Seattle Mystery Bookshop

Slipknot

Hello, I'm the author of Slipknot, a mystery set in SW Washington State. It features Gavin Pruitt, Sheriff of Willapa County and a Deadhead. There are 1,000 acres of privately-held old-growth forest whose sale is dependent on an environmental impact statement. But the world-renown ecologist preparing that statement has been murdered, hung dead from a steel spar pole at a logging operation in Pruitt's jurisdiction. The plot is riveting and the action fast, but I don't spare the characterization--that of a person once anti-establishment now part of the establishment. Pruitt is smart and kind, but equally strong and tough as a cop sometimes needs to be. Dennis McNally (author of the definitive Grateful Dead biography, A Long Strange Trip) has said that Slipknot's "...Dead stuff is central and real."

I'm a Deadhead myself, having first seen them in 1968 at Springer's Inn (a big grange hall, really, in Portland, Oregon) with about 400 other "premie" Deadheads. I saw the Dead many times after, some shows utterly transcendent, others bordering on the horribly bad. But then that's one of the different things about Deadheads: we appreciate the fact that the band was always ready to risk their dignity in order to attempt to produce for us a transcendental moment.

I'd been itching to write a book that brings the ethos and "vibe" of the 60's era I grew up in to contemporary times. Somehow this idea of Deadhead sheriff came to me (possibly in a "flashback"--LOL), and I knew I had the right vehicle to write about issues and concerns that I hope are important to people. I know they are to me.

I'll check in with this blog and try to get back to any of you who have questions about Slipknot or have something to share with me.

Thanks so much!

--Gary McKinney

Seattle Bookshop Heroes

So I'm sitting here in Seattle on a clear, crisp day (isn't it supposed to rain all the time over here?  So much for cliches, huh?), surrounded by mystery books of every variety and I couldn't be happier.

Of course, the fact that I'm here to promote my own book, Heroes Often Fail,the second in my River City Series, might help a little.  Still, there's something so satisfying to being in the company of intelligent people with like-minded interests.  It's exhilarating.  It's inspiring.  It's fun.

It's...well, happy.

Looking around this bookshop at all the titles, it is also very humbling.  And humility is always a good thing.

Thanks for having me, SMB.  I look forward to more trips in the future.  Anyone reading this can help make that happen by doing two things:  pick up my book at SMB and then buy a half dozen other books while you're there!

Frank
http://frankzafiro.com

Assassins and Bank Robbers in Seattle

It's been great fun visiting and signing in Seattle again. Seattle Mystery Bookshop rocks! I last signed here for my debut novel, 47 RULES OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE BANK ROBBERS, as part of the gang of authors signing for Left Coast Crime. That was the big finish of my whirlwind tour for 47 RULES, culminating in Anthony, Macavity, and Lefty nominations. Now I'm having fun promoting my new novel, THE ONE MINUTE ASSASSIN. Well...maybe fun isn't the right word. It's a hell of a lot more fun writing than promoting.

However, when I tour I get to leave my cubbyhole of an office and interact with new readers. Usually that's a good thing, but once in a while things got strange. With 47 RULES, I actually had bank robbers show up at signings (in between stints in prison). I've also met lots of siblings of bank robbers, lots of police officers that have caught bank robbers, along with one FBI agent who was in charge of the bank robbery division. He'd bought my book in a non-fiction section of a bookstore and was concerned that it was a "How to" book. He was happy to find out that it wasn't, and that my novel was an "extremely entertaining read."

Now that I'm touring with THE ONE MINUTE ASSASSIN, I'm starting to get a little nervous. Hopefully, I won't meet up with many assassins. :)

Troy Cook

Ayna Meppelink

This is my very first book signing, and I'm loving it at the Seattle Mystery Bookshop, promoting I See a Red Door, a paranormal mystery. This is one of the neatest bookstores I've visited: blood on the floor but cozy at the same time. I could live here! Fran told me I could even bring my dogs. "All five of them?" I asked. Affirmative! They've never met Luci the Labrador. She'd deconstruct the whole store. Oh, my book! Yes, the story is based on real events, real experiences. I do see where the bodies of murder victims are hidden.

Ayna