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QUESTIONS FROM READERS

Stephen White answers readers' questions about the motivations behind his characters, his experience with the Colorado mental health system and the future of his series.

Bridget from Port Charlotte, FL: Do you plan on continuing the Dr. Alan Gregory-themed titles? I like him…he kept me calm during the DRY ICE storm.

Stephen White: The future of series fiction is always difficult to predict, especially for authors, but I've been very fortunate with mine. The series has provided me great flexibility over the years, and I have no intention to discard it. Part of the flexibility I've enjoyed has been varying the degree of prominence that Alan Gregory plays in each story. I imagine that trend will continue, too.

Debby from Rapid City, SD: What made you pick the Bouvier breed of dog to be the kind of dog that Alan Gregory has --- Emily in the latest books, Cicero in the earlier book --- and Anvil as the poodle?

Stephen White: The dogs I don't make up. Every one of Alan's dogs, including the latest addition (the puppy that shows up at the end of DRY ICE), is an accurate representation of one of our family pets. I do change the names. The two family Bouviers have been Holly and Casey. Our poodle was Nathaniel (he was adopted late in life; I take no responsibility for the name). The new puppy, a Havanese, is Abbey (Road). Alas, all the dogs but Abbey are now dead.

Donald from North Myrtle Beach, SC: How did you get acquainted with the Colarado mental health system?

Stephen White: I got acquainted the hard way. I was a practicing clinical psychologist in Colorado --- Denver and Boulder --- for well over a decade before I started writing. I worked in numerous institutional settings (JFK Child Development Center, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, The Children's Hospital) early in my career, and later moved into private practice.

Frank from Middletown, NJ: I don't understand the motivation of Thibodeaux. He really had no reason to come forward with his part of the story. All he succeeded in doing was exposing his prior shortcomings. This was just too convenient of a plot tool and a bit unbelievable.

Stephen White: I pride myself on creating believable motivations for my characters, so I appreciate the opportunity to clarify Tharon Thibodeaux's motivation for assisting Alan. I put a lot of effort into refining Tharon's backstory so that his behavior would make sense.

I tried to portray the state hospital psychiatrist as a decent guy, someone inclined to simple kindness. Hopefully, Tharon's backstory makes clear that, through no one's fault but his own, he had suffered through the consequences of a clinical misjudgment resulting in a patient suicide (the one I describe during his residency at New Orlean's Charity). When he heard from the Boulder police that one of his recent ex-patients at the state hospital (Nicole) had recently killed herself while in the care of a new outpatient therapist (Alan Gregory), Tharon reached out to Alan in order to provide some background information about Nicole that he hoped might cushion Alan from some of the negative fallout he thought Alan was be about to experience. That was it.

Tharon didn't know about Michael McClelland's connection to Alan, and Tharon had no reason to suspect that any of his own background would be exposed. In many ways, he is a great example of Gore Vidal's famous dictum: "No good dead goes unpunished."

Hope that helps.