Mystery / Crime
Date Published: Fade Out: March 2016
Publisher: Short on Time Books (www.ShortOnTimeBooks.com)
Young radio reporter Lisa Powers has a lot to learn, but in her zeal to cover the big city crime beat, finds herself facing down criminals in addition to reporting on them.
From the dark streets of the metro Phoenix area to the peaceful red rocks of Sedona, Lisa dodges bullets investigating the cold case of a kidnapped bank executive found murdered, and discovers horrors she never imagined while tracking down a missing father.
She’s first on the scene of a massive fire that destroys the opulent mansion of a reclusive pharmaceutical heir, but her career is jeopardized when the story gets way too hot.
Mystery / Crime
Date Published: Dead Air: March 2017
Publisher: Short on Time Books (www.ShortOnTimeBooks.com)
Young radio reporter Lisa Powers follows her hunches to help solve criminal cases, but at the risk of denying her own emotional health.
She comes face to face with a suspected cop shooter, but refuses to admit how the harrowing experience continues to haunt her.
She’s resolute in the search for a violent rapist in a 15-year-old cold case, unwavering in her mission to bring closure to the tormented young woman who was sexually abused when she was four.
Lisa introduces “L.N. Pane, P. I,” the lead podcast character in a 1940s film noir saga of a gritty female gumshoe gunning to finger someone trying to bump off a gent.
Interview
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to
grasp?
That
young women can do whatever they want to do! I hope my main character portrays
the determination, perseverance and grit needed to be successful in her career
as a radio journalist, or in any career.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your
writing?
The toughest part is getting my
radio sleuth into “trouble” for story tension and character arc. As a reporter,
I was never threatened with a knife or a gun, so it’s always a challenge to
come up with situations she has to get out of by using her wits.
How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
I’ve written and published two full-length
novels, two novellas and a number of short stories. I like them all, but
I’m especially fond of “Dead Air,” because I based the main crime story on an
actual television news story of a cop-shooting I covered while on the crime
beat for my NBC affiliate. Of course, it is greatly fictionalized, but I was
able to use many of the notes I kept from the case. “Bleeder,” the next book in
my “Behind the Mic Mysteries,” will feature the trial for the man accused of
killing two police officers, and I still have my courtroom trial notes and even
cue cards from my live TV broadcasts.
If you had the chance to cast your main character from Hollywood today, who would you pick and why?
Perhaps Emma Stone, similar to her
character in “The Help,” or Anna Kindrick from the “Pitch Perfect” series. It
would need to be a young, tough woman similar to Candice Bergen, aka “Murphy
Brown,” or a no-nonsense Holly Hunter from “Broadcast News” or an American
version of Emily Mortimer from “The Newsroom.”
When did you begin writing?
I’ve been writing since grade
school, and got my degree in broadcast journalism, and have been writing for a
living ever since. I primarily wrote nonfiction news and corporate video, but
branched out into screenplays and eventually discovered I enjoyed writing crime
fiction mysteries.
How long did it take to complete your first book?
Too long! I had started it before
my husband got cancer, and had to put it down for a few years. I was able to
pick it back up after he died, and got it published about five years after I
started. The book was dedicated to him, as he was a great supporter of my
various interests.
Did you have an author who inspired you to become a writer?
It was my eighth-grade English
teacher who mostly inspired me to enjoy the English language and learn to write.
As a teen, I devoured every Agatha
Christie book, and later loved reading Sue Grafton, Betty Webb, Michael
Crichton, John Grisham and Lee Child.
Having written non-fiction most my
life, I didn’t think I could write fiction until I submitted a 250-word story
for the Alfred Hitchcock’
Murder Mystery Magazine’s “Mysterious Photograph” contest. I got an honorable
mention for my first try, and decided to plunge into crime fiction mysteries
after that.
What is your favorite part of the writing process?
I love the entire process, so it’s
a joy to be able to sit down every day and “make stuff up!”
Describe your latest book in 4 words.
Crimes:
Kidnapping. Rape. Infidelity.
Can you share a little bit about your current work or what is
in the future for your writing?
I
was pleased to be invited by my Short on Time Books’ publisher to take part in
the “Tawnee Mountain Mysteries.” I’m one of seven novelists taking our series
characters and putting them all in the same location: Tawnee Mountain Resort, a
fictional location in New Jersey.
“Deadly
Misfire” is my submission, where my young radio reporter, Lisa Powers, attends
a radio conference at the resort. She prepares to accept an award for excellence in reporting, but a stalker
tries to prevent her from taking the stage — with deadly force. It will be released
April 16.
I
am also working on the third book in my series, “Behind the Mic Mysteries,”
which will be called “Bleeder.” All my book titles are actual radio
terminology, but hopefully with a sinister sound.
I’m
also working on video book trailers, and am writing, producing and directing a
series of film shorts for competitions this year.
I
will most likely be taking actors in a studio again to produce the “Murder in
the Air Mystery Theatre” podcast from “Bleeder” for the audio book, which will
also incorporate original music and sound effects.
About the Author:
Laurie Fagen is a long-time “writer by habit” who has written for radio and television news; corporate video, films and documentaries; and magazines and newspapers.
An honorable mention in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine’s Mysterious Photograph short story contest and a life-long love of reading whodunits led to three published short stories in Sisters in Crime Desert Sleuths Chapter anthologies. She’s published two crime fiction mystery novels, “Fade Out” and “Dead Air,” and has book #3, “Bleeder,” in her “Behind the Mic” mysteries out in Spring 2018, along with a “Tawnee Mountain Mysteries” multi-author series novella called “Deadly Misfire,” also due in Spring 2018.
Former publisher of a Chandler, AZ community newspaper with her late husband, Geoff Hancock, she is also a jazz singer and artist.
A member of Sisters in Crime (SinC), Fagen lives in the Phoenix metro area.
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2 Comments
Thank you for posting
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post and interview! Laurie Fagen
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