Patricia:
Chris,
I'm pleased to have you with us this week. Tell us, where did you grow up? Did your childhood contribute to your desire to be a
writer?
Chris:
I
grew up in Lakeside and Santee, California (even though I tell everyone I grew
up in San Diego). I was an only child
and pretty spoiled. I’d say my childhood
contributed to my writing since I had a strong sense of adventure and always
questioned everyone and everything. This
lead me to be an investigator and I landed in narcotics.
Patricia:
Where
do you live now? Do you use that locale for settings in your novels?
Chris:
I
live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I
haven’t used the area specifically in a book or story, but I use some of it in
the poetry I write. I’m leaning toward
using the Bay Area in the third book of a series, but I’ll have to wait and see
if the location works.
Patricia:
What
inspired you to write your most recent novel?
Chris:
I
love the outdoors, fly fishing, and investigating large-scale narcotics
trafficking. While flying into the
Bahamas for a fly fishing trip, I was blown away by what I saw and learned from
the locals. A concept for my first
novel, Gray Ghost, sat in my mind for fourteen years. I wanted something special and unique;
apparently it took me fourteen years to find it.
Patricia:
When
did you “know” that you wanted to be a writer?
Chris:
I
wrote a featured article for Fly Fisherman Magazine while in college. Seeing that story in print really boosted my
confidence. I knew then I’d always
write.
Patricia:
Name
three of your favorite authors in the mystery/suspense genre. What makes them your
favorites?
Chris:
Tony Hillerman- The man was a brilliant story teller.
Daniel Silva- Paints a picture with his words that
is unmatched.
Tami Hoag-Suspenseful plot and beautifully crafted
dialogue.
C. L. (Chris) Swinney is a narcotics investigator in
the San Francisco Bay area. He has investigated hundreds of narcotics,
homicide, gang, and Mexico cartel cases along the west coast of the United
States, Mexico, and Canada. Swinney has been invited to speak at law
enforcement conferences throughout the United States and is recognized as an
expert in narcotics, homicides, and cell phone forensics. He developed the
concept for the first book in his Bill Dix series, Gray Ghost, while fly
fishing in the Bahamas. His passion for the outdoors and law enforcement is intertwined
throughout his writing. The world of narcotics is dark and mysterious. C. L.
Swinney pulls the reader into this fascinating world in his debut novel.
Blurb:
While on a fly fishing vacation to
Andros Island in the Bahamas, narcotics detectives Dix and Peterson discover
their fishing guides were killed when a sudden blast of gunfire fractured their
speedboat, Gray Ghost. Local gossip has it that Gray Ghost went to the ocean
floor with a hundred million dollars worth of cocaine in the hull. Dix and
Peterson are drawn into helping their island friends, and chase down leads in
Miami as well as the Bahamas until they identify the diabolical plot of the man
known only as The Caller…and then the trouble really starts.
"When two Miami narcotic
officers take a fishing trip to the Bahamas, they can't leave the drug world
behind...Deftly told by the author, detective and avid fly fisher Chris
Swinney, this book will hook any reader of mystery fiction." —Sunny
Frazier, author of the Christy Bristol Astrology Mysteries
Buy link:
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