The Wayside Readers Interview Crime Author Jonathon Marcel
The Wayside Readers want crime-fiction fans to know who I am, and why my books are worth reading. The Wayside Readers is the nickname of my betas, and are led by my good friend, Jerry,
After they read The Samogon Affair, Jerry introduced me to his group so I could thank them for their time and feedback. Surprisingly, they all had questions for me: how long have I been writing, what other books have I written.
Afterward, I told Jerry I wish we had recorded our group discussion so I could post it on my website, hoping it would spark interest in potential fans and convince them to take a chance on a new crime author. Jerry offered to recreate our group discussion as a personal interview, and here it is.
How did you come up with the titles for your books?
The Samogon Affair was easy enough. The story was inspired by the actual crime of the Russian mob bootlegging American whiskey. Samogon is Russian slang for homemade vodka, or moonshine. Playing for Blood is a dark and vengeful story. Lots of bloodletting in this one.
The book description for my third novel, Whispers That Kill, decided its title. All of Denver’s street life and gossipmongers were whispering rumors about my missing girl. Tainted Justice I can’t explain without revealing its mystery.
Where did the idea for the Samogon Affair come from?
I was thinking of a storyline while watching the popular reality show Moonshiners, and that’s when I remembered the McCormick’s Distillery case here in Missouri. McCormick’s and a few other distilleries got busted selling whiskey under the table to the Russian mob, who were exporting it back to Russia for sale on the black market. Not many people knew about it. Not since the Prohibition era has anyone smuggled whiskey in such massive quantities. These cats were making millions. So I figured I would combine moonshiners with this Russian mob story.
Television, movies, books, it seems the whole Russian mob angle has been played out. Why risk appearing to be jumping on the bandwagon by telling another Russian mob story?
The Samogon Affair isn’t a Russian mob story per se. First, it’s inspired by the actual samogon caper that involved McCormicks Distillery in Missouri. But the main story is about this small-town Kentucky girl, Rochelle Donovan, who gets thrust into the world of bootlegging and caught in a lovers’ triangle. What she doesn’t know is the FBI is pursuing one lover and the ATF is chasing the other. The Samogon Affair doesn’t stop there. Once Rochelle enters college at Ohio State, another student starts creating conflict for everyone. The student is the son of a Mexican cartel boss, and a DEA FAST team is all over his family.
What made you choose Kentucky and Ohio for the settings of The Samogon Affair instead of your hometown of Kansas City?
Moonshining is popular in the Appalachian Mountain region, not Kansas City. I picked Ohio because I needed a nearby city big enough to host an organized crime family and lots of street gangs. Once I settled on Columbus, it became obvious where my main character would go to college—OSU.
Rochelle Donovan is in conflict with more than just the Russian mob. You have several plots and so many characters. How did you come up with such an in-depth storyline?
It didn’t develop the way I planned it. Rochelle wasn’t a part of my initial outline. She only came about because I needed a supporting character to connect my original lead characters—Chris and Mikel. Then the writing crashed. It wasn’t until I revised the outline and made Rochelle the lead that the story started to roll.
How did you keep all of it straight?
Note pads, outlines, diagrams, and a lot of paragraph structuring. My editor and I overhauled the paragraph structure twice. The characters I had the toughest time managing were Chris Porter (the Donovan family farmhand and one of Rochelle’s lovers), ATF Agent Laurent Daniels, and DEA Agent Kelly Reed. Kelly was a special case because the book series is all about her.
Do you have a favorite character in the book?
Yeah, DEA Agent Kelly Reed, who is this veiled badass of a background character. She is south of the border when the story starts, always in extreme situations, and hamstrung by a bureaucracy that favors the criminal. Out of desperation, she will break the law to keep her team alive and bring down the cartels. As I kept writing scenes with her, I noticed how strong her presence was, and I couldn’t wait to develop her messed-up side. This first book helped birth a hard-boiled crime series based on a vengeful woman who will break the law to go after law breakers.
What is so unique about your stories?
My stories are inspired by true crime I have twisted into fast-action fiction. I keep my characters in extreme situations so they’ll have to commit crimes themselves. Yes, even my good guys are breaking the law. I work hard keeping the dialog real and my characters gritty. I try not to write what others have already played to death. A lot of detective thrillers have the same ring to them, and a lot of the gangland novels and urban thrillers have nothing new to offer. The Samogon Affair, however, brings something new and original to crime thrillers. Very little of my stories are about solving crime. Rather, the stories are about the characters and how they behave as people.
The Samogon Affair is an epic noir with so many characters. What led you to choose DEA Agent Kelly Reed as the breakout character to create the series around?
After writing The Samogon Affair, my betas and early readers all wanted to know what happened to Kelly. I went back through the story and there she was standing out in every scene she was in, demanding her fifteen minutes of fame. As I prepared to answer what happened to her, I had to first ask myself who is Kelly Reed. I extracted every scene with Kelly and discovered a solid foundation to spin a novel about her, even an entire series. There was plenty to work with: conflict, an affair with her partner, and a proper catalyst.
How and why did you start writing?
I started writing at an early age. I would come home from school and write short plays and poems. Whenever I was home sick from school, I would lie in bed and write silly stories. I’ve always liked writing. But then I became a movie hound and only read books I had seen on the big screen. Later in life I found myself doing a different type of writing: legal writing and software documentation. Slowly, I found myself coming back to what I think I’ve always wanted to do.
