Patricia:
Welcome, Jacqueline!
Tell us, where did you grow up? Did your childhood contribute to your desire to be a
writer?
Jacqueline:
I
was born and raised in New Jersey
and am a lifelong resident. My childhood did contribute to my desire to be a
writer. My mother was a reader. She loved to read novels. Going to the library
with her was always a wonderful adventure. Early on, I became an avid reader as
well. It wasn’t long before I was making up my own stories and writing them
down as soon as I was able. My mother bought me my first Smith Corona portable
typewriter when I was eleven years old and taught me how to touch type. I
started typing my stories and never stopped—although for many years now I’ve
worked on a computer.
Patricia:
Where
do you live now? Do you use that locale for settings in your novels?
Jacqueline:
I
still live in New Jersey,
although we moved from the Central to the Northern part of the state a few
years ago. The main setting for my Kim Reynolds novels is a town in Central Jersey very similar to the one I lived in for
forty years. The Inferno Collection, The Drowning Pool, and The Truth Sleuth are all set in Central NJ.
Patricia:
What
inspired you to write your most recent novel?
Jacqueline:
The Third Eye: A Pine
Barrens Mystery is different from any of my other
novels. I’ll explain what inspired this book. I’ve always loved the Pine
Barrens of NJ. They are quite unique in many ways. When I worked as a librarian
in a children’s elementary school for several years, a fourth grade project was
to do something related to the Jersey Devil and the Pine
Barrens. I discovered that there were very few books for young
children on this topic. So to help with the project, I wrote my own. It was
very well received in the school. At a NJ conference of educational media
specialists, I spoke with a NJ publisher and discussed the lack of materials. I
told them I had written a book on the subject. Afton Publishing was receptive
and eventually published A Devil in the
Pines. Not long ago, I got the idea for a mystery novel for adults and
suitable for teenagers also set in the Pine Barrens.
My son Andrew who is an attorney in New
Brunswick, NJ,
collaborated on the book with me. A teenage boy and his mother, in alternating
chapters from their different viewpoints and perspectives, both move toward the
solution of several murders. Five Star/Gale, my publisher for five previous
novels, recently published the book.
Patricia:
When
did you “know” that you wanted to be a writer?
Jacqueline:
I
was an imaginative child. Early on I wanted to write. English was my favorite
subject in school and I excelled at it. It
seems as though I always wanted to be a writer. I loved reading and wanted to
write my own stories from a very young age.
Patricia:
Name
three of your favorite authors in the mystery/suspense genre. What makes them
your favorites?
Jacqueline:
Now
that’s a very difficult question to answer because there are so many! I suppose
at the top of my list would have to be Sara Paretsky. Her tough female P.I.
novels started a trend. She was the founder of Sisters in Crime as well. I was
honored when she endorsed my first mystery novel for Five Star/Gale The Inferno Collection. She provided a wonderful blurb for the cover which drew reviewers
to the novel. It was the first of the Kim Reynolds librarian sleuth mysteries
that I wrote. It was followed by The Drowning Pool and The Inferno Collection.
All three novels received good reviews and have recently been brought out in
paperback by Harlequin Worldwide Mystery. Perfect Crime Books will be bringing
out the four Kim Reynolds mystery, The Bad Wife. I’m excited about that. Jayne Ann Krentz
who writes romantic suspense is an outstanding, versatile author. She too was
very generous to me personally, reading and endorsing my historical romantic
suspense novel Tea Leaves and Tarot Cards.
For male
authors, I’m very fond of John Sandford’s Virgil Flowers series. I love the humor he instills in violent and
gruesome novels that are as much police procedural/thrillers as mysteries. John Grisham is a favorite of mine as well. I
consider The Rainmaker one of his best books in a quality sense. Michael
Connelly is another mystery/thriller writer whose books I enjoy reading. He’s a
very talented author. His main characters are well-rounded and realistic.
Multiple
award-winning author, Jacqueline Seewald, has taught creative, expository and
technical writing at Rutgers
University as well as
high school English. She also worked as both an academic librarian and an
educational media specialist. Fifteen of her books of fiction have been
published to critical praise including The Inferno Collection, The Drowning Pool, The Truth Sleuth and Death Legacy. Newly released in hardcover is her
co-authored mystery The Third Eye. Her short stories, poems, essays, reviews
and articles have appeared in hundreds of diverse publications and numerous
anthologies. You can check out her two most recently published mysteries on
Amazon, Barnes and Noble Online, or Goodreads:
THE
THIRD EYE
and
DEATH
LEGACY
at
Jacqueline is offering a copy of the Harlequin Worldwide Mystery paperback edition of Death Legacy to
someone who leaves a comment, limited to U.S. residents.
The winner is M.M. Gornell. Congratulations, Madeline!
The winner is M.M. Gornell. Congratulations, Madeline!
