Linda Pendleton is an accomplished writer of both
fiction and non-fiction. Her first published work was the non-fiction spiritual
book, To Dance With Angels,
co-written with her late-husband Don Pendleton. Her first novel, also co-written
with Don, was Roulette: The Search for
the Sunrise Killer. She has scripted comic books—The Executioner (published by Innovation Comics) and written
screenplays.
Richard S. Prather, the author of the best-selling
Shell Scott private eye novels, called Linda’s first private eye novel, Shattered Lens (featuring series character
Catherine Winter), “a brilliant debut.” Readers have called her fiction, “surprising”,
“entertaining”, and “beautifully described”.
Linda was kind enough to take a break from her writing
schedule and answer a few questions. The questions are italicized, and as
always, the answers are so much more important.
What’s
your latest novel?
That would be Shifting Focus, Catherine Winter Private
Investigator—the third book in my Catherine Winter Series. It was published
a year ago. It’s in print, Kindle, and audio book, as are the first two books
in the series, Shattered Lens and Fractured Image.
Catherine Winter has been
a Southern California investigator for several decades. Her late husband was
her “partner in crime.” She often works alongside Los Angeles P.D. and is in a
relationship with Homicide Commander, John Anderson. She has two favorite homicide
detectives, George Smitty and Nick Duran, who play a part in the books. She has
seen it all and does not flinch when up against the criminal world. Determined,
open minded, at times a little outrageous, she relies on her intuition in
investigative work. She claims she will not retire as long as she can hit a
target with a .357 slug.
In Shifting Focus, the divorce of an award winning singer and songwriter
leads Catherine Winter into the dark shadows of drugs, sex, and power. Determined
to find the killer of an entertainment attorney to Hollywood’s elite, Catherine
discovers the multifarious and convoluted connections between the singer and several
people as she searches for truth and justice. Working closely with the Los
Angeles Police Department, and teaming up with former cop and private
investigator, Joe Copp, the hunt is on to find a killer. (Joe Copp is Don Pendleton’s character in his Joe Copp PI series—and Joe was always a
favorite of mine so I decided to have him give Catherine a hand.)
As Catherine said, “Greed,
power, and sex—that’s all some strive for, all they desire. And eventually it
destroys—or kills. Welcome to the world of entertainment, Hollywood style.”
When I had completed the
first Catherine Winter manuscript, author Richard S. Prather asked if he could
read it. He liked it so much that he encouraged me to make it a series and gave
me this quote:
Linda
Pendleton’s first private-eye novel is a brilliant debut. Shattered
Lens is good enough I hope it becomes a
series.” — Richard S. Prather, Author of
the Shell Scott Mystery Series.
It’s also been called a “hard-core
mystery” by another writer. Words such as those, I love.
Speaking
of Joe Copp, I’ve heard Don was ill while writing his final Joe Copp novel, Copp in Shock, and you helped him complete it. Would you
tell us a little about the experience?
In February of 1991, Don had a heart attack. He was scheduled for
a second by-pass surgery (his first in 1979) when he had another heart attack and
a “clot buster” was given and caused a brain hemorrhage. He was in ICU for
several weeks, and then in a special rehab hospital for several more weeks. He
was aphasic, dyslexic, had peripheral vision loss, confusion, and body
weakness, etc. At home he continued speech therapy and physical therapy. At the
time Don was under contract to deliver the sixth Joe Copp book. We decided that
we did not want his publisher Donald I. Fine to know about his brain injury. So
after he fired his speech therapist much to her dislike, we started the book,
Copp In Shock, with this first line:
Do you know
who I am?
That was the same question Don and been asked many times by his doctor
while in the hospital. In the beginning writing of the book, I would sit at the
computer and type the story as Don spoke. I had to be fast as he might not
remember what he had just written. I discovered something interesting about his
writing process. I visualize scenes when I write, and Don had always told me he
did not, that he wrote in phrases. And sure enough that is what he did. He’d
give me a phrase and I’d have to wait for the next. I would then record each
chapter every night and he would listen to it before we would start the next
chapter. We had a lot of fun, a lot of laughter.
One of the early Copp fight scenes I’ll never forget. Don described the
scene and I wasn’t sure if he meant a hit to the knees—or chin. He jumped up
from his chair and went through the motions of the fight. I laughed so hard
that I almost slid off my chair. By the fifth chapter, Don was at the computer able to type and write, but I might have
to read him previous paragraphs so he would know where he was. A few more
chapters and we made a visit to the speech therapist and showed her the manuscript.
