1. Can you please tell us about yourself and something about your book "Pignon Scorbion & the Barbershop Detectives (The Pignon Scorbion Series Book 1)
Answer: ABOUT ME:
I am/have been a publishing executive, author, newspaper and magazine columnist, former music industry executive and record producer. In the music industry I worked with many superstars and film soundtracks, and I produced over 50 records, including one that was Grammy-nominated. Since 2006 I have been Head of Business Development for Blackstone Publishing & Audio acquiring works by numerous bestselling authors and celebrities. At 77-years-old, my first novel, Pignon Scorbion & The Barbershop Detectives was published to great acclaim earlier this year, and recently was Amazon’s #1 best-selling cozy mystery and #1 historical mystery. Additionally, my story in the mystery anthology Hotel California, which is being published later this summer, has been getting great advance reviews. I am a member of the International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Historical Novel Society, and the Pacific Northwest Writers Association among other organizations.
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
The year is 1910 and in the small and seemingly sleepy English municipality of Haxford, there’s a new Chief Police Inspector. At first, the dapper and unflappable Pignon Scorbion strikes something of an odd figure among the locals, who don’t see a need for such an exacting investigator. But it isn't long before Haxford finds itself very much in need of a detective.
Luckily, Scorbion and the local barber are old acquaintances, and the barbershop employs a cast of memorable characters who – together with an aspiring young ace reporter for the local Morning News – are nothing less than enthralled by the enigmatic new Chief Police Inspector.
Investigating a trio of crimes whose origins span three continents and half a century, Pignon Scorbion and his “tonsorial sleuths” interview a parade of interested parties, but with every apparent clue, new surprises come to light. And just as it seems nothing can derail Scorbion’s cool head and almost unerring nose for deduction, in walks Thelma Smith – dazzling, whip-smart, and newly single.
Has Pignon Scorbion finally met his match?
For fans of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, author Rick Bleiweiss’s quirky new detective and ensemble cast of characters set against the backdrop of small-town England in the 1910s, will feel both comfortingly familiar and thrillingly new.
2. When did you get the thoughts of writing this book? i read the blurb and it looks fantastic.
Answer: What I write just comes to me in my head and plays out like a movie in my brain. Then I sit at a computer and type out what I'm seeing in my head so that readers will eventually read what I see. That's how this book came to me. After I am done with the initial draft I go back, revise, add, and make sure it's the best it can be.
3. What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
I do TONS of research, especially for something like the Scorbion book which is set in a different era and place than where I am. I had to research names, events, painters, authors, songs, businesses, clothing, language, names, places, etc for that era and for where each scene in the book was set, as well as for Scorbion's heritage and parents. I do the research after I start writing the book. For example, the first Scorbion story just came to me and in my head I saw that he was of Egyptian and Haitian heritage (I have no idea why, it was just there in my brain). Then I had to research to come up with a name for him, his father and his mother. Once the book was completed, I had people read it who could authenticate what I had written - Natoive Americans, Brits, French speakers, etc.
4. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
Answer: How easy I find writing. I enjoy the process and so it feels less like work and more like enjoyment. The characters become my "friends" in an "alternate reality" and I enjoy their presence in my life.
5. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
Answer: For Scorbion, each book in the series will stand alone but they will all be interconnected through the same characters and location. This is definitely a series, with the second book MURDER IN HAXFORD (A Pignon Scorbion & the Barbershop Detectives Mystery) publishin g next February.
6. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?
Answer: Being a reader myself for my entire life, I saw when I was a young child how the written word helped shape me and who I was at the time. I remember reading a book about Albert Einstein and how he was initially a mediocre student at times, and as I was one too, it gave me the belief that like him, I would grow out of my educational malaise - which did happen. I graduated college with high honors.
7. Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
Answer: Mostly on social media. They are generally quite supportive and positive about me and what I'm writing. I like that many of them felt that reading Scorbion was a great escape from the stresses of today's life and world, and loved the characters.
8. How would you express your journey as an Author?
Answer: Write, write and then write more. I wrote a sports newspaper atr age 12, a play at 15, film scripts in college, newspaper and magazine articles & columns throughout my life, songs from age 12 on (I'm still writing and recording songs), and chapters for non-fiction anthologies on music and life. Then at age 60 I started writing fiction and at age 77 I had my first novel published. At age 78 I'll have my first short story published in a mystery anthology. I've also written novels that will probably never get published - but that's ok because I enjoyed writing them.
9. What other things do you love than this writing?
Answer: Music, especially rock & roll - writing it, playing it, arranging it, producing it, listening to it. Watching films and TV, reading, playing video games (in fact, I created a Scorbion Find The Hidden Objects video game that's 5-star rated in the Apple and Google app stores), and hanging with friends (when Covid allows). I also really enjoy my job at Blackstone publishing and interacting with other authors, literary agents and the people who work at the company.
10. And last, What advice do you have for writers?
Answer: First, keep writing. Writers write. That's what they do. Second, don't get discouraged if your work gets rejected, it happens to everyone. Just write something else. Know your craft and how to spell, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc. Know what your goal is as a writer, and then either self-publish or get a literary agent depending on what that goal is. If you want to get an agent, research who the agents are that handle the genre you are writing in and then write a customized query letter to those who you want to contact.
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