Blood & Groom - sample, part 2

Continued from previous post...

“So the police must have checked out your story,”

I said.

“Of course, they did, and it’s not a story. It’s the

truth. My mother and I go to the Crystal Cove spa on

the first weekend of every month. We go early Saturday

morning, get the seaweed wrap, chemical peel, and mud

bath, and then we have a facial and mani-pedicure.

“Sounds like perfect mother-daughter bonding.”

Not something that appealed to me, since my mother

had been out of my life since I was two. And not a way

I’d choose to spend a weekend. Too expensive and too

chi-chi for me.

“Then a Shiatsu massage and Bikram yoga in the

afternoon.”

“I’m sure it’s lovely.” I could never see the point of

yoga as a part of a fitness regime — too passive, and too

easy to slip into a coma and call it a workout.

“The spa does a weekend cleansing and detoxification,

so we get there at eight on Saturday morning and leave

Sunday afternoon. We drink twelve litres of water, plus

some restorative beverages and a couple of herbal teas.

You should try it.”

“Only if they spike the tea with vodka.”

She raised an eyebrow at me. “We leave refreshed,

and about two or three pounds lighter, though you

obviously don’t need to worry about your weight.

Anyhow, they know me and they’ll tell you I was there

that weekend like usual.”

“Of course. Mud baths are important.”

“Exactly. So that’s my alibi.”

“Well, then if you didn’t kill him, who do you

think did?”

“I have no idea, and I don’t care, except maybe to

thank them, and to bitch them out for making it look like

I did it. Mostly to thank them, though.”

“Like I said, if not you, then who?”

She examined her cuticles and seemed to silently

condemn the manicurist who had performed her latest

claw sharpening. “There were people who didn’t like

him, and people who did, like with most people.”

Eloquence was clearly not her forte. “I can’t think of

anyone who would’ve wanted him dead, though, except

me. He dumped me, completely embarrassed me, and

made a fool of me four months before our wedding. I’d

already been fitted for the dress — a Vera Wang, with a

sweetheart neckline, made of hand-beaded pure silk.”

“You can use it next time.” Something told me

that Christine would probably have enough husbands

throughout her life to start her own baseball team.

“Good God, no. It’s cursed now, so I put it in a

consignment store to recover some of the cost, but it still

hasn’t sold.”

“It’s just waiting for the right bride-to-be.”

 “The invitations had just come from the print shop

two days before Gordon lost his mind and turned into

an asshole. I was about to mail them out, but still hadn’t

decided whether or not to invite Mindy Melnyk, who

used to be my best friend in high school, but —”

“Can you fast-forward? I don’t really care about

Mindy.” Boy, did that interruption net me a dirty look.

“Anyway, Sasha, after he dumped me, I never really

spoke to him again. I had nothing more to do with him

or his family and I steered clear of his friends, so I don’t

know what could’ve happened to him in that time to

make someone want to kill him.” Christine was now

briskly pacing my office as she spoke. The rhythm of her

steps echoed the brusque, staccato delivery of her story.

“Do you think the reason he dumped you had

anything to do with the reason he was killed?” I asked.

“I don’t know. He never gave me any real explanation,

except that he wasn’t ready.”

I could think of any number of reasons why Gordon

might have dumped Christine, and most of them also

pointed to motives for him to have killed her, not vice

versa.

“I’ll want to talk to the people who were close to

him. Where does the drink thrower —”

“Rebecca.”

“Right. Where does Cousin Rebecca work?”

Anyone bearing such strong animosity toward

Christine would be interesting to talk to.

“At Chadwick’s in Yorkville. She thinks she’s hot

shit, but really, she’s nothing more than a sales girl.”

My office was only a short walk north to Yorkville,

Toronto’s toniest shopping mecca, which was the polar

opposite of the sleazy area south of Bloor, off Yonge,

where my office was located. Instead of having a view

of the Beautiful People walking past marble-fronted

centres of conspicuous consumption, my office window

overlooked a dollar store, a body piercing shop, a tattoo

parlour, and a Money Mart.

“I guess I’ll get right on this and go talk to her.”

I figured there was no time like the present to find out

what investigating a murder was supposed to feel like.

You can get BLOOD & GROOM on Amazon/Kindle.  CLICK HERE.

Blood & Groom - sample #1

Some women seemed naked without makeup. Other

women seemed naked without jewellery. The uptight

Manolo-shod Chihuahua who had barged into my

office without an appointment seemed naked without

an entourage. I put down the current issue of Billboard

and listened.

“I thought that bullshit about till death do you

part only applied to couples who actually got married.

That bastard Gordon dumped me and got himself killed

four months later. I didn’t do it, but I’d like to thank

whoever did.”

Listening to the little bottle-blond bitch barking at

me, I automatically figured the guy who had dumped

her must have had a good reason. “So, Christine, what

would you like me to do for you?”

She looked down her nose at me. “Isn’t it obvious,

Sasha?”

