Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a water aerobics enthusiast, amateur jewelry maker, struggling bridge player, and devoted grandmother in addition to writing stories. I grew up in Kentucky, went to college at the University of Georgia where I had way too much fun, and graduated from the University of Kentucky. After college, I worked for the Associated Press then became a reporter for “The Hartford Courant” in Connecticut. My two daughters were born there. My newspaperman husband got a job in Memphis and we moved there. I became a freelance speechwriter, publicist, and marketing person for major companies in town, but my favorite gigs were with the Memphis City Schools and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. I retired and began doing what I’d always wanted to do: write fiction. I wrote short stories that appeared in such anthologies as “Now There Was a Story”, “Low Down Dirty Vote II and III”, “Mayhem in Memphis,” and “Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem”. Since I liked short stories, I tried my hand at a longer form and wrote a novella of love and murder, “The Yellow Fever Revenge.” What I really wanted to write a novel, and so was born the civil rights era suspense/thriller series, Sterling Brothers Ltd. So far the series includes “Justice Tomorrow,” “The Price of a Future,” and coming soon, “Wigs, Mustaches, and Other Disguises”. I am the immediate president of Malice in Memphis a Killer Writing Group.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“The Price of a Future” is the second in the Sterling Brothers Ltd series of stories featuring civil rights investigators Madeline Sterling and Socrates Gray.
The series was inspired by a newspaper article I read years ago about an organization that sent a Black couple and a white couple with very similar qualifications to buy a house. The organization exposed housing discrimination in several cities. I thought: what if a white investigator and a Black investigator were sent undercover to gather evidence against those who killed civil rights workers? The characters evolved from there: who would do such work? It had to be someone wounded by discrimination, adventuresome, daring, passionate, idealistic, and strong. Thus Madeline Sterling, a white Bostonian, and Socates Gray, a Black Southerner educated at Yale, were born.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I hate housework, but when I have writer’s block I clean up a storm. The work usually drives me back to whatever story I’m stuck on.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Harper Lee, Zora Neale Hurston, SA Cosby, and JD Robb (Nora Roberts)
I love all their books. I stumbled on “Their Eyes Were Watching God” when my granddaughter asked me for help with an essay on the book. What a treasure.
What are you working on now?
I need to finish “Wigs, Disguises, and Other Disguises” for the Sterling Brothers Ltd. series then polish some short stories I’ve had in my files.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use Amazon a lot and I do as many book signings as I can.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t be afraid to ask for help from more seasoned writers. Get in a local writer’s group–the advice you get there will be invaluable.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Give your villain a dog. The late best-selling author Carolyn McSparren once told me that all villains had to have something good about them–if nothing else give them a dog.
What are you reading now?
“Southern Man” by Greg Iles
What’s next for you as a writer?
I need to finish polishing the next historical suspense book in the Sterling Brothers Ltd series “Wigs, Mustaches, and Other Disguises”
What is your favorite book of all time?
“To Kill a Mockingbird”
Author Websites and Profiles
Jackie Ross Flaum Website
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