I'm Back!!

  

Saturday–Jeff

It’s been a rough several weeks but … fingers crossed… things seem to be back on course.

Earlier this week , “The Campus Files” published a deep-diving interview with me exploring A Study In Secrets, the just published debut novel in my new “The Redacted Man” series.  Sam Hunter conducted the interview and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Here’s hoping you will as well in the reading.

Here is the Q&A:

On the Evolution of the Protagonist

Q.1 Michael is a fascinating departure from the typical high-octane thriller hero. What prompted the decision to center a new series on a man whose primary power is his intellect and his "gentil civility" rather than physical youth?

Answer.1           We live in the time of the “high-octane thriller hero.” No matter where you look, aggressive power dominates intellect.  Be it in entertainment, business or politics. As for “gentile civility,” good luck at finding evidence of that amid modern social media. Call me a cockeyed optimist, but I believe the world can be different. But only if those with the capacity for bringing about real change choose to stand up for what they know to be right and not simply live out their days going along with the status quo.  

 

 

Q.2             Michael’s past is intentionally "redacted," leaving the reader to piece together his history through small clues—his wealth, his service, and his loss of a foot. As a writer, how do you balance the need to satisfy a reader's curiosity while maintaining the mystery that defines his character?

     Answer.2           I agree with the principle that curiosity keeps readers turning pages, but I also believe a writer must be wary of an unintended opposite effect.  It is an intriguing dilemma; one I confront every day––guided by this variation on an age-old proverb: “Too much requited curiosity will kill the cat…no matter how much satisfaction tries to bring it back.”

 

 

On the "Imagined Life" vs. Reality

Q.3 The book opens with Michael as a passive observer, literally watching life through a window. The theme of "imagining" vs. "living" is central to his journey. Was this a reflection on the role of the novelist—creating lives for others—or was it strictly a character choice to illustrate Michael’s self-imposed isolation?

Answer.3 Actually, it was neither. Or both. As I’m sure you’ve gathered by now this is a very different sort of book from any of my Kaldis novels. This one is driven far more by the nuances of its characters and the intensity of their individual backstories than by the sort of grandiose settings and unique cultural ways at play in my Greece-based Kaldis stories.

 

In the opening scenes of A Study in Secrets, Michael A subtly offers his perspective on modern life and why he prefers a lifestyle reminiscent of elegant late 19^th Century living. One that provides a firm framework for moving the storyline forward at an ever increasing, more complicated pace. As for why I chose New York City over several other cosmopolitan international settings I’d been considering, I settled upon NYC because of how well I know the city and its secrets.

 

 

 

Q.4         At the end of the novel, Michael considers "shuttering" his window. Does this signify a permanent transition from an observer to a participant, or is he simply trading one form of protection for another?

Answer. 4  The closing lines of the novel reveal a subtle distinction in how Michael now views his role compared to how he’d imagined it when the story began. Specifically:

 

“He’d long considered his window an impenetrable barrier between the imagined and reality. One that allowed him to see life as he wanted it to be, not as it had become. To imagine life left him free to be fearless and forever hopeful. Facing reality meant confrontation, sacrifice, and risk to all he held dear.

“But his window had failed him.

“Before it did so again, he should shutter it.

“Perhaps tomorrow.”

Yes, his choice lay between observer and participant…existing and living…the imagined and the actual.

And he’s not yet sure of the path to choose. Perhaps tomorrow he will.

 

 

 

On Dialogue and Narrative Style

Q.5                  The dialogue in A Study in Secrets is notably formal, almost Victorian in its precision. Even characters from rougher backgrounds, like Angel, seem to adapt to this "gentlemanly" frequency when speaking with Michael. Was this a deliberate choice to show how Michael’s personality reshapes the world around him?

Answer.5  I’ve long admired Conan Doyle’s brilliant Victorian prose, and so I’m not surprised that I fell to utilizing that style in creating the ambiance for this book.  I wouldn’t say that all characters adopted Michael’s style of speech, but without question the dialogue was meant to demonstrate that Michael is a character very much in charge of whatever situation he confronts.