Hmm … isn’t it obvious you’re a shrew in Chanel?

She got up from the faux leather chair opposite my

desk and brushed the back of her skirt as if the imitation

rawhide had left authentic cowpies on her designer

suit. “Everyone thinks I killed Gordon, and believe me,

I wanted to. Everyone except the police, that is. They

questioned me. They interviewed my family and my

friends. They checked my alibi and went to all the places

I said I’d been. They found nothing because there was

nothing to find, so I was never charged.”

She continued to pace around my minimalist-byaccident,

barren-by-bank-account office, her ring-less

left hand anxiously twirling her hair. I silently smirked

that my own blond hair would never have the mousy

brown roots hers did.

“So why bother?” I asked. “You should just move

on and forget about him.”

“Well, Sasha …” She drew out my name in the

same tone people used on a two-year-old who had just

discovered the treasures hidden deep inside his nostrils.

“I bother because people still talk, they point and

whisper, I know they think I did it, and they think I got

away with it. When I go to fundraisers or events, they

treat me differently. When I’m at the club, they make

me feel funny. Trust me, if I’d killed the bastard, I’d be

bragging about it.”

“So being accused of murder is shameful, but actually

doing it is fine?”

“Exactly. If I’m going to get credit for something, I’d

prefer it be for something I really did do.”

“Of course. But why now? He was killed eight

months ago.”

“Nine months.”

“Whatever. A while ago.”

“I was at Monsoon for a dinner date last night.

Gordon’s cousin Rebecca saw me there. She never liked

me, and my date and I happened to be seated at a table

right across from Rebecca and her friends. When she saw

me, she walked over to my table, called me a bunch of

names, said I got away with murder, and then she threw

her drink in my face.”

“Ouch.”

“On top of that, my date, a really hot proctologist

named Randall, made up some bullshit about a reminder

on his BlackBerry and bailed on our night out.”

“That sucks. So … why me then? I don’t really do

this kind of work. I mostly do background checks for

corporate hires and the occasional cheating partner. I’ve

never investigated a murder.”

“Because you’re all I can afford.”

“Gee, you know someone with an ounce of

graciousness would have answered that differently.”

“Don’t be so touchy. I didn’t mean it that way.”

I stared at her silently.

“Okay. Sorry.”

It was true my rates were low, at least for now.

I’d graduated from Sheridan College’s Security and

Investigator Diploma Program a few months ago and was

still trying to build my reputation and my client base.

“I’ll see what I can do, but I can’t make any promises,

and I won’t commit beyond one week. I don’t see the

point of wasting my time or your money.”

“I’ll be expecting results much sooner than that,”

Christine said. “And daily reports.”

I pointed out to the sabre-toothed socialite that

expenses weren’t included in the bargain prices of my

stellar but novice services. She took a chequebook out

of her Ferragamo purse and filled in the details using a

ninety-nine-cent disposable pen with blotchy ink. Her

signature, Christine Arvisais, was loopy and flowing,

and she topped all the i’s with little circles. That seemed

so very cutesy and incongruous with what I’d seen of

her personality.

BLOOD and GROOM  on Amazon click HERE

Interview with mystery author Douglas Wickard

 

Next up I have an interview with Douglas Wickard, author of A PERFECT HUSBAND.  Check out what Douglas has to say about writing and bad guys and plots and... Well, we'll just get right to it:
 

1.       The quick pitch for A Perfect Husband is: “An abandoned cabin... a diabolical killer... a hidden cemetery. A deadly secret is about to be uncovered.”  How did the idea for this book come to you?

I was living in that precise cabin for over four years. Its location is exactly 72 miles from NYC in the township of Montague, New Jersey and was owned by my best friend Patricia. The cottage had literally been abandoned after her father died and was left to the elements for many years. Patricia offered the cabin to me as a retreat from the City to finish my first novel NOTHING SACRED. While living there, during those summer months, Patricia and I would often throw around plot points, story lines, etc. I remember coming up with THE KILLING FIELD on one of our excursions, which was an idea for Patricia to write. She was a major editor and publisher in NYC and had switched hats to write novels. Her first book, COCO: The Novel was published in 1990. She passed on THE KILLING FIELD idea, so in 2005, I snatched it up and began working on it, establishing Sami as my lead.

2.       One thing you and I have in common is that each of us spent many years working in the Hospitality Industry.  In bar and restaurant (or similar) jobs, you get to meet all kinds of people, to see all sorts of situations, and often times the people you interact with are (ahem) a wee bit tipsy (and I don’t just mean the customers!)  How much cross-pollination is there between Douglas the Hospitality Guy and Douglas the Author?  (ASIDE: I once got tipped a condom covered cucumber that was autographed by the director of a fetish film...) 

