Tim Maleeny and the ART of writing a mystery...

 HALLIE EPHRON: Today I am thrilled to host Tim Maleeny. The tag line for his latest Cape Weathers mystery, HANGING THE DEVIL, irresistible: 

It was supposed to be a simple job: steal the paintings, leave the forgeries.

Tim's mystery novels are always intricate, fascinating, and alternately heartpounding and funny. This new entry in the series is somethig more - it's deeply steeped in art.

Welcome, Tim!

TIM MALEENY: Hallie, big thanks to you and all the Reds for letting me join for the day!

Before I start talking about writing, research, and art, I have to mention that I’ve been trying to declutter lately—not my strong suit—and at my wife’s insistence finally tackled the daunting task of emptying an old storage unit.

As you’d imagine, Careful What You Wish For keeps popping into my head, that’s such a terrific book! Fortunately none of the dark corners of our storage unit or the bins bulging with books and papers have revealed any dark secrets or put me in peril...yet.

HALLIE: This is starting to sound all too famliar...

TIM: However, one thing I did discover is a stack of posters and prints that once decorated an old apartment of mine, which brings me to the topics of today’s post: research and art history. These are subjects in which I had a rough working knowledge when I began writing my latest novel, Hanging The Devil, but my research revealed I had so much more to learn.

The book opens with a daring heist at The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco that goes horribly wrong when a helicopter crashes through the skylight, a robbery ending in tragedy that sets off a series of events connected to a global ring of smugglers, master forgers, and organized crime.

The story is loosely based on actual crimes, so I had to get my facts straight, which meant visiting museums, studying catalogues, and learning how to paint a convincing forgery.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to get lost in the research for my novels, maybe because writers love learning, or perhaps because the one thing I’ve truly mastered is procrastination. Either way, this story needed characters who came across as credible experts, which meant I had to travel down the rabbit hole as far as I could go.

What I discovered over the course of my research is that the stories behind the art were, by far, the most fascinating part of the puzzle.

Most of the paintings and sculptures I admired when I was younger were captivating for the skill of the artist, and while that’s still the case, my investigations led to a genuine fascination with how art gets made.

Researching the materials used to make paints in prior centuries—something any good forger must know—demonstrates how incredibly important art is to the human psyche. Whether writing, painting, sculpting or composing, telling a story in words, pictures, marble or song isn’t easy, and it used to be much, much harder than it is today.

When it comes to painting, certain pigments weren’t readily available, which limits your color palette. Imagine being asked to write a novel but only with certain letters or words? The chemistry behind the materials used to perfect paints that would hold over time was practically alchemy, trial and error involving everything from tree sap, dead insects, pulverized gems, and animal urine. (Yes, you read that last one correctly; it’s better not to ask.)

Not to mention the lack of indoor plumbing or electric lighting a modern artist’s studio might be expected to provide. It’s hard enough to paint in full daylight, let alone by candlelight with no central heating while your subject is scratching the head lice away.

When you hear the stories behind the art—the themes represented and the politics of the day—you start to appreciate why these efforts at self-expression served a great purpose, an outlet for people to find their voice and society to see itself from a fresh perspective. And then, when you learn what it took to physically make the masterpieces we’ve all seen and admired, it gives a new appreciation for why art matters, and why our own visceral response to a story, painting, or any work of art, is an emotional echo of something much bigger than ourselves.

As for mixing my own paints and becoming a master forger, I’ve decided to stick with writing. The tree sap is impossible to wash off, the dead insects are gross, and the rest of it...well, I prefer to play with words.

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TIM MALEENY is the multiple award-winning author of the Cape Weathers mysteries and the bestselling comedic thriller JUMP. His latest caper is Hanging The Devil, named the Mystery Pick of the Month by Library Journal in a starred review for its “relentlessly fast-paced plot and dry humor.” A former resident of San Francisco, Tim currently lives and writes in New York City.

HALLIE: And lucky for us that Tim has decided to stick with writing. What we do for our "art"! I want to know how he knows what handling dead insects is like... Tim will be dropping by today so if you want to know more about art forgery, fire away!

Always Good When Things Go Wrong; a guest blog by Tim Maleeny

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: All authors, if they're not lying, will confess they can be afflicted with cover envy, that grasping sense of covetousness when you see a book with a cover that will lure browsers from all the way across the bookstore. Friends, I felt cover envy when I saw Tim Maleeny's BOXING THE OCTOPUS. Then I read Kirkus's review: “Maleeny moves his colorful cast around with giddy panache." Now I have quote envy. Then I read the cover copy: "Boxing The Octopus is a runaway tour of San Francisco’s underworld which reminds us that when things get out of hand, having eight arms is always better than two." How can you not want something like that?