How personal is your writing?
I never actually knew until the first time I tackled development editing and had to butcher 50,000 words from The Samogon Affair. A few characters died in the process. It’s funny how personal words can be because it’s your hard work and time spent trying to achieve something in a profession over-populated with good authors who will never be discovered, and you’re trying so hard to be among that small percent who will breakout and make it.
Did you have fears about writing a second novel?
I did. I wasn’t planning on writing a sequel to The Samogon Affair. Yet so many early readers were demanding to know what happened to Kelly Reed, I had to write her story. At the same time, I didn’t want a series character who was a federal agent, wanting to avoid the police procedure genre, so Kelly had to become a private investigator. And I couldn’t just launch a story with her all of a sudden in the private sector, or I would still have to explain what happened to Kelly’s career. I needed a story that transitioned Kelly from the DEA to the private sector, and the story had to have the right kind of conflict that would carry over into future stories.
Playing for Blood is that book. Having this second book retell parts of The Samogon Affair from Kelly’s point of view allowed me to develop Kelly as a strong character while also showing her flaws.
What can fans look forward to in the Kelly Reed series?
Riding side by side with Kelly on an emotional roller coaster as she makes a life altering decision, and transitions from the DEA (books 1 and 2) into the private sector where she has started her own investigation agency (Book 3 onward). And her former DEA teammate, Lori Bishop, comes with her.
Kelly and Lori’s relationship is an integral part of the series. Their relationship starts out just as teammates in The Samogon Affair. In Playing for Blood, Lori gets more involved in Kelly’s life, and towards the end we witness their professional relationship budding into a trusting friendship. In Whispers That Kill and Tainted Justice, a lot of their backstory is revealed as their friendship tightens—two peas in a pod, thicker than thieves.
I will arrogantly wager my partner-characters are more intriguing and entertaining than Robert Crais’ Cole and Pike, and that’s saying a lot because Crais is my favorite crime author.
We’ve heard you started a new novella series. Tell us about it.
My PI in this new series is DeShawn Mills, an African-American ex-con. Growing up he dreamed of being a police detective and cracking big capers, but when gangbangers murdered his sister, his life changed. While in prison, he decides to make something of himself. He earns a college degree from behind bars, and then after winning his release he becomes a private investigator, working primarily for a criminal defense firm. Like the Kelly Reed series, DeShawn’s stories are about more than solving cases, they’re about the characters and how they behave as people.
I introduce DeShawn in the Kelly Reed series, during the final chapters of Tainted Justice. This was perfect. Kelly lives and works in Colorado, but her case takes her to Kansas City, where DeShawn is based. Hard-boiled circumstances bring them together. Another reason I did this was because it provides opportunities for my series-characters to crossover and interact with one another.
I’ve finished two of the DeShawn Mills novellas so far: Deception’s Game and Race to Judgment. Deception’s Game takes place the morning after Tainted Justice ends. If you want to know more about DeShawn’s methods and what he’s willing to do, you need to read Tainted Justice before diving into Deception’s Game.
Race to Judgment takes place 6 months later. Everyone is familiar with the volatile race relations and social injustices playing out across our nation (the mass shootings, cop killings, riots, assaults, the #metoo movement). Race To Judgment feeds off all of it. My intent is to force readers, black and white, conservative and liberal, rich and poor, to take a deep look at who we are and the shit we cause because of our views and prejudices, and from how quick we judge and condemn others.
Honor Thy Father is the third installment; I’m almost done with it. It’s a missing-persons case with a few twists that keeps you guessing as to who is the real villain. Don’t worry, I’m getting ready to send the manuscripts over to you guys.
What books changed your life?
When I was in the sixth grade I read Where the Red Fern Grows and it changed my attitude toward so much. I wanted to be Billy and chop down a big tree, so I got a big ax from my neighbor’s garage and headed into the nearby woods. I found a decent size tree and spent all winter morning and afternoon chopping it down. Turns out those 15-acres of woods were part of some rich lawyer’s private property that sat behind his fenced-off residence. Boy, was he pissed to find his tree cut down. If that wasn’t enough, my neighbor was a client of the guy, and knew right away who his lawyer was ranting about when the lawyer screamed, “some sonofabitch cut my tree down and left it for me to split up. If I ever find that sonofabitch….”
Another book-movie that affected me was The Outsiders. I related to Pony Boy and his big brother Darry. A lot of that Oklahoma, teenage, social-class crap went on in my Kansas City suburb (the freaks were the greasers, and the jocks were the socials).
If you could tell crime fans why they should take a chance on a new author like yourself, what would you tell them?
I write action-packed stories you won’t want to put down. If you’re looking to take a ride on the noirish side of life, let me enthrall you with believable stories featuring gritty and cynical characters you won’t forget. I try to write stories in a manner that won’t let you look away. My books are not about solving a crime as much as they are about human behavior I want readers to feel. I want to push my fiction to the edge and dare it to go over.
My early readers say I create great atmosphere and tension as required, and that I have a great storytelling style that pulls the reader in; that my descriptions are vivid and my dialog gritty; and that I detail my characters’ point of view so well, you’ll feel like you’re right there with them. If this isn’t enough to convince you, read the sneak peeks and excerpts from each of my books. You won’t be disappointed.