An interview with Russell Little, the author of Murder For Me, a mystery novel now available from Amazon.
The Interview
Why do you write?
Like many writers, I write because I have to. I’ve thought about it all my life. It’s a compulsion; it’s how I make sense to my world. The challenge to write is what I must face.
Which novelists do you admire?
Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina is one of my favorite books, and along with Chekhov they are two of my favorite writers. I read Proust every year. Hemmingway’s voice is something I always go back to after I read a couple of intense non-fiction books.
What else do you read?
I read science fiction novels every fifth book or so. Usually new writers, fresh voices. The last three book series I read were indie published, and I ripped through those books in a week.
Describe the route to your first novel being published.
I’ve always wanted to write a novel. When I was in undergraduate school I was in a riot: I rushed back to my dorm afterwards to write down what I saw before I forgot. After that, I practiced law for thirty-two years and raised a family. I started the same novel seventeen times, but never finished it.
Then, one day my youngest son challenged me to finish it. I completed the book, joined a writer’s group, and years later here I am.
Murder For Me is your debut novel. How does it feel?
Excited. I’ve now truly got started. Everyone imagines how he or she will feel with a book. I’ve dreamed about it all my life. I still can’t believe it.
When I received the Cover Proofs and saw what my book might look like, I couldn’t believe it. I pulled the pictures up on my IPAD over and over.
Tell us a little about Murder For Me without giving anything away?
It’s a Pyscho-Thriller situated in Houston, Texas. The book starts with a crazy murder attempt, whether it occurs you’ll have to find out for yourself. Then we cut to Larry, an attorney with an unusual issue. He has no idea that he’s about to be dropped into a sociopath’s web. The battle of antagonists is interrupted by an idiosyncratic police detective, O.C. Simms, who must not only try to figure out what’s happening, but fight his own police department as well.
What inspires you?
I’m inspired by my thirty-two years in law practice. As a result, I’ve been involved in many cases and known many characters, many of whom inspired characters in my books. I’m an enthusiastic people watcher: it’s really a part of my job as a trial attorney, so when I find someone different, special, I concentrate on getting to know who they really are.
Because of that, I know my characters. I know how they think, how they’d feel in a given situation. When I’m writing and totally lost in the universe I’m writing, my characters are all consuming.