Guest Blogger, Ellen Kirschman by Marilyn Levinson

Ellen Kirschman and I went to Great Neck High School together. Though we weren't friends then, we discovered each other on Facebook since we both write mysteries. Though she lives on the West Coast and I still live on Long Island, we keep in touch and occasionally zoom together. Since she has a new book coming out soon, I invited her to talk about it on Writers Who Kill. ~~ Marilyn

About my sleuth, Dot Meyerhoff: 

Dot is a younger, thinner, more daring version of myself. She’s a police psychologist. So am I. She works in a department that isn’t sure it wants her there, takes orders from no one including her chief and solves crimes when she should be counseling cops. Dot is fifty when the series starts. She ages slowly through the next four books. Recently divorced from her psychologist ex-husband she is learning to be single because, as she says in Book #1, Burying Ben: “The few blind dates I’ve had since Mark and I divorced have felt like therapy sessions. Middle-aged people have too much emotional baggage. Dumping it takes an entire evening that would be better spent shoving sticks under each other’s fingernails.” Things change when she meets Frank, but not quickly, it takes her three books to learn to trust him.

Despite her fears of rejection and concerns about her aging body, Dot is uniquely persistent. She never gives up on anybody, not even the mastermind felon she worked with when he was a child (Book #2, The Answer to His Prayers). Too dedicated for her own good, her determination to do the right thing for her clients and get to the bottom of a mystery, gets her into big trouble. Using her brains and her training as a psychologist, Dot always lands on her feet. She’s the kind of woman you would want on your side. Tough yet empathic, she sees into the hearts of all her characters. Who cares if she hates to cook, drinks red wine with popcorn, and has impossibly high standards for herself as a woman and as a therapist? Who hasn’t tried to hide their flaws behind a façade of self-confidence?

 How I chose Dot and the connection between my work and hers: I've spent forty years counseling cops and their families. Their stories beg to be told. It was natural to use myself as a model for my protagonist. What better, or easier, than to mine my own experiences for her character, my husband's life for her romantic interest, and my mother and maternal grandmother's name for her own? Not that these books are autobiographical. Dot takes risks I would have lost my license over. I’m talking life-threatening, license-losing, job-ending, relationship-destroying risks. 

 Series summary:

Police psychologist Dot Meyerhoff is embedded in a department that isn't sure it trusts her. Determined to help her police officer clients cope with a never-ending stream of traumatic stress and tragedy, she often steps out of her role only to come face to face with criminals, putting herself, her family, and her job at risk. Inspired by real-life events, the series exposes the pain behind the badge: suicide, sexism, tragic mistakes, dysfunctional families, and the challenges faced by a dedicated psychologist with a too-big heart.

Call Me Carmela summary:

Police psychologist Dot Meyerhoff's caseload is usually filled with cops—which is why she's hesitant to help an adopted teenager locate her birth parents. The teen's godmother is Dot's dear friend Fran and a police widow to boot. How could Dot possibly say no?' Once Dot starts digging into the case, she's drawn into a murky world of illegal adoptions and the choices a young pregnant woman might make as a last resort. Soon, there's only one thing Dot knows for sure: the painful truth of what happened all those years ago might heal one family—but it's certain to destroy another. 

Bio:

Award winning police psychologist Ellen Kirschman is the author of three non-fiction books and the Dot Meyerhoff mystery series. Ellen finds writing fiction to be therapeutic because she gets to take potshots at nasty cops, incompetent psychologists, and two ex-husbands. She lives in Redwood City, California with her husband, the photographer, S. Hollis Johnson. She adores Zumba, dogs, cats and ice cream. A member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and The Public Safety Writers Association. Sign up for her occasional newsletter at www.ellenkirschman.com. and receive a mini-memoir of her life as a dance hall hostess in Times Square. 

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