We are delighted to welcome back author Timothy Patten to Omnimystery News.
Earlier this week we featured an excerpt from Timothy's new suspense thriller Money, Family, Murder (TMP Novels; July 2015 trade paperback and ebook formats) and today we're catching up with him to talk more about the book.
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Omnimystery News: Tell us a little more about the lead characters of Money, Family, Murder.
Photo provided courtesy of
Timothy Patten
Timothy Patten: Johnny and Tiffany Barnes are a family oriented, affluent family in the beautiful oceanside city of Newport Beach, California. They aren't overly ostentatious like some ultra-wealthy, high profile people might be. Janice Martland is high powered, egotistical woman who makes it her goal to put Johnny Barnes away in jail so she can get reelected as the county district attorney. She stakes everything on convicting Mr. Barnes by bending some rules and evidence along the way.
OMN: We categorized your book as a suspense thriller. Would you agree with that?
TP: Yes. I am not sure if there are any disadvantages of labeling it such except that some readers might be looking for a thriller book which has more action or violence in it. In this book, Johnny searches for clues and answers to his dilemma when he finds out that he is accused of several murders. There are some intense conflicts between the characters and definite moments of suspense.
OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in the book?
TP: I don't know anyone like the characters that are in it. However, I was struck in the right bicep a few years ago in a charity golf event by an errant golf ball by another golfer who teed off on the next fairway over from us. It felt like I was shot in the arm from nowhere! My daughter did have her social security number stolen from her two years ago and later found on April 16th that someone had already filed a tax return for 2012 using her name and tax ID number and received a tax refund from the IRS in the Midwest. So when our family CPA informed her that the IRS refused her electronic tax return, then I drove my daughter over to two different IRS offices in Orange County to inform them of the issue and eventually filed an affidavit of stolen identity. She ended up filing a hard copy version of her return and it took almost a year to get resolution to the problem which even the IRS confessed is a serious and rampant problem in America today.
OMN: Is there any particular place that influenced the setting of the story?
TP: I have grown up near water my whole life. Our family home was a few blocks from Lake Michigan in a north shore suburb of Chicago, I attended college in Miami, Florida and swam and sailed many weekends in Biscayne Bay. Today I live a few minutes drive from the Pacific Ocean in Orange County, California. When I was growing up, my family would pack all eight kids in a station wagon and drive to Boston or Ft. Lauderdale for either our spring or summer vacations. We always rented a cabin cruiser or sail boat and cruised around the local waters.
OMN: What are some of your outside interests?
TP: I have been a member of my golf club for eleven years and enjoy playing in golf events with my friends, wife and son. Once or twice a year we go deep sea fishing in Cabo, Mexico, or in the local waters off of the coastline. I met my wife playing tennis at a local tennis club in Irvine over twenty seven years ago and we used to love snow skiing together until my knees couldn't take the stress anymore. I love philanthropy and have been on the finance committee and Board of Directors at Orangewood Children's Foundation for three years to help raise money for abused and foster children in Orange County and I have also been on the Shady Canyon Charitable Foundation committee for three years to help raise donations for local non-profit organizations.
OMN: Suppose Money, Family, Murder were to be adapted for television or film. Who do you see playing the key roles?
TP: I can see Matthew McConaughey or George Clooney playing Johnny Barnes and Julia Roberts or maybe Sandra Bullock playing Tiffany Barnes. For the district attorney, Kate Winslet or a young looking Meryl Streep. Angelina Jolie comes to mind to be the part of Savannah McGinty who is Tiffany's sister-in-law.
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Timothy Patten is retired, grew up in Highland Park, Illinois and graduated from University of Miami, Florida with a BBA and MBA in marketing. He volunteers and supports a few local charities in Orange County, California. Tim and his wife, Kathy live in Irvine, California for over twenty-seven years with their grown children and golden retrievers.
For more information about the author, please visit his website at TimothyPattenAuthor.com and his author page on Goodreads, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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Money, Family, Murder by Timothy Patten
A Novel of Suspense
Publisher: TMP Novels
In the picture-perfect community of Newport Beach, violent crime is virtually non-existent. Until one sunny morning, when the beautiful bookkeeper of Newport's wealthiest family is found strangled in her bed. Johnny Barnes — loyal husband, dad, philanthropist, and all-around decent guy — is arrested for the murder.
Johnny has been wrongly accused. He is released on $20 million bail, but the tide of public feeling turns rapidly against him; everyone has competing agendas, from the power-hungry DA to a perspicacious police detective to Johnny's influential brother-in-law. With diminishing resources and dwindling hope, Barnes must conduct his own investigation. His journey takes him from Montecito to North Dakota to Key Biscayne as he uncovers a dazzling web of intrigue, self-dealing, exhortation, and murder.
The clock is ticking. Soon Johnny will be sent to prison for a crime he did not commit — unless he is able to identify the true murderer and clear his name in time.
A beautiful corpse. A family of billionaires. An innocent man .
.. or is he?
— Money, Family, Murder by Timothy Patten
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