About Author

Susan Slater

Susan Slater
BIOGRAPHY

I lived in New Mexico for 39 years, where I set my first two mystery series. After retiring from a career with a government contractor, I moved to Florida to write full time.

My Ben Pecos series features a Native American psychologist who works for the Indian Health Service. Luckily, IHS is able to send Ben to Florida where he's catching up with me!

My second mystery series, with Dan Mahoney, insurance investigator, is being re-released in the fall of 2018. Watch for those newly edited versions--coming soon!

Susan Slater's Books

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Book
Five O’Clock Shadow
$5.22 kindleeBook, Paperback,
Five O’Clock Shadowby Susan SlaterPublish: Dec 25, 2018Crime Fiction Thriller Suspense Mystery
Epiphany:  Dan Mahoney Mysteries, Book 4
$4.99 kindleeBook, Paperback,
Epiphany: Dan Mahoney Mysteries, Book 4by Susan SlaterPublish: Apr 06, 2019Crime Fiction Thriller Suspense Mystery
Flash Flood: Dan Mahoney Mysteries, Book 1
$4.99 kindleeBook, Paperback,
Flash Flood: Dan Mahoney Mysteries, Book 1by Susan SlaterPublish: Sep 14, 2018Crime Fiction Thriller Suspense Mystery
The Pumpkin Seed Massacre: Ben Pecos Mysteries, Book 1
Free kindleeBook, Paperback, Audio,
The Pumpkin Seed Massacre: Ben Pecos Mysteries, Book 1by Susan SlaterPublish: Dec 31, 2017Crime Fiction Thriller Suspense Mystery

Susan Slater Interview On 26, Oct 2018

"With Read/Write/Research as her mantra, author Susan Slater started writing full time after retiring from a career with a government contractor. She lived in New Mexico for 39 years, where she set her first two mystery series. Susan is a big animal enthusiast. Her household consists of 3 dogs, 2 birds, and 2 fish. She writes to entertain and to inform. The author loves playing with words, describing something, adding right-on dialogue or unfolding a twist in the story that is jaw-dropping.
At the moment, she is an exactly halfway through the 4th Dan Mahoney mystery, Epiphany."
How would you describe your life living in New Mexico for 39 years? When did you first start traveling and what's your favorite city that you've visited?

New Mexico isn’t just a place to live—it’s a way of life. It has it’s own colors—who could forget the Watermelon Mountains at sunset, or the turquoise jewelry, or the scent of crisp, brown, fry bread? And where can you go that if you tell your waiter “Christmas”, you’ll get both red and green chile with your food? I worked in what is today the Towa Pueblo and will always consider that my favorite teaching job. I still own three acres on the backside of the East Mountains but probably won’t build there—it may be one of my only regrets in life. Of course, I traded in the mountains for an ocean and that’s pretty awesome, too. I enjoy living in Florida.

I haven’t done a lot of traveling recently but many years ago I lived in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and then later in Villahermosa, Mexico. I’m very partial to Central and South America.

What is it about crime fiction that captured your interest? How do you stay true to the facts while building your own story?

When I really got serious about writing fiction, I was fascinated by mysteries. The plot lines, the red herrings, the surprises with everything needing to come together at the end—I honestly thought if I could write mysteries, I could write anything. They seemed to be the greatest challenge. I was working on the reservation then and was a huge fan of Tony Hillerman who wrote about the Navajo. I saw a chance to introduce readers to Pueblo Indian lore–something new and different. In getting started Tony was my mentor. His help was invaluable.

I had to be careful, however, that I didn’t step on toes by writing about Indian culture. As Tony cautioned, “don’t write anything that you haven’t seen in print before. And always, always check your facts with a Pueblo man or woman”. Those two things have kept me out of trouble.

All my mysteries both the Ben Pecos and Dan Mahoney series are based on real events. And, thank God, I love to research! Read/Write/Research is my mantra!

What is the best thing you have learned from your career with a government contractor? What inspired you to retire and move to Florida to write full time?

I’ve worked for both DoD and DOE, the latter was for the contractor Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technology as a Senior Instructional Specialist. I spent almost a week every month at their plant in Kansas City in addition to spending time in manufacturing plants and Federal R&D labs across the country. Thanks to that exposure, I have a profound appreciation of the scientists and engineers who keep us safe. There are some brilliant and caring people out there—and they’re on our side! The project was winding down and it made sense to take retirement then. Because every vacation had been to an ocean for the last twenty years, I decided I might save money by just moving to one. The fact that the Atlantic is warm made Florida the first choice.

Besides writing, what are some of your simpler pleasures that you like to indulge in from time to time?

