In Severed Echoes, a rookie detective tackles a murder investigation and discovers he is the target of a group of hackers. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

As someone who has worked in the high-tech industry for over twenty years, I am always fascinated with the impact technology has on our lives. While technology continues to improve and make our lives better in many ways, it also introduces new issues and concerns, and I find that many of the hot-button topics like AI, cybersecurity, privacy, and social media in some ways reflect our age-old fears and desires, and in other ways present us with new personal, ethical and legal challenges.

In Severed Echoes, one of the angles I wanted to explore is what happens when someone finds themselves on the receiving end of technology being used to settle a personal score.

When you first sat down to write this story, did you know where you were going, or did the twists come as you were writing?

I usually start with an outline, so I do have some idea of where I think the story will go. But with each successive draft, as the characters and the themes become more developed, the story may take unexpected turns. This was definitely the case with Severed Echoes.

Are you a fan of crime thrillers? What books/writers do you think most influenced your work?

I am! I think great crime thrillers are not about crime, necessarily. They are about people and the choices we make. When I think about the Nick Severs Mysteries series, I think of it as sort of a mix of Craig Johnson’s Longmire and Stieg Larson’s Millennium series. Both were fantastic but in completely different ways.

What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?

Good news! I have just recently published a sequel to Severed Echoes. It’s called Cold Trace, and it is available now in print and eBook formats and soon will also be released on audio. In Cold Trace, readers reunite with Nick and Claire and follow them on an investigation into a missing child case that went cold twenty years ago, with each twist taking them deeper into the underworld of child trafficking and cybercrime.

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