A Bookish Conversation with Mystery Author Mike Martin @mike54martin

Mike Martin was born in Newfoundland on the East Coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a longtime freelance writer and his articles and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines and online across Canada as well as in the United States and New Zealand. He is the author of Change the Things You Can: Dealing with Difficult People and has written a number of short stories that have published in various publications including Canadian Stories and Downhome magazine.

The Walker on the Cape was his first full fiction book and the premiere of the Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series. Other books in the series include The Body on the T, Beneath the Surface, A Twist of Fortune and A Long Ways from Home.

A Long Ways from Home was shortlisted for the 2017 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award as the best light mystery of the year. A Tangled Web is the newest book in the series.

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Title: A TANGLED WEB
Author: Mike Martin
Publisher: Booklocker
Pages: 338
Genre: Mystery

BOOK BLURB:

Life is good for Sgt. Wind­flower in Grand Bank, Newfoundland. But something’s missing from the Mountie’s life. Actually, a lot of things go missing, including a little girl and supplies from the new factory. It’s Windflower’s job to unravel the tangled web of murder, deceit and an accidental kidnapping that threatens to engulf this sleepy little town and destroy those closest to him. But there’s always good food, good friends and the love of a great woman to make everything better in the end.

A TANGLED WEB is available at Amazon.

Thank you for this interview!  I’d like to know more about you as a person first.  What do you do when you’re not writing?

I’m likely reading. Or when the weather is nice I am outside walking or riding my bicycle. But I write a lot. I write for fun, the Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series, and for work, freelance, communications, speeches.

When did you start writing?

I have been a writer forever and a freelance writer for over 25 years. I kept finding jobs that allowed me to write as part of them and finally bit the bullet and became a freelance and ghost writer. My fiction came much later, mostly in the last ten years.

As a published author, what would you say was the most pivotal point of your writing life?

Publishing my first book was the closest I could ever come to having a baby. I went through the pregnancy, morning and evening sickness, and a very long and painful delivery. But at the end I had a brand-new baby and I was, and am, a very proud parent. T

If you could go anywhere in the world to start writing your next book, where would that be and why?

I love writing my books set in Newfoundland on the easternmost tip of Canada. It is my home province and a land of magic and mystery. But I think I’d like to write a book set in the tropics so that I could visit there a few months of the year.

If you had 4 hours of extra time today, what would you do?

I would write. Writing is food, water and oxygen for me. There is no shortage of ideas to write about, only a scarcity of time. And there is never enough.

Where would you like to set a story that you haven’t done yet?

Back to my previous answer I would likely look at Cuba because I have been there many times and I love the people. And the weather!!

Back to your present book, A Tangled Web, how did you publish it?

A Tangled Web was published by a small independent publisher in Ottawa where I live. Baico Publishing provides excellent and personalized service and we have a cooperative arrangement on sales and distribution.

In writing your book, did you travel anywhere for research?

I travelled to Newfoundland, of course. We usually go there for a month each year and that is where I find my inspiration. The idea for the Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series came to me there. It was like Sgt. Windflower walked out of the fog one night in Grand Bank and started telling me the story. I just write it down,

Why was writing A Tangled Web so important to you?

A Tangled Web is the latest book in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series and it continues the adventures of Sgt. Windflower. There are some crimes and even murders, but there is also great friends, food and adventure. The series and this book are short on police procedures and long on finding the joy in everyday life. I wrote it because it was fun. I hope it is fun and enjoyable to read.

Where do you get your best ideas and why do you think that is?

I write fiction from my heart. I try and connect with the creative flow. I let that inspire me and then I start writing. Once I get started I commit to writing a certain number of words each day. I start first thing in the morning when I am fresh and before the rest of my world creeps in. I write as much as I can and then I review it later. That seems to work for me.

Any final words?

To all the readers out there, I want to thank you for being a reader. You make my fictitious world come alive. Without you, I would be yelling down into a canyon. You give my vice and my words echo. You are my partner in creation. Thank you. Without you, Sgt. Windflower would not exist.