Mark Combs Author

The gracious and debonair, Tom Straw, takes us on today’s Adventure. He published his first mystery novel, The Trigger Episode, in 2007. Then, he got an opportunity to ghost write a series of books for a popular TV Series, featuring a best-selling crime novelist, who had been given permission by his friend, the mayor, to tag along with a police detective, so that he could research his next series of books. You may remember the series; it starred Stana Katic as detective Kate Beckett and Nathan Fillion as author, Richard Castle. Today’s guest authored seven Richard Castle / Nikki Heat novels, all of which became New York Times Bestsellers.He’s also an Emmy – and Writer’s Guild of America – nominated TV writer and producer, having written and produced Night Court, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, Dave’s World, Grace Under Fire, Cosby, Whoopi, and Nurse Jackie. We’ll talk about some of that during today’s conversation.He’s a former board member of the Mystery Writers of America, New York Chapter, he lives in Connecticut

Our Public Display of Imagination Resources For Writers segments are designed to bring helpful insight and inspiration to writers and aspiring writers.We’ve been fortunate to talk with a host of talented and successful authors over the course of the podcast and in some cases, we’ve been able to schedule additional time with them to talk about specific topics connected to the art and the craft of writing.These are the best of the best in a number of fields related to writing and publication. We’re thankful that they were willing to spend some additional time with us.In this segment, we talk with a group of authors who write Crime Fiction and Military Thrillers. We asked about their initial impressions and thoughts regarding the worldwide pandemic experienced in the spring of 2020. In this conversation, well explore some of the challenges they have encountered, things they have observed, and thoughts as to what may or may not play well within the pages of a novel.

Our Public Display of Imagination Resources For Writers segments are designed to bring helpful insight and inspiration to writers and aspiring writers.We’ve been fortunate to talk with a host of talented and successful authors over the course of the podcast and in some cases, we’ve been able to schedule additional time with them to talk about specific topics connected to the art and the craft of writing.These are the best of the best in a number of fields related to writing and publication. We’re thankful that they were willing to spend some additional time with us.In this segment, we talk with a group of thriller authors about their initial impressions and thoughts regarding the worldwide pandemic experienced in the spring of 2020. In this conversation, well explore some of the challenges they have encountered, things they have observed, and thoughts as to what may or may not play well within the pages of a novel.

She grew up in rural Kansas, but moved to Chicago in the mid-60’s to do community service work in the same neighborhood where Martin Luther King was inspiring residents to take a stand for civil rights.In 1982, she introduced readers to a street-wise investigator who was willing to use force to get answers and wit to keep the challenges of life in perspective. Her strong-willed, sharp-tongued protagonist invaded the traditional detective boy’s club, openly challenging a genre in which women were customarily portrayed as either vamps or victims. Twenty volumes later and there are still stories to be told, including a collection of shorts that we’ll dig into along the way.Our tour guide for today’s adventure is the imagination behind the indomitable V.I. Warshawski, please welcome the iconic, Sara Paretsky…

He’s a international bestselling author with a new series debut that’s already got more than 400 top reviews on Amazon. His 2017 standalone political thriller, THE CASTLE, was called, “Gripping, wholly credible, and frankly terrifying.” by bestselling Scottish crime writer, Ian Rankin.His books in the popular Henry Parker thriller series, won him nominations for a host of prestigious awards. Three books in the series were named to “The Strand’s Best Books of the Year” list and one book, THE MARK has been optioned for feature film production. He has over 1.5 million copies in print worldwide. Please welcome our tour guide for today’s adventure, Jason Pinter…

Before she began penning captivating crime fiction, she was a journalist. She got her start as an intern at Harper’s Magazine in New York and then joined the staff of Canadian Living magazine in Toronto. After deciding that she’d rather write than edit, she left her day job to freelance full-time. That decision led to the composition of 18 nonfiction books (17 of them for Frommer’s Travel Guides) and articles for a number of publications including Discover, Martha Stewart Weddings, American Archaeology, Fitness, and Reader’s Digest.Her debut novel, The Damage Done, won both the Anthony and the Crime-Spree Award for Best First Novel. Two more novels completed the trilogy, that I’m sure we’ll talk about at some point in our conversation today. Today’s guest has also written for several Anthology volumes. And… we’ll explore that as well.We’re going to begin our adventure, however, talking about her latest release in the Shadows of New York series: Don’t Look Down. It’s hot off the presses, thanks to Thomas &

