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An Interview with Seamus McCree

3/11/2013

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From Bad Policy by James M. Jackson




Thank you for being with us today, Seamus. Tell us about yourself.
Lots of people wonder how to pronounce my first name. It’s  “Shay-mus.” No one seems to have a problem pronouncing McCree, although they  often spell it wrong.

 Since I claim to be a basically honest guy, I need to fess up  from the beginning that calling myself a cop is stretching the truth. I actually  work for Criminal Investigations Group, CIG for short, and every blue moon or  two I am deputized for whatever police department we are assisting.  Most recently I worked with a cop named Bear who got me  deputized for the Ross County (Ohio) Sherriff’s  Department.

If it counts for anything, my father was a police sergeant in  Boston until he was killed while on duty. I just learned the full details of his  death and they shocked me something fierce. I have a son, Paddy who just  graduated from college, and I am proud as heck of him. I say he’s the king of  nonsequitors, but if I don’t get back on track you’re going to think it’s  hereditary. 

I grew up Irish in Boston and escaped after college. I was a  top-rated bank analyst on Wall Street until I quit in disgust. Buy me a beer,  I’ll tell you the whole story, but I didn’t have anything to do with the recent  banking crisis, except to warn it was coming. Anyway, I quit and it cost me a  ton of money and what was left of my marriage.

I was looking around for something to do and the head of  Criminal Investigations Group asked me to set up a financial crimes group for  them. CIG originally assisted police departments across the country with cold  crimes. After 9/11 the FBI shifted major resources from financial crimes to  terrorism. CIG decided to try to fill the breech. I used my contacts and put  together a world-class group of financial sleuths. Afterwards, I stayed on and  used my background to help solve crimes.

So you like numbers and stuff?  Yuck.
You know, if everyone was good at numbers, I couldn’t have made  a living since I bend three nails for everyone I hit straight. Fact is, if I  stuck with numbers I might stay out of trouble, but I’m always wondering not  only what happened but why it happened. It’s the why that gets me in  trouble.

How did you become involved in this case? 
Normally I work on cases remotely, but the one that got me to  hook back up with the Ross County Sherriff’s office and dig into my father’s  death started when an insurance broker I had met on a previous case showed up  dead in my basement. He had suffered an IRA six pack (shot in the ankles, knees  and elbows) before someone finished him off with a shotgun  blast.  Naturally, the cops thought I was involved, and sometimes when
they have a prime suspect they focus all their attention on him. I knew I was
being framed and needed to prove it.

Tell us about this case.  
I’m friends with Lt. Tanya Hastings who is the head of the  Cincinnati Police Department’s homicide unit. It’s a conflicted relationship and  this situation didn’t make it any better. When she doubted my innocence, I knew  I was in trouble. What I had not anticipated was how twisted and evil some people  can be—especially when they think they and their family have been wronged. Most  financial crimes are intellectual. This vendetta against me was based on  long-simmering hate against my family—and I had no clue until I started kicking  over rusty cans.

Was there ever a time during this case that you doubted those  that you normally trust?
In the middle of this case I figured out my Uncle Mike was lying  to me. Uncle Mike isn’t actually my uncle, he’s my godfather and took over my  discipline (which I badly needed) after my father’s death. He’s a retired Boston  Police Department Captain and I had always known him to be a straight shooter.  Turned out he had hidden information from me about how my father  died. A bigger problem for me was that people who normally trusted me  suddenly did not. I suppose that’s natural when you’re a suspect, but it was a
real shock for me since I’ve made it one of my main principals to be trustworthy.

How dangerous was it to solve this case?
When I think of danger, I think of our troops in combat or of  the beat cop who tries to stop a crime. Those women and men put themselves in  real danger every day. By its nature, having motivated people trying to kill you  is dangerous, and that did happen on this case. Unlike our troops or the beat  cops, I could take evasive measures. Plus, when it comes to stuff like that, I’m probably not smart enough to be scared.

Did working on this case affect you emotionally?
It’s one thing for someone to target me because I’ve upset their criminal enterprise. That I can handle; it goes with the job. It’s quite another thing when the criminals target your loved ones. I don’t want to give too much away for those who haven’t read the book, but when those close to me were hurt I became an emotional wreck. It not only affected my emotions, it affected my ability to think clearly. My normal strength of rational thinker was sorely tested.

How did this case affect your personal life?
I think the saying, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is relevant. My house was effectively destroyed by fire. I almost lost two loved ones. Yet the fire forced me to recognize what things were really important to me. The trauma with loved ones brought us closer together. It would have been much better to have gained this knowledge  without the excitement, but at least something positive (besides catching the  crooks) came out of the turmoil.


