Omnimystery News is pleased to welcome R. Michael Phillips, whose second mystery in the Ernie Bisquets series is Rook, Rhyme & Sinker (Asylett Press, January 2011 Trade Paperback, 978-1-934337-98-1).
Today Mike writes about the origin of his series, and how a picture is worth a thousand words. And he's also providing our readers with an opportunity to win a copy of his new book. Visit Mystery Book Contests, click on the "R. Michael Phillips: Rook, Rhyme & Sinker" contest link, enter your name, e-mail address, and this code (2198) for a chance to win! (One entry per person; contest ends 04/06/2011.)
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Photo provided courtesy of
R. Michael Phillips
Why, you ask, was I painting a copy of a Manet? I wish I could tell you it was something as intriguing as the mysteries I’ve concocted for my series but, in reality, I’m just an artist and avid antique collector with a passion for antique, museum frames. I’ve restored my Victorian home and to complete the interior I’ve hung period paintings in the rooms– copies, actually, of some of my favorite artist’s work.
Now, back to that Manet. Painting is a very solitary activity, giving leave for the mind to wander down who knows where. It was during one of those mental vacations that I found myself wandering the streets of London’s darker side. As my brush stroked the canvas my mind was busy plotting the theft of a Manet by a London forger. He was a kindly old man, someone who would blend into a crowd and, for those who made his acquaintance, could never be imagined to be associated with art forgery. I followed him from London to the Musee d’Orsay in Paris and back again without ever leaving the stool in my studio. The weeks went by, and as I neared completion of the painting, I found I had filled a notebook with character sketches, London locations, plot scenarios, and the list went on and on.
With the painting finally completed, framed and hung in a place of honor in my living room, the only thing left to do was visit the city I had been jotting notes down about for months. Off to London I went, to visit the streets I had envisioned my characters were soon to walk. I had done so much research on the Internet I felt quite familiar with my new surroundings. I made copious notes, took photographs of specific locations, and had the pleasure of meeting a wide assortment of wonderful people who would soon lend character traits to my characters, giving them the little idiosyncrasies that make us the individuals we are and give fictional characters depth.
The real work was about to begin. I was pretty well set with the antagonist, but what about a hero? Who could I introduce who would be different from the vast collection of literary sleuths who have held us perched on the edge of our seats for generations? Who indeed, I thought. I agonized over this character for weeks until it finally came to me– Ernie Bisquets.
Ernie Bisquets? Certainly not a glamorous name, or one you might associate with crime fighting in general, but nonetheless, it was Ernie Bisquets I settled on. To my notebook I went to define this man who I was about to introduce alongside such literary giants as Nick and Nora Charles, Hercule Poirot, Jesse Stone, Nancy Drew, etc.
I gave Ernie the confident swagger in his walk of a gentleman who fit right in among the swells of Mayfair society. Thin and of medium height, he would greet friend or stranger alike with a wink and a nod. Always impeccably dressed, with shoes polished and the day’s paper tucked neatly under his arm, he could be seen most days on a leisurely stroll down Bond Street or through Grosvenor Square. He was, to all who passed him on the street, a man of success. Life was good for Ernie Bisquets, until he slipped his hand into the wrong pocket.
There’s the rub. Common pickpocket? Not Ernie Bisquets. He was anything but common. Ernie was a legend in London’s underworld. A man who perfected his trade and stayed one step ahead of Scotland Yard; a man whose abilities were celebrated by his cronies, but whose identity eluded the official police. That was then, but now he’s a reformed pickpocket newly released from Edmunds Hill prison in Suffolk, struggling to stay on the right side of the law. Detective Inspector Derby Flannel is anxiously awaiting his descent back into his old habit, while Patterson Coats, president of the East London Adventurers Club, has put his reputation on the line to ensure that will never happen.