She couldn’t believe it.
Near the end
of the Copp story, Don reviewed all my tapes for a wrap up and I’ll be darned
if he didn’t catch something that needed to be addressed that I had forgotten
from the early part of the book. The brain is so strange. Don recovered 98%. We
had the book completed on time and delivered by August. That book is very
special to me—and it was to Don.
What
was your first published novel?
My first published novel
would be Roulette, The Search for the Sunrise
Killer, co-written with Don Pendleton. Police Detective Rebecca Storme, and
her husband, veteran Detective Sergeant Peter Storme, both married more to the
badge than each other, have inevitable conflict within their marriage, and
their careers are put to the test when a psychopathic killer invades their
peaceful Southern California community and turns it into a hotbed of fear and
outrage. As it turned out this was
Don’s last novel. We enjoyed writing it, working side by side, but for both of
us, writing the viewpoint of a psychopath was at times unnerving and we’d have
to step away from it. We had started writing the book with alternating
viewpoint chapters of Rebecca and Peter, but decided against that style.
New York publisher,
Donald I. Fine was set to publish it,
but in his “editing skills” he wanted us to make a few changes regarding the
flirtation of our characters. We said no. We believed it was the difference of
East Coast vs. West Coast, and maybe old fashioned vs. a more liberal CA life
style and social life. Fine was the same old time editor who tried to change
Don’s dialogue in Copp for Hire from “guys”—to
“fellows.” As Don told him, “You don’t touch my dialogue.” So we turned down Fine’s
offer to publish Roulette. Our agent marketed
it for a while, but I went on to self-publish.
I’ve adapted it to the
screen and marketed the screenplay to Hollywood for a while, but it now sits on
my closet shelf. I did have an agency ask me a few months ago if film rights
were available to Roulette, but haven’t
heard more.
I recall Larry Kirshbaum,
then CEO of Warner Books, had asked what we were working on, and it was Roulette. Because of my background, he
wanted to know if writing it was cathartic. (maybe, maybe not). Wish he’d
bought the book when we completed it.
Would
you tell us a little bit about your background?
My background—I was
married to a Southern California police captain for 25 years. He worked his way
up the ranks, patrolman, detective, lieutenant, captain, and often acting
chief, before retiring. (He skipped Sergeant.) It was a small police department
but our lives revolved around that police life. Being involved in that way with
cops has given me a lot of insight into police work, personalities, and the
good and bad of it. Most of the people were decent people, but there were those
who had their problems. I always think about Joseph Wambaugh’s The New Centurions, and how upset that
book made me as a young police wife.
Fiction versus reality. It’s a more dangerous world out there on the
streets today.
With
your police department insider experience, have you ever considered writing a
police procedural?
Well, we [Linda and Don
Pendleton] wrote one, Roulette, and I’ve
thought about another, even one with Rebecca Storme [the protagonist from Roulette]. Maybe one day.
Without
breaking any of your personal taboos, would you give us an idea of what you’re
working on now?
After publishing three
small nonfiction books in recent months, I’m back to fiction. Currently I’m
working on a western novel set in the Gold Rush period in Northern CA. I’ve published
several nonfiction Gold Rush books that were published in the 1850s, in which I’ve
written new Introductions. I’m a native Californian, and I find our state
history fascinating. So I’m doing research, which I enjoy, and I’ll see where
this takes me. I’m just a few chapters into it. I enjoyed writing my historical
novel, Corn Silk Days, Iowa 1862, which
was inspired by, and written around, actual letters my great great-grandfather
wrote home to my great great-grandmother during the Civil War. Maybe this western
will inspire me the same way Corn Silk
did.
I also have a few
chapters written of my second Richard McCord Private Eye novel, Deadly Designs. I published the first
one, Deadly Flare-Up, in late 2015. I
wrote that under L.R. Pendleton—in hopes of overcoming that silent “chauvinism.”
I enjoy the McCord character as he gives me more freedom than I have with my
Catherine Winter character. He’s a former Southern California district attorney
turned private investigator, and a recovering alcoholic.
Last week I had my cover
designer make me covers for the western and the McCord book as inspiration to complete
the books.
Since you’ve written both
fiction and non-fiction, do you prefer writing one over the other?
That’s hard to
say, Ben. I enjoy both, but I suppose fiction would be my first choice. I become
attached to my characters. But nonfiction can have its benefits—like a meeting
of the minds—probably more so than most fiction, unless it is the “great
American novel.”
