Fridays off the Wall with Maryann Miller

Today, I'm welcoming Maryann Miller, author of Open Season, a police procedural mystery. Open Season is  receiving wonderful reviews: 

"Try this debut mystery by a journalist for its open treatment of current urban problems, clean prose, and realistic depiction of women working together. For readers who enjoy Robin Burcell and fans of police procedurals." Library Journal

"Miller  spins a tight tale that's a cut above the average police procedural in this first of a new series introducing Dallas police detective Sarah Kingsly." Publisher's Weekly

Who would you cast as the main characters in a movie of your latest book?

Since I have recently been bitten with the acting bug, I would love to play Sarah, but unfortunately I don't make the age cut. However, I have a good friend who has been in some of the productions I've been in    at our community theatre who wants to play Sarah when the movie for Open Season is filmed. She is a terrific actress and would do a great job as Sarah, although she would have to learn to cuss. I would love for Halle Barry to play Angel. Angel is quite a tough lady and I think Halle would play that tough-girl role well. I've written the screenplay for Open Season and it made the quarter-finals in the Chesterfield Screenwriting competition several years ago, so it is ready to go. Any producers reading this? Call me.  

What’s one hobby readers would be surprised to know you have? Or what is the most adventurous thing you’ve done?

I haven't been too adventurous of late, but when I was much younger, I used to like to ride horses that would do a little "rodeo" before they settled down to a nice smooth trot. There was one in particular at a riding stable that few people rode because he would start off with some good bucking. It was almost like he was thinking, "If I can ditch the rider, I'm home free. But if she can hang with me, we'll go for a good ride." And he was a terrific horse to ride when he settled down. Now, I would be terrified to get on a horse that acted up. In fact, my current horse reared straight up in the air the second time I rode him and the scream may still be echoing through the pines in East Texas. I still love him, though. 

Horseback riding in general terrifies me, so that sounds especially dramatic to me. What is the most unexpected thing that has happened in one of your books? As in you didn’t expect it to happen until you wrote it?

In Stalking Season, the second book in the Seasons series that will come out next year, I did not plan for Sarah to be attracted to Angel's brother. That possibility had never entered my mind since there are all those issues of race that keep cropping up between the two women and Angel's father is as racist as any redneck. When Sarah first pays attention to how attractive Lavon is, it starts just like any woman admiring a good looking guy. In fact, she notes that in this first book, and I never meant it to go beyond that. But as I got further into Stalking Season and the two characters were thrown together more because of the case, the stronger that attraction became. It totally surprised me when the interest was reciprocated by Lavon. I'm still not sure where this is going. There are reasons they can't act on the attraction in the second book, so I will have to see what they decide when I start the third book.

If your main character could invite anyone to dinner (fictional or otherwise), who would it be? 

I think both Sarah and Angel might like to have dinner with Martin Luther King, Jr. He could help them sort out all these issues they keep having, and keep it peaceful.

What author would you be delighted to be compared to (in a positive way, of course)? Is this your favorite author?

I have actually had the honor of being favorably compared to Lee Child, who is one of my favorite authors. I can't say that I have a single favorite. Sometimes my favorite author is whose book I'm reading now. It was just recently that a woman who read Open Season sent me an e-mail to let me know she really enjoyed the book and said it was as well-written as the last book she read by Lee Child. I almost choked on my coffee when I read the note. Since I really enjoy his books, I was excited and humbled at the comparison.

That is really awesome!  Congratulations! When the power goes out, what do you do? (Cell phone service is out too.) 

Answering just one more question because I couldn't resist this one. The power did recently go out during a thunderstorm, and I got one of our big flashlights so I could work on a jigsaw puzzle. The power was out all evening, so when I got tired of the puzzle, I used the flashlight to read. Reminded me of when I was a kid and was told to turn the lights out and stop reading. Like so many other avid readers, I would take a flashlight and hide under the covers and try to get one more chapter read.

HA!  Love it.  I used up so many batteries that way. 

Open Season

By

Maryann Miller

Published by Five Star Cengage/Gale

Hardcover - $25.95 - 302 Pages

December 2010

ISBN: 978-1-59414-915-3

            Set against a backdrop of racial tension and deadly force controversy in Dallas, Open Season introduces Sarah Kingsly and Angel Johnson, homicide detectives who are unlikely and unwilling partners. When people start dying in area shopping malls, the detectives find themselves up against a killer who has his own race card to play.

            This is the first book in a series and the second, Stalking Season, is in progress. Each book will have ‘season’ in the title as a series identifier.

You can find out more about Open Season at: 

 Amazon: 

 http://www.amazon.com/Open-Season-Five-Star-Mystery/dp/1594149151/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1292423351&sr=1-1

 Website: MaryannWrites (http://www.maryannwrites.com )

  Blog: It's Not All Gravy (http://its-not-all-gravy.blogspot.com/)

Blog: The Blood Red Pencil (http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2010/01/things-that-drive-editor-crazy.html)

 Maryann, thank you so much for hanging out with us. 

Have a good weekend!