Shadows in the Creek follows a disgraced journalist who returns to his picture-perfect town to investigate the murder of a young woman, only to uncover the lies the town has kept hidden.Was Edenvale inspired by a real place, or more of a symbolic landscape?

For me, Edenvale is more of a symbolic landscape, though the setting is somewhere familiar – a small, idyllic town somewhere between Hartford, Connecticut and New York. I live in Connecticut, and for my first novel, I needed the setting to hit close to home. But the place is symbolic in that Dante Villehart, the disgraced journalist, comes to this town he feels is quiet enough to allow him to escape into anonymity. Just as he is trying to settle, he learns of the demise of someone he knew very well. He is suddenly compelled to get back into investigative journalism, much against his initial will. He quickly learns in the process that this apparently quiet town is heavily laden with secrets the rich and powerful would literally kill to keep buried.

Dante feels both capable and compromised. How did you shape his moral center, and how important was his past failure in driving the present investigation?

Many people, including myself, have made mistakes in the past. However, not all of us get to correct them once they are acknowledged. That is, we don’t often get the redemption opportunities that would help to lighten the load of our past guilt. Dante has this opportunity, though he came by this reluctantly at first. He is compromised because he knows his mistakes directly led to consequences he wished never developed. But this compromise leads to his resilience. He now has an unwavering desire to not fail in his quests to unearth the truth. Sometimes his pursuit of the truth puts him in danger–another compromise that gives him the grit he needs to prove himself capable.  

The book thrives on mood as much as mystery. How do you balance tension with introspection in a crime story?

Dante is actually coming to terms with the new person he is becoming. He is driven by his desire not to fail again but could still fail if he makes the rash decisions he once made under pressure in his past. Now, he is not trying to make deadlines with a story. He now has to solve a mystery that requires swift attention and also demands careful introspection as a guide to ensure his new path is not paved with the familiar failure he once knew. In other words, Dante is evolving while he solves the case. Part of this process necessarily requires that he reflects and looks inwards for strength and guidance.

Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out and what can your fans expect in the next story?

Shadows in the Creek is in fact the first book of the Dante Villehart Redemption series. The series has three books, the other two being Death in the Manor and Knight In Gale: Vengeance. The two latter books have been published recently, and I am hoping to use the momentum of Shadows in the Creek to propel them.

Fans can expect Dante to continue evolving. In the past, he would push people away, keep his guard up, and wouldn’t allow anyone to get too close. He lets himself become more vulnerable in letting others in but is still cautious as his association with people could put them in danger (and often does). Therefore, Dante starts to become the new redeemed man he has started to become – still with flaws, but less guarded and more balanced.

Fans can also expect to see Dante continue his journey solving cases in The Dante Villehart Files.