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QUESTIONS FROM READERS

Michele Martinez answers readers' questions about real-life inspirations, future installments in the Melanie Vargas series and plans for an upcoming stand-alone crime novel.

Debbie from Batavia, OH: Where do you come up with the ideas for your stories?

Michele Martinez: In my previous career I was a federal prosecutor in New York, specializing in narcotics and gang cases. That real-life research gave me material for a hundred books. I start with scenarios or characters I met in real life and alter them until I get something totally new, fun and exciting that makes for a great plot.

Whitney from Elizabethtown, PA: How do you feel your professional experience translates into your novels?

Michele Martinez: I use the best and most interesting parts of my experience as a prosecutor in my books. Every once in a while, I throw in a taste of the mundane, day-to-day side of the job for the sake of realism, but a book needs to be exciting, so I do a lot of paring down. I tend to leave out the parts where a real prosecutor would be doing research or sitting at her desk and going through boring old files in favor of the more thrilling action-oriented parts of the job.

Whitney from Elizabethtown, PA: Are your depictions of the life of a federal prosecutor in your novels accurate, for the most part, to that of a real-life prosecutor?

Michele Martinez: I try to be very accurate on the atmosphere, the details, the law, the office politics, etc. The one area where I make adjustments in order to create an exciting read is in having Melanie face greater and more frequent danger than the average prosecutor. Prosecutors are sometimes in danger from the criminals they're chasing, but --- fortunately --- not as often as Melanie is!

Aimee from Colorado Springs, CO: Being a Harvard grad, did you purposely pick a Yale grad for the flawed character?

Michele Martinez: Ha ha! No --- not unless it was subconscious!

LuAnn from Othello, WA: Where did you learn the lingo for the characters in this book?

Michele Martinez: I'm assuming the question is referring to the way the bad guys talk in the book, rather than the federal agents or lawyers? If so, then the answer is that when I was a prosecutor, I spent a huge amount of time debriefing defendants and preparing them to testify. I spent literally thousands of hours in the company of drug dealers, gang members, killers, you name it, during which I became familiar with their speech patterns and colorful vocabulary. As a narcotics prosecutor, I also used wiretaps to investigate some of the drug organizations I prosecuted. That gave me truly unfiltered access to the way street criminals talk.

LuAnn from Othello, WA: Did you style Atari Briggs after anyone in particular?

Michele Martinez: No. I made him up.

Linda from