Once upon a time, I used to collect teddy bears. Then I imported a very special one-of-a-kind English teddy bear and had to make room for his things in the house. I donated most of my collection to the local police department knowing that these lovable stuffed animals could give comfort to traumatized children. I still have some of my bears, and they get to play underneath all my Christmas trees during the holidays. When it's not that most wonderful time of the year, I do know of a place where I can get my "teddy bear fix"...
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| John J. Lamb and Friends |
As you can see just from his bona fides, John has plenty of crime solving experience as well as a fondness for teddy bears. What you won't see until you pick up one of his books is that he's also a very talented writer.
I picked up the first Bear Collector mystery simply because I wanted the aforementioned teddy bear fix. As I read The Mournful Teddy, I discovered that I'd picked up a very well-written book with knowledge of both police work and teddy bears, as well as an interesting plot, a good sense of humor, and some characters that I just had to get to know better. It's my hope that you'll visit John's website to get to know him a bit better, and that you'll take the time to get your hands on one of his books and read it. Chances are very good that you'll be wanting to read the rest!
What was the very first book you remember reading and loving? What makes that book so special?
Outside of your writing and all associated commitments, what do you like to do in your free time?
In spring and summer, I spend a lot of my free time working in our flower and vegetable gardens with my wife. There's something emotionally refreshing about being outside and working with the soil. I also devote a joyful hour every day to walking my three golden retrievers along back roads near the Shenandoah River. Some weekends my wife and I go to teddy bear shows. Around this time of year, we go out to orchards on the west side of valley and bring back a bushel of apples, which we soon turn into apple sauce, apple butter, and the most incredible apple pie you've ever tasted.
If I were to visit your hometown, where would you recommend that I go? (I like seeing and doing things that aren't in all the guide books.)
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| Along Skyline Drive |
You have total control over casting a movie based on your life. Which actor would you cast as you?
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| Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor |
Who is your favorite recurring character in crime fiction?
Like so many male authors, I first became interested in the genre by reading Raymond Chandler's books. So, of course, Philip Marlowe was a great favorite. Yet, the longer I was a cop the more I found Marlowe's insouciance in the face of danger to be unbelievable. When things turn to hell and someone points a gun at you, believe me, you aren't thinking of something to say that's witty or tough. More recently, my favorite character was Inspector Frost from R.D. Wingfield's books. Inspector Frost is one of the few fictional cops who resembles a genuine homicide investigator. He's a burn-out, yet not self-pitying. He finds emotional refuge in coarse humor and works nonstop to catch the killer.
Name one book that you've read that you wish you had written. What is it about that book that made it come to mind?
What did you do the first time you saw one of your books on a shelf in a bookstore? How did you celebrate when you first heard you were to be published?
My very first book was San Diego Specters, a collection of investigations into the haunted (and not-so-haunted) places of San Diego. It was 1998 and I was going to my very first book signing at a Barnes & Noble. Arriving at the shop, I saw a poster in the window that featured my book and a picture of me. I just stood there for a few seconds in awe. You work so long as a writer, hoping that someday you'll be published, so there's a certain element of unreality when you confront proof that your dream has come true.
I don't know if you've seen it, but I love Parnell Hall's video about book signings. What is the most unusual experience you've had at a book signing or author event?
I was doing a book signing at a teddy bear show near Baltimore when Dan, an old police coworker, showed up. We'd been street cops and detectives with Oceanside PD in California, back when it was one of the more violent cities in the state. Dan began telling old war stories...stories about ghastly murder scenes and fights with violent suspects, and the horribly funny things cops say to each other when confronting tragedy. The tales made the book buyers and my book vendor stare at us in shock. You see, my reputation nowadays is the smiling teddy bear guy who writes cozy mysteries. People don't know that I was a tough cop in a savage city. The funny thing is that those war stories made some people buy the books who otherwise wouldn't. The customers told me that if I could write half as well as I told a story they knew they'd enjoy the book.
The way some people talk, the only way to read now or in the future is with some sort of electronic device, like my husband's Nook. What is your opinion of eBooks, and how will they affect you as a published author?
I don't think anyone knows what the unintended consequences of the electronic revolution currently overtaking books will be. My fear is that it will eliminate bookshops, which would be a very bad thing.
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