Maxine Douglas Affairs of the Heart Newsletter: Mark Edward Jones

PECULIAR ACTIVITIES

Welcome Mark Edward Jones to

Book Treasure Tuesday!

Introduction

I retired in 2017 after thirty-three years of working in higher education finance. I grew up in Duncan, Oklahoma, then attended the University of Oklahoma, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science and public administration.

My wife and I have three grown children, and we celebrated our fortieth anniversary in November 2021.

Mystery/suspense/international intrigue novels are my favorite reads, and I’ve found a niche with medieval murder mysteries, noting it’s interesting to see the lifestyles from other eras and how crimes were solved.

My favorite music includes Elvis, Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Boz Scaggs (among others).

Shadowed Souls, Detective Henry Ike Pierce series, part II, releases on Halloween this year.

Sneak Peek

Peculiar Activities (Detective Henry Ike Pierce, book 1) released October 6, 2021.

Genre: Mystery/Suspense with paranormal elements

Heat Level: Subtle

A murder in a park, and a new detective finds an old conspiracy.

Excerpt

Eddie Stone stepped toward the fence, then cleared off another area. Five gray markers appeared, all said UNKNOWN and JANUARY 1995. “These are the five homicide victims we told you about.”

Those deaths came into focus like a cold slap. “Why couldn’t you identify them?” I asked.

“No heads, hands, or feet.”

“Excuse me?”

“Whoever did this kept the skulls, hands, and feet.

With no teeth and no fingerprints, we had nothing else sophisticated enough to help us.”

“No guesses even? A missing person’s report?” “Nope. We found a connection, though.”

“To what?”

“To each other, it seemed. The victims were male, all wore brown leather jackets, and the damnedest thing—a piece of Orehnjaca was stuck in the breast pocket of each victim.”

“Oren Jaka? I’ve never heard that word.”

He grinned. “I hadn’t either. It’s a Serbian bread dessert. A nut roll or something.”

“These murders sound more like mob hits.”

“Bingo. We’ve thought similarly over the years but couldn’t connect it to local gangs.” A blast of north wind shuffled the leaves, covering the headstones again. “I don’t think it’s only a local issue, and neither does the director.”

Peculiar Activities is available in ebook, print, and audio.

♥ Amazon

Research Tidbits

The story’s setting is on Maui, and I have been there several times. For me, it has definitely been better to write what you know.

Interview Questions

1. Do you belong to a critique group? If so, how does this help or hinder you?

Yes. Critique partners have helped me to see things I cannot, not only grammatical and punctuation errors, but the consistency of characters’ actions, linking scenes, and logic issues.

2. Do you write full time? What did you do before you became a writer? Or still do?

I try to write/edit/market full time now. I worked in the budget/financial areas of the University of Oklahoma and the University of Central Oklahoma for over thirty years before retiring in 2017. I had little time before to write. Now, it’s a matter of discipline to sit down each day and do something related to writing.

3. What is your writing process? Do you outline, fly by the seat of your pants, or a combination of both?

A combination of both. A general outline helps me keep on track and reduce my inclination for a sagging middle. Complete pantsing is too unstructured, and I will wallow in the story, put it aside, and tend to overedit. A strict outline never held up for me as the story evolved. After a few chapters, I would either reconstruct the outline or pitch it aside, and I’d rather spend my time writing instead of constructing outlines.

Social Media / Contact

Mark has an ‘updates’ section on his website, many updates he publishes on Facebook, and does try keep up on Twitter. Readers can contact Mark through his email link below.