Morgan Hunt, author of the Tess Camillo mysteries, was born and raised on the Jersey shore in Brigantine. After a two-year stint in a Midwestern Bible college, she joined the Navy and served as an educational services rep. Her Navy duty stations included Brunswick, Maine and San Diego, where she resided for 27 years. She now lives in the Pacific Northwest.
Trigger Finger Surgery
Tyler: Hello, Morgan. Thank you for joining me today. First off, I am fascinated by the association of the two main characters in "Sticky Fingers." They are two forty-something female housemates, rather like "The Odd Couple" because they have a wacky complementarity. Tess is gay; Lana is straight; Lana is a New Age massage therapist/Tai Chi instructor; Tess is a linear-thinking database expert. Would you tell us why you put two such dissimilar characters under one roof?
Morgan: They absolutely do have a distaff Felix and Oscar dynamic, Tyler, which is fun. On a outside level, the contrasts between them furnish humor. On a deeper level, they reflect the truth that none of us is totally self-sufficient. We need one another. I think part of the political restlessness we feel as a nation is that we intuitively grasp that while political parties effort to polarize us by spicy to our extremes, there's a need for both conservative watchfulness as well as liberal openness. My protagonist, Tess, has an analytical mind that can string clues together well, but she never solves a murder without an considerable contribution from the seemingly ditzy Lana. It's a way of poking at the self-importance of those who believe that their way of reasoning is the only right one. We've all met them, Tyler - the "my way or the highway" crowd.
Tyler: "Sticky Fingers" is in effect a detective novel. Can you tell us a minute bit about the difficulty the characters must solve?
Morgan: Sure. My protagonist, Tess, is changing her bed linens on an commonplace Saturday afternoon when, under her bed, she spots not a dust bunny, but a rattlesnake! She reports the snake sighting to the police, who refer her to Animal Control. Shortly thereafter, someone else woman is found murdered by a venomous snake bite. Police then interrogate Tess, at which point she becomes motivated to solve the murder.
Tyler: Where did you come up with the idea of a snake-obsessed serial killer?
Morgan: When I first conceived this difficulty series, I made three commitments to myself: one, the books would be short and snappy - an easy read. Two, where there is a death in the story, the reader would feel it; the loss would mean something. We have sufficient unfelt death in our culture. And three, the recipe of murder would be interesting. No one would die from a boring old slug in the chest. In each of my books, the murder methodology is eccentric and edgy. I opinion murder-by-snake would contribute an approved fear factor. "Sticky Fingers" also contains plentifulness of sexual sass, and snakes are notorious sexual symbols, so it just seemed to fit.
Tyler: Morgan, do keep up to date on murders in real life, and if so, do they ever inspire you with ideas for your books?
Morgan: A very relevant question. I do read true crime; loved Capote's "In Cold Blood." In the early 1980's, I picked up a book called "The Girl on the Volkswagen Floor" by a reporter named William Clark. Clark told of a young woman murdered in Ohio, whose body was found on the floor of a Vw. There were some peculiar items on or near the body. When the police investigation went nowhere, a psychic stepped in and offered to help. He seemed to know things that no one could know but the murderer, but he had a rock solid alibi. Clark proposed a likely explication but the case was never officially solved. That real life difficulty intrigued me, and I borrowed some elements for "Sticky Fingers."
Tyler: What do you think makes "Sticky Fingers" stand out from other difficulty novels?
Morgan: My protagonist's humor and voice set her apart, and also the fact that she is a breast cancer survivor. I mean, how many amateur sleuths solve a murder while recovering from a mastectomy? And how many books about breast cancer are full of zest and zing?
Tyler: I understand "Sticky Fingers" is only one of the Tess Camillo difficulty series. How many have you written so far, and where in the series does "Sticky Fingers" fit?
Morgan: "Sticky Fingers" launches the series. The second book, "Fool on the Hill," will be released next spring. My publisher bought both of the manuscripts I'd written, and optioned a third, "Blinded by the Light," which was only an figure at the time. It's a real adrenaline rush to open not just a book but an whole series.
Tyler: That is exciting, Morgan, to have three books published at once. Would you tell us a minute bit about what you think publishers are finding for in terms of difficulty novels these days?
Morgan: Good storytelling's always in demand. And humor, while not everyone's preference in a mystery, appeals to many. Look how favorite the Tv series Monk is.
Tyler: Morgan, what do you find to be the most difficult thing about writing a difficulty novel?
Morgan: For me the challenge is giving the reader something she or he has never seen before, yet maintaining some of the foreseen, parameters of the genre. If you write a "whodunnit," Tyler, difficulty readers deserve sufficient clues to give them a legitimate opportunity at guessing the murderer. They expect a safe bet whole of suspects and a well described setting, etc. So when you write a mystery, you have to give the reader the foreseen, "box," then offer something fresh, something outside the box. If readers expect something horse-like, I try to deliver a seahorse. Or a neon zebra.
Tyler: difficulty novels are, of course, highly popular. In your opinion, what is it about difficulty novels that makes citizen keep reading them?