 

 

 

 

 

On the Nature of "The Treasure"

Q.6                  The "Fielding Treasure" serves as the classic MacGuffin, yet its true value remains somewhat ambiguous even as the book closes. Why was it important for the resolution of the story to focus more on the psychological safety of the characters than the physical contents of the package?

Answer.6  Once again the mischievous role of curiosity brings its buddy imagination into play. I’m a big believer in utilizing a reader’s natural imagination to play a significant role in selling my story. And that’s why I resisted editorial efforts to identify the Fielding Treasure beyond classic MacGuffin status.  My reasoning is simple: If I were to tell a room full of readers that in a box on the table before them is the most fearsome horror imaginable, how many different opinions will that elicit as to what’s in the box?  Some people might imagine ten possibilities, some a hundred.  But one thing is for certain: Once the box is opened, they’ll be relieved it wasn’t any of the other nine or ninety-nine they feared. That’s why I prefer to leave the box closed. 

 

On Secondary Characters and Relationships

Q.7.                The relationship between Michael and Gabriel (the diner owner) hints at a deep, generational history involving Gabriel’s father. How much of Michael’s backstory is already mapped out in your mind, and how much is being discovered as he interacts with these "remnants" of his former life?

Answer 7. I am a dedicated seat-of-the-pants writer. When I sit down at a keyboard, I rarely have more than a tingle in my brain of what I’m about to write that day. It’s up to my characters to tell me where we’re off to and whether or not they’ll permit me to intercede in ways they disagree. That’s especially true in the case of Michael and Gabriel. The two have a lot of backstory at play in their respective lives, that I sense they’re anxious to explore and share.  Hopefully soon.

 

 

Q.8.       Mrs. Baker is clearly much more than a housekeeper. In many ways, she feels like his last remaining "handler." How does their dynamic serve to ground Michael in a reality he often tries to avoid?

Answer 8.          Once again you impress me with your insights on the nature of my characters and their interpersonal dynamics. Though I didn’t intend for Mrs. Baker to serve as Michael’s “handler” I must admit that their interactions reveal a long-standing symbiotic relationship akin to handler and asset with each doing what they must to jointly survive a needlessly merciless and complex world.      

 

 

 

 

On Future Redactions

Q.9.                Now that the "Redacted Man" has stepped out of his apartment and into the lives of others, can we expect the next installment to peel back more layers of his history, or will he continue to keep the reader—and his new family—at arm's length?

Answer 9. He’s promised to tell more but on reflection, we all know how these secret agent types can be tricky. 

––Jeff

Meeting Sara Paretsky in San Francisco

Karen Odden - Every other Thursday

Last weekend was the Left Coast Crime mystery conference, held in San Francisco, a city I haven't visited in nearly 21 years--and I know this because last time I was there, I was pregnant with my son who is now 21. Here I am at a San Francisco antique shop with my sisters Kristin, who was living there at the time (left), and Jen (center), and my daughter Julia. When it came to the steep hills, Jen carried Julia piggyback when my three-year-old got tired. 

San Francisco is such a striking, beautiful city. Here is the mermaid sculpture near the Ferry building. Isn't she gorgeous?

LCC is probably my favorite of the mystery conferences. It's medium-sized ... not so ginormous that my inner introvert feels overwhelmed but large enough that I feel heart-full by the end of it, seeing all my friends. 

Events began with a pre-LCC night at the Best Bookstore in Union Square. 

My friend Rob Osler had organized a night of flash fiction; 10 writers would read short pieces -- no more than 1,000 words -- with Fog as a character. Most people wrote about fog in San Francisco, or somewhere in the US. I wrote about fog in London. (Big surprise there, I know.) One of the readers was Sara Paretsky(!). Another was Gary Phillips(!). Others were Rob Osler, Gigi Pandian,  Audrey Lee, John Copenhaver, Faye Snowden, James D.F. Hannah ... these are legends of the mystery world, people who have received Edgar nominations and NYT "best books" labels, and so on. I was the least famous person there. 

