The second book in the Rick Cahill Crime Series, NIGHT TREMORS, came out
this month. It’s as big a thrill as when YESTERDAY'S
ECHO came out two years ago…Yeah, two years ago. As in, it took me two
years to write the second book. I guess it’s not that surprising, considering
it took me eleven years to write, rewrite, and rewrite some more before my
first book was published. But I thought it would be easier the second time
around.
I remember being at a writers conference, my first as a published author,
right after YESTERDAY'S ECHO came out. A writer told me he really
liked my book. You can imagine how excited I was to have one of my new
“peers” compliment me. But then he told me, “Now you have to do it again.”
Short lived euphoria.
It usually takes at least a year from the time you turn in a manuscript to
your publisher until the book hits the shelves. So, to be in the one book a
year groove, I should have already had my second written or at least been
close to completion when YESTERDAY'S ECHO came out. Not even close.
I can procrastinate like a kid with two weeks to write a term paper, but even
with all gears going I found writing the second book difficult. Looking back
now, I understand my struggles.
My only two rules for writing crime fiction are: make it as authentic as
possible and make it interesting. My protagonist, Rick Cahill, got
caught up
in a murder investigation in YESTERDAY'S ECHO when he tried to help a
beautiful, but secretive TV reporter. He wasn’t a cop, although he’d once
been one, and he wasn’t a private detective. He was just a guy who made some
bad decisions while trying to do the right thing and became a murder suspect
for the second time in his life. Hopefully, the story was interesting and as
authentic as possible.
The book did well and even won some awards. However, I was writing a series
and didn’t want to write Murder She Wrote where Rick keeps stumbling
over dead bodies and must solve the crime because his nephew, or best friend,
or favorite bartender is arrested for murder and he’s the only person who can
find the truth. A nice TV show, but it didn’t fit my two rules of writing
crime fiction.
So there had to be a reason for Rick to get involved in murder investigations
that didn’t strain credulity. He couldn’t be a cop, because he’d already been
one and it hadn’t ended well. Plus, Rick now lived by a code he’d adopted
from his dead father that a cop never could: Sometimes you have to do what’s
right even when the law says it’s wrong. So I made Rick a private
investigator. That would adhere to crime writing law # 1: Make it as
authentic as possible. It now makes sense for Rick to search for the truth in
criminal matters because he gets paid to do it.
As a PI Rick has to have some remove to make the story believable. He can’t
be at the center of the storm in every book. However, I write in first
person. The story is only interesting to me, and I think readers, if Rick is
emotionally invested in the problem he has to solve. So I had to find a case
that Rick would give his all for without doing another episode of Murder
She Wrote. When I found the true crime story of a teenager wrongly
imprisoned for murdering his family I felt I had a story that would speak to
Rick. He knew what it was like to be falsely accused of a horrible crime. The
stain of being called a murderer. To be left with one last hope. He wanted to
be that hope for someone else.
Once the story fell into place, the writing got easier and I started to
believe I could produce another book the second time around. I just wish I’d
found the story earlier.
GIVEAWAY
Readers, what cases do you find interesting in crime fiction? Leave a
comment below and be entered for a chance to win a copy of NIGHT TREMORS!
Matt Coyle grew up in the tract home section of La Jolla, California,
battling his brother and sisters for the best spot on the couch in front of
the TV. Although he was a sports addict as a kid, he realized that he would
probably never be a pro—or even an amateur. A gift from his father, The
Simple Act of Murderby Raymond Chandler, set the twelve year old on the path
to becoming a writer.Matt graduated with a degree in English from the
University of California in Santa Barbara then he detoured into the
restaurant business, the golf business, and the sports collectible business.
Now, thirty years after beginning the Great American Novel, Matt has finished
a mystery instead.Yesterday’s Echo is the first in the series of Rick Cahill
crime novels.
Matt is busily writing the next Rick Cahill crime novel in San Diego where
he with his yellow Lab, Angus.
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Nightmares of the man he killed two years ago still chase Rick Cahill through
his sleep. The memory of his murdered wife haunts him during waking hours.
His private investigative work, secretly photographing adulterers, paid for
his new house but stains his soul.
When an old nemesis asks for his help to free a man from prison, a man he
thinks is wrongly convicted of murder, Rick grabs at the chance to turn his
life around. His investigation takes him from the wealthy enclave of La Jolla
to the dark underbelly of San Diego. His quest fractures his friendship with
his mentor, endangers his steady job, and draws the ire of the Police Chief
who had tried to put Rick behind bars forever. With the police on one side of
the law and a vicious biker gang on the other, all trying to stop him from
freeing the man in prison, Rick risks his life to uncover the truth that only
the real killer knows — what happened one bloody night eight years earlier.
14 comments posted.
I like murder mysteries the most. Although if there are interesting characters
and real suspense, it can be any crime. And I love a crime series where the
MC is a PI. Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone books were the first mystery series
I ever read and Kinsey is still my favorite PI!
(Nikki Fournier 5:46am June 15, 2015)
My favorite mysteries have me guessing which characters that I can trust to be "the good guy/gal". My favorite characters aren't 100% perfect or infallible.
(Joanne Hicks 10:51pm June 15, 2015)
I like the murder mystery where it can be any one , the little old lady to the new minster in town . Keep me guessing to the end .
(Joan Thrasher 10:31am June 17, 2015)
Love mysteries where you think you know who the bad guy is and then there is a twist that changes everything.
(Linda Harrison 8:52am June 18, 2015)