We are delighted to welcome author Michael Allen Dymmoch to Omnimystery News today.
Michael's second mystery in her Sheriff Homer Deters series is Courtin' Murder in West Wheeling (Diversion Books; May 2016 trade paperback and ebook formats) and we recently had the opportunity to ask her a few questions about her books.
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Omnimystery News: Tell us a little more about the setting of your series, West Wheeling.
Photo provided courtesy of
Michael Allen Dymmoch
Michael Allen Dymmoch: I travel through West Virginia on my way to Malice Domestic every year, and I love the countryside. And I had relatives in Wheeling, Illinois who lived in a rural area and had encounters with neighbors and officials that inspired some of the goofy West Wheeling events. Since I'm not really an expert on the South or Southern idioms or customs, I invented a place that seems a bit Southern and is faithful to some of the rural places I've visited and loved.
OMN: Was Courtin' Murder in West Wheeling your working title for the book while you wrote it?
MAD: Yes.
OMN: Into which genre would you place this series?
MAD: A police procedural complicated by a Chinese fire drill. (Yeah, I know that term's considered to be a racial slur. I'm really tired of people being offended because they don't try to understand what's being said or where the speaker's coming from. If you look up the dictionary definition of "Chinese fire drill", it kinda illustrates the complicating events in a West Wheeling yarn. And Homer's no Keystone Cop, so that kind of frenetic confusion wouldn't apply here.)
OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in your books?
MAD: A few of the incidents recounted in the West Wheeling series are highly exaggerated versions of things I experienced or heard about, so highly exaggerated that other people involved wouldn't recognize themselves. I did belong to a donkey for about twenty years, and he not only ate rose bushes, he once chewed a button off the coat of a visitor who'd thought he was a cute little pet. I also spent some time on two small (i.e. no $100,000 machinery) farms, something I very much enjoyed.
OMN: How do you go about researching the plot points of your stories?
MAD: Internet research, consulting with experts, and reading books on a particular subject. For White Tiger, a novel that explores the effect of the Vietnam War on two of its survivors, I saw every movie about the war that I could get my hands on, and read, probably, forty books. I also interviewed several veterans.
I got to ride along with some Chicago Police tactical officers. (If more citizens were able to do that, there would be less friction between citizens and the police.) And I've attended two suburban Citizen's Police Academies.
Arson, the subject of Incendiary Designs, was probably the most exciting to research. A friend of mine was a Chicago Police Detective. When he heard I was writing about arson, he told me I had to interview his friend on the Bomb and Arson squad and he gave me a number to call. When I called and explained I was writing a book, the response was "Who told you to call me? … He shouldn't tell you to call me! … You've got to talk to News Affairs."
I called News Affairs immediately. After answering my questions for an hour, the police spokesman said that his shift was over and told me to call back tomorrow. When I did, the News Affairs officer told me to try Bomb and Arson again.
Cleared to speak, the Bomb and Arson officer was extremely helpful.
OMN: What's the best advice — and harshest criticism — you've received as an author? And what might you say to aspiring writers?
MAD: Write what you know or what you can research. And, from Mary Stewart, via The Crystal Cave, "take power where it's offered." When reacting to criticism, I believe it's important to consider the source. I've had a few reviews that damned with faint praise, but I can't say I've received any really harsh criticism. And to aspiring writers, write what you know or what you can research, take power where it's offered, and if an experienced editor tells you that you need to "kill your darlings," or "cut 15,000 words," DON'T ARGUE. JUST DO IT!
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In preparation for a writing career, Michael Allen Dymmoch took classes on law enforcement, "Gunshot and Stab Wounds", crime scene investigation, and screenwriting. She's attended autopsies and worked as a baby sitter, veterinary assistant, medical research tech, recycler, and professional driver. Michael has served as President and Secretary of the Midwest Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and newsletter editor for the Chicagoland Chapter of Sisters in Crime. Michael currently lives and writes in Chicago.
For more information about the author, please visit her author page on Goodreads.
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Courtin' Murder in West Wheeling by Michael Allen Dymmoch
A Sheriff Homer Deters Mystery
Publisher: Diversion Books
Just because it’s off the beaten path doesn’t make it any kinder a place to die …
Sheriff Homer Deters has enough on his plate without a dead body turning up, especially one that's only bones. And while he has both nuptials and eviction impending, it looks like this case is going to fall under his jurisdiction.
Getting to the bottom of this is going to take him into the world of smuggling, the world of hijacking, and possibly a world of hurt. But with his tongue firmly in cheek and his demeanor never far from even-keeled, Homer Deters is the likeliest of unlikely heroes for West Wheeling.
— Courtin' Murder in West Wheeling by Michael Allen Dymmoch. Click here to take a Look Inside the book.
