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INTERVIEW
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 Babylon
Blues
It’s 1994, and veteran homicide detective
John Bowers teams up with his partner
Minola Raye to solve another grisly murder
in Babylon—Portland, Oregon’s fringe
district of losers and forgotten victims. Like
hungry sharks, Babylon’s riffraff feed on the
innocent and vulnerable, and only case-hardened
cops like Bowers seek justice in a system that has no
heart.
 Blue
Butterfly is the first in a series featuring Detective
John Bowers.
Tracking a call
girl's killer through Portland's sleazy sex trade, John uncovers a
police bureau prostitution ring and bags a political primetime
player with an appetite for S&M. While the cops, ME and
prosecutors touch all the bases in a job they sometimes love to
hate, the Bureau's dirty little secrets begin to unravel.
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AUTHOR
INTERVIEW
Q. What drew you to the Police
Procedural genre?
A. It has everything that interests me as a writer and as an observer.
In the John Bowers’ series, the reader is actually the most informed
witness to the crime or crimes and the motivations of the main
characters. I’ve always been a mystery buff, and who doesn’t love to
help solve a riddle, especially one with criminal, sexy elements?
Q. Did your background experience with the law enforcement community
influence your take on Detective Bowers?
A. Definitely. I suppose John Bowers is a composite of all the
homicide detectives I’ve known over the years. The majority of these
people are intensely dedicated to their jobs and often very personally
connected to their victims.
Q. Are the grisly scenes in your books based on true cases?
A. They are drawn on real life but are not true-crime. Murder is the
heart of a procedural.
Q. Why do the Bowers books delve so deeply into the personal lives of
the detectives?
A. The dynamic of their personal lives is what adds spice to the mix
and what motivates them. Bowers sees these victims as “There but for
the grace of God . . .”. His motive in solving cases is always more
about avenging those people who cannot speak or defend themselves
against the bad guys than a strict job description in the manual.
Homicide detectives are still the good guys in the white hats. And
that appeals to me – telling their personal story. So many crime
dramas and novels gloss over the personal side, and the characters are
one dimensional. That’s not real life, and I think readers want more
than the standard formula in a procedural. At least I do.
Q. Did you write the Bowers series as a continuing drama of the
characters’ lives for a purpose?
A. Well, that’s real life again. Reality is much more interesting than
contrived gun battles, the ubiquitous serial-killer who has some
ridiculously complicated formula for killing his victims – I think
most people welcome some reality even in their fiction. The Bowers
books give the reader the best of both – personal drama along with the
grit, terror and drudgery of police work.
Q. Some critics believe the real focus of your plots is in the
personal relationships and struggles between Bowers and the women in
his life. Is this a fair assessment?
A. Oh, sure. Crime happens – people keep killing one another, but life
goes on for everyone around them. John Bowers is interesting as a
person outside of his badge, a flawed person who just can’t seem to
figure out women. But who can?
Q. Tell us something about the Portland scene. Is the city itself
important to the series?
A. Definitely. I never considered placing John Bowers anywhere else.
Portland is unique in America for having typical big city problems
while at the same time having a small town atmosphere. That’s what
makes it so livable and lovable for Oregonians and others who come
here. Bowers would not fit into the bureaucratic maze of LA or even
Seattle. He has North Coast village roots and it’s those values that
cause him conflict and give him moral courage.
May, 2007 S. Bedrow – Rose City Review
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