Of course, I’m a reader—I follow Connelly, Johnson, Coban, Flynn . . . just to name a few. I’m a big animal enthusiast. My household consists of 3 dogs, 2 birds and 2 fish. You can just imagine what it looked like going down the road during the last hurricane evacuation—some sort of zoo parade. I left a goat farm in the mountains of NM to move here. Sometimes I miss the ducks, geese, chickens, miniature horses, canaries, and goats. But, wow, what a lot of work! As I’m sure readers guessed after reading Under A Mulberry Moon, I’ve had a couple orchid-growing greenhouses in another life. I’m also a gym rat and structure life around weights, Pilates, and yoga.

What sparked the idea of "The Pumpkin Seed Massacre"? Why did you choose a Native American mystery?

I was working on Pumpkin Seed during the time that a mystery illness had killed thirteen or fourteen people. It was finally identified as the Hanta Virus. It was my first book and I wanted to be original, and I wasn’t quite comfortable killing people with knives or guns so I chose a mysterious illness. I chose the reservation as the setting because I was such a fan of Tony Hillerman’ s series and I was working for the All Indian Pueblo Council (AIPC) at the time and had access to reservation life. I love Native American lore—I never tire of the stories. I’ve been thinking that Ben Pecos needs to go to Alaska one of these days.

Who was your inspiration for the character Charlene Toya? Which character in this book do you relate the most to? Which character was the most complex to create and develop?

Worldwide Publications, who had published the paperbacks for my first series, asked for a follow-up to Pumpkin Seed Massacre in a 100 page novella that would be part of a Christmas anthology. They further asked that I make Lorenzo Loretto the protagonist and that the story take place in the Pueblo and that I have it ready in two months. Well, for starters, Lorenzo was ninety-six in Pumpkin Seed and I, quite frankly, never thought I’d be writing about him again. He was a bit of a challenge to resurrect. Charlene was based on one of my students—I had taught 6 th through 8 th grade in the Towa Pueblo for two years. I’m afraid I gave my fictitious Charlene circumstances that were straight from my imagination and not reality. I hope she’s forgiven me.

I relate more to the Christmas ritual that I use as a backdrop and not necessarily to any one character. It’s a wonderful memory. Every year I worked in the Towa Pueblo, I attended late night Christmas Eve mass and walked with other villagers to where the baby Jesus was. It was a highlight of the season

What is the main theme in "Yellow Lies"? What kind of message or idea are you trying to portray here?

I love the semi-precious jewel, amber. One day a friend called to say there was a new store in Santa Fe that featured amber. I was living in Albuquerque and drove up to Santa Fe the next day. The store was fantastic—floor to ceiling, well-lighted, glowing pieces of amber—some in nugget form and others carved into fetishes. I chose a large frog fetish supposedly by a Zuni carver, and two small frogs thinking they would look great made into a necklace. Well, I left them on the dash in hot NM sun while I did other shopping. When I got back to the car I reached into the sack and pulled out my treasures only they were melting! The amber was fake! I had little yellow lies! There has been a lucrative market in fake turquoise over the years and more recently amber. Before I start a story, I need to know what’s worth dying over; a recipe for fake amber seemed a good bet. As in all my Indian books, I try to introduce readers to a world they may not be familiar with. I would like readers to see that life on a reservation is not that different than life off—people have the same kinds of likes and dislikes, the same challenges, the same feelings, and are not strangers to crime and duplicity.

Do you think your writing has changed much from your first book to the sixth one? What are some things writing books has taught you?

I actually have twelve books and one short story in print and one historical novel on the shelf—that I vow will see the light of day as book 1 of a trilogy. Pumpkin Seed Massacre first was published in 1999. In 2000 it went to the top of the charts in Germany after having been published in Switzerland and I became an international bestseller. After five Ben Pecos mysteries, I started on the Dan Mahoney series—Flash Flood, Rollover, Hair of the Dog and the one I’m finishing now, Epiphany. Dan is an insurance investigator and that series has been well received getting a couple Publisher Weekly starred reviews. Then I took some time away from mysteries and wrote a semi-memoir, 0 to 60. It was optioned by Hollywood three weeks after publication. My only paranormal offering is a short story that made the anthology, published by Tor, to commemorate fifty years of Twilight Zone. And I almost forgot Five O ’Clock Shadow—a mystery standalone. Has my writing changed? Some things have gotten easier—I no longer agonize over plot and I’m much better at propping up a sagging middle. In twenty years it’s possibly more remarkable what hasn’t changed—greed still seems the best motivator for killings. It’s behind every mystery I’ve written. I’ve proved time and time again that fact is, indeed, stranger than fiction by basing my novels on true stories.

