The Reclamation finds Billy Jay Cader on death row and organizing other inmates to take the judgment of others into their own hands. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?

Billy Jay is the kind of man that held absolutely no control over any aspect of his life as a young boy. Not until he took it upon himself to fight the struggles of survival, depending only on his own self, at age fourteen. From that point on, Billy Jay did not like to relinquish control of any situation he found himself in. This included being incarcerated. If he couldn’t control the guards, he knew he could control the inmates. His judgment on others was deeply ingrained within him. He felt it was his job almost and maybe facing his execution…his legacy too. Something he needed to pass on so it could live. He learned to enjoy it and probably at this point understood the power it had held over his poppa. The Mason jar was like a drug, it’s outcome the high or intoxication.

What were some aspects of Billy Jay Cader’s character that you wanted to explore in this book that wasn’t explored in other novels?

I think it would be the depth of commitment to judging others that he held. It never seemed to drift far from his psyche, no matter where he was or what level of life he was living. He couldn’t escape it. For a short time after meeting Cat, it seemed he’d outrun his devils…the drawl of being in control. I’ve not read a novel that showed the same kind of wrestling within oneself as Billy Jay’s struggles. The temptation to feel sorry for someone that keeps showing their dark side up and to a point that line is finally crossed. I wanted Amy Jo to be the polar opposite of Billy Jay yet somehow drawn into his magical control. It seemed like a great experiment to see if someone with similar experiences could connect and save him.

What kind of research do you undertake for your novels? Did you research any police procedures or the criminal justice system?

I admit that Google is my friend as a writer. You must be careful and of course not believe everything you find. I also have friends in law enforcement that I turn to and a fellow author friend who is a judge. This story also takes place from the beginning in the forties and up to now the mid-eighties. A lot has changed since this story takes place. It also takes place for the most part in a small southern gulf coastal Florida town. A one stoplight town with some characters who have worked themselves together in ways of leadership and trust. That is a scenario that will always bring interesting and thrilling stories.

What can readers expect in book 5 of the Mason Jar Series?

I’m going to reveal a little secret for what I am calling book 4.5 that will release hopefully in the first quarter of 2022. The new character introduced, Amy Jo Whitenhour, is the journalist writing her take from Billy’s point of view of his life. That story put together from what would be her interviews, will be book 4.5, and will even look as if she wrote it. The cover will bear her name and the story will be more of a novella size. Possibly a bit more than 40,000 words. It will fill in details of more depth and hopefully draw the reader more into the mind of Amy Jo. I believe she is a character that developed rather quickly and came natural to the story, so I’m hoping this next offering will get into the readers liking. At the end of her book, I will have a chapter or two preview of what I then will call book 5. Book five will close a lot of the cliffhangers and unknown and of course…hopefully draw the reader deeper into the web I hope to continue weaving.

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