L. L. Bartlett Interview

“The motive for the murder was up for grabs. Revenge, retaliation,

perhaps he’d also stolen candy from a baby…”

L. L. Bartlett (p. 53, Dark Waters)

Some authors are more prolific than others. Lorraine Bartlett proves her prolificacy by writing four series. Berkley Prime Crime publishes two of Lorraine’s cozy series, The Booktown Mystery Series, sales for which have placed it on the bestselling list, written under the pseudonym Lorna Barrett and the Victory Square Series written under her real name, Lorraine Bartlett. She also writes an adventure-fantasy series, The Tales of Telenia. Although I love cozies and fantasy, the series that attracts me the most is her Jeff Resnick series. He’s an unforgettable character, and his story is not cozy.

Please Welcome Lorraine to WWK.                                  E. B. Davis

Please give our readers a series synopsis, if you would.

Jeff Resnick was viciously mugged by a couple of street thugs; broke and needing a place to recover, he is taken in by his estranged older half-brother, physician Richard Alpert. Soon after, Jeff is assailed by visions that lead him to investigate the death of a local banker. He not only has to prove to Richard that these visions are real, but to himself as well. It’s his skills as a trained investigator that lead him to the murderer.

Is Jeff’s character based on a real crime victim?

No. As a former insurance investigator, Jeff uses skills he acquired in that job and combines them with his new found sixth-sense, but it comes at a personal cost.

Do you think great talent requires great sacrifice?

I sure hope not. : ) Jeff has always been a tortured soul. In fact, it takes his psychic mentor to remind him that he always had a sort of latent psychic talent, but he not only didn’t recognize it—he wouldn’t have believed it if he had.

Jeff and his half-brother Richard lived together for a while in their younger years. Will readers find out about these years?

After their mother’s death, Richard became fourteen-year old Jeff’s legal guardian, and he went to live with him at Richard’s grandparents’ home. He was there for the better part of four years. I’m currently working on a collection that chronicles those years. It’s called Evolution and was released on Christmas Day.

For two brothers, it seems like they have few rivalries, although Brenda, Richard’s black girlfriend who becomes his wife, causes friction. How are Jeff and Brenda kindred spirits?

They both have a deep sense of compassion, and they’re both a little psychic. Brenda has what she considers hunches and trusts her instincts. That’s why she was so open to the idea that Jeff has visions and what he calls his funny feelings.

The setting, Buffalo, N.Y. seems volatile due to its extreme weather. Have you kept Buffalo true to reality?

I hope so. Buffalo hasn’t had a blizzard for a few years, but being at the east end of Lake Erie, it does get slammed by what’s called lake effect snow. Storms build up over the lake and dump the snow on the whole area. I live on Lake Ontario and we get the same thing, but not as bad.

While I have never lived in Buffalo, my husband is a Buffalo native, and we visit there often.

Richard is a doctor, who doesn’t practice medicine. Jeff is an investigator, who bartends. Do these guys need career counseling?

LOL! Richard is loaded; he doesn’t need to work. His former job was as a medical researcher (evaluating medical equipment and a variety of other scientific stuff) for a think tank in California. Because of Jeff’s frequent headaches, he ends up calling in sick a lot. Luckily, he has an understanding boss.

Sofie seems like a spirit guide to Jeff. Are they related?    

You have to read Cheated by Death to find out.

In each book, Jeff and Richard take on hot-topic issues, including abortion, sex crimes within the transsexual community, experimental psychology, Ponzi schemes, and racism. Does Jeff have a death wish? Is Richard living vicariously through Jeff’s adventures?

I never thought Jeff had a death wish, but maybe he does. (I must think about this.) Richard definitely lives vicariously through Jeff’s adventures. He’s led a very quiet life, and he realizes that it’s been perhaps a bit too quiet. He isn’t getting any younger, but he also feels a great sense of guilt that he wasn’t a better guardian when Jeff was younger. Of course, now that Richard has a child, he’ll have to reevaluate the extent to which he becomes involved in Jeff’s adventures.

Do you believe that people can have a sixth-sense?

Maybe.

Was the Jeff Resnick series the first you developed? How did you market it?

Yes, it was my first mystery series. I spent five times my advance (which wasn’t much) to send out bookmarks, go to conferences, libraries, book signings, the works. It didn’t do much. It wasn’t until I took control of the series and offered it as an eBook that the series took off. I had a lot of good fortune, which continues to smile on that series. Jeff and the other characters in the books are still my favorite to write.

Again, I’m working on a non-mystery collection for Jeff called Evolution: Jeff Resnick’s Backstory.

While writing the series, I sometimes wanted to know exactly why Jeff and Richard acted the way they did, and I wrote a number of short stories to explain it—just for myself. I’ve mentioned these stories to some of my readers, who expressed a desire to read them, even though they are more character sketches and with no mystery. The book was released on Christmas.

I’d heard that Murder On The Mind, the first-in-series, had been acquired. Then, I’d heard you decided to self-publish this series. What happened, and did Polaris Press publish the series?

The first two books in the series were acquired by Five Star, a small press that targets libraries. The print runs were tiny. I thought I could market the series better myself and took the plunge to become an indie author. It was a great decision. The series found new readers through eBooks on all formats. The first book, Murder On The Mind, is free on all e formats in many countries around the world. (Check out my Website for details.)

You write under different names. How do you feel about that? Do you think branding serves a good purpose, or does it fragment your audience?

I was forced to take a pseudonym when I accepted the contract for the Booktown Mysteries; I wish I could have used my own name, but it wasn’t an option. Writing under three names is difficult. Most of my cozy readers have no idea I write the Jeff Resnick mysteries; likewise most of my Jeff readers have no idea I write the other three series. Although I have an author bio with links in all my books (and on my websites), many readers seem to miss the information. It definitely fragments my audience. : (

Your preference, Lorraine, beach or mountains?

Hmmm…mountains. (But I don’t ski.)

Dark Waters is the latest Jeff Resnick novel. To find out more about her series, check out Lorraine's website. The suspenseful ending had me clinging to my sofa cushions.