He’s a critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Amazon #1 Best Selling Author. His Tracy Crosswhite series of books has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. Book 1 in the series, MY SISTER’S GRAVE, has been optioned for development as a television series.Today’s guest is also the author of the best-selling, attorney, David Sloane series. His books are sold in more than 25 countries and have been translated into more than two dozen languages.He has been nominated for, and won, numerous awards for his writing, included being a finalist for the 2017 Mystery Writers of America, Edgar Award for best novel and a two time finalist for the International Thriller Writers award.Today, we’re going to crack open the pages of his latest release, Book #7 in the Tracy Crosswhite series, A COLD TRAIL. Please welcome our tour guide, Robert Dugoni…

She was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and acquired her PhD in Linguistics from Edinburgh University. She moved to Northern California in 2010, but still journeys home every year for a couple of months.Her “proper” jobs have included banking (which she describes as hopeless) and a short stint in academia (which she labels, miserable). And, there was also that time when she immersed herself in library work and fine arts, a time that she remembers as “marvelous”.When not writing, she’s reading, gardening, baking, or running through walnut orchards. She’s visited 43 states and counting. Today, Award-Winning, Bestselling author, Catriona McPherson walks us through the pages of her latest thriller, Strangers at the Gate…

He’s a former detective sergeant with more than twenty-seven years in law enforcement. At the time of his retirement, he supervised all homicide and violent crime investigations for Maine’s largest city – Portland.Following the terror attacks of September 11th, he spent four years working counter-terrorism with the FBI and earned the “Director’s Award” – the highest honor a non-agent can receive.Since his retirement from law enforcement, he’s been writing… his first published work, Among The Shadows, was a debut success in 2016. He produced additional thrillers in the Detective John Byron series in 2017 and 2018.Today, author Bruce Robert Coffin is setting aside the time to walk us through his crime scenes…

He’s a New York Times bestselling author of 14 suspense thrillers, and counting. His novels HIGH CRIMES and PARANOIA were adapted as major motion pictures. GUILTY MINDS and COMPANY MAN won Barry Awards for Best Thriller Novels. KILLER INSTINCT won the International Thriller Writers’ Thriller Award for Best Novel. BURIED SECRETS won the Strand Critics Award for Best Novel.In 2009, he introduced readers to “Private Spy,” Nick Heller in the runaway bestseller, VANISHED. Nick Heller’s story continued across the pages of the equally riveting thrillers, BURIED SECRETS and GUILTY MINDS.Today’s tour guide is a master storyteller, who’s going to walk us into the pages of the most recent Nick Heller assignment, HOUSE ON FIRE. Founding member of the International Thriller Writers Association, Joseph Finder takes us on an adventure into the world of a billionaire pharmaceutical kingpin with plenty to hide…

He’s a graduate of Notre Dame, an avid hockey player, and an amateur musician. As the former Chicago bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, he shared in the Pulitzer Prize given to the Wall Street Journal in 2002 for coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks.Over the course of his writing career, he has written both compelling fiction and award-winning non-fiction. His Starvation Lake Trilogy was an Edgar Award Finalist. In November 2019, readers were introduced to a city living in the long shadows of the powerful, founding family, the Bleaks.Today’s adventure takes us back to Bleak Harbor, as our tour guide, Bryan Gruley introduces us to another long time resident, wrestling with the truth of her past. Straight out of the heart of Chicago, where the days are overcast and the winds are blowin’ cold… please welcome, Bryan Gruley…

She’s an on-air investigative reporter for Boston’s WHDH-TV with 34 EMMY awards to her credit and more journalism honors than I could list and you could follow. She’s won five Agatha Christie Awards, two Anthony’s, two Macavity’s, a Daphne, and the coveted Mary Higgins Clark Award. If there’s an award for writing, she’s got at least one to her credit.Her latest release is called, TRUST ME, and Suspense Magazine called it, “By far one of the best thrillers they had read in years.” Crime Reads says that it’s, “one of the best thrillers of 2018 summer.” Who do you trust when you can’t trust yourself? We asked Hank Phillippi Ryan that very question in this week’s adventure…

He’s a writer, a teacher, and an actor, with 10 years of experience as a features journalist. He’s also written a number of plays, which have been performed throughout the U.S. and in the UK. He’s a proud member of the Actor’s Equity Association, and teaches theatre & acting at the university-level.Like Livy Nash he loves the northwest of England and has a Yank’s appreciation for a good Lancashire Hot Pot. Today, we’ll forge into the foggy streets of London as we peel open the pages of his debut novel, SPITFIRE. Please welcome our tour guide for today’s adventure, M.L. Huie…

