Blog Tour: The Woke and the Dead by Mark S. Bacon #mystery #giveaway #interview #rabtbooktours @baconauthor @RABTBookTours

Momma G 10:45 AM

Nostalgia City Mystery #5

Mystery

Date Published: 03-13-2025

Publisher: Archer & Clark

A public war between a governor and a theme park lights the fuse on a story of hate groups, murder, corruption, racism, and political espionage.

Ex-cop turned theme-park cab driver Lyle Deming finds the body of a park visitor during an LGBTQ event. The dead man catered gay weddings. Was it a hate crime?

Arizona governor Rod Gudgel, running for reelection, calls it a random shooting. He mocks Nostalgia City theme park for its inclusiveness, uses homophobic and racist slurs, and later challenges the safety of its rides.

Park CEO, “Max” Maxwell lambasts the governor’s prejudice and insensitivity, and the fight is on—in public and undercover. Maxwell drafts Lyle to investigate the murder while Kate Sorensen, his 6’-2½” public affairs VP, goes on the offensive in the media.

When an assault rifle attack kills and injures park employees demonstrating for gay rights at a Gudgel campaign office, Nostalgia City mourns, and Kate slams the governor’s unsympathetic response to the slaughter. While the FBI and sheriff’s deputies investigate the crime, the governor redoubles his efforts to regulate the park out of business.

Looking for a shooting suspect, Lyle gets a little too close to an armed hate group—with a possible connection to the governor. His lady friend Kate flies to Montana where she digs into the governor’s unseemly past uncovering a trail of malfeasance dating back two decades and arousing Gudgel allies who want to stop her at all cost.

With Lyle’s wry humor and Kate’s stick-to-itiveness the story moves quickly as mysteries and subplots multiply and loop together threatening the park, their relationship, and their lives.

Interview

Is There a Message in Your Novel That You Want Readers to Grasp?

My purpose with all my books is to first entertain. My protagonists have values that come through in their words and actions. For this book Lyle and Kate would say to treat everyone with respect and to reject intolerance.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Satisfying myself. I’m a harsh critic of my own work. I write by revision and don’t move on until I’m reasonably happy with what I’ve done.

How many books have you written and which is your favorite?

I’ve written eleven books, five of them mystery novels. Although picking my favorite mystery is like asking me to pick my favorite daughter, I like the first series book, Death in Nostalgia City, because I met and got to know my main characters here and it’s when I created Nostalgia City theme park in the high desert of Arizona. The new book, The Woke and the Dead, I’m proud of because it takes on hate and discrimination while Kate and Lyle are chased through an adventure unlike others they’ve had.

If You had the chance to cast your main character from Hollywood today, who would you pick and why?

I have two main characters. I’d cast Margot Robbie as Kate and either George Clooney or Brad Pitt would be good for Lyle. The actors are suited to these roles based on their previous work.

When did you begin writing?

In high school. I wrote for the student newspaper and wrote short stories on the side. I’ve written for a living ever since—and I’m grateful for all the opportunities to do so.

How long did it take to complete your first book?

It was a book on business communications and it took about ten months, not counting rewrites suggested by my publisher. Most of my books have taken a year to write.

Did you have an author who inspired you to become a writer?

Best selling author Nathan C. Heard was the instructor in the only fiction writing class I took in college and he inspired and encouraged me.

What is your favorite part of the writing process?

It’s reading a chapter I wrote and edited and liking the result. It encourages me to write the next chapter.

Describe your latest book in 4 words.

Governor versus theme park

Can you share a little bit about your current work or what is in the future for your writing?

My “latest” book has just come out so I’m resting the part of my brain that creates people and places. I’m not waiting for inspiration to strike—I believe in making ideas happen, but taking it easy for a while helps.

About the Author

My first three mysteries were published by Black Opal Books with my debut novel earning recommendation from the American Library Association.

I started writing mysteries after a writing career in journalism and marketing. Prior to my novels, Ether Books of the UK published a collection of my flash fiction mysteries and many of my shorts have been published in online literary magazines. During my business career I wrote two books for John Wiley and Sons, one of which was a Library Journal Best Business Book of the Year. I have an MA in journalism and a golden retriever.

I write the kind of mysteries I like to read. I appreciate stories with twists, turns, and puzzles which appeal to the head. But I also like a mystery that appeals to the heart with a fast pace and challenges and threats that put the protagonists in peril.

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