Morgan: Well, mysteries deal with human mortality, and who among us does not find death a compelling subject? And secondly, Tyler, mysteries give us a sense of moral order to life: virtue wins out, evil is conquered, and your cereal stays crunchy even in milk. That's a sorely needed unlikeness to the evening news.
Tyler: Cherie Fisher, who reviewed "Sticky Fingers" for Reader Views said the book gave her a sleepless night, both because she could not put it down and because it made her dream of snakes. What other reactions have you received from readers?
Morgan: citizen mention the humor of the book; they like Tess's wit and spunk. By the way, clearly I owe reviewer Cherie Fisher a good night's sleep, so I sent her a coupon for a night at the Bates Motel, redeemable as soon as I make The New York Times Bestseller list.
Tyler: Would you by comparison the association between Lana and Tess in the novel? Your advertisements for the book say one is straight and one gay, but I also saw it described that Lana is Tess's "ex-lover." Why did you determine to write about a lesbian(s) in the book?
Morgan: Glad you asked. To apply the usual societal labels, my protagonist, Tess Camillo, is a lesbian. Her housemate, Lana, is heterosexual. But labels like that are tools of convenience that don't accurately reflect the subtle gradations of human sexuality. I know a whole of "straight" women who, whether as an experiment or due to confusion while a difficult phase of their lives, chose someone else woman as their romantic partner. Some go on to self-identify as bisexual; some return to satisfying relationships with men. (The Glbt community has a term for such gals: hasbians. Think about it.) Many citizen can characterize to a time when they misread interpersonal signals or entered into a association out of need instead of real love. It happens between men and women; it happens to the young and the supposedly more mature. We're all human; occasionally we just blow it. My protagonist, Tess Camillo, falls in love with Lana when Lana is experimenting with bisexuality. Why Lana does this - what Lana's triggers are - is something I'll deal with later in the series. Lana and Tess are romantically involved for two years, but their friendship endures long after that. In "Sticky Fingers," Tess still carries a bit of a torch for Lana. In "Fool on the Hill," that torch is rapidly dimming. By the third book, "Blinded by the Light," Tess and Lana have evolved a respectful friendship with nothing sexual between them whatsoever. The shifting association with Lana is one of the ways Tess grows throughout the series.
Tyler: Do you think difficulty novels in some way speak to gay and lesbian readers in a way other fiction and non-fiction genres do not?
Morgan: Many Glbt folk have to hide who they in effect are, at least for a while in their youth. They become adept at secret messages, subtle clues, at reading between the lines. These skills probably help them solve difficulty puzzles, and we all enjoy things we're good at.
Tyler: The subplot of the novel is about Tess fighting cancer. Why did you determine to comprise her battle with cancer in the novel?
Morgan: In 2001, I was diagnosed with a large tumor of an aggressive form of breast cancer. I underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. I was fortunate sufficient to have a wonderful, warm group of friends for support. They knew I liked mysteries so while I was recovering, they brought me books by Joan Hess, Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton, Patricia Cornwell, Rita Mae Brown, Carl Hiaasen, Claire McNab, Kathleen Taylor, Kinky Friedman and other favorites. My immersion in the genre while recuperating inspired me to write a difficulty in which the protagonist would face a similar challenge.
Tyler: That's quite an impressive list of difficulty writers. Which writers would you say have been the biggest affect on you?
Morgan: Christopher Moore, Matt Ruff, Kinky Friedman, Rita Mae Brown, and Carl Hiaasen have all shown me that mysteries (or literary fiction of a difficulty hue) can be a great vehicle for political comment and irreverent humor, both of which I wholly enjoy.
Tyler: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? Was it in 2001, or had you always wanted to write?
Morgan: I'd earned my living as a for-hire writer ever since Cleopatra jumped rope. I wrote ad copy, training videos, healing reports, and online courses. Ordinarily my creative side felt repressed. I wrote a few poems, some song lyrics, even a few screenplays. But it took getting up close and personal with my own mortality to perceive that if I ever wanted to make the leap to creative writing, now was the time to do it. "Later" can't be counted on.
Tyler: Thank you for joining me today, Morgan. Before we go, would you tell our readers a minute about your website and what supplementary information they can find there about "Sticky Fingers"?
Morgan: Last year http://www.morganhuntbooks.com won Writer's Digest's Best Writer's Website contest, which was a real honor. My site features a plot description, chapter names, quotes, and the first few pages of each book. Readers get a foretaste of the books before buying one. Such a deal, right? My series is set in San Diego, and the website provides an interactive map of the area, highlighting where safe bet scenes in the books occur, along with actual photos of those settings. That's helpful to someone, say, in Austin, Tallahassee, London or New Delhi who may not be familiar with San Diego. The site also offers puzzles, contests, and experience info so readers can email me and tell me what they opinion of the book. Don't be shy; I love to hear (dare I say it?) Reader Views.
Tyler: Thanks, Morgan. It's been a pleasure to have you join me today, and I wish you lots of success with your time to come books.
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