All I'm saying is, it's a good thing we mystery writers are as nice and friendly as Tim says we are.

Julia, a big thanks to you and all the Jungle Red Writers for inviting me to stop by. It was great seeing you all at Bouchercon—what a weekend! I’m always amazed at how friendly, generous and supportive the mystery community is, and you definitely feel that at Bouchercon, maybe because we were all readers and fans long before we were writers.

I admit to being a bit nervous the first time I attended a big mystery conference, marveling at my proximity to so many writers whose books I’d devoured over the years. After a while, a far more experienced writer wandered over to where I was standing and asked if this was my first conference. (Yes, it was that obvious.) She then put it all in perspective by saying: “Look, mystery writers spend all day getting their aggressions out on the page—killing people, torturing them, getting their revenge—so in real life they are the nicest, kindest people you’ll ever meet.” After a pause she added, “There are only two or three jackasses, and we all know who they are.”

I instantly relaxed and realized I was now part of a community, and as we walked over to the group she said, “But you’d better watch your back with those romance writers!”

I’ve been having a ball writing mysteries ever since, not only because I love to tell stories, but because every new story makes fresh connections across this incredible community of mystery lovers.

Speaking of having fun, I was originally asked to write about the use of humor in mystery novels, but since I was feeling nostalgic at the start of this post, I’ll keep this part brief, even though it’s one of my favorite subjects. The great thing about the mystery genre is the myriad of sub-genres, from psychological suspense to domestic thrillers to spy novels or even supernatural sleuths. There are characters and stories for every kind of escape.

My own novels have been called comic noir, comedic thrillers, capers, and even “zany” by reviewers, and my latest was recently described as a “Hiaasen-esque delight,” which I took as high praise. No doubt that’s because my plots go sideways at every turn, largely because of missteps by characters more than capable of getting in their own way. Some mysteries are driven by a master criminal with a master plan, but I’ve always believed plots should be propelled by things going horribly wrong.

Elmore Leonard, Donald Westlake, Carl Hiaasen, John D. MacDonald and Ross Thomas are some of the authors that led to my addiction to crime fiction, as I found myself rooting for a morally ambiguous cast of characters with a common goal but competing agendas. Those collisions can lead the reader on a breakneck chase with surprising turns and, sometimes, hilarious detours. We can see ourselves in the human failings of a bank robber who forgets to fill his getaway car with gas, and we almost feel sorry for the thief who leaves the loot on the train. How many of us have lost phones, umbrellas or briefcases behind, and what would you do if the stakes were much, much higher? Or simply the lifelong dilemma of not knowing whom you can trust when things go against you.

Seeing how ordinary people react in extraordinary circumstances is the heart of character development. And if you can do that with a smile, the opportunities for empathy, social commentary and reader involvement are endless.

Watch I Love Lucy, Seinfeld or Friends through the lens of a mystery reader and you’ll find countless plots driven by misunderstandings, puzzles or outright mysteries. And the characters aren’t laughing, because for them the social awkwardness or potential consequences are deadly serious. But at home, we’re laughing out loud because we’ve been in that kind of pickle, and we’re relieved that we’re not the only ones who screw up every once in a while.

The mystery community is fun group of wonderful people, and every time I get together with other writers, we make each other laugh. Maybe that’s where my writing voice comes from, an unconscious desire to channel all that positive energy onto the page.

See you at the next conference!

JULIA: Okay, dear readers, it's your turn. Do you like funny mysteries? What are some of your favorites? And are we really all as nice as Tim says? One lucky commentor will win a copy of BOXING THE OCTOPUS!

TIM MALEENY is the award-winning author of the Cape Weathers mysteries and the bestselling comedic thriller JUMP, which Publishers Weekly called “a perfectly blended cocktail of escapism.” His latest caper is BOXING THE OCTOPUS, which Kirkus called “a Hiaasen-esque delight” and Bookreporter described as “a great mystery novel, but it is also terrific literature.” A past winner of the Macavity Award, Tim has also won the Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery. He lives and writes at an undisclosed location in New York City. You can read more about Tim and his books at his website, friend him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter as @TimMaleeny.