His entry begins:Time is precious these days—I’m a security consultant specializing in anti-terrorism by day and writer by very early mornings and late nights. I often find it difficult to find the quiet time for one of my passions—reading. I’m a mystery and thriller reader when I’m not reading technical material, the world’s news online, or “how not to get killed by terrorists” for my consulting practice. My reading always includes the oldies like Agatha Christie, Mickey Spillane, and Raymond Chandler. More modern is Nelson DeMille, Patterson, and Baldacci. Limited time keeps this list often dust covered.About O’Connor's new novel, Dying to Know:
My reading list had a real little hiccup this year. A few months ago, after my agent told me I had sold my first book as a series, I was stunned to find out I was a “cozy writer.”
My response to her was, “A whut?”
Sorry, but I have to admit I didn’t know what a cozy was until I wrote one. And that was a fluke. You see, I had been writing thrillers and darker mysteries trying to get an agent and get published. I wrote Dying to Know—a cozy mystery about a dead detective—after two decades of recurring nightmares about my own murder during an anti-terrorism operation in Greece. I wrote my dream and it grew into a novel. Despite two other thrillers and a darker mystery, I landed an agent based on Dying to Know. Then, we landed a publisher and a book series.
Poof, I was a cozy writer. A little research and I understood. Silly me. Sure, if it gets me a contract and readers like my work, I can be a cozy writer—hey, I can multi-task. Mysteries, thrillers… cozies.
The first thing I realized was that I better read a few cozies and see what this genre is about. Hence my hiccup. I had no cozies in my large den library.
I fixed that post haste.
So now, stacked on my credenza are an army of cozies I’m reading—several all at once. Now, I’m reading my new genre colleagues like Lizbeth Lipperman’s Heard It Through The Grapevine, Karen MacInerney’s Brush With Death, and Shannon Baker’s Tainted Mountain—all pals from my new best friends at Midnight Ink. They’ve all written newer novels, but I have to catch up first! I’ve also added a few not-so-cozies like...[read on]
Dying is overrated. Murder is not.Visit Tj O’Connor's website, blog, and Facebook page.
That's what Detective Oliver Tucker used to think. Not now. He's dead—murdered—and back as an earth-bound spirit to help his wife, Professor Angela Tucker, crack the most important case of his life—his own.
But, this is not a ghost story; it's a murder case.
Tuck knows why he is back among the living but not one of them—Detective Solve Thyself. Perhaps he was murdered because of his last case—a murder involving a retired mob boss,a local millionaire land developer, a New York hit man, and the local university elite. Or could it be that Bear Braddock, his best friend and partner for more than fifteen years, wants Angela? Tuck knows that everything surrounds Kelly's Dig where the discovery of Civil War graves may put an end to a multi-million dollar highway project. If it does, who stands to gain the most? Enough to kill?
Using his unique skills, Tuck weaves through half-truths and generations-old lies chasing a madman. And he's not alone—others, dead and alive—are hunting the same killer. Still nothing can change the truth—it is the living, not the dead, who are most terrifying.
Read--Coffee with a Canine: Tj O’Connor & Toby, Mosby, and Maggie Mae.
My Book, The Movie: Dying to Know.
Writers Read: Tj O'Connor.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