 
JAMES M JACKSON is the author of Bad Policy for Barking Rain Press. Known as James Montgomery Jackson on his tax return and to his mother whenever she was really mad at him, he splits his time between the woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Georgia’s low country. Jim has published a book on contract bridge, One Trick at a Time: How to start winning at bridge, as well as numerous short stories and essays. Bad Policy is available wherever Jim’s travels take him, from online booksellers  or his website. Read the first four chapters for free. You can find his current schedule on his website http://jamesmjackson.com where you can also sign up for his quarterly  newsletter.


 
 
  



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An Interview with Brendan Hamilton

1/15/2013

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From:Cover of Snow
By
  Jenny
Milchman


 

You  are different from many of the cops I have interviewed. Please tell us about  yourself. 
I never wanted to be a cop. How many guys do you know who want  to be the same thing as their father? Well, maybe some do, guys who look up to  the old man, want to be just like him. I wish I were one of them, but I’m not.  Nobody looked up to my father, so how was I supposed to? I was all set to go to  law school, but then I met Nora. And something in her called me home. I didn’t  want the two of us to keep on living our big city life, her helping to put me  through law school, and then me working seventy hours a week in an office and  never even seeing her. It wasn’t exactly a conscious decision on my part to
return to Wedeskyull, or join the force where my dad served his twenty before he  died. Like I said, something called me home.
 
How did you become involved in this case? 
Here’s where things get weird. I’m not involved in this case.  Because I’m dead. The case is what happened to me—and Nora, though she isn’t a cop, is the only person who has a chance to solve it, because she’s the only one who’s willing to face the truth.

Tell us about this case.  
Something bad happened on January 16th , bad enough that I don’t think I ever really looked up after that again. The following week passed in a way I didn’t know time could go. Just—unnoticed. I must’ve eaten, I must’ve drank, dressed, breathed. But I don’t remember doing any of it. I can’t imagine what Nora thought. I felt like was wrapped up in blankets. I couldn’t figure out why everyone kept talking to me. Didn’t they know I was already gone?
 
I’m not sure if Nora’s going to be able to figure out what happened on the 16th. She’s still stumbling around a lot farther in the past than that, trying to learn a secret I was never able to tell her. If she can’t find out about what happened to me when I was eleven, she’ll never be able to figure out this more recent crime.
 
No one besides me knows the whole truth. And I’m dead.
 
Was there ever a time during this case that you doubted those that you normally trust?
I trust Nora more than I’ve ever trusted anyone else in my life. But the rest of them? I don’t trust a single one. And neither should you.

How dangerous was it to solve this case?
If I hadn’t died, I think they would’ve killed me.

Did working on this case affect you emotionally?
This case was all about emotion. See, I did something really bad when I was eleven years old. Something unforgivable. My own parents never forgave me for it—my mother anyway—so you know it must be as bad as anything  could get. But I was able to get past it the way cops survive any bad day on the job. You take what happened and you put it in a box. You padlock that box and then you forget the combination. Any cop worth his salt has a hundred boxes like that. A thousand.
 
So that’s what I did. And I was surviving okay. I had a good  life, in fact. I loved my wife, even if I couldn’t give her the one thing she wanted most. I was better on the job than I ever would’ve been doing something else.
 
And then something happened, on that January day, and it didn’t  matter if I’d forgotten the combination, someone took a big ole hacksaw and split open the box. And what was inside killed me.

How did this case affect your personal life?
My personal life? My life you mean. My whole life. I lost it. 

I appreciate you being with us today. I have one more question. (He leaves) Please come back. What was in the box? 
  


Jenny Milchman is a suspense novelist from New Jersey whose short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine’s Department of First Stories, Adirondack Mysteries II, and in an e-published  volume called Lunch Reads. Jenny is the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, and the chair of International Thriller Writers’ Debut Authors Program. Her first novel, Cover of Snow, is published by Ballantine and
available everywhere books are sold. When Cover of Snow comes out, Jenny  is embarking on a six month tour with her family, town-to-town,  bookstore-to-bookstore, library-to-library, and other venues that readers will  enjoy. Please check her website http://jennymilchman.com/tour/for places to come meet Jenny—and her cop. 
 
 

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An Interview with Robbie Cutler

5/13/2011

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From Vintage Murder by William S. Shepard


We have interviewed police and detectives from across the country. Today we have a different kind of crime solver.


Mr. Cutler, would you tell us about yourself and your agency?
I am Robbie Cutler an American Foreign Service Officer with the Department of State.

When did you first become interested in solving crime?
I was a student at Brown University. I happened to be in a jewelry store when an armed robbery took place. I kept my cool and furnished solid information to the police which helped secure convictions. I became fascinated with crime and detection and retained that interest and ability after I passed the Foreign Service Examination.

Is it unusual to solve crime in your role?
I have found that crime breeds everywhere, and an observant diplomat can help solve the most difficult international crimes.