Six of us had gathered beforehand to have dinner at Johnny Foley's Irish House, and I pinched myself a bit. "You're sitting across from Sara Paretsky. Don't stare," I thought to myself. But she was so down-to-earth and genuinely warm and interested in all of us that within minutes she made it easy to just relax and enjoy her company. 

For those who don't know (I'm not sure who those people are, likely they are much younger than I), Sara wrote the V.I. Warshawski mysteries set in Chicago. With these, Sara revolutionized the mystery novel genre, moving women out of the supporting roles of side-kick or victim (or femme fatale, once in a great while) and casting her heroine as a kick-ass woman detective solving crimes. The first novel was Indemnity Only, and she followed it with nearly two dozen more. They're international bestsellers and have been translated into 30 languages. In 1991, there was a film made starring Kathleen Turner. 

Perhaps not surprisingly, given her wonderful feminist bent, Sara Paretsky is also the first president of Sisters in Crime, the international group, established in 1987, as an advocacy group for women mystery writers. (This earned her the Woman of the Year award from Ms magazine.) Back in the 1980s, women writers in the mystery genre were not getting reviewed with the same frequency that the men were (they had numbers to back this up); and they weren't getting into bookstores the way men were. So a group of women who had gathered at the 1986 Bouchercon (good things happen at conferences!) decided they would advocate for themselves and each other. Sisters in Crime now has around 5,000 members worldwide and advocates on behalf of all writers (sisters and misters, all siblings). I've belonged to the group for years and have the honor of serving on their board.

For the Wednesday evening FOG event, we had a fabulous MC -- Elsa Touche -- and the event space at the store was PACKED, as you can see here. 

We all took turns reading our pieces. (Below: Rob, Faye, Gary.)

A few days later, Sara attended the panel where I was presenting at LCC, and then she came to the book sales room to buy a book. From me. Okay, so I gave her one -- I refused to let her buy it -- and the gift came from a grateful heart. I had a difficult time in high school. I was the kid who spent my lunches in the library, so I wouldn't have to sit by myself at a table. Sometimes I'd read those V.I. Warshawski books, to feel vicariously kick-ass instead of kicked out. 

And here I am, forty-five years later, with Sara herself. 

Have you ever met one of your literary heroes ... perhaps one from childhood?

How Living in Spain Affected My Health: Blood Pressure, Depression, and Migraines

 

Blazing Altocumulus: A Fiery Sky, A Soothing Evening in Oviedo*

I moved to Spain for my mental health. Associated changes began to appear later, noticed only after familiar numbers began behaving differently.

Over time, it became difficult to ignore how living in Spain affected my health in measurable ways. Not dramatically. Not magically. But consistently.

This is not a story about a cure. It’s about what happens when the body no longer has to brace itself as often.

How Living in Spain Affected My Blood Pressure

Full disclosure: I have longstanding hypertension. My father's side has all the cardiovascular disease. It became prominent in medical school and residency training when I began my low-sodium diet. Hypertension did not disappear when I changed countries from the US to Spain. What shifted was stability.

After settling into daily life here, my readings began trending lower until I was able to drop one of my two medications and became more consistent without major medication changes or dramatic lifestyle overhauls.

Blood pressure is tightly linked to sympathetic tone. When vigilance decreases, vascular resistance often follows. Living in Spain affected my health not by curing hypertension, but by reducing the subtle daily stress responses that sustain it.

Vigilance: Living in Spain and the Reduction of Ambient Threat

Spain is not perfect. But the default posture feels less suspicious.

One moment stands out clearly a few nights after I arrived in Oviedo: a young white woman was approaching me on the sidewalk. My mind switched to Black American mode. Oh, no. I know she's going to cross the street. I was in for a surprise. Not only did she not cross the street, she passed so close that she practically brushed against me as if she hadn't even noticed me. 

That reaction revealed how deeply American racial conditioning had embedded itself in my nervous system. Chronic vigilance reshapes cortisol rhythms. Cortisol reshapes blood pressure, glucose, sleep, and mood.

When vigilance drops, physiology follows.

Twice, in the early days, when I entered one of Oviedo's flagship department store, El Corte Inglés, I warily glanced back at the security guard at the door to see if he was following me with his eyes. He was not. In fact, he had shown little to no interest as I had entered the store.

