We are delighted to welcome author Helaine Mario to Omnimystery News today.
Helaine's new thriller is titled The Lost Concerto (Oceanview Publishing; July 2015 hardcover and ebook formats) and we recently had the opportunity to spend some time with her talking about it.
— ♦ —
Omnimystery News: Introduce us to the lead character of The Lost Concerto. What is it about her that appeals to you as a writer?
Photo provided courtesy of
Helaine Mario
Helaine Mario: The lead protagonist, Maggie O'Shea from my novel The Lost Concerto, is a concert pianist. A recent widow mourning the loss of her husband and best friend, Maggie is drawn into a search for her missing godson that will take her to France, test her courage, and change her life. I like to write about women who are strong but flawed, independent, talented, funny, loving and brave — the kind of woman I would like to be.
As a writer, developing and deepening a character is the most challenging and rewarding part of creating a story. I want to care about my characters, I want them to resonate with me — and with the reader.
In The Lost Concerto, it is Music that tells Maggie's story.
OMN: Might we see Maggie in a sequel?
HM: I have written two stand-alone suspense novels, Firebird and The Lost Concerto. These novels introduce strong, beautiful, mature and brave women — Alexandra and Maggie, both of whom deserve a sequel. Women who read Firebird emailed me wanting to know "what happens next" for Alexandra and her friend Garcia. Now, readers of The Lost Concerto are waiting for the next chapter in Maggie and her Colonel's lives. I hope I can write the sequels both women deserve.
As for what comes first, for me its character, character, character. Then I go crazy doing research, looking for a plot that will fit and honor them. Ken Follett said of the great woman spy novelist Helen MacInnes that her plots " … are just a channel through which a love story can flow." Could have said the same thing about me. I am really writing love stories.
OMN: Into which fiction genre would you place your books?
HM: Years ago I was told by my then-agent that I did not fit into a genre. She was right. I write suspenseful novels of international intrigue, thrillers masquerading as love stories. Or perhaps they are love stories masquerading as thrillers … Sometimes you get "more thought than thrill" with my stories, but even so they appeal to a surprising audience of young and old, male and female. I think so many readers just want to get lost in a really good story, to care about what happens.
OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in your books?
HM: I write about the women I want to be (without the danger …) and men I would like to meet — flawed, but noble. Years of travel have given me a wealth of unusual places that inspire scenes and/or action. I've heard it said, and it's true for me, that a writer doesn't just see a place, she sees a whole scene unroll before her eyes. As for real events, most of my plots have been inspired by political stories in the Washington Post and the New York Times.
OMN: Describe your writing process for us.
HM: I do outline, and I do create biographies. But the final work rarely resembles my originals. Same with the synopsis, but I've learned to be flexible. I would say that I change something every single time I sit down to write. Yes, the story expands as I am sent in new directions by research, and as I learn about the characters — and sometimes they totally surprise me. I've just begun my third book, and early on I created a well-educated, dark-haired teenaged boy who runs off from a very select boarding school. But when I got to his first scenes, a door off a prison yard opened, and out stepped a bony, cocky Russian teen with long blond hair hiding his eyes. Go figure. And stay tuned.
One more note about how stories develop for me … For The Lost Concerto, I began by researching articles on classical music. That in turn led to rare, lost musical scores. That led to music lost during World War II. And, voila! A plot was born.
OMN: Where do you most often find yourself writing?
HM: Wherever I can find a quiet moment, especially near water. My office is a wild and crazy and a cluttered mess with files piled everywhere, including the chair and floor. Enough about that.
OMN: How true are you to the settings in the stories?
HM: Reviewers have described my settings as actual characters. Many of my settings are evocative, mysterious, moody — and play a real role in the scene. They are as authentic as I can make them. I try to be true to a setting, but if the door to an abbey needs to open into a courtyard, I will make it happen. Places have been a huge inspiration for my scenes, as I mentioned earlier. Much of The Lost Concerto is set in Paris and Provence. I've been blessed to visit both areas several times and found more inspiration than I could use. The towers of Notre Dame, the houseboats on the Seine, the Left Bank, Pere Lachaise Cemetery. The gorgeous town of Aix, with its palace open to the sky. The cliffs of Cassis, Senanque Abbey … Some places just speak to you.