When
did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
As a young teenager. I
loved writing high school and college term papers. I enjoyed research, kind of
crazy, huh? In my early twenties I wrote a children’s story and sent it off to
NY. I was rejected—my first rejection slip of several to come. Then a nonfiction
proposal for a science book was more promising. The NY editor wanted to see it
when I completed the book. Like a dummy, I chickened out and did not finish it.
I don’t know if I was afraid of success or of failure. About that same time, I
thought I could write a trashy paperback.
Didn’t work out. LOL.
How
do you go about writing?
I sit at my desk and use
my PC. I don’t like laptops. I do not outline. I may make a few notes as I go
along, but I basically start out from page one and see where it takes me. The
only time I write longhand might be in the middle of the night when an idea
comes to me. I write chapter by chapter and let the story unfold as the
characters move forward. I may have an idea where my story is going, but I let
it evolve. I visualize scenes as I write. I love the feeling when the
characters take over and write the story.
I absorbed so much from
Don. He was a great teacher, not only of writing, but of life. I still feel his
inspiration and I’m sure he’s looking over my shoulder as I write. He used to
tell me to believe in my writing—something that was difficult for me in the
beginning. At this point in my life, I know my writing will not please
everyone, nor does all writing by others please me. But that’s okay. I write
because I love to write—and I’d be so bored if I couldn’t. Over the last two
years, I’ve had some medical problems, but thank goodness I can still be
creative.
Do
you have any specific pleasures, or displeasures, that come from writing?
My pleasure from writing
is being able to share it with others. It’s wonderful when someone tells you
they were inspired by your writing. It’s heartwarming when a reader shares that
with you. It happens fairly often with my nonfiction writing. When Don and I
wrote our nonfiction book, To Dance With
Angels, the amount of wonderful mail received was incredible to read. For
many, it was a life-changing book. And that’s heavy to know your words upon a
page have the power to inspire and arouse emotions in that way. Writing gives me personal
satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. And that’s enough to keep me at it.
I won’t deny that those royalty deposits are always nice, too.
I have a great cover
designer, Judy Bullard, and we’ve worked together for nearly two decades. I
also have a great editor. No longer do I have to worry about NY publishers and
fighting for owed royalties, or decent contracts, or waiting on agents. And I
thank Jeff Bezos and Amazon for that. I’ve also published some at Smashwords to
get out to Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple, etc. I’m happy with ACX [the Amazon
platform for producing audio books] and Audible, too. I like having control
over my books as far as price, covers, and royalties.
The business end of
writing can take a lot of time, and promotion can suck. And of course, I have
Don’s books to take care of, along with mine. I have several websites and a few
blogs, and that takes time to edit and maintain. So the business end of writing
can be time consuming and take away from creative time.
Are
there any writers that inspired—or continue to inspire—your own writing?
Looking back, before my
husband, Don Pendleton, I was inspired by Phyllis A. Whitney, Lawrence Sanders,
Joseph Wambaugh, Thomas Sugrue, Louis L’Amour, Longfellow, David Viscott, M.D.,
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D.
But Don Pendleton was and
is still my inspiration. The year I met him I began taking my writing
seriously. At that time, I had two incomplete novels—stories that I had set
aside. (and probably a good place for
them). He encouraged and supported me in my desire to write, and convinced me I
could do anything I wanted, and do it well. Every day I thank him for that.
When
and how did you and your late-husband, Don Pendleton, meet?
Wow, thirty-five years ago. We met in a hotel lounge
where Don’s daughter and future husband were
entertaining. As our eyes met, it was love at first sight and scared us both! Soulmates, yes. If we’d not believed in
reincarnation before, we couldn’t help but believe from that moment on.
If
you could write anything, without commercial considerations, what would it be?
I believe I already do
that. I write what I want, and hope that there will be others who will choose
to read it.
If
you were stranded on an island and you had only one book, what would it be?
That’s a hard one to
answer. How about a large journal and a supply of pens so I can write?
If
you were allowed only to recommend one of your own novels, or stories, which
one would you want people to read?
Another hard question! Shattered Lens, Catherine Winter Private Investigator, I suppose would be my
choice—and for those who don’t care for PI novels, how about an historical
family saga, Corn Silk Days, Iowa, 1862?
My late mother said it was very good. And when you can get that kind of
response from family, that counts.
You
can visit Linda’s and Don’s websites:
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