Interview
with Mar Preston author of Rip-Off a murder mystery
1.
Tell
us about Mar Preston is this your first book, and what do you do when you are
not writing?
No Dice was my first book, introducing
Detective Dave Mason of the Santa Monica Police Department and his community
activist girlfriend Ginger McNair. The plot centers on a casino consortium’s
attempt to build a high-rise casino in Santa Monica, much against the community’s
desire. It’s a rip-snorting tale of big money, big development.
When I’m not writing, or procrastinating, I work with the SPCA writing
grants, and fostering litters of feral kittens and their mamas. I walk in the forest with my dog Lily, although
it’s so hot now neither of us enjoys it much. I watch out for rattlesnakes too.
2.
What
is or was your goal when you wrote Rip-Off? Did you have an agenda, some wrong you wanted
to right?
I hope not. I wanted to tell a good story about some memorable characters
and a situation that draws Mason into the vortex of organized crime playing out
in an upscale Los Angeles Beach City. Detective Mason of the Santa Monica
Police Department is very real to me, as is Ginger. I wanted to take their
lives further than I had done in No Dice
and write about what happened next to them.
3.
If
someone asked you, what is the moral of your story, how would you respond?
Oh, boy. Billie, you sure ask hard questions. The moral? I don’t know that there is one. How would you
answer that?
I'd for sure say, Crime does not pay. Or if you can't do the time don't do the crime.
4.
Rip-Off reads like you've been part of a
police department—are/were you? Or is there a police officer/detective in your
family?
Not at all. I’m a diligent researcher and genuinely interested in the
Santa Monica Police Department. They’ve
been very receptive to my questions. Plus I love the city and want to share all
the quirkiness of Santa Monica with readers.
5.
When
you create characters do you base them on real people?
All the bad guys come from my imagination and research. I wish I knew a
master burglar I could interview or a Chechen organized crime boss. Ginger comes from me and my community
activist crusades, I must admit.
Detective Mason is a composite character of all the great cops I’ve known.
6.
Everyone
likes to peek into the mind of an author and find out Where Do You Get Your
ideas from—can you tell us where yours come from?
I guess the newspapers in the case of Rip-Off.
No Dice came from personal experience
being up close and dirty in Santa Monica municipal wars. My third one, Payback, that I’m preparing for printing
now comes from sticking my nose in local politics up here in the mountain
village where I live in Southern California.
7.
Do
you use contemporary political climate in your novels? Are you afraid it will date your series or
that it will become old news of sorts?
Yes, I use what’s going on now, and it will probably become old
news. That’s probably true in the law
enforcement technology I write about as well. But crime in all its various
expressions remains current. No chance of police departments being closed down
for lack of work.
8.
What's
next for Mar Preston?
I’m working with my editor, Jodie Renner, on a fourth novel, untitled as
yet. I wanted to write about what happens next with Mason and Ginger. I really
like rewriting and seeing the work get better and better. Working with an
editor is frustrating fun. You finally have a collaborator after living with
this manuscript for years.
9.
Where
can we find out more about you and your books?
10.
Do
you have a readers guide for book clubs and are you available in person or via
Skype or chat room or some other venue for your readers?
No, because I never thought of doing that until now when you suggest it.
I’ll get to work on it. I’d love to talk to book clubs. Imagine people being that interested in me!
Come back tomorrow for a review of Rip Off
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