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This episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features my interview with crime writer Barry Finlay.
Check out our discussion of the Marcie Kane thriller series and his latest work, the Jake Scott mysteries.
Before I bring on my guest, I’ll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two eBooks for sale: the nine book box set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy inks for both on my website, debbimack.com under the Crime Cafe link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You’ll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, along with our eternal gratitude for doing so.
Check us out on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/crimecafe
Debbi (00:54): But first, let me put in a good word for Blubrry podcasting.
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Download a copy of the PDF transcript of this episode here.
Debbi (00:12): Hi everyone. My guest today has written fiction and nonfiction. Among his achievements, he’s climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with his son and written a book about it called Mount Kilimanjaro and Beyond: A Life-Changing Journey. I love that title. He’s also written a travel memoir called I Guess We Missed the Boat. In 2014, he began work on his Marcie Kane thriller collection consisting of five books. He recently released a second in a new series of books, I assume it’s a series, featuring his protagonist Jake Scott. Among his many accolades, he’s received the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal for Philanthropy. Impressive. I’m pleased to have with me Barry Finlay. Hi Barry. How are you doing today?
Barry (01:49): I’m doing well. How are you doing?
Debbi (01:51): Fine, thank you. It’s great to have you on. Thank you for being here.
Barry (01:55): Thanks. Thanks for having me.
Debbi (01:57): Oh, I’m glad. I’m thankful that you could wait to be on <laugh>. I have people on the waiting list now. It’s so ridiculous. I can’t believe it.
Barry (02:06): Yeah, I think I booked in March, I think.
Debbi (02:09): Yeah. Well, that’s doing relatively well compared to some people. Yeah, he would not believe so. Tell us about Jake Scott and why you decided to write a series about him.
Barry (02:22): Well, Jake Scott is kind of an old-fashioned, affable, easygoing individual. He is a former reporter and he stumbles across crimes that he just can’t resist poking his nose into and trying to find out what happened. It’s a mystery series. The first one’s called Searching for Truth, and I decided to write this one. I wrote another series first called the Marcie Kane Thriller Collection, and the first book in that series, The Vanishing Wife had a protagonist called Mason Scott. And Mason Scott was an easygoing accountant, and I kinda liked the character, but I also had a character in the first book called Marcie Kane. And so I had a choice of continuing on with Marcie or continue on with Jake, and I decided to continue on with Marcie, but at the same time, I really like Jake. So after writing five books in the Marcie Kane thriller collection, I kind of reinvented sorry, I let, the guy’s name was Mason Seaforth in the Marcie Kane series, and I kind of liked that character, and so I turned him into Jake Scott in the Jake Scott series, and so here we are.
Jake Scott is kind of an old-fashioned, affable, easygoing individual. He is a former reporter and he stumbles across crimes that he just can’t resist poking his nose into and trying to find out what happened.
Debbi (03:41): Fascinating. I was going to say it’s interesting that you started out with a series of five books about Marcie Kane, but actually they were about somebody else, but they ended up being about Marcie Kane.
Barry (03:53): Exactly. That’s exactly right.
Debbi (03:55): Wow, so that doesn’t sound like you did a lot of planning as far as what you were going to write for the rest of the books. I guess the first one.
Barry (04:04): Yeah, I’m not a plotter or a planner. I know there are plotters, there are pantsers, and I guess I’m a seat of the pants kind of guy. I do plot ahead a chapter or two. I at least work it out in my head but I don’t plan the whole series or anything like that. I’ll let the characters take me where they will.
I’m not a plotter or a planner. I know there are plotters, there are pantsers, and I guess I’m a seat of the pants kind of guy. I do plot ahead a chapter or two.
Debbi (04:29): Well, I really admire people who just do that, who just wing it because I have to plan a little bit when I write a novel. It’s just the way I am, I guess.
Barry (04:40): Well, it’s interesting, cause I saw Jeffery Deaver speak once and he said he plots about 250 pages before he starts to actually write the book. So he basically got the book and then he just fills in the blanks, I guess. And I give a lot of credit to somebody that can do that.
Debbi (04:59): I do too, because I can’t. I have to plot very, very sketchily.
Barry (05:06): Yeah. Yeah. Just not me.
Debbi (05:08): No, I could not possibly write the detailed outlines that some people do. I find that absolutely remarkable. It’s like, why don’t you just write the book then?
Barry (05:16): Exactly. I guess they never have writer’s block.
Debbi (05:19): I don’t know. All I know is I like having a certain amount of surprise in my plots. And if they occur to me while I’m writing them, all the better.
Barry (05:32): Yeah. I honestly don’t know–
I honestly don’t know how the books are going to end until I get close to the end and the characters take me where they wanna go. And I’m always surprised too, so that’s part of the enjoyment for me.
Debbi (05:33): I could plan a certain way, but yeah, go ahead.
Barry (05:36): I honestly don’t know how the books are going to end until I get close to the end and the characters take me where they wanna go. And I’m always surprised too, so that’s part of the enjoyment for me.
Debbi (05:52): Absolutely. That’s so true. Yeah. Most of the time I feel like I know where I’m going with the end, but sometimes the end will surprise me.
Barry (06:01): Yeah.
Debbi (06:02): At the end, you’d think that’s a good sign.
Barry (06:05): I think so.
Debbi (06:07): I think so too. Yeah. When you wrote the thrillers how did they differ or do they differ from the mystery series you’re working on?
Barry (06:19): I think there’s more action in the thrillers. The mysteries in my mind are a little more character driven, so there’s a little more relationship development and that kind of thing. And the mysteries hopefully people, the readers won’t be able to figure them out until they actually get to the end. Whereas the thrillers everybody knows who done it pretty early in the book, and it’s just a matter of dealing with those people.
I think there’s more action in the thrillers. The mysteries in my mind are a little more character driven, so there’s a little more relationship development and that kind of thing.
Debbi (06:51): So they are very definitely thrillers as opposed to mysteries?
Barry (06:55): In my mind. Yeah, there’s a clear distinction in my mind between the two.
Debbi (06:59): There definitely is. Yeah. So are you currently working on the next Jake Scott?
S. 8, Ep. 17: Interview with Crime Writer Barry Finlay