OMN: If we could send you anywhere in the world to research the setting for a book, where would it be?
HM: I just returned from Vienna, and was entranced by the music, the art, the architecture and the Lipizzaner horses of the Spanish Riding School. In my third book, scenes will be set in Vienna for sure. One place I have not been that I believe would resonate with me is the Pacific Northwest. I hope to visit the San Juan Islands — and I have no doubt that new characters would walk toward me off the ferries and out of the green forests.
OMN: What are some of your outside interests?
HM: I have four beautiful grandchildren who fill my life with magic. I value, and make time for, my friendships. And I travel often with my husband. I love the performing arts and they always will find their way into my novels. Dance and theater in Firebird, classical music and art in The Lost Concerto. But the other love of my life, besides writing, is my SunDial Foundation, founded in 1998, which supports women, children and families. I am hoping to direct as much of my royalties as possible into the foundation. You can read all about it on my site, SunDialFoundation.org.
OMN: What is the best advice — and harshest criticism — you've received as an author? And what might you tell aspiring writers?
HM: Several years ago, very disillusioned by rejections, I tossed an early version of The Lost Concerto into the back of a drawer. Then Pat Gussin of Oceanview Publishing encouraged me to "deepen my characters." It was as if a light clicked on. When Maggie and her Colonel began to pound on the drawer, I let them out and began re-writing them with much greater dimension and depth. I was finally where I belonged, writing-wise, and now I am very proud of Maggie and Colonel Beckett — even if I have "too much character" at times. Best advice ever. Thank you, Pat.
Too many criticisms to mention but I tried to learn from the most brutal comments and grow.
As for advice, Edit, Edit, Edit. Even when you think you are done, you are not. Keep polishing, keep striving to make your work better. And always, always be true to yourself. I don't write what I know, or what I'm told I should write. I write what I love. I write the books I want to read.
OMN: Have any specific authors influenced how and what you write today?
HM: I learned to love suspense and international intrigue from the masters of romantic suspense and intrigue — Mary Stewart, Helen MacInnes and Evelyn Anthony. I am guessing most of you reading this never heard of them but they were my first, and truest, inspirations. And, as I said earlier, plots are just a channel through which my love story can flow. At their hearts, my novels are love stories.
OMN: What's next for you?
HM: I dearly want quiet, uninterrupted time to concentrate on writing my next novel. It will be a sequel for certain, I just don't know which woman character I am going to choose. Right now ideas are spinning through my head, and I am waiting for what Robin Williams called, "that little spark of madness."
— ♦ —
Born in NYC and a graduate of Boston University, Helaine Mario now lives in Arlington, VA, with her husband of many years, Ron Mario. She is grateful to be a 12 year cancer survivor and is most proud of her children and beautiful grandchildren. When it comes to writing, Helaine wants, more than anything, to tell a good story, create characters with depth, and paint pictures with words. She wants to be a storyteller forever.
For more information about the author, please visit her website at HelaineMario.com and her author page on Goodreads, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
— ♦ —
The Lost Concerto by Helaine Mario
A Suspense Thriller
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing
A woman and her young son flee to a convent on a remote island off the Breton coast of France. Generations of seafarers have named the place Ile de la Brume, or Fog Island. In a chapel high on a cliff, a tragic death occurs and a terrified child vanishes into the mist.
The child's godmother, Maggie O'Shea, haunted by the violent deaths of her husband and best friend, has withdrawn from her life as a classical pianist. But then a recording of unforgettable music and a grainy photograph surface, connecting her missing godson to a long-lost first love.
The photograph will draw Maggie inexorably into a collision course with criminal forces, decades-long secrets, stolen art and musical artifacts, and deadly terrorists. Her search will take her to the Festival de Musique, Aix-en-Provence, France, where she discovers answers to her husband's death, an unexpected love―and a musical masterpiece lost for decades.
— The Lost Concerto by Helaine Mario
