A Conversation with Mystery Author David Burnsworth

with David Burnsworth

We are delighted to welcome mystery author David Burnsworth to Omnimystery News today.

David's debut mystery, set in South Carolina's lowcountry, is Southern Heat (Five Star; February 2014 hardcover and ebook formats) and we recently had the opportunity to discuss it with him.

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Omnimystery News: It isn't clear from the book's cover or its synopsis if Southern Heat is a stand-alone or the first in a series.

Photo provided courtesy of
David Burnsworth

David Burnsworth: I didn't start out to write a series. But, once I'd gotten the characters fleshed out, I wanted to spend more time with them. While some series carry over only one or two characters, there are at least five that I will keep. For my story, the protagonist comes into his own when he interacts with the supporting cast.

OMN: Into which mystery subgenre would you place Southern Heat?

DB: My heroes of prose are Elmore Leonard, James Lee Burke, and Mickey Spillane. I love dialogue, where Leonard and Burke excel; I love how the setting really makes the characters, where Burke and Spillane shine; I love hard-boiled which Spillane took to another level in 1947 with I, the Jury; and I love noir where all three reign. I'd classify Southern Heat as a Southern Noir Mystery.

OMN: Tell us about where you wrote the book.

DB: For my writing environment, I'm fortunate enough to have a home office. It's an eleven by eleven foot room (I just measured it.) As I sit behind my desk, I look out windows that face the street in front of my house. The subdivision my wife and I live in has a lot of kids and I see them fly by on their bicycles and go carts. I've written most of Southern Heat in this office. However, there have been times that I've written in hotel rooms and waiting areas while traveling. Sometimes even airports. I believe in writing as many days of the week as I can, at least fifteen minutes a pop. So, I don't let not being in my comfort zone stop me from cranking out some words.

OMN: The lowcountry is probably our favorite part of the US and would seem to be the perfect setting for a mystery. How true are you to the region?

DB: Southern Heat is set in Charleston, South Carolina and the surrounding beaches and islands. I used real locations and took liberties with others. The real locations focus mostly on the streets. Where I altered reality was with specific places. My main character, Brack Pelton, inherits a bar on the Isle of Palms. I wanted it to be a real dive and there are no dives on the Isle of Palms so I made one up. The alley where Brack's uncle is killed, called Simmons Alley in the book, also doesn't exist.

The setting of Charleston County was very important to me. I lived there on Sullivan's Island for five years and there is no other place like it that I've been. The lowcountry has its own characteristics that I feel add flavor to the story and the characters. I hope the readers agree.

OMN: What kinds of books do you read for pleasure?

DB: I read mainly mysteries, but I love history as well, and not necessarily only what David McCullough writes. To find books I wouldn't normally read, I cruise used book stores and find stuff like Hustler Days: Minnesota Fats, Wimpy Lassiter, Jersey Red, and America's Great Age of Pool by R. A. Dyer. I would never search Amazon looking for a book like that because I wouldn't even know it exists, but I picked it up at McKay Books in Knoxville and loved it.

As for fiction writers, I've already spoken about Leonard, Burke, and Spillane. Other authors I like are Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Walter Mosely, Carol O'Connell, Robert Crais, John Sanford, and Jo Nesbø.

OMN: Do you have any favorite series characters?

DB: I like Mike Hammer, Harry Bosch, Dave Robicheaux, Clete Purcel, Harry Hole, Easy Rawlins, Leonid McGill, Jack Reacher, Joe Pickett, Lucas Davenport, Elvis Cole, and Joe Pike. I wish we would get to see Lisbeth Salander again, but alas.

OMN: What are some of your outside interests? And have any of these found their way into your book?

DB: I don't buy lottery tickets, but if I somehow won the Powerball, I'd buy my wife her dream house, give away a huge chunk to our church and environmental causes, and then have a car collection. While I love writing, my true passion is automobiles. I hope one day to have more than just a daily driver. That passion spilled over into Southern Heat in the form of fast cars and car chases.

OMN: What's next for you?

DB: What I'm working on next is the second book in the series, which I think will be called Burning Heat. And I hope that in 2015, I'll be visiting your followers again for another tour!

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David Burnsworth became fascinated with the Deep South at a young age. After a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and fifteen years in the corporate world, he made the decision to write a novel. Having lived in Charleston on Sullivan's Island for five years, the setting was a foregone conclusion. He and his wife along with their dog call South Carolina home.

For more information about the author and his work, please visit his website at DavidBurnsworthBooks.com or find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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Southern Heat
David Burnsworth

Gunshots echo down an antebellum Charleston alley. Brack Pelton, an ex-racecar driver and Afghanistan War veteran, witnesses the murder of his uncle, Reggie Sails. Darcy Wells, the pretty Palmetto Pulse reporter, investigates Reggie's murder and targets Brack.

The sole heir of his uncle's estate, Brack receives a rundown bar called the Pirate's Cove, a rotting beach house, and one hundred acres of preserved and valuable wetland along the Ashley River. A member of Charleston's wealthiest and oldest families offers Brack four million dollars for the land. All Brack wants is his uncle's killer.

From the sandy beaches of Isle of Palms, through the nineteenth-century mansions lining the historic Battery, to the marshlands surrounding the county, Southern Heat is drenched in the humidity of the lowcountry.