Tell us about this case.
The Basque terrorist ETA organization is blackmailing the great Bordeaux vineyard owners. One of the victims calls on me, the Acting Consul General at the American Consulate General in Boirdeaux. He has heard the blackmailer’s voice and thought it sounded like an American.

What could you do to help?
I went through the visa files and located a possible suspect. Because I was already working with the French police and their FBI equivalent to share information on terrorism, cooperation to solve this crime was the logical next step, particularly when Ambassador Adams in Paris gave his approval.

Did you have any outside help in solving the case?
I had an enthusiastic helper in Sylvie Marceau, a French newspaper reporter. I am very logical, and Sylvie has the people smarts.
 
Thank you, Mr. Cutler, for taking the time to talk with us today. I wish you the best in your job as you solve the most difficult crimes across the globe.



William S. Shepard  
had the idea for a diplomat sleuth one late night when he was duty officer for the Secretary of State. There were so many different reports and intelligence sources that he thought a sleuth would be in seventh heaven. Vintage Murder is the first of four in the Robbie Cutler diplomatic mystery series.  Information on his books can be found on his website www.diplomaticmysteries.com

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An Interview with Danny Egan

4/14/2011

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From Constancy's Waltz by Donna H. Parker

We are honored to have with us today Danny Egan from Fraserton, Missouri. Welcome. Danny.
Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Well, I emigrated with my family from Ireland to the Missouri Ozarks when I was eleven. My father, who is now deceased, worked in law enforcement all of his working life. I followed in his footsteps.

I hear you're also an accomplished musician.
Yes, I started playing the fiddle when I was twelve. Ive been known to play just about anything from old-time fiddle to some pieces I've composed myself.

Why is solving this case so important to you?
When people die as these victims died, you know you're dealing with a soul that has embraced evil. And you know the killing won't stop until that evil is neutralized. Murder victims have no voice to confront and bring to justice the ones who took their lives. We're here to do that for them.

What made this case so hard to solve?
A personal distraction I neither wanted nor expected.

Did anyone outside of the police department help you solve this case?
Don't tell my superiors I said this, but we rarely could solve any case without the help--intentional or unintentional--of men and women outside of law enforcement. We had both kinds of help with this case.

Has this case affected your personal life in any way?
[laughs]  It has knocked me off my feet in more ways than one--all of them the fault of a clumsy, awkwardly-named teacher called Constancy Grace Stafford. You just don't know the damage that woman has done to me.

Thank you, Danny, for talking with us. Maybe next time you can bring your fiddle and play something you wrote.
 

Donna (D.H.) Parker, a native of the Missouri Ozarks, has seven published novels to her credit. Constancy's Waltz in one of her books from the "Fiddling With Murder" cozy series. For more information on her or any of her books visit her website at http://donnaparker.w4aw.org or her blog at http://dhparker.wordpress.com.
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An Interview with Sheriff Sylvester Tilghman

4/7/2011

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From Fallen From Grace by J.R. Lindermuth

We have with us Sheriff Sylvester Tilghman from the small town of Arahpot in Pennsylvania.

Sheriff Tilghman, thank you for being here with us. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
We Tilghmans have been sheriff here for three generations. My daddy, his daddy before him and now me. You might say it's the family trade. The pay haint anything to brag about but, usually, the work isn't too strenuous. The only alternatives around here are farming and working on the railroad, neither of which particularly appeal to me. Since I'm still single and my house passed down to me mortgage-clear, I don't have need for a whole lot of money. Not that I would turn down a raise, mind you. But a man has to be practical.

Why is this case so special?
It shook me out of my dull routine is what it did. Arahpot is usually a peaceful place except for the occasional rowdy drunk. My biggest problems before these murders were a lack of a deputy and the refusal of Lydia to accept my many proposals.

What made the case so hard to solve?
I could make the excuse of too many suspects. But I guess I have to admit my lack of experience with murders and a clear idea of the identity of Phoebus Potteiger complicated things.

Did anyone outside of the sheriff's office help you solve this case?
I hate to admit it, but yeah. Lydia's cousin Cyrus did prove useful in the end.

Has this case affected your personal life in any way?
Well, Lydia didn't say flat-out "no" to my last proposal.

Thank you, Sheriff Tilghman, for talking with us today. We know the streets of Arahpot are much safer because of you. Stay safe and keep us informed about Lydia. We hope to hear a definite "yes" from her soon. Maybe someone out there that knows Lydia will put in a good word for you.

J. R. Lindermuth is a retired newspaper editor that lives and writes in central Pennsylvania. Since his retirement he has served as librarian of his county historical society where he assists patrons with research and genealogy. He has published eight other novels, including four in his Sticks Hetrick mystery series. His short stories and articles have appeared in a variety of magazines, both print and on-line. He is the father of two children and has four grandsons and  can be reached on his website http://jrlindermuth.com or his blog http://jrlindermuth.blogspot.com.
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