What has writing taught me? Discipline, discipline and more discipline! If I have a deadline looming, nothing stands in my way. Writing comes first. I look at things differently. I see situations “in the round” not just one dimensionally. It has piqued my already overactive curiosity and made that question ‘what if?’ a permanent part of my thinking process.

Why do you write and whom do you write for? What have you enjoyed most about being an author so far, especially compared to other jobs you've held?

I write to entertain and to inform. Only once have I written just for me—to help me get through some challenging times. When I turned sixty, my then-husband dumped me for a twenty-two year old—to be fair I had been a cougar and was twelve years older but that shouldn’t be an excuse. In addition, my closest friend was dying of cancer, both my parents died, and I became seriously ill . . . life was just one big crisis. I needed a diversion but more than that I needed to talk about my life, gain some perspective. I needed to prove that I had survived and could again. Hence, 0 to 60 was born. I’d like to think it’s a great inspirational read for other women ‘of a certain age’. As I mentioned before, it was optioned by Hollywood shortly after publication. I still think I might see it on the “big” screen someday. Think Susan Sarandon or Diane Keaton . . .

I have loved meeting people—readers, fellow writers at conferences or workshops—I’ve made many new friends over the years. But even more I enjoy the personal sense of accomplishment. Writing is hard work. Being able to type ‘The End’ on a manuscript after six months is very satisfying. Any accolades or awards are just icing. Compared to working for the government, I’d have to say being my own boss is rather nice.

What does Susan's Saturday look like?

Oh, good question . . . it’s the day I come up for air! Truly ‘my day’! I don’t write and I don’t do housework—I’m really not good at cleaning. If you hand me a broom, I ride it! So, the day starts with a game of water volleyball at the gym and sometimes lunch with friends. I try to catch up on reading in the afternoon or maybe a walk on the beach. Saturday night is almost always dinner with friends or a concert, play or other civic offering. Palm Coast is close to Orlando and Jacksonville so big name entertainment is almost always available close by.

What, to you, is the biggest compliment as an author? How do you deal with positive/negative reviews?

The biggest compliment a book can receive? Those five little words: “I couldn’t put it down.” I want to be the reason you miss out on sleep!

I try to answer every email and/or text a reader might send—positive or negative. Of course, all writers hope we’ve been enjoyed but realize taste can widely vary. It’s easy to inadvertently step on toes. All writers know the consequences of killing a child or maiming an animal. The only negative comment that gives me pause is the reader who adamantly declares he or she had the story figured out by the end of the first chapter. Now, that’s a negative I just don’t believe.

What motivates you to write the most? Would you say that writing energizes or exhausts you?

They say all old English majors (My BA and MA are both in English Lit) want to write ‘the great American novel’. Maybe at one time that was a part of my motivation but not any more. I jokingly told an audience recently that I write mysteries to stave off Alzheimer’s. Now, there might be truth in that—sure beats cross-word puzzles! But simple as it may sound, I love playing with words, describing something, adding right-on dialogue or unfolding a twist in the story that is jaw-dropping. I love it when I impress myself. Writing does everything for me—It’s my support, my vicarious life, my epithet. It’s exciting, challenging, and never dull. And, always, always it gives me a reason to get up each morning and do the same thing all over again! I can be tired from lack of sleep but never exhausted by the craft itself.

If you could grow up in any time period other than this one, where would you go back to and why?

I recently had my DNA tested and instead of finding something exotic, I’m 73% Brit with 5% Irish—does that explain those degrees in English lit? Or the occasional pale ale? Or maybe a liking of James Joyce or Dylan Thomas? I am drawn more to English history with maybe ancient Egypt as a close second.

But where or when exactly? I’d only go back to the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine(1100s o the “high” Middle Ages) if I were Eleanor—not only did she live to a ripe old age, she died with all of her teeth intact! And she lived life her way. But she was the patron of several literary figures, and the wife and mother of kings—at one time the wealthiest and most powerful woman in the world. I think of that age as the beginning of “letters” or writing for the masses—story telling at its best leading in a scant couple hundred years to Chaucer and by the 1600s, Shakespeare.

Are you working on a new project at the moment? If yes, what is it about?

I’m exactly half way through the 4 th Dan Mahoney mystery, Epiphany. He’s the insurance investigator who just solved the mystery of five supposedly dead greyhounds at the Daytona Dog Track in Hair of the Dog. He and wife Elaine are staying in St. Augustine temporarily to solve the disappearance of well-insured, sacred relics from the Basilica Cathedral. But it’s not all nuns and rosaries. There’s a little matter of people involved in human trafficking using the Church as cover. And to further complicate Dan’s life, his mother moves to Cassadaga, FL to study Tarot Card reading and become a medium. I’m hoping Epiphany will be out early 2019. Then it’s back to the next Ben Pecos.

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