Jump".
(Dawn Raymer 4:42pm June 18, 2009)

I really like to read mysteries.
(Vikki Parman 5:11pm June 18, 2009)

Move over Agatha Christie!
(MaryEllen Hanneman 8:47pm June 18, 2009)

A good mystery will keep me up all night. I love a story that has interesting characters and a story that keeps you guessing until you read the last page.
(Rosemary Krejsa 9:45pm June 18, 2009)

I agree whole heartedly. If there are
not good characters that we care
about, no matter how much action you
put in there, it isn't going to work.
Loved Agatha Christie. She had
wonderful characters and was great at
plot development and suspense.
JUMP sounds quirky and good.
(Patricia Barraclough 12:00pm June 19, 2009)

I will have to get that book!! I know I will be up all night again reading till it is finished. My style of a book. Husband will be made again.
(Paulette Scott 11:49am June 19, 2009)

I can't wait to get my hands on "Jump".
(Robin McKay 1:37pm June 19, 2009)

This sounds like a great book!! I'd love to win a copy.
(Martha Lawson 11:04pm June 19, 2009)

Despised landlords! Murder mystery! Neighbours you don't know! Sounds like the story of my life (apart from the murder bit!). I Have to read this book!
(Vicki Benge 4:34am June 20, 2009)

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