Security guard at El Corte Inglés

Cortisol, Diurnal Rhythms, and Chronic Vigilance

Cortisol normally peaks in the morning, declines through the day, and drops at night to allow repair. Chronic stress disrupts this rhythm.

Among many Black Americans, studies show altered diurnal patterns—blunted morning rise, elevated daytime baseline, and insufficient nocturnal decline. This pattern correlates with hypertension, insulin resistance, and mood instability.

This isn’t about dramatic trauma. It’s about chronic vigilance.

Early in Spain, I noticed the absence of something. Walking at night, I wasn’t mentally rehearsing explanations for my presence to a citizen or police officer. Entering a department store, I expected scrutiny from security and received none. 

These moments might seem minor, but physiologically, they are not. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responds to anticipation as readily as to threat. When vigilance becomes unnecessary, endocrine tone likely shifts.

               The Stress Response (Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis by Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc)

Living in Spain plausibly affected my health, particularly in cortisol regulation—before I consciously named it.

How Living in Spain Affected My Depression

I have lived with long-term depression for decades. Spain did not erase that.

What has changed, preliminarily, is stability. My mood feels less reactive, and more stable. Under supervision, I am cautiously evaluating whether one antidepressant can be tapered--so far, so good! This is an ongoing assessment, not a conclusion.

Depression is neurochemical, but it is also contextual. Fewer aggravating inputs make regulation less effortful.

Olive Oil and the Siesta

When I first arrived, I found it irritating that shops closed for siesta (mostly 2-4:30 PM) and that Sundays were largely shut down. My reflex was impatience.

                            

                                

What! The Apple Store closed at 

3:00 PM? Why?

Over time, that shifted. If everything is closed, there is nowhere to go. If there is nowhere to go, there is nothing to chase. So Sundays, when so many places are shut, it's a permission slip to sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast at a café (those don't close!), or Netflix and chill.

The culture imposed a pause and I learned to embrace it as a way to slow down..

That matters. Structural limits on productivity reduce structural arousal. Taken together, the cumulative effect is not trivial.

How Living in Spain Affected My Blood Sugar

My fasting glucose has hovered near the borderline range for years. Recently, those numbers have begun to resemble values I last saw two decades ago. The trend is encouraging, although the verdict is still out, and long-term monitoring will tell the real story.

One change has been the quality of dietary fat. In Spain, fresh, high-polyphenol extra-virgin olive oil is standard. The bitterness and peppery finish signal the presence of antioxidant content rarely encountered in typical American supermarket oils.

Olive oil alone does not explain improved glucose trends. Stress hormones likely play an even larger role.

Olive Oil in Spain vs. Olive Oil in the United States

One dietary difference deserves more precision.

In Spain, especially in producing regions, fresh extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) is widely available and often locally sourced. Varieties like Picual are unapologetically robust—green, bitter, peppery, sometimes almost aggressive to an unaccustomed palate. That peppery sensation in the throat is not a flaw; it reflects high polyphenol content, particularly oleocanthal compounds associated with anti-inflammatory effects.

For many Americans, the first taste of fresh Picual EVOO can be startling. It does not resemble the neutral, soft, sometimes flat oils commonly sold in U.S. supermarkets. It can feel sharp. Almost too sharp. That reaction itself says something.

                                          A bottle of early-harvest Spanish extra-virgin olive oil 

“Primer Día de Cosecha 2025” indicates oil pressed from olives harvested on the very first day of the season. It is extra-virgin olive oil made from the Picual olive variety, produced by the renowned Castillo de Canena estate in Andalusia. As in this case, EVOO should be in a glass bottle (never plastic) or a metal can.

In the United States, olive oil quality is highly variable. While excellent oils certainly exist, much of what is sold in large supermarkets:

• Is blended from multiple countries

• Has been stored for long periods before purchase

• May be past peak freshness by the time it reaches consumers

• Often lacks harvest date transparency

Several industry investigations over the past two decades have shown that some imported oils labeled “extra virgin” fail to meet strict chemical and sensory standards. Oxidation during transport and storage is also common, reducing polyphenol levels and altering flavor. The result is that many Americans have never actually tasted high-polyphenol, freshly pressed extra-virgin olive oil. When they do, the bitterness and throat sting can come as a shock.

