A Mysterious Interview with Teel James Glenn

The Third Black Beacon Book of Mystery is out now and to celebrate this new volume of detective mysteries guaranteed to put your little grey cells to work, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. Do you dare peer into their devious minds, where criminal masterminds battle brilliant sleuths, private eyes, and police detectives? Settle down in your favourite armchair and get ready to pit your wits against the finest voices penning mystery puzzles today!

Hi Teel,

It’s always tricky interviewing a mystery writer about a particular story because we don’t want to give anything away, but can you tell us (carefully) where the idea for your story came from?

I’ve always thought that Watson was, in many ways, more interesting than Sherlock so the idea of the good doctor using his friend’s methods to solve a seemingly unsolvable, locked-room crime appealed to me.

There are several sub-genres of mystery fiction, but the stories in this anthology are traditional fair-play mysteries in which the reader can try to solve the puzzle before all is revealed. What makes this kind of mystery so timeless?

It’s an interactive ‘game’ between the reader and the writer. Very much like a magic trick, a piece of legerdemain that challenges the audience to ‘figure it out.’ I find that kind of fair-play exciting. The trick is to make it a story about people and not only an exercise of mathematics and logic.

Do you have a favourite fictional detective?

This is a hard one— I like a bunch, but I guess, in literature, Mike Hammer, but on screen Columbo. (talk about contrasts!) 

Is this the first mystery your protagonist has solved?

I’ve written Holmes and Watson before, but not a solo tale for the Afghan Campaign vet.

If you were a detective, private investigator, or amateur sleuth, what would be your trademark quirk?

I think I’d be quoting Shakespeare and old films to the point where people would just shoot me outright!

Do you have a writing routine or particular requirements for a writing session?

As I am retired from my stunt and teaching careers, I pretty much wake up, hit my emails, and then get right to work at the laptop. As to requirements—I can write anywhere, even in crowds or parks, but I dislike silence—I prefer the TV playing in the background. I know, seems at odds with creating my own worlds—but it keeps me from getting ‘stuck’ in a story, I can look up and mentally breathe for a moment, then dive back in.

What are you working on now?

I am working on a French and Indian War/fantasy novella, then I owe a mystery tale to a publisher and in a month will begin the third novel for the Paradise Investigations series for Macabre Ink Press… I like to switch genres from tale to tale.

Where can we find you online?

My website is TheUrbanSwashbuckler.com, on Blusky as @TeelGlenn and on Facebook as Teel James Glenn

Thanks for playing along!