East London Adventurers Club? See what I mean about the mind wandering who knows where? As engaging as Ernie Bisquets is, I felt he still needed a reason to change his ways and a support group to keep him on track. I should also add, it wasn’t in the least his own idea to step over the line and take on London’s villains. The East London Adventurers Club is what you might consider a “fixer”. Besides traveling the world in search of antiquities for major British museums they have, on occasion, been contacted through back channels by the Crown and affluent British society to discreetly handle delicate matters, matters which are best kept from the media at all costs. This is their true calling and something the group excels in, and has engaged in, since the club was chartered in 1856. The club has remained in the Coats family through four generations and their relevance in contemporary London still proves invaluable. The current members are Patterson Coats, Patterson’s nephew Nigel Coats, and Lily Jean Corbitt, a feisty American. Together they dodge murder and mayhem through the streets of London, chasing down scoundrels and bringing the worst villains London has to offer to justice.
How does Ernie fit in? The London underworld has little time for the law, private or otherwise. Patterson Coats needed someone who could walk amongst this criminal element and extract information covertly. It was a dangerous position to put Ernie in, but a necessary one. Apparently Patterson had a hand arranging Ernie’s capture, for the sole purpose of introducing him to the group and affording him the opportunity to walk on the right side of the law. This is something Ernie struggles with throughout the first book, Along Came A Fifer, and his final decision on the matter I will leave for you to discover on your own.
Back to reality. With all the pieces in place I set off to write the book. It was a long two years of writing, but I finally finished the first book. It was then I found out, to my surprise, up to that moment this was the easy part. I spent the next year sending out queries and enlarging the file I kept rejection letters in. It absolutely amazed me how many different ways publishers and agents could say, “No thank you.” I persevered though, filling in the hours between sending out queries and receiving groups of rejections by writing the second book and making notes for additional adventures.
Then it happened, I received an acceptance letter. As a footnote here I should mention the final query that got the publisher’s attention was so different from the first queries I had sent out you would think they were written by two different people. To say the query, at times, is more important than the book itself is an understatement. But, there I sat, dumbfounded. After three years of writing I was unable to put together a coherent sentence to express the excitement this news brought with it. It finally did sink in. After a few conversations, contract negotiations and a handshake my book went into editing. Almost four years after I jotted down the original notes, in July of 2009, Asylett Press released what started out as just an intriguing thought as I worked on a painting– my first English cozy.
Here it is 2011 and Rook, Rhyme & Sinker, second book in the Ernie Bisquets Mystery Series, has just been released. I continue to paint, and my mind continues to wander down who knows where. Fortunately, I have this wonderful group of characters that have a firm grasp of my attention and keep me to the task of putting their latest adventure to paper. A quick trip to Great Britain here and there and we’re once again in the thick of it.
My wife has been the rock through this whole journey. Her excitement and support of this monumental undertaking was the difference between throwing in the towel on a few occasions and seeing this all the way through. She has quite a unique way of keeping me grounded. Every once in a while, as I talk through one of the scenes in the latest story, my wife will wait patiently for me to finish and quietly say, “You do know they’re not real, right?”
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You can learn more about the author and the Ernie Bisquets mysteries by visiting his website at EastLondonAdventurersClub.com.
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About Rook, Rhyme & Sinker: A hoard of ivory chessmen discovered on the Isle of Lewis in 1831 still commands the attention of scholars and museum patrons in modern-day London, but the police are more concerned with the connection a newly discovered rook has with a body that just bobbed up in the Regents Canal.
Just when Ernie Bisquets, a reformed London pickpocket, was settling into his new life with the East London Adventurers Club, his daily routine is interrupted by the apparent suicide of an old school mate. What surprises him even more is the bequeath left to him by the deceased -- an old nursery rhyme and one of the lost Lewis Chessmen. Intrigued over the connection, the group investigates the circumstances surrounding the death. They soon find it was murder, and that leads to the discovery of a lost hoard of these priceless artifacts hidden in a St. Ives bridge. What they don't realize is an unscrupulous antique dealer, who has been searching for this lost hoard for decades, is shadowing their every move.
Rook, Rhyme & Sinker is available in Trade Paperback and Kindle formats (see icons below book cover above).
For a chance to win a copy of Rook, Rhyme & Sinker, courtesy of the author, visit Mystery Book Contests, click on the "R. Michael Phillips: Rook, Rhyme & Sinker" contest link, enter your name, e-mail address, and this code (2198) for a chance to win! (One entry per person; contest ends 04/06/2011.)
Read the first chapter of Rook, Rhyme & Sinker below; use the Aa settings button to adjust font size, line spacing, and word density.
It is interesting to learn the process behind the story.
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