I kind of fell into the hospitality ‘thing’ when I first moved to NYC. I was a licensed Medical Technologist after being discharged from the Navy, but hated being trapped in basement laboratories with no windows and shaking test tubes all day. Arriving in New York, I needed to pay rent so I started waiting tables, like everybody else. It was fun, nonintrusive and allowed me time to focus on my writing, at that time musicals. I started taking my hospitality profession seriously when I got married and worked my way up the corporate ladder. Unfortunately, my writing took a back seat for many years during that time. I tinkered and tried and tailored my writing to fit my schedule, but ultimately, I lost that initial fire I possessed when I first arrived to the City.  I’m glad I’ve rekindled it!  

3.       I truly got a chill when I read the description of A Perfect Husband on your website.  Basement in a secluded cabin?  Carpenter table? Serial killer?   YIKES!!!  Get me out of here!!!  How do you feel about writing bad guys?  You can’t have a whodunit without a perpetrator, but how does it feel to try to imagine the bad guy’s perspective, to get inside the bad guy’s head?  

I love it! I allow myself to be a channel for whatever character I’m working on. I don’t have any investment in him/her except to make them believable and come to Life on the page. I have also been taught (by Patricia) to make villains loveable. There is a reason he/she is a killer. We aren’t born that way. I try to create a very real back story on all my characters.  To me, writing about the dark cracks of humanity is the reason I do it. I love exploring human behavior and taking it to its limit. Just wait and see what I put Sami through in the sequel!

4.       Sami Saxton is your starring character, your heroine... What were the challenges and/or what was the fun side of writing a female lead?

Once A PERFECT HUSBAND was published and I started getting some good reviews, particularly women reviewers began asking HOW? How could I write a female so well? I had to take a look at that. I was raised with women. I’m a huge fan of women. I also, have a very sensitive, feminine side to myself that I now embrace. Not always. It wasn’t always easy. I was raised without the benefit of a father figure so my core witnessed the world through female eyes. I don’t see a masculine world. I see it entirely from a female perspective. I’m okay with that now. It took quite a bit of adjustment. It’s much harder for me to write a masculine protagonist. My character Dan Hammer, in my next series, is my male alter ego.

5.       Tell me about your current work in progress (or next release).

A PERFECT SETUP is the sequel to A PERFECT HUSBAND. I finished the second book of my Dan Hammer series back in January, but with the success of A PERFECT HUSBAND, I figured I would create the PERFECT series and let Sami have her day. I’m loving the second book because I know Sami so well. All I can say is: TRUST NO ONE!

6.       You have done lots of writing: TV scripts, musicals, screenplays and more.  How easy is it for you to flip between types of writing?

I’m self taught. I’ve never taken a writing course. I always figured the best way to learn...is to do, so I would buy books on writing the screenplay, the TV script, etc., and just go for it! I got lucky. I landed a huge agent in NYC early on and kept with him for nearly thirteen years. Beginners luck. Writing novels was something intrinsic, I knew it was in me festering from an early age. My sensitivity gave me the nuance necessary to invite characters into my world and explore, reveal and bring to Life. I’ve tried stopping writing...I can’t. It’s a part of me.

   

7.       Writing can be a lonely occupation, a frustrating one, and every writer must develop a thick skin when it comes to rejections and reviews.  Yet, writers continue to plug away at the keyboard, to scribble on the scraps of paper.  What makes people do it?  Why do you write?

I have no choice. If I’m not uncovering a character’s dark spaces, I’m journaling, discovering mine. I use everything in my art. I’m not afraid to be candid, brutally honest. An unconscious thread usually runs parallel to the storyline with what’s happening in my Life. I sometimes don’t realize it until the book is finished, but that emotional link puts that hum of verisimilitude in my words, my characters.

8.       The publishing industry has undergone a sea change in recent years.  Nowadays, it’s not enough to be able to write a good story, but authors must also become PR experts and marketing mavens.  I know some authors who just can’t or won’t do the promotional side of things.  How comfortable are you with this aspect of the writing life?

I don’t know. The publishing industry is what it is: AN INDUSTRY, a business exploiting work/art for gain, hopefully mine. It’s in every business. With the changes in publishing a writer MUST promote himself and his brand. It’s essential to get seen. There are so many advantages to being published by the big six. But, until that day happens, I will hunker in for the long haul, keep putting fingers to the keyboard, tweet my heart out and Facebook my harlot ways to the goal line.

9.       You’re on holiday and aren’t allowed to write for a week or two.  Instead, you’ll catch up on reading.  What books will you bring with you for vacation?

Yours, for one.  I have a slew of new authors on my Kindle. And, I am dying to read GONE GIRL. I still read the New York Times Book Review every Sunday and keep an eye out for new books, new authors, exciting reads. I’m a voracious reader.

10.   The last question is kind of a freebie:  What is the one question you wish I had asked you but didn’t?  Now go ahead and ask and answer that question.

No question. Just gratitude. Thank you, Jill for allowing me this opportunity. I appreciate your support.

Check out Douglas Wickard's website http://www.douglaswickardbooks.com/

Follow him on Twitter @DouglasWickard

Get A PERFECT HUSBAND on Amazon click here.