Why does this matter clinically?

Polyphenols in high-quality EVOO are associated with:

• Improved endothelial function

• Reduced oxidative stress

• Better insulin sensitivity

• Anti-inflammatory activity

How Living in Spain Affected My Migraines

Finally, migraines have been another long-standing health challenge. For years, nocturnal headaches were a regular feature of my nights, often followed by daytime episodes severe enough to interrupt normal activity, including, significantly, my writing: hours looking at a laptop screen is a strong migraine trigger. This wrecked my novel-writing throughout 2025.

Under the skilled guidance of a highly regarded Spanish neurologist, that pattern has changed markedly. My nighttime headaches have fallen by roughly 75 percent, and daytime events are now far more manageable. Occasionally, a severe episode still forces me to lie down for an hour or two, but those disruptions have become uncommon.

The story is still unfolding, but the direction is encouraging. Better medical management—including thoughtful medication adjustments—may be contributing to the improvement, as may reduced stress signaling.

Migraines and depression are also closely linked. Migraines can trigger depressive episodes, and depression can lower the threshold for migraines. Stabilizing one often helps stabilize the other.

Final Thoughts

Spain did not cure my hypertension. It did not eliminate borderline glucose levels. It did not erase depression. However, all of these are trending in the desired direction. What it appears to have done is remove a layer of chronic strain.

Health is not only what we ingest or prescribe. It is also what the body prepares for. Living in Spain affected my health not through intervention, but through subtraction. And sometimes subtraction changes the numbers.

*All images by the author unless otherwise stated.

★ Don't forget to follow me on Instagram for more content @kweiquarteyauthor ★

Books of the Uffizi

Annamaria on Monday

In the interests of sanity in the age of AI, I am keeping it simple today (Sunday March 1).  Having been delightfully ensconced here in Florence for the past 2 1/2 months, in a couple of days I will be heading back to NYC. Getting organized to do so is a complicated process.

Keeping up with blogs has been a major challenge while here. Today, I worked out a process to get photos from my phone to my laptop. There may be an easy way to do this, but I have not hit upon it. For me today it has involved four steps worked on the phone and an iPad to the laptop, one photo at a time.

I hope you will enjoy them.

I've spent five days this past week happily hosting dear friends, one of whom hasn't been to Florence in 30 years and another who had never been here. I had the great pleasure of showing them around.  One of our stops was a visit to the de rigeur Uffizi Gallery.

When visiting major museums I never try to see everything.  If I do, my eyes and my brain blur over and nothing sticks.  For the past several years, when visiting a museum with a large collection that I know pretty well, I decide on the theme.  Earlier in this stay in Florence, I posted pictures of angels from a massive exposition. This time in the Uffizi, I decided to take pictures of books, hoping the book lovers of Murder is Everywhere would be amused.

Here they are: a smattering of the many glorious works of art in one of the most revered art collections in the world.

  

The gorgeous image that suggested books as the target that day.

No book here, but I could not resist putting in 

Caravaggio's Medusa, since it portrays exactly

how I feel when dealing with the Blogger software. 

Location, Location, Location

 Sara Johnson, 1st Sunday

The real estate mantra – location, location, location – applies to mystery fiction, too. Readers often choose a book because its setting sparks their curiosity and reading or listening to it transports them to a world of distinct flora and fauna, voices and cultures, moods and – I am discussing mysteries – shattered peace.

I gabbed with Malcolm Kempt at CrimeScene Bookfest in Pittsboro, NC. Michael’s debut book, A Gift Before Dying, is set in Nunavut, which forms most of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The only way to get around is by boat or plane. “The territory has the highest murder rate of anywhere in Canada,” Michael told me. He spent 17 years a criminal lawyer in the region, flying to tiny villages to represent clients, so he knows what he is talking about. Of course I bought the book!

