KB: Fingers.  Five crooked fingers.  Life can be twisted and changed by fate and fingers.   

An unsuspecting jogger, running with her Dalmatian, trips over the uncovered hand belonging to a body buried in the sand.  A subsequent investigation by a former New Orleans homicide detective, turned genealogist, finds a connection between the Gulf Shores, Alabama murder and organized crime in The Big Easy.

 

The dead philanthropist widow had hired the genealogist to uncover the family history of her deceased husband, Benny Looter.  He was the President/C.E.O. of Congressional Bank, a trustee at Autumn University and a big time booster of the War Raptor football team.  His aggressive and intrusive involvment in the selection of coaches, players and operations of the football team led to many controversies until his death.

 

Why would someone kill a widow who was well liked in the community, in contrast to her megalomaniac and arrogant husband?  What tied her death to organized crime?  

 

KB: I’ve always loved to read and for many years thought I would like to try writing.  It was always something in the back of my mind.  A few years ago, I was in a job that I was unhappy with.  Several factors played into why I stayed there at that time but I was feeling that I was just stuck.  Unhappy with where I was in my career and feeling I could not afford to change that path at that time.  I initially started to write just as therapy.  It didn’t start as a book, just something to do to help me through a tough time.  The thing about writing is that you can do and get away with anything.  It’s very cathartic.  So I started with that intent and just got carried away.  The more I wrote, the more the characters became real to me and became my friends.  On my way to work in the mornings, I found myself wondering what they would be up to.  The character that I originally meant to be the killer became someone I liked so much, I decided to create someone else to be the killer.  By this time, I realized that this would be a three part series with my “first killer” being the hero of the third book.  I found that I had opened a door with the writing that I could not close.

 
Doc: Some have suggested one of the lead characters is based on a famous (or infamous) Auburn trustee and former Montgomery bank executive, any comment?

KB: Well any similarities between characters living or dead is purely coincidental.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

 

KB: Never.  That was a part of my dream, to write and be published one day but never thought it would actually happen.

 

KB: I’m working on the second book, “La Soulier Rouge / The Red Shoe”.  There will be a third to this series, as yet unnamed but I have been slowly building on it also.  These will all have the same recurring characters but highlight different main characters with each story. 

 
Doc: Any appearances? Where is it available?

 

KB: I will have a reading and book signing at the Page & Palette in Fairhope on October 29th, from 5:00 – 7:00. 

 

On November 7th from 10:00 – 5:00 and November 8th, 12:00 – 5:00 at the new Fairhope Windmill Market.  I belong to the Baldwin County Writers Group and we will have a booth there with other authors from our group.

 

On November 14th from 11:00 – 4:00 at the Home for the Writers and Readers Holiday Market at the Mobile Public Library, West Regional Branch @ 5555 Grelot Road in Mobile.

 

The book can also be ordered from Lulu.com, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and within the next few weeks Books-A-Million.com as well as any other bookstore.

 

For anyone interested in writing, I highly recommend joining a writers group.  The Baldwin County Writers Group is open for membership and is a wonderful venue to hear honest, helpful critiques of your work.  They hold their meetings the 3rd Saturday of each month at the Daphne Public Library.  I also belong to the Fairhope Writers Group who have been wonderful in their recommendations for my work.