• In discussing your book with friends, what have they found most intriguing?
  • That I, a physician and pathologist, chose to write a non-medical book.
  • Well, since many investigations involve medical training, why didn’t you use a pathologist as your protagonist?
  • First, in mystery stories, the pathologist is typically a forensic pathologist. I was not trained in forensics so have little experience investigating and evaluating cases of sudden, unexpected, suspicious and violent death. Second, crime stories with a forensic pathologist as the protagonist typically emphasize the G & G (grizzly and gory), which holds no charm for me. My preference as a writer and reader is for murders to be relatively bloodless, occur off-stage and be solved by a brilliant protagonist through keen observation and deductive reasoning worthy of Sherlock Holmes.
  • Why did you wait so long to write your first mystery?
  • During my career I was fully occupied practicing pathology and carrying out research. The latter involved a great deal of writing for medical publications. There wasn’t much time for creative writing until I retired.
  • What prompted you to write THE PUMPJACK MURDERS?
  • I have belonged to a men’s literary club of 12 members for more than 20 years. Each member is required to write a substantial paper each year on any subject he chooses and read it

  • at a meeting. After writing 20 non-fiction papers, I decided to write a short story. It met with huge success from the members and became the inspiration for expansion into a full-length mystery.
  • Who are your favorite mystery writers?
  • Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Alan Bradley, Martin Walker, Martha Grimes, Donna Leon and P. D. James.
  • Crime novels come in different forms. How would you categorize yours?
  • It is a classic mystery novel that includes four essential elements: a crime (usually, but not necessarily, murder), a sleuth, an investigative process and identification of the criminal(s). The sleuth is an amateur, the setting a small town and the murder off stage.
  • What was the inspiration for your first mystery?
  • The story idea and locale for the setting were provided by a good friend, who, in his younger days, had been a wildcatter and then later for many years the Chairman of the Technology Council of Ohio Oil and Gas. Keeping in mind that mysteries are like potato chips and that one is never enough, this story of chicanery by an unscrupulous oil man became embellished by a hard drugs operation and multiple murders.
  • Is PUMPJACK the first in a series?
  • Yes. I had such fun writing it that I am already well into its successor, MURDER ON THE GROUSE MOOR, with a host of topics waiting in the wings.

  • What is your vision of the audience for the series?
  • Readers who love a good challenging page turner of the Miss Marple genre. I believe that this book and its successors will appeal to readers who relish a puzzling mystery that has touches of humor, romance and pathos. Readers who favor a protagonist who divines whodunit not by ESP but by exercising the little grey cells will find my stories to their liking. Finally, the protagonist is life-like, engaging, bright and interesting, the consummate gentleman but not necessarily perfect in all respects, nor a super hero.
  • And to conclude, is there a theme that will run through the series?
  • Yes, actually several. The protagonist, George Atwood, is a corporate attorney turned amateur sleuth, in his late 40s, committed to fighting for conservation of wildlife and habitat preservation. He is backed by his attractive wife, Anne, a clue-spotting photojournalist.

A percentage of all book sales will be donated to the Audubon Society and to Pollinator Partnership.

The mission of the Audubon Society is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity. www.Audubon.org

The mission of Pollinator Partnership is to protect the lives and promote the health of bees and butterflies and non-insect animals, such as bats and humming birds – pollinators critical to preserving our food and ecosystems. www.Pollinator.org