The Canadian Arctic is foreign to me, but I know another rugged landscape: Stewart Island, New Zealand, separated from the tip of the South Island by the often treacherous Foveaux Strait. Like Michael's Nunavut, you must arrive by plane or boat. It is the setting of my second Alexa Glock Forensic Mystery, The Bones Remember.

Stewart Island is roughly 45 by 25 miles, yet there are only 14 miles of paved road. (Sometimes the road is blocked by sea lions.) There is one fishing village, one pub, one six-hole golf course, and one police officer for the 400 locals who call it home. The rest of the island is Rakiura National Park, a dense primeval thicket that attracts hunters (for white-tailed deer, imported from the U.S. in 1905) and hikers. It is a landscape that can disorient and kill.

When we lived in Christchurch, we planned a trip to Stewart Island. My husband asked if I’d like to go shark cage diving during our visit.

I did not know the waters around Stewart Island are a great white shark hot spot. Many Stewart Islanders make their living in or on the sea and have coexisted peacefully with the sharks. Two shark cage operations opened up in 2007-2008 and in the years that followed, that peace was threatened. The locals believed luring the sharks with fish parts and blood was changing their behavior, making the whites a threat to their lives and livelihood. The sharks were coming close to shore and following boats. Residents wanted to ban the cages. This inherent tension between ‘local and other’ is the spine of The Bones Remember.

I found a reason to send Alexa there from the following 2016 newspaper article:

Otago Daily Times: Joe Freiman, a 64-year-old farmer, went missing during a hunting trip on Stewart Island in 1991 and was never found. Search and Rescue will today return to the area to resume the hunt. About 70 police and volunteers from the Southern District will make use of the new SARTrack system as they search the area on foot. "The search area is probably one of the most remote parts of New Zealand so it will be difficult for police to provide good communications," Community Constable Dale Jenkins said.

The search was unsuccessful.

Alexa enters those woods when the skeletal remains of a fictional hunter is discovered. After being charged by a sea lion on the beach – she thought she would be steamrolled – Alexa wedges between clawing branches and enters the forest primeval. She is instantly attacked by another enemy: sandflies. (I was rough on her.)

When a shark-ravaged body washes ashore elsewhere on the island, Alexa is whisked out of the woods to examine the remains and use teeth marks – Alexa’s specialty is teeth – to identify the culprit so the shark can be hunted down like in Jaws. Surprise: it wasn’t a shark that killed the victim.

In its recorded history, there has only been one murder on Stewart Island. Eighty-two year old André Jose was bludgeoned to death with a manuka branch in 1927. I felt like it was time for another.

One scene in The Bones Remember still gives me nightmares. Alexa, snooping aboard a moored shark-cage diving boat, is attacked by a gaff-wielding assailant. To save herself she jumps overboard. It is night. The cold waters of Horseshoe Bay are inky black. Suddenly a whoosh of warmth, of slick oil, of putrid rot, coats her head, blinding her. Alexa was chummed. I get shivers rereading the passage.

When Alexa dog paddles into a bed of thick rubbery kelp, she thinks she’s safe from the sharks. Later she finds out from a budding scientist studying kelp that researchers in South Africa attached cameras to the dorsal fins of eight Carcharodon carcharias. Seven swam into the kelp forests.

Gulp.

I like a smidgen of romance in my series. What better place for Alexa and Detective Inspector Bruce Horne – a continuing character in the series – to have their first kiss than under a starry sky? “I’ve never seen so many stars,” Alexa says in the book. “It’s like a glowworm cave.” Due to its remote location and sparse population, Stewart Island is virtually free of light pollution and is designated a Dark Sky Sanctuary. That darkness also ramps up tension.

William Kent Krueger – whose Cork O’Connor mysteries are set in the great Northwoods of Minnesota, said, “Stories rise out of and are inexorably shaped by the unique elements of the place in which they occur.” Stewart Island teems with sharks – yes – but also teems with those unique elements which make for a great read: geographic isolation, darkness, dorsal fins, and treachery.

Where have you traveled in recent books? By the way, when my husband found out how much it cost to go shark cage diving, we went birding instead. 

Sara Johnson, 1st Sunday