Patricia:
David, where
did you grow up? Did your childhood contribute to your desire to be a writer?
David:
I
grew up in Detroit, and continued to live in the Detroit area until the 90’s. I
use Detroit as the setting for my mystery novels as it is the large urban area
I am most familiar with, and with its reputation for crime, I felt it would be
of interest to a broad range of mystery and crime genre readers.
Patricia:
Where
do you live now? Do you use that locale for settings in your novels?
David:
I
live in downtown Covington, Kentucky, near the Ohio River. I can hear the
fireworks from The Grand Old American Ballpark when the Reds hit a homerun. I
haven’t written a novel using this area, but I’m not through writing novels,
yet. It’s more because I’m relatively new to the area than any lack of ideas
about using Covington or Cincinnati, both are beautiful cities, I love the
architecture and history of both.
Patricia:
What
inspired you to write your most recent novel?
David:
I have a novel due out this summer, The Pool Boy’s Beatitude, from Rebel e
Publishing out of Detroit. It’s not a mystery, but a large section of the book
takes place in jail. I’d describe the story, though, as a quirky love story.
It’s more literary than my mystery genre stories I’ve written. It made the
semifinal list in the Faulkner Competition last summer. The story is somewhat
autobiographical in the sense it’s based on personal experiences, but it is
fiction.
The Death of Anyone is my most recent mystery genre story. The idea
for this story came back in 2006 while I was still working as a 911 operator. I
learned from a CSI investigator about a DNA search technique called Familial
DNA. When the crime scene DNA doesn’t find any match in the database, they
search for DNA that is similar, and then investigate suspects related to this
person. I thought it would make an interesting plot for a story and wrote The
Death of Anyone, where Bonnie Benham, a Detroit Homicide Detective implores the
D.A. to authorize it’s use in the hunt for a killer of young girls. I had just
finished the first draft in 2010 when LAPD caught The Grim Sleeper using a
Familial DNA search. They came up with the DNA of his son, and when they
investigated members of his family, found out his father was the killer. Lonnie
David Franklin, the Grim Sleeper, will be the first person in the U.S. ever to
be tried in court based on the use of Familial DNA. All of the aspects of this
case are explored in The Death of Anyone.
Patricia:
When
did you “know” that you wanted to be a writer?
David:
When
I had to get a real job. I’m kidding, but it’s not a joke that I preferred
writing to the employment I’ve had, which has varied. I would say, though, besides writing, working as a 911 operator was the best job
I’ve ever had.
Patricia:
Name
three of your favorite authors in the mystery/suspense genre. What makes them
your favorites?
David:
Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle. And the reason is easy. If anyone gave the idea for CSI to its
creator Anthony Zuiker it had to be Sherlock Holmes, the original crime scene
investigator, using science to catch criminals.
Agatha Christie.
I loved her use of red herrings, laying out false clues to mislead you as to
who the real perpetrator was.
Walter Mosely. I
just like his writing style and private investigator Easy Rawlins. I have an
underground character, Raymond Little, who similarly operates outside the system
in search of justice. He appears in all three of the mysteries I’ve written.
