Interview with Crime Writer Matt Coyle – S. 4, Ep. 16

Debbi Mack interviews crime writer Matt Coyle 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: [00:00:13] 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 e-books for sale: the nine book boxed set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy links for both on my Web site debbimack[dot]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. [00:01:02] Hi everyone. Today our guest is the author of the bestselling Rick Cahill crime novels. His books have all either been chosen as finalists or won various awards including the Anthony for Best First Novel. It's my pleasure to introduce our guest Matt Coyle. Hi Matt. Thanks for being here today. Matt: [00:01:25] Thanks for having me. Debbi: [00:01:26] Well, how is San Diego? Matt: [00:01:28] It is a beautiful day today. It really is. Debbi: [00:01:31] Oh God. Matt: [00:01:33] It's exactly the kind of day people think about what they think of San Diego. Debbi: [00:01:36] Yeah. I love San Diego. Such a wonderful city and the weather is fantastic. So tell us about Rick Cahill. Who is he and what's his story? Matt: [00:01:51] Well, when the first book opens, which is Yesterday's Echo which came out 2013, it's been about eight years for Rick since his wife was murdered. He was a police officer on the Santa Barbara Police Department, arrested for his wife's murder, but never tried. He was released but never exonerated. [00:02:13] So he was kicked off the force eventually and he moved back to his hometown of San Diego, went to work in a restaurant kind of behind the scenes and eventually worked his way up to manager. We had to be more out in front because when he was arrested for his wife's murder, obviously the press was all over him. There was a 48 Hours episode on it, on her murder, which made him look like he was guilty. So he had all that baggage since his wife's death. Now, in the first book, he's managing a restaurant, helps a woman in peril. Now in Book Five, which is Wrong Light he's been a private investigator for five years. And a radio station has hired him to try to find out the person who's calling himself Pluto, who this person is, and why he's harassing their breakaway talk radio star Naomi Hendrix, and bad things ensue. Debbi: [00:03:20] Uh huh. So in the bio that you wrote with your guest post, you credited Raymond Chandler with inspiring you to write crime fiction. What was it about his writing that inspired you? Matt: [00:03:34] You know I read him very young. My father gave me The Simple Art of Murder when I was ... I think I was 12 to 13, 14. Somewhere around there. And of course I read the short stories in the book and I read his thesis on writing detective fiction. I just liked the idea of someone living by their own code. He was a man of honor, but he had his own code. I always see the private eye as kind of a gunfighter who rides into town alone and has to deal with sometimes competing forces, and all he has is his honor and his code. And Rick's very much that person. He actually lives by the credo handed down to him by his father who was a disgraced cop before him, which is sometimes you have to do what's right, even when the law says it's wrong. And with each book, Rick takes that more and more extreme. "I always see the private eye as kind of a gunfighter who rides into town alone and has to deal with sometimes competing forces, and all he has is his honor and his code." Debbi: [00:04:21] There's almost a Dirty Harry-ish side to that sort of philosophy.