JEFFREY A. LOCKWOOD

Immigration, Integration, and Imagination

Immigration, Integration, and Imagination

A reader of Lethal Fetish and the other Riley mysteries asked me why I chose one of this Irishman’s haunts to be a Polish bakery—and how I crafted believable, immigrant dialogue (crafting realistic dialect is one of the great challenges in writing). As for the “why”, I sensed a connection between Ireland and Poland. Both countries are grounded in working class lives. Both places have been oppressed by outside forces and have suffered terribly at times. Both countries embra

The Original Femme Fatale

The Original Femme Fatale

The term femme fatale, used to describe a dangerous and alluring woman, originated in the mid-1800s and became a staple of noir mysteries in the 20th century. Classic films might’ve justified an inverted “Me Too” movement led by Frank Chambers (played by John Garfield in “The Postman Always Rings Twice”), Philip Marlowe (Humphry Bogart in “The Big Sleep), and Walter Neff (Fred McMurray in “Double Indemnity”). These poor saps were controlled by the likes of Lana Turner, Laur

Uncovering Cover Art

Uncovering Cover Art

The cover art for Lethal Fetish, my upcoming mystery novel in the Riley series features sultry, salacious, even lascivious images. Conor Mullen—my immensely gifted and creative artist—and I worked with various images to evoke the decadence that unfolds in the story. We settled on three evocative features (not including the less subtle elements in the storefront windows): stiletto heels, fishnet stockings and San Francisco’s Coit Tower. So why are these so suggestive? Accor

1981 = WKRP + 64K RAM + Frogger + Bread Bowls

1981 = WKRP + 64K RAM + Frogger + Bread Bowls

One of my favorite endeavors in the course of writing is research. I relish digging into maps, photos, magazines, and recordings to capture the place and time of a story (San Francisco in January of 1981). And so for Lethal Fetish, I pursued some strange and compelling topics—with excerpts from the book—including: 1980s culture Video games: “images of jumping frogs, frenzied gorillas, and a yellow ball wandering through a maze.” Computer technology: “Carol regaled me with t

A Blind Pig and a Million Monkeys

A Blind Pig and a Million Monkeys

While my stories will not be among the great works of the 21st century, every so often I nail a sentence—or so I like to tell myself as a way of continuing to write. Maybe I’m like one of the million monkeys pounding away at a typewriter, but here are a few lines that strike me as pure Riley from my next mystery, Lethal Fetish... With regard to Carol (Riley’s girl-Friday who actually runs Goat Hill Extermination): Carol grabbed a handful of my graying hair, looked me in the

What So Good About “Normal”?

What So Good About “Normal”?

In my mystery writing, I hope for three things. First, I want to draw the reader into a good story through a plot that builds organically and dialogue as real as an overhead conversation. Next, I aspire to create characters who are deeply flawed but ultimately lovable (like most of us). And finally, I seek to embed perennial questions of humanity for the reader to ponder (or ignore if reading the book while lying on a beach blanket). Lethal Fetish (the tentative title of m

What the World Needs Now

What the World Needs Now

There is no doubt that various groups have been terribly oppressed. This history combined with contemporary politics has produced a strategy in which those at society’s margins describe themselves as victims—a status that ironically confers social power. But is accepting this role the only or best approach? It’s been said that when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So what if you have another tool? Say, a Mike Hammer? Okay, Mike Hammer is mo

Pestilence Payback

Pestilence Payback

Murder on the Fly, the second installment of the “Riley the Exterminator” mystery series, is available for pre-ordering at pen-l.com/MurderOnTheFly.html. In addition to trying to provide readers with “a good story well told” (Mark Twain’s criterion for a worthwhile tale), I’ve again included elements of entomology and ethics. My hope is that folks will discover some unexpected features of the natural world and encounter some abiding qualities of the moral sphere—while enjoy

Longing to Belong

Longing to Belong

In Poisoned Justice, I used a murder mystery to walk the line between vengeance and justice—a most difficult philosophical problem. One can read the book without worrying too much about whether the anti-hero, Riley, has crossed moral line. But for those with an interest in what makes an act right or wrong, the story works at this deeper level. My next book in the series, Murder on the Fly (tentatively titled), includes mysterious deaths, dark motives, and conflicted charact

Hard-boiled or Soft-hearted?

Hard-boiled or Soft-hearted?

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, you might not be associating romantic love with crime noir. A reader of POISONED JUSTICE wrote to me saying that Riley—the (anti)hero of the story—reflects the genre’s typical tough guys: “chick magnets who appreciate the various parts of a beautiful woman but without any warmth.” While that seems a bit cold, my writing reflects the aesthetic of the hard-boiled detective. The reader went on to say: “Carol was a delicious character [but

Christmas shopping made easy!

Christmas shopping made easy!

Looking for the perfect gift for the lover of mystery, mayhem and maggots? Poisoned Justice was released yesterday! It’s available for sale directly through the publisher http://www.pen-l.com/PoisonedJustice.html(the website will also let you order from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but I get a bigger cut if you order directly from Pen-L—as if this is going to make me rich). The cost is $14.97 (plus shipping, depending on how you order) or $4.97 for the Kindle edition. So wha

Uncovering a Cover

Uncovering a Cover

According to Thomas Edison, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” And in my experience writing is about 10% drafting and 90% revising. What I didn’t fully appreciate was how much redoing and undoing goes into art—or at least what is required to get a book cover “just right.” My nonfiction books involved sending off a few images for a cover, which the publisher’s graphic artist pretty much ignored. And then I’d get a virtually final cover im

A San Francisco Treat

A San Francisco Treat

In December, I snuck away for a long weekend in San Francisco to research settings for my next book in the Riley Mystery series. Having begun my writing life in non-fiction, I feel compelled to experience a place where I’m going to have action unfold. I could make up the locations, but this feels lazy. Ok, fiction is, well, fictional, I believe that readers can discern whether an author knows a place in a deep and authentic manner. So here are some of my (abridged) field n

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Featured Posts

Wyoming is the State that Keeps on Giving (at least when it comes to censorship)

Wyoming is the State that Keeps on Giving (at least when it comes to censorship)

A Textbook Project (really, it’s not as dull as you imagine!)

A Textbook Project (really, it’s not as dull as you imagine!)

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