Friday, August 11, 2017
Q A with TJ OConnor
Q A with TJ OConnor
This week, we sat down with TJ OConnor, author of the Gumshoe Ghost mysteries. His latest book, Dying for the Past, was released last month.
Midnight Ink: How long have you been writing?
TJ OConnor: I first began writing when I was in the 5th grade�that was about 1972. Holy crap, has it been that long ago? I wrote short stories and plays in class for my friends. I was caught one day by my teacher and he read one out loud�first to embarrass me. But everyone liked it and he ended up being a big supporter of mine all the way through high school.
MI: What influence have other authors had on your writing?
TJO: More than you could imagine. I first began to read ferociously in the fifth grade as an escape from a tough home life. It started with Mystery of the Witches Bridge by Barbee Oliver Carleton, and then Gordon D. Shirreffs� Mystery of the Haunted Mine. From there, I began reading every Hardy Boys mystery I could find. By the time I finished my third book, I knew I wanted to write. As I grew older and read more and more genres, authors like Agatha Christie, Robert Ludlum, Nelson DeMille, Raymond Chandler, and a long list of others influenced my love of mystery and thrillers. But it was a book by James Grady called Six Days of the Condor�a story about a CIA researcher being hunted by his own people�that made lead me into my profession in intelligence and anti-terrorism. From there, between my profession and my passion for writing, my entire life thus far played out. All thanks to some amazing authors.
MI: If you weren�t a writer, what would you be doing?
TJO: What I�m doing already�I�m an international security consultant specializing in anti-terrorism, investigations, and security operations.
MI: If you have a job outside of writing, what is it?
TJO: I�m an international security consultant specializing in anti-terrorism, investigations, and security operations. That, and a family of five kids, four kid-spouses, five grandkids, three Labs, and a host of others who appear in my house routinely for meals and movie-night.
MI: What is/are your favorite thing/s to do when you�re not writing or working?
TJO: That�s tough since I work and write collectively about 90 hours a week. But if I can steal some time here and there, I am an avid Harley Davidson rider, spend time with my grandkids and Labs, and love old movies. In fact, the old movies keep me up all hours of the night while I write notes and ideas for my books.
MI: Who is your favorite mystery sleuth and why?
TJO: There are way too many to say favorite. So I�ll name those I�ve enjoyed the most over the years. (In no order of importance) In my youth were the Hardy Boys. DeMille�s John Corey; Christie�s Poirot; Earl Biggers� Charlie Chan; Anthony Horowitz�s Christopher Foyle; and who could forget Scooby and Shaggy!
MI: Do you have a favorite murder case from a book (either yours or another author�s)?
TJO: Actually, two of my unpublished works, New Sins for Old Scores and Double Effect are my favorites. New Sins for Old Scoresis a historical murder mystery with a paranormal twist. The murders of a WWII OSS Operative in 1944 and a Virginia BCI agent in 2014 connect the two stories�they collide with a historical subplot. In Double Effect, the detective-brother of Jonathan Hunter, an Iraq War covert operative, is murdered while tracking down a local street gang with ties to Middle Eastern terrorists. Hunter returns to get answers about his estranged brother and lands smack in the middle of a series of murders and corrupt cops.
I love these two cases because so much of them comes from a Frankenstein soup of my life�s work. I stole bits and pieces of cases I worked on and cases my mentor worked on� he�s one of the last World War II OSS Operatives still alive.
MI: What was your inspiration for the Gumshoe Ghost mysteries?MI: Tell us about Tuck.
TJO: Tuck is about one-half me (not the dead part though) and one-half a mixture of all the things I think I wish I were. He�s a funny, sometimes sarcastic, but a driven detective who is killed in the opening pages of Dying to Know. He returns to solve his own crime, and in the process, learns that he has a very unique skill�he can connect with other murder victims form the past and commune with the living to solve their cases. He is a champion of cold cases�dead cold�and he helps the victims who�d been forgotten find a little cold-justice. He loves his beautiful, brilliant history professor wife, Angela�Angel�whom knows he�s around and works as his partner with the living�often times begrudgingly. And he�s got Hercule, his black Lab companion who is Angel�s protector and Tuck�s conduit to other characters in the stories. Tuck was never a student of history, but his stories always have a historical subplot and Tuck learns as he goes�both about the historical events surrounding the murders and about himself and the new murder cases. He�s finding out in Dying for the Pastthat his own family roots�he was raised in foster care and never knew his family�are filled with criminals, spies, vagabonds, and spirits.MI: Do you have a pet? Tell us about him/her.
TJO: I raise pure-bred Labs. Until a couple months ago, I had three Labs�Mosby, Maggie Mae, and Toby. On Veteran�s Day, we lost Mos. He was 14 years and 3 months old. It broke my heart and continues to be a painful chasm. All three of my Labs�but Mosby the most�are the most gentle, intelligence, and loving creatures I�ve ever known; and perhaps ever will.
MI: If you don�t have a pet, do you have a favorite animal?
TJO: Our Labs allow us to have a self-centered cat who stalks them without mercy.
MI:What food could you live off of for the rest of your life?
TJO: I�m the chef in the family and love to cook. So whatever I can find in my pantry and frig I can whip into something pretty damn good. But if the zombies or Martians invaded us and I had a supply of peanut M & M�s, I could find the strength to fight back.
MI: Do you have a favorite recipe?
TJO: Anything Greek, French, or Italian. Like Greek tiropitaor Coq au Vin.
MI: What is your favorite part about being an Inker?
TJO: Actually, it�s not about being an Inker so much as the privilege and luck of simply having my first of eight novels published by Midnight Ink. They gave me a start that I hope will flourish into many published novels to come. If that never happens, I�ll be thankful for Midnight Ink for allowing me to share Tuck, Hercule, and Angel�s cases with a few fans.
Pick up your copies of Dying for the Past online and in bookstores now!
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