The Black-Eyed Baby follows a detective who ends up on a gruesome case involving the richest members of society and starts uncovering secrets they want to keep buried. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

It started with a corrupt corporation that was a community pillar and grew from there.

Was there anything from your own life that you put into the characters in your novel?

Absolutely. People I’ve seen over my lifetime have influenced many of the characters. For instance, my mother-in-law lived to be 98 years old, and the last fifteen years of her life were in an independent care facility. Twice a week, we went to play bingo with her. Many of the people at Freedom Pointe are patterned after the people there.

How do you balance story development with shocking plot twists? Or can they be the same thing?

I keep an Excel file labeled Autoposy of the Book Name. In this file, there is a column for the chapter number, chapter name, characters in that chapter, word count, how the chapter opens, the action in the chapter, senses used, purpose of the chapter, what is foreshadowed, and what is an open item that needs to be addressed later on.

Will this novel be the start of a series, or are you working on a different story?

This is a series. A contract for the second book has just been signed, and I am about two-thirds of the way through writing the third book.

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