Interview with Crime Fiction Author D.P. Lyle – S. 4, Ep. 21

Debbi Mack interviews crime fiction author and consultant D.P. Lyle on the Crime Cafe podcast. Check out the show notes below. Or, if you’re in a rush, click here to download the transcript! Debbi: [00:00:12] Hi, everyone. This is the Crime Cafe, your podcasting source of great crime, suspense, and thriller writing. I'm your host, Debbi Mack. Before I bring on my guest, I'll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two ebooks for sale: the nine-book boxed set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy links for both on my website DebbiMacke.com under the Crime Cafe link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You'll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon along with our eternal gratitude for doing so. [00:01:01] It's my great pleasure to have with me today an author, forensics expert, and consultant. My guest has won and been nominated for multiple prestigious awards for his works of fiction, and along with writing numerous works of fiction, he consults with other novelists and television writers on shows that include: Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Diagnosis Murder, Monk, House, Pretty Little Liars, and more. My guest is none other than DP Lyle. It's so great to have you on today, Doug. Thanks for being here. D.P.: [00:01:49] Thanks for having me, Debbi, I appreciate it. Debbi: [00:01:50] To say that you have an impressive body of work is understating things. For the benefit of listeners, how would you describe the types of books that you write? D.P.: [00:02:01] Well, I write both nonfiction and fiction, but my fiction works are mostly darker thrillers. But my Jake Longly, my newest series is comedic thrillers. I like comedy. And, you know, I'm a funny guy. What do you mean? So I write these comedic thrillers, and I'm really having fun with them. I was working on the fourth Jake book this morning. So, yeah. Debbi: [00:02:28] That's awesome. Tell us about Jake, then. What's he like? What's that protagonist like? D.P.: [00:02:34] Well, there's a lot of me in Jake, of course, and there's a lot of Jake in Jake, but he's an ex-professional baseball player who now owns a bar in Gulf Shores, Alabama. And his idea of life is to own a bar and chase bikinis. And his father, Ray, is ex-military spook world, special ops guy who's a P.I. now. And he doesn't understand why Jake won't work for him. But Jake always ends up mainly through his new love interest, Nicole, gets drug into Ray's world and all these cases. So you would say that Jake is a reluctant P.I. He doesn't want to be there, but he always ends up there. Debbi: [00:03:18] Hmm. So the chasing bikinis part always makes me think of John McDonald. D.P.: [00:03:25] Right. Debbi: [00:03:26] So he's not quite the white knight. Or is he? D.P.: [00:03:29] Oh, no, no. No, Jake's got his history. He's got an ex-wife named Tammy the Insane, as he calls her, who actually married the attorney that handled the divorce and that kind of thing. But then so Tammy always calls Jake for advice, though she doesn't like him. And she argues with him all the time. But she always calls him for advice, and it drives him crazy. And then Nicole, his new love interest is hot, but smart and tough and clever and focused. And so she's different than Jake, too. Jake is kind of one of these guys that gets through life on good looks and wit and charm. But he gets forced into situations that forces him to use skills he had no idea he had. Debbi: [00:04:17] Mm-hmm. That sounds interesting. D.P.: [00:04:20] It's a fun story. They're all comedic based, I mean. They're situational comedy, so to speak, with a lot of murders. Debbi: [00:04:30] Oh, that's always cool. D.P.: [00:04:32] Yeah, exactly. Debbi: [00:04:33] Murder with laughs is always cool. D.P.: [00:04:36] Exactly. Debbi: [00:04:38] How did you end up focusing on forensic science? You practice cardiology, right. D.P.