The Slow Burn Thriller

 It might seem to be an oxymoron to put slow burn and thriller together as a descriptor of a novel.

Yet the traditional murder mystery fits those two terms quite well. For its pacing is very much slow burn and when appropriate thrilling.

Thrillers Then and Now

Back in my youth, some 60 years ago, the definition of a thriller was quite precise: an action–packed read where the protagonist had X amount of time to stop the antagonist from blowing up a building, destroying a city, or even eliminating the planet itself.

Today, in the world of crime fiction, everything is a thriller — whether the story is thrilling or not. Today, the term “thriller” has very little to nothing to do with the content of a novel. “Thriller” is an advertising term that is used because of the belief that readers want exciting and thrilling action and nothing else.

The term “thriller” is a marketing tool that is applied to everything in order to get sales, which means the term has ceased to have any meaning. If everything is a thriller, then nothing is. Besides, I’ve read a number of boring, dull, and unexciting “thrillers”. Which only accentuates the meaninglessness of the term.

To be honest, thrillers aren’t my thing. Even when the Thriller was a well-defined crime fiction sub-genre. I enjoy thrills in my story and thrilling scenes, but I’m not interested in nothing but thrill producing scenes on every page.

This is mostly due to the fact I read for the characters, and not the plot. I want to read about people trying to get out of a dilemma. I’m not interested in stuff blowing up or shootouts occurring simply to raise the adrenaline level.

Enter Justinia Wright and the Traditional Mystery

When I was young, I didn’t read mysteries. Except for Sherlock Holmes and the occasional Thinking Machine story.

I much preferred science fiction, horror, and sea adventures. It wasn’t until I was around 30 that I truly discovered mysteries and fell in love with them. Thanks to a librarian named Marilyn Gray, who was an avid mystery reader. She is the one who introduced me to Nero Wolfe. And I am forever grateful.

For me, it was love at first read. I loved the characters. The stories were intriguing. And the writing style of Rex Stout was superlative. Only Raymond Chandler could give him a run for his money.

When I decided to get serious about writing fiction, it was the classic whodunit I set out to write.

The result was Festival of Death. Justinia “Tina” Wright and her brother, Harry, were inspired in part by Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.

Author Richard Schwindt observed: “…why would someone do that most difficult of pastiches, Nero Wolfe, as perfected by Rex Stout? Why not take that format and create it afresh, as CW Hawes has done…”

To capture the essence of a fictional world, and recreate it into something fresh is a difficult task. The easy route is the pastiche.

I am very pleased that not only Mr. Schwindt, but others have caught on to what I attempted and pronounced it satisfactory. Justinia Wright has become a win for me, the writer, and a win for those readers who like the classic slow burn thriller.

Slow Burn Thriller

The whodunit is by nature a cerebral enterprise. A game of collection and analysis. The plot is simple: A kills B, the police think the killer is C, until the detective shows them it’s A.

What makes the difference is style, as Raymond Chandler noted.

Which might explain all of the kooky and quirky characters inhabiting the pages of mystery fiction.

By nature, mysteries start slow. And build up steam and momentum as you read, until they reach the whizz-bang climax. That is the slow burn thriller in action.

Obviously, some readers will find the formula not to their liking. They don’t want to follow a trail of breadcrumbs. They don’t want to solve a puzzle. They want things exploding on page one, and the hero taking out a platoon of assassins on page two using a pen knife as his only weapon.

That just isn’t how it’s done in the traditional whodunit world. And that’s okay. Because there are enough writers and readers so that every writer has an audience and every reader has a writer he enjoys.

If you want a more cerebral than visceral read; a read that stimulates the mind, yet also the senses; is entertaining; and still delivers plenty of action — then I invite you to enter the world of Justinia Wright. The Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries.

They are doggone good slow burn thrillers, if I do say so myself.

And I’m glad to say there are others who say so with me: “I loved this book. Loved the characters. And, I love how Hawes spins his stories.” Thank you, gentle reader.

Oh, and you needn’t start with Festival of Death. Each book is a standalone mystery. (One of my personal favorites is Book 7: Death Makes a House Call.) Yet there is an overarching character storyline you will find interesting if you read the series in order.

And if you like freebies, join my mailing list and get Vampire House and other early cases of Justinia Wright, PI for free. Sign up at BookFunnel.

Otherwise, pick up the books on Amazon.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with three bestselling novels. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes 

Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries on Amazon!

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!

Introducing April Coker of the Underground Authors

This month the Underground Authors bring you the newest book from the pen of April Coker: Just Dying to Glamp. It is book 25 in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series. The multi-author series that has everybody talking.

But April’s not new to writing. She’s been writing ever since she was a wee lass, and has been a published author since 2006. She started publishing her books independently in 2019.

Her independently published books are The Keeper Trilogy and a spinoff for kids: Ellie and the Alphabet Zoo.

April has also garnered an award from the Texas Authors Institute, which named Keeper III: Blackout a Texas Best Christian Romance.

It’s an honor to have a seasoned writer join the ranks of the Underground Authors and contribute to the group’s multi-author series.

You can learn more about April on her website: https://aprilnunncoker.com/

In addition, Rob and Joan Carter, the hosts of Meet the Author podcast, recently interviewed April (along with Joe Congel) and you can watch the show on their YouTube channel.

What can we expect from Just Dying to Glamp? This is what readers have said of The Keeper series:

“…fast-paced story with well-developed characters.”

“Suspenseful, scary, edge of your seat story.”

“Great characters and edge of your seat situations.”

Great characters are what I look for in a story. And reading the above comments, I’m champing at the bit to get my eyes on Just Dying to Glamp.

It’s currently on pre-order for only 99¢ on Amazon.

Place your order now. I’ve already placed mine.

And be sure to checkout all of April’s books on Amazon.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with three bestselling novels. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes 

Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries on Amazon!

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!

Ideas Come From Schenectady

 When asked where he got the ideas for his stories, Harlan Ellison said Schenectady.

About as good an answer as any, I’d say.

Last week we said, following Mr. Ellison, that writers write. Just like plumbers plumb, and carpenters carpenter, and mechanics mechanic.

However, in order to write, writers have to come up with ideas for their stories. Just like comedians must come up with jokes or funny stories. Now, take my wife… Please! Ahem.

So where do writers get the ideas for their stories?

My answer to that question is: ideas are everywhere. Take anything. A scene. A person. A story. A comment someone makes. A situation. Everything that exists in the world or the mind is grist for the writer’s mill.

Way back in 11th grade, my speech teacher told the class one day (when I wasn’t there) that I was the only person he knew who could talk on any subject, for any length of time, and say absolutely nothing. Thank you, Mr. Kline.

So the next time I was in class, my classmates wanted a demonstration. The subject decided upon was what does a rainstorm feel like to a horse.

I had all of 15 seconds to prepare. I spoke for 5 minutes or so, to rousing applause at the end.

I did what all good creative writers or speakers do, I made it up and made it entertaining. Because to this day I still don’t know what a rainstorm feels like to a horse.

Ideas are everywhere. What separates writers from non-writers is that writers see the ideas and non-writers don’t.

I think this applies to all creatives. Not just writers.

Michelangelo saw David in the block of marble and chipped away until he freed him.

My post-apocalyptic cozy catastrophe, The Rocheport Saga, began with a single sentence that popped into my head one day: Today I killed a man and a woman.

That sentence turned into 2200 plus handwritten pages. So far I’ve published 7 volumes of the saga and hope to return to it some day to finish it.

I was watching The X-Files reruns and asked myself what if Mulder and Scully were pursuing Cthulhu instead of aliens. And Pierce Mostyn was born.

Ideas are everywhere. One just has to see them. Writers do and non-writers don’t. Creatives create. Non-creatives don’t. Creatives see the ideas and turn them into art, music, literature, and inventions.

Festival of Death began life as a short story assignment for a Writers Digest course. The story was about a welfare worker (I worked in the county welfare department at the time) who wanted to reduce his ever growing caseload. So he invited his clients to his home for dinner, killed them, and ate them. The idea horrified my WD instructor.

Years later the clients were being sacrificed to Aztec deities in the rituals of a neo-Aztec cult in the caves below Minneapolis. The cult was discovered and broken up by my ace PI, Justinia Wright.

Justinia Wright herself came about from a  story I read featuring an amateur sleuth named Athalea Goode.

I pondered on that name. Athalea is from the Greek and means truth. Goode is English meaning good. Truth and goodness.

What if I switched it up to Latin? Justinia means justice, and Wright is English and means a maker or builder. A maker of justice.

And then drawing inspiration from my sister for her physical characteristics, Justinia Wright was born. For her Watson, I used myself as the model. And so the brother and sister PI team of Tina and Harry Wright was born. Additionally, I borrowed the ethos of the Nero Wolfe stories. And now I have 9 books and several short stories in the series and more are on the way.

Some writers get inspiration from their dreams. HP Lovecraft and Stephen King to name two well-known authors.

Dreams have never done it for me. I find more than enough material in the waking world.

I accumulate fountain pens. I like them. And sometimes I get a pen with the former owner’s name engraved on the pen. When I see that name I wonder why do I, a stranger, have the pen instead of some family member or significant person in the former owner’s life.

From that musing, my flash fiction piece, “It all goes” came about.

I buy a lot of estate pipes. Part of my desire to reuse and repurpose perfectly good items instead of dumping them in landfills.

I have several pipes made in Germany during World War II. I wonder who smoked the pipe during those years. Was it a Nazi official? A soldier? A submarine commander? A businessman?

Then how did the pipe find its way to America? And who smoked it here?

There’s a story, multiple stories, in those pipes. I just don’t know what they are yet. But it will come to me, of that I’m sure.

Ideas are all around us. Creatives see them, hear them, smell them, taste them, touch them — and turn them into wonderful things. The rest of the world just walks on by, not knowing they are there.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with two bestselling novels. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes 

Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries on Amazon!

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!