While doing a media interview recently the reporter asked me a question that I really liked because it caused me to pause and think for a moment.

She asked how I develop a plot for a book and create a book’s narrative.

It hit me that my idea for Chasing Evil my first novel, and my second novel which I just finished and is yet unnamed, is my curiosity about human behavior. For most of my adult life I have wondered by people do the things they do, both the good and the bad.

In Chasing Evil I was focused on what makes a person engage in behavior any normal person would see as evil, cruel or unjust. I believe at birth we are all endowed with the ability to do the right thing for the right reasons.

So, I sought to make the villain a combination of the most terrible things people are capable of. At the same time, I wanted the central figure of the book, Det. Conor Cavanaugh, to represent the fundamental good that is in all of us, without making him perfect. The question I wanted to probe was in such a contest of wills can the force of good succeed without surrendering their moral high ground, or do compromises have to be made.

I just finished my second novel, and it takes a slightly different approach.

It has been said that wealth, power and status when they are achieved changes a person forever and they can never go back to who they were.

Certainly, we’ve seen stories of people winning huge lottery prizes whose life actually got worse, or who misused their power and status and have to retreat from their place in life once their behavior becomes known.

My next novel uses the lure of greed and power to drive the plot.

The new book hopefully will be ready this fall. Thanks for your support of Chasing Evil. Keep reading.