Home of Author J.A. Konrath


	Why did you write Whiskey Sour, the first Jack Daniels novel?
	I love thrillers, but they tend to be so serious. I wanted to write a thriller that had a sense of humor--something that would make the reader laugh while also maintaining suspense.
	Does the series have to be read in order?
	No. I make sure each book stands on its own, so you can pick up the series anywhere. But for those who want to, it goes: Whiskey Sour Bloody Mary Rusty Nail Dirty Martini Fuzzy Navel Cherry Bomb
	Your hero, Jacqueline Daniels, is a cop and a forty-six year old woman, and you aren’t either of those things.
	Thank you for noticing.
	Is it difficult to write for a woman?
	Not really. There’s a lot of me in Jack, in her personality. But there’s also a lot of my wife and my mom. If I ever write something that doesn’t ring true, they jump all over me.
	Jack has insomnia. Do you?
	Never. Jack's battle with insomnia is a result of her lifestyle. She’s successful in a male-dominated profession, but Jack also questions what she had to give up to attain her position; namely, a family and a social life. Her large plate of could-haves keeps her up at night. Me? I sleep like the dead, only louder.
	Jack comes across as very human because of her flaws.
	Everyone is flawed. Jack does some heroic things in these books, but she isn’t Superwoman. Though the series is very plot-driven, I think realistic characterization is essential for reader involvement. I identify with underdogs, people who don't have storybook-perfect lives. I believe someone who struggles is more interesting to the reader.
	Speaking of struggle, was Whiskey Sour a difficult book to write?
	I needed about ten drafts. When the drafts ran out, I switched to bottles. Can I get a rimshot for that?
	No.
	Actually, Whiskey Sour was pretty easy to write. The hard part was the research. I talked with several cops, found out a lot about police procedure, criminal profiling, pharmaceutical regulations, handwriting analysis, and forensics. Plus, to fully understand Jack’s overweight partner, Herb, I did a lot of overeating.
	Herb's constant eating is pretty funny. Much of the humor in Whiskey Sour comes from the secondary characters--Herb, and Harry McGlade, and the FBI agents...
	Herb and Harry are in all of the books. I believe continuing characters are part of the fun for any series. They're like a group of friends that you get to revisit. The Feebies, and Phineas Troutt, return in Rusty Nail, the third in the series, and Phin appears in Fuzzy Navel and Cherry Bomb.
	You managed to land a lucrative deal with a large publisher, but Whiskey Sour is your first book. How did you manage that?
	Persistence. I had tons of rejections when I started out. The reason was simple--my writing wasn't good enough. When I finally had a viable idea and the skills to back it up, I landed an agent. There's no conspiracy keeping new writers from getting published. You just need a lot of determination and a desire to improve.
	Besides the humor, your books also have some really terrifying scenes. You've got one chapter in Whiskey Sour that's only a few sentences long, and it's scary as hell.
	The bad guy in Whiskey Sour is a serial killer who does something very nasty to his victims. VERY nasty. It's something I've never seen done in a book, and it creeps out everyone who reads it. I to make people laugh, and then scare the pants off of them.
	But the book isn't graphically violent.
	There's nothing I could write that is more effective than your imagination. For the scary scenes, I wrote just enough to explain what was happening, and then the reader filled in the rest. There's no gratuitous violence in my book. Gratuitous humor, however, is another story.
	You're married. Do you have kids?
	Three, that I know of. Chris and John are from my wife's previous marriage--I adopted them. Talon is the youngest and shares both of our DNA, the poor little guy.
	Do Jack, Harry, Herb, and Phin have lives outside of your books?
	Very much so. All of them appear in short stories. Jack has been in Ellery Queen with One the Rocks and With a Twist, both locked room mysteries. She appears in Body Shots on Amazon Shorts, and Overproof in the anthology Chicago Blues, edited by Libby Fischer Hellmann. Phin has been in Ellery Queen with Street Music and Suffer. He's also in a story called Epitaph that was in Thriller edited by James Patterson, and Bereaved in the anthology I edited, These Guns For Hire. Harry has been in Futures Magazine with Whelp Wanted (which I also read aloud for the Brilliance Audio version of Bloody Mary), and in The Strand Magazine with Taken to the Cleaners. He's also in the upcoming Suckers, a novella I co-wrote with fellow crazy person Jeff Strand. Herb is in Potshot, available on Amazon Shorts.
	What other work have you published?
	There's a complete BIBLIOGRAPHY below. For the past dozen years, I've been concentrating on trying to sell a novel. Now that I have, I'm seeking out more short markets. I've also edited a collection of hit man short stories called These Guns for Hire, published by Bleak House Books.
	Your name is Joe. Why are you called J.A. on your books?
	My full name is Joseph Andrew Konrath. Friends and family call me Joe. My publisher and I decided the initials were more appealing than Joe or Joseph. Plus, because J.A. is ambiguous, I have a better chance of being picked up off the shelf and looked at. Many readers buy strictly male or female authors--it's an unconscious sexism. Men see books by women and think chick lit and women see books by men and think testosterone overload. I'd like to be judged on the merits of the story, rather than on my Y chromosome.
	Where do you get your ideas?
	I pick through James Patterson's garbage and use all of the stuff he's thrown away. Patterson is great to steal from--if he throws out ten pages, that's more than thirty chapters. Ha ha! I'm just kidding, of course. It's Patricia Cornwell's garbage.
	Do you have any advice for new writers?
	There's a word for a writer who never gives up; published.
	In Whiskey Sour, Jack drives a 1986 Nova. In Bloody Mary, she drives a 1988 Nova. What's going on?
	Both are wrong. It's really a 1987 Nova.
	Was the second book harder to write than the first?
	Not at all. Keep in mind, that this isn't really my second book. I've got nine unsold novels gathering dust on my shelf. The challenge was to make Bloody Mary a better book than Whiskey Sour, and I think I did that. It's funnier, scarier, and I became more involved in the characters. We learn more about what makes Jack tick, about her mom, and her ex-husband. I also drop Jack into the middle of a love triangle, and sparks ensue. Herb Benedict is also given more depth, and I spend more time in the killer's head than I did in Whiskey Sour. It's a lot of fun writing for a psychotic. And of course, Rusty Nail is better than both of them. And Dirty Martini is even better.
	Is there any message you'd like to give your fans?
	If I ever run into anyone who professes their love of my work, I promise to buy them a beer. Except for my brother, Mike. That only works the first sixty times.

	J.A. KONRATH BIBLIOGRAPHY
	Finicky Eater, short story, Horror Garage Magazine #7, 2003
	The Screaming, short story, The Many Faces of Van Helsing anthology by Jeanne Cavelos, 2004
	Forgiveness, short story, Cemetery Dance Magazine #48, 2004
	On the Rocks, short story, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, July 2004
	After the Big Sale, article, Writer's Digest Magazine, June 2004
	Redux, short story, Spooks anthology by Tina Jens and John Everson, October 2004
	The Bag, short story, Cold Flesh anthology by Paul Fry, June 2005
	Street Music, short story, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, August 2004
	Whiskey Sour, novel, Hyperion, May 2004, and audiobook, Brilliance Audio, May 2004
	Bloody Mary, novel, Hyperion, May 2005, and audiobook, Brilliance Audio, May 2005
	Rusty Nail, novel, Hyperion, May 2006, and audiobook, Brilliance Audio, May 2006
	Dirty Martini, novel, Hyperion, May 2007, and audiobook, Brilliance Audio, May 2006
	Fuzzy Navel, novel, Hyperion, May 2008, and audiobook, Brilliance Audio, May 2006
	Cherry Bomb, novel, Hyperion, May 2009, and audiobook, Brilliance Audio, May 2006
	The Mysterious Disappearance of Rob Kantner, article, Crime Spree Magazine #1, July 2004
	The Importance of Being Ben Perkins, foreword, Trouble is What I Do by Rob Kantner, Point Blank Press, September 2005
	Whelp Wanted, short story, Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine, Winter 2004
	After the Big Sale, reprint article, Novel Writing Magazine, August 2004
	The Agreement, short story, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, March 2005
	The Big Guys, Careful, He Bites, and A Matter of Taste, short stories, Small Bites anthology by Garrett Peck, 2004
	After the Book Comes Out, article, Writer's Digest, Sept 2005
	Basketcase, short story, Horror Express Magazine #3, Winter 2004
	The Shed, short story, Surreal Magazine #1, June 2005
	After the Big Sale, reprint article, Writing and Selling Your First Book, December 2004
	Appalachian Lullaby, short story, Requiem for the Radioactive Monkeys anthology by John Weagly, March 2005
	With a Twist, short story, EQMM, December 2005
	Suffer, short story, EQMM, January 2006
	Foreword, Something to Build Upon by Tim Broderick, 2005
	Taken to the Cleaners, short story, The Strand #16, Fall 2005
	Light Drizzle, short story, Crimespree Magazine #7, July 1005
	Epitaph, short story, Thriller anthology edited by James Patterson, Spring 2006
	Bereaved, short story, These Guns For Hire anthology edited by JA Konrath, winter 2006
	Overproof, short story, Chicago Blues anthology edited by Libby Fischer Hellman, Summer 2007
	Them's Good Eats, short story, Gratia Placente anthology edited by Jason Sizemore, Winter 2007
	Mr. Pull-Ups, short story, Tales From The Red Lion anthology edited by Tina Jens and John Weagley, Summer 2007
	How I Got Published, essay for the book of the same name, edited by Ray White and Duane Lindsey, Summer 2007
	Could Stephanie Plum Get Car Insurance, essay, Perfectly Plum edited by Leah Wilson, Winter 2007
	Sling Your Web, article, Writer's Digest Magazine, October 2007
	Don't Press That Button, essay, James Bond in the 21st Century, edited by Glen Yeffeth, September 2006
	The Long And The Short of Amazon Shorts, article, Writer's Digest, TBA 2008
	Suckers, novella, co-written with Jeff Strand for Delirium Books, TBA 2008
	S.A., novella, Wolfsbane and Mistletoe anthology edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni Kehlner, TBA 2008
	Trailer Sucks, short story, Until Somebody Lose An Eye anthology edited by Jeff Strand, TBA 2008
	How To Become A Successful Crime Writer In Six Easy Steps, article, Writer's Digest, April 2008