Rogue's Angels Present: The Wrong Kind by Austin S. Camacho

Please welcome Austin S. Camacho author of The Wrong Kind

Austin S. Camacho will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

The Wrong Kind

by Austin S. Camacho

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GENRE: Mystery

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INTERVIEW:

1. What or who inspired you to start writing?

My real inspiration was the authors I admired. I fell in love with Raymond Chandler’s prose and Ross Macdonald’s intricate, character driven plots. Then I found Elmore Leonard – nobody writes characters that well. I had read hundreds of mysteries by then, most of them pretty mediocre, and I wanted to try to combine the best of my heroes. I knew I couldn’t of course, but if you aim for the stars you can sometimes at least reach the moon.,

2. What elements are necessary components for this genre?

A mystery only NEEDS three things: a killer who does not want to be found out, a detective who is highly motivated to solve the crime and bring the killer to justice, and a puzzle that requires investigation to solve. It helps if the stakes become higher than the one life already lost, if the villain is bright and tricky, and if the detective is someone we can all relate to and cheer for.

3. How did you come up with your idea for your novel?

This novel, THE WRONG KIND, was sparked by my search for two things. I wanted to write a method of murder that I had not used before. And I had already written Hannibal Jones novels that started with a missing persons case. I wanted to find a way to start from there but go to a different place plot wise. I was able to do both here.

5. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?

They may want to know that I cut bottles to make drinking glasses as a hobby. It is a zen activity in a way, requiring a lot of focus on details but it is also a time when my mind flies free and often story ideas appear or solidify while I’m cutting or polishing glass.

                                      
9. Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?

I do belong to a critique group. We meet monthly and it has helped me greatly. First, having other writers I respect take my work apart is great. They see things I look past and pick up errors I miss. Also, I learn a lot when I examine another writer’s work. I see things I don’t like and then say, “Wait. I do that too!” I see things in others’ work I may not notice in my own and this helps me improve my writing.

10. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

The publishing world was very different in 1991 when I first decided to submit my work to a publisher. There were a lot more publishers to submit to and my wife at the time pushed me to keep sending out those manuscripts. I know it sounds like a separate big step, but from the first page of the first novel I knew I was writing to sell, so I had decided to submit my work before I was actually writing.

11. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)

The best advice I ever got about writing was to deconstruct books I loved to see why I loved them. By outlining great novels, I got a feel for why I loved them, and how the author got me to have the emotional response I had at certain places in the book. The worst advice was probably the caution not to read in my genre when I’m writing because other people’s ideas would leak into my stories. In fact, I learn a great deal reading other people’s work but what shows up on my computer screen is still uniquely my own.

12. Do you outline your books or just start writing?

I write a pretty detailed outline before I start writing. I need to know the general sequence of events, and all the characters I’ll need to make the story happen. It gives me a track to run on so I never encounter writer’s block. Of course, once I’m in the story inspiration may cause me to move in a different direction, so the outline is always a living document.

13. How do you maintain your creativity?

I think it’s a matter of playing a constant “what if” game. When I see a story in the news I consider the known facts and then ask, “What other possible outcome would support these facts?” What if that accident wasn’t accidental? What if that suicide was actually a murder? How could you make this result look like suicide? This imagination game is where most of my stories come from.

15. Are your plotting bunnies, angels or demons?

All of the above. I think in my books the demons always vastly outnumber the angels, who are there to defend the bunnies. But good always triumphs over evil in my stories. Fiction is the one place we can go where the angels always win.

BLURB:

A distraught woman hires private investigator Hannibal Jones to track down her daughter who has run away, trying to escape the homeless shelter life her mother has come to accept. When Hannibal finds Connie Blanco she is entwined in a gang war and somehow connected to a murder. The corpse is barely cold before a second murder follows and Hannibal finds himself entangled in a complex plot revolving around stolen drugs…but who is the mastermind of this twisted scheme?

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EXCERPT:

As Chico’s foot hit the first step he noticed Sophia for the first time. Just as his eyes met hers, Hannibal’s right foot thumped into Chico’s chest, slamming him back into the man whose jacket said he was Dave. Then Hannibal leaped from the porch, smashing his right fist across Billy’s jaw. A side stamp dislocated Jimmy’s right knee. Dave swung past Chico and clipped Hannibal’s cheek. Sophia gasped at the flesh-on-flesh sound of the blow.

Hannibal blocked the follow-up punch and snapped two crisp jabs into Dave’s face, staggering him into the tree growing up out of the sidewalk. Chico tried to slip past Hannibal, still driving for the door.

“Not tonight,” Hannibal said through clenched teeth. Sophia didn’t think Chico ever even saw the three punches, left-left-right that put him on his back, barely conscious. 

With no standing attackers, Hannibal stepped back up onto the porch. “That was fun, but now I’m running out of patience with you boys.” Hannibal reached inside his suit coat, under his right arm, and pulled out a pistol. He pointed its muzzle down at Chico’s face.

“There is nothing lower than a man who beats his woman, although anybody helping him is mighty close. I’d beat your asses some more, just for fun, but I don’t feel like answering questions at a hospital. Now, all of y’all, drag your sorry asses out of here. And if I ever hear you came back here, or if you tell anybody where this shelter is, I will hunt you down and end you.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Austin S. Camacho is the author of seven novels about Washington DC-based private eye Hannibal Jones, five in the Stark and O’Brien international adventure-thriller series, and the detective novel, Beyond Blue. His short stories have been featured in several anthologies including Dying in a Winter Wonderland – an Independent Mystery Booksellers Association Top Ten Bestseller for 2008. He is featured in the Edgar nominated African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey. Camacho is also editorial director for Intrigue Publishing, a Maryland small press.

https://www.facebook.com/austin.camacho.author/

https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Kind-Hannibal-Jones-Mystery/dp/1940758971/

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Austin S. Camacho will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

RAFFLECOPTER:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f3220