He’s an Award-Winning USA-Today and Amazon bestselling author, whose work will take you to some of the most mysterious and frightening places on the planet. Readers find themselves immersed in inexplicable landscapes that they sometimes “can’t wait to visit” and often wonder if they’ll ever, be able to escape.He’s published more than 20 novels and novellas, which have been translated into multiple languages and optioned for TV & film. When it comes to page-turning tension and chilling storylines, his work has been compared to that of “Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Joe Lansdale, and other masters of hair-raising suspense.” He has won both an Australian Shadows Award and a Canadian Arthur Ellis Award. He was also a finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards, the only major book awards, decided by readers.Today, he’s going to introduce us to some of “The World’s Scariest Places” a new book series that is several volumes deep and growing. Leave the lights on and keep your security blanket nearby, Jeremy Bates is ou

Today’s guest was the Official Documenting Photographer for the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP), the team that conducted the first in-depth scientific examination of the Shroud in 1978. Today, he plays an influential role in Shroud research and education as the editor and founder of the internationally recognized Shroud of Turin Website, Shroud dot-com, the oldest, largest and most extensive Shroud resource on the Internet, with more than fifteen million visitors from over 160 countries.In 2009 he founded the Shroud of Turin Education and Research Association, Inc. (STERA, Inc.), a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, to which he donated the website and his extensive Shroud photographic collection, as well as many other important Shroud resources, in order to preserve and maintain these materials and make them available for future research and study. He currently serves as the President of STERA, Inc.Today, we’ll walk through the pages of history, both recent (1978) and ancient (possibly as far back as

He’s a versatile writer and a master teacher of the craft. He’s penned more than 30 novels in the thriller genre and is currently crafting a book series that falls into the newly recognized hybrid genre of Cozy-Thriller.He wrote the popular Blaine McCracken series, a Green Beret with a bit of a James Bondian outlook. He also produced a series of books featuring Caitlin Strong, a 5th generation Texas Ranger, who finds out that the west can still be a pretty wild place at times. Today’s adventure will explore his latest Cozy-Thriller, featuring Jessica Fletcher and we’ll also highlight a hot new AudioBook that will take us inside the undercover world of Donnie Brasco.Buckle up, boys and girls… Jon Land is our tour guide for this adventure and you’ll want to keep both hands and feet inside the ride at all times…

In her career, she has worked as a freelance writer, worked on composited texts for academia, produced work on behalf of others as a ghost writer; she’s also taught high-school language arts, done translation work, and relieves stress as a martial arts instructor.She’s written a number of popular Cozy Mysteries, which I’m sure we’ll talk about at some point, including the Georgia Peach Mystery Series & Murder on Consignment.Today, we’re going to dig into the files of the Bone Gap Travelers, a series of books set in the thriving metropolis of Bone Gap, TN. Our tour guide for this Adventure is talented and creative Susan Furlong…

He was born in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada and captivated as a young man by a classic 1960’s television series about two young men in a Corvette convertible, traveling the United States in search of America and themselves. The TV series was called, Route 66. His creativity was so inspired by the series, that he dreamed of writing his on fictional sagas.In 1966, he moved to Happy Valley, Pennsylvania, were he attended Penn State University, studied literature under Hemingway scholar Philip Young, and received his Master’s and Doctorate in American literature. In 1972, he released a novel about a returned Vietnam veteran suffering from post-trauma stress disorder who comes into conflict with a small-town police chief and fights his own version of the Vietnam War. The book was entitled FIRST BLOOD and it introduced the world to John Rambo. He has since produced a large volume of thrillers and international best-sellers, many of which we will talk about today.Welcome to the wide-open, full-throttle world of David

He spent much of the 1990s as a homeless heroin addict in San Francisco, but managed to get off the streets and turn his life in a positive direction. He earned a Master of Fine Arts from Florida International University in 2008 and eventually returned to the Bay Area, where he currently lives with his wife and two sons. His autobiographical novel, JUNKIE LOVE, was published by “Battered Suitcase” in 2010 and chronicles his personal battle with drugs.Today, he’s an acquisitions editor for Gutter Books and producer of “Lip Service West,” a gritty… real… raw… reading series in Oakland, CA. He writes the bestselling Jay Porter Thriller Series, which opened with a book titled, LAMENTATION, that was an Anthony Award Nominee for Best Mystery Novel in 2015. The series is currently 5 books deep and has received rave reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among many others.He’s also editor of a couple of really enjoyable anthologies, which I’m sure we’ll talk about at some po

She’s a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who writes domestic noir and psychological thrillers. Her work has been published in twenty-six countries and fourteen languages. Her novel THE COLD ROOM won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Paperback Original. Her novels FIELD OF GRAVES and WHERE ALL THE DEAD LIE were each RITA nominees for Best Romantic Suspense.She also co-authors the international thriller series, “A Brit in the FBI” with New York Times bestselling author Catherine Coulter. Today we’re going to dig into the pages of her latest standalone thriller, TEAR ME APART. Please welcome, the “Thriller Chick” J. T. Ellison…