HALLIE EPHRON: Kate Flora is one of those multi-talented writers who can write a police procedural one minute, switch to true crime, and then move on to one that's more traditional. She's probably the first mystery writer I met when I started to write, and she welcomed me into the amazing community of crime fiction writers. She's smart, generous, and multi-talented.
I caught up with Kate and asked her about her new books - she's got SEVERAL of them!
Kate Flora: Since the
terrible events at the Squirrel Hill synagogue, I’ve been regularly checking
the news, looking for a thoughtful and compassionate grownup to come forward
and speak to us. Speak to the country. Say the words that we need to hear about
who we are and why we are, and try to bring us together. No such person has appeared. But looking for leadership, and courage, and decency and bravery has brought my thoughts around to crime writing. Why we do it, and why crime novels can play such an important part in the lives of our readers.
Some years
ago, when Hallie was doing a book launch right after 9/11, she arrived shaken
by an interviewer who had challenged her about whether it was right to write
crime for entertainment when the world had just seen such criminal violence.
Hallie’s response was perfect. She said we should all wish the world were more
like the world of the crime novel, because in the world that we writers are
creating, morality prevails and bad guys don’t. (My words, not hers. She likely
said it 
better.)
better.)
In my
books, I like to write heroes. Joe Burgess, in my police procedural series, is
someone who gets justice for victims. Thea Kozak, in her series, describes
herself as “Thea the Human Tow Truck.” She’s someone who has to stop and help
the helpless, those who are broken down on the roadsides of life. I worry
sometimes about whether my endings are too happy, but I like to end the books
with a sense of crimes solved, order restored, and send my characters onward to
fight another day.
The heroes
and heroines in my new crime story collection, Careful What You Wish For:
Stories of revenge, retribution, and the world made right, are a mixed
bag. There are the victims’ teenaged children grappling with the mystery of
their parents’ deaths. One is a teenaged soccer player forced to 
become the
adult when her father’s death sends her mother to the bottle, who is determined
to locate the car that struck her father down. There’s a confused son shocked
to discover how much people disliked his lawyer dad. There’s the grieving wife,
coached by her husband’s ghost, who searches for the sleazy gun dealer who sold
the defective gun that killed him.
become the
adult when her father’s death sends her mother to the bottle, who is determined
to locate the car that struck her father down. There’s a confused son shocked
to discover how much people disliked his lawyer dad. There’s the grieving wife,
coached by her husband’s ghost, who searches for the sleazy gun dealer who sold
the defective gun that killed him.
These
heroines—and they are mostly women who star in these stories—are often dealing
with difficult domestic situations. The man trying to poison his wife becomes
his own victim. The sad new widow continues to set the traps her husband
devised to keep her safe when he was on the road, and catches herself a pair of
thieves. An abused wife who can’t take it any more finds a gun in an unlocked
car.
Worms Crawl In, told from the viewpoint of a
mother sitting in the trial of her daughter’s killer, was inspired by the real
world courage shown by a murder victim’s mother I observed while writing the
true crime, Finding Amy.
They may
often be everyday people, dealing with the troubles in ordinary lives, but as
is the case in my series mysteries, the characters in these stories become
brave, become problem solvers, become inspired by the desire to do the right
thing. I hope readers may find some comfort in the stories, may raise a fist
and say, “Yes,” in these times when we are seeking courage and strength. All
while being entertained.
HALLIE: Applauding Kate's sentiments... And wondering, despite the fact that crime fiction is about crime, are the books you read a source of comfort, courage, and strength... or is entertainment enough?
About Kate Flora:
Kate Flora’s fascination with people’s criminal tendencies began
in the Maine attorney general’s office. Deadbeat dads, people who hurt their
kids, and employers’ discrimination aroused her curiosity about human behavior.
The author of twenty books and many short stories, Flora’s been a finalist for
the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer awards. She won the Public Safety
Writers Association award for nonfiction and twice won the Maine Literary Award
for crime fiction. Death Warmed Over, her 8th Thea Kozak mystery, was a
finalist for the Maine Literary Award. Her 9th Thea Kozak mystery, Schooled
in Death, was published in November. Her new crime story collection is Careful
What You Wish For: Stories of revenge, retribution, and the world made right.
Flora’s nonfiction focuses on aspects of the public safety
officers’ experience. Her two true crimes, Finding Amy: A true story of murder in Maine
(with Joseph K. Loughlin) and Death Dealer: How cops and cadaver dogs
brought a killer to justice, follow homicide investigations as the
police conducted them. Her co-written memoir of retired Maine warden Roger
Guay, A Good Man with a Dog: A Game Warden’s 25 Years in the Maine Woods, explores
policing in a world of guns, misadventure, and the great outdoors. Her latest
nonfiction is Shots Fired: The Misconceptions, Misunderstandings, and Myths about
police shootings with retired Portland Assistant Chief Joseph K.
Loughlin. Flora divides her time between Massachusetts and Maine.
