MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA: Today I’m pleased to be interviewing Susan Moore Jordan! After a lifetime as a musician, Susan wrote and published her first novel in 2013. In THE CAROUSEL TRIO, the author drew from her life experiences as a voice teacher and stage director. In 2017, Jordan shifted her focus to the Vietnam War in MEMORIES OF JAKE and MAN WITH NO YESTERDAYS, a Finalist in the Wishing Shelf Awards and Semi-Finalist in the Kindle Book Awards.
In 2018, Jordan embarked on “The Augusta McKee Mysteries” with THE CASE OF THE SLAIN SOPRANO, a finalist in the 2018 Wishing Shelf Book Awards. Twelve books have followed in that series.
Let’s start by talking about your latest release in the Augusta McKee series: THE CASE OF THE SINISTER STRANGER – tell us what it’s about!
SUSAN MOORE JORDAN: The “Sinister Stranger” in the title is a man who was one of nearly a million Germans who relocated to the U.S. after the second World War. One of my favorite things about writing is researching, and since the Augusta McKee series moves forward with each novel, this book is set in Cincinnati in 1971. Learning about the influx of Germans to this country which actually began immediately following the war gave me a thought as to why this happened. A young clarinetist, Lukas Bechmann, who believes his father died in Germany during the war is suddenly confronted by a man who uses the name Henry Freeman and claims he is Lukas’ father. Freeman first appears on the scene when Lukas is at his mother’s funeral mass. So…who is he really? Could he be Lukas’ father? Could his mother have lied to him about his father having died, and if so, why?
VENTRELLA: Where did the idea to do this series originate?
MOORE: My first books were set in the 1950s and 1960s, and all grew from my first novel entitled HOW I GREW UP. Two were set in the Vietnam War and were about brothers who had both served.
I took a break and read several Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers mysteries and found them intriguing and enjoyable, and wondered if I could successfully write in that genre. I decided to set my series in Cincinnati in the 1960s … which is where I lived at the time. Cincinnati is one of the most musical cities in not only this country, but in the world, and I had attended music school there and been a secretary to the director of a performing arts organization situated on a Catholic women’s college. I’d spent time with opera singers and high-powered musicians and the idea for Augusta McKee grew from those associations. “Augusta” because I liked the name (and she insists people use Augusta, no nickname … until Detective Malcolm Mitchell comes into her life). “McKee” was my mother’s maiden name, and she was an admirable lady. So I believe my McKee mysteries are unique, a female amateur sleuth who is an accomplished musician. And music is a part of each of the mysteries in some way.
VENTRELLA: What kinds of readers do you think would be interested in your book? In other words, whose work do you think your book is comparable to? (“If you like X, then you’ll love Augusta McKee!”)
MOORE: I have had some readers tell me that they have compared Augusta to other famous lady sleuths in the mystery genre. But I believe in some ways she’s definitely unique.
VENTRELLA: Music plays a large part in your books. Who do you like to listen to? What music inspires you?
MOORE: I do prefer classical music, and opera is my favorite. Favorite operas are those from the romantic era, such as operas by Puccini and Verdi. However, I listened to a lot of folk artists when I was writing my book JAMIE’S CHILDREN as my character Niall Logan aspired to be such a performer. Gordon Lightfoot is a favorite, as is John Denver. “Annie’s Song” is a great composition, imho.
VENTRELLA: Your work even got the attention of the Today Show and they interviewed you! Do you have a favorite among your books?
MOORE: Twenty books is a lot, but I’d like to speak about two in particular … the one that was the most challenging to write and the other was the most fun. After I wrote MEMORIES OF JAKE, a book written from the POV of Jake’s brother Andrew, a number of my beta readers (nice folks who are willing to read a book in its formative stages and offer suggestions) were quite taken with the character Jake. One of them even commented she was sure she’d met Jake somewhere.
That kind of a reaction definitely indicated Jake needed his own book, so I embarked on MAN WITH NO YESTERDAYS … so entitled because Jake suffers from amnesia. And for some reason I decided to write it in the first person from his POV. Think about that for a minute! Here I was, a grandmother, deciding to write from the POV of a young Green Beret. The book covers many years, from Jake’s time in Vietnam until he leaves the country and moves to Canada, trying to find himself and recover his memory. So it was a real challenge.
Interestingly enough, my long time editor is actually a friend from many decades ago when we were in junior high school together in Oak Ridge, TN. We reconnected I think about 15 years ago when she visited her brother who lived in East Stroudsburg at the time, and after Ashleigh Evans read HOW I GREW UP, she offered to be my editor, so we’ve done 19 books together. She never hesitates to let me know when she feels I’m wandering “off-topic” and offers valuable suggestions along with her careful corrections.
MAN WITH NO YESTERDAYS challenged us both, but it’s the book that has received the most reviews/ratings and I have heard a number of times from either servicemen from the Vietnam War or their family members how much this book meant to them. I can’t imagine having a greater compliment.
The one that was most fun was book 8 in the McKee mysteries, THE CASE OF THE BOGUS BEATLE. My editor Ashleigh had found an old article in a Cincinnati newspaper about a near-disastrous Beatles concert at Crosley Field in Cincinnati in 1964, and it prompted a plot about a young voice student of Augusta’s who resembled George Harrison, and he liked pretending he was Harrison. So the night of that concert he dressed as Harrison and got a lot of attention … only some of that attention was from a couple of recently-released, not-too-bright “hoods” who decided he really was George Harrison and kidnapped him.
The climax of the story was a car chase from downtown Cincinnati to the city’s Eden Park. Using my memory of making that drive and Google Maps, I wrote the car chase. When I wrote the first book in the series I had connected with a retired Cincinnati police detective who has been my consultant for all twelve books … and I loved that Steve Kramer and his wife Pat actually drove the car chase to be sure it would work! No murder victim in this book, so definitely lighter than most of them.
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Michael A. Ventrella 