with D. Michael Poppe
We are delighted to welcome author D. Michael Poppe to Omnimystery News today.
D. Michael's debut thriller is Match Play (WiDo Publishing; October 2014 trade paperback and ebook formats), a novel of golf, madness … and murder.
We recently had the opportunity to speak with the author and talk more about his new book.
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Omnimystery News: Introduce us to the lead characters of Match Play. What is it about them that appeals to you as a writer?
Photo provided courtesy of
D. Michael Poppe
D. Michael Poppe: David Stedman is a multimillionaire but is also a serial killer. I am fascinated by this type of killer. I have handled the story differently and painted a psychological portrait of the killer as he commits his murders. The complexity of the pathology is always a mystery in itself and I have addressed that as completely as I can. In the evolution of the story the contest between two characters becomes personal, just like in Match Play. The FBI agent, Lou Schein is the protagonist and follows the killer across the country trying to decipher the clues and prompts that the killer leaves. Lou Schein and his team of investigators are characters in a new novel which I am working on. It is called The Reprisal.
OMN: How do you go about developing your characters?
DMP: I develop a plot line before I fill in character's identities, but I am using Lou Schein and his investigators in The Reprisal. The novel is also about a man who is committing serial murders but he is motivated in a completely different way. I am liking Lou Schein and may use him in a series of books. I think it is always a challenge to create characters without making them charactures. How they act, speak, mannerisms, and personality all have to be believable.
OMN: David Stedman sounds like a fascinating character. Is there anything else we should know about him?
DMP: The Match Play killer is a multiple personality, and his alter ego is a female. I think it is challenging to write a part for the opposite gender, and my wife helped me with the voice and the details, but I am very satisfied with the character. I really believe readers are more interested in the story, and again want characters that are real. Real characters make the story real no matter their gender or the gender of the author.
OMN: Into which fiction genre would you place this book? And do you think categorizing it as such is an advantage?
DMP: Match Play is a mystery/thriller. I have joked with people that they should take a flashlight under the bed so they can keep reading. I think whatever genre you categorize yourself in you will eliminate a portion of readers. From a strictly monetary point of view that is unfortunate, but it is much more gratifying to have readers who are tuned in to your story. Of course one hopes to achieve some converts.
OMN: Give us a summary of Match Play in a tweet.
DMP: Match Play is a psychological portrait of a man who has experienced a lifetime of torture and has learned to cope with it pathologically.
OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in the book?
DMP: I think that someone once said, "every good book is to some degree biographical". I am in this book everywhere and some of the characters are based on people I know. In fact, some people who have read the novel have said they're surprised I wasn't a serial murderer.
OMN: Tell us a little more about your writing process.
DMP: When the story germinates it grows into an outline which I carry in my head. When I begin writing I try to let the story evolve naturally. I write on a laptop. For continuity I read and edit what I have written the day before prior to working the next day. I believe after all of the editing and rewriting the story reaches a point where the possibilities for divergence disappear and the remainder of the story writes itself.
OMN: How did you go about researching the plot points of the story?
DMP: I use my experience as a barometer of facts, but I do most of my research on the internet and through some reference books.
OMN: How true are you to the setting of the book?
DMP: Match Play occurs in real time and at real places and the story would not be plausible without those characteristics.
OMN: If we could send you anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, to research the setting for a book, where would it be?
DMP: Japan. There is a great deal of Japanese influence in my next novel and visiting Japan would add many dimensions which I possibly will not be able to accomplish from my experience or the internet.
OMN: What are some of your outside interests? And have any of these found their way into the book?
DMP: I was a painter for many years and so art often finds its way into my stories. I also love serious music and like to use it as well. The Match Play killer adores the Goldberg Variations.
OMN: What is the best advice you've received as an author? And what might you say to an aspiring writer?
DMP: I don't think it is a revelation to be told that you need a thick skin but it is true. As an artist you have to learn to endure rejection. The only real advice I can give to an aspiring author is don't give up, and "if you don't succeed, try, try, again". There is nothing finer than being told by an agent or a publisher; "I like your novel".
OMN: Complete this sentence for us: "I am a mystery author and thus I am also …".
DMP: I am a mystery author and thus I am also a person who explores people, and places I thought I would never go.
OMN: How did Match Play come to be titled? And were you involved with the cover design?
DMP: Match play is a contest in golf in which two people play head to head and it is scored differently. Match play is an integral part of the novel. The cover was designed by an artist and is provocative and relative to the story and the characters.
OMN: What kind of feedback have you received from readers?
DMP: The book has only been recently released. But of those who have read it the most common question is: "How did you ever write this?" and some have found it too violent.
OMN: Suppose Match Play were to be adapted for television or film. Who do you see playing the key role of the killer?
DMP: I would cast the killer as Zac Efron or Michael Cera.
OMN: What kinds of books did you read when you were young?
DMP: I grew up in a bookless home and did not even know what a fairy tale was. When I went to school reading was challenge for me until the third grade due to eye problems. When I did start reading I read adventure novels with heroes.
OMN: What do you read today for pleasure?
DMP: I read Burke, Connelly, Lehane, Grisham, Slaughter and Patterson. I like Dave Robicheaux, Alex Cross, and Harry Bosch. I also read philosophy, psychology, cosmology and theoretical physics if it is in layman's term. I like Stephen Hawking.
OMN: Create a Top 5 list for us on any subject.
DMP: Top 5 Composers: 1. J.S. Bach; 2. Igor Stravinsky; 3. Johannes Brahms; 4. Mozart; 5. Beethoven.
OMN: What's next for you?
DMP: I am writing a series of essays, some short stories and working a new novel called The Reprisal.
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D. Michael Poppe grew up in the Midwest on a dairy farm, with conservative upbringing. He served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and was discharged honorably in 1971. He attended the University of California at Irvine and graduated in 1976 with a Bachelors Degree in Studio Art. He painted professionally for many years and has paintings in many private collections, primarily in the western U.S. Married for twelve years, he and his wife live in Southwestern New Mexico.
For more information about the author, please visit his website at D-Michael-Poppe-Author-Artist.com, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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Match Play
D. Michael Poppe
A Suspense Thriller
FBI Agent Lou Schein is assigned to investigate a grisly murder in Los Angeles, one echoing a similar case in Phoenix, Arizona. Agent Schein, a golf enthusiast, notices a strange coincidence: both crimes occur while the LPGA tournament is being held in the respective cities.
After the fourth murder, it's clear they are after a serial killer obsessed with the golf game of match play. He is scoring the individual murders as one hole of the match on the current tournament course.
The killer leaves a series of taunts and clues which the FBI must decipher to learn where he will strike next. It is a game that becomes an obsession for both the killer and Agent Lou Schein, one determined to win the match and the other to stop him before he strikes again.
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