Yesterday, I reviewed a great mystery/detective novel, A New Prospect . Today, the author, Wayne Zurl, shares the story of The Road to New Prospect. When I began writing the story of ex-New York Detective Sam Jenkins becoming police chief in Prospect, Tennessee, I used the working title, MURDER IN THE SMOKIES. After my second major rewrite, I changed it to A NEW PROSPECT. I hope changing titles isn’t bad luck like changing the name of a boat. The first title focused on a murder, and for a new author writing a murder mystery today, he had better produce a body and start an investigation right up front if he wants to please an agent or editor. I didn’t do that, nor did I intend to. Never being one to do things the easy way, I wanted the book to be more about people than the crime or the big question, “Who dunnit?” A commissioner I once worked for told a graduating police academy class, “We’re in the people business.” That was a very true statement. I wanted my cast of characters,
My little corner of the web to reflect on the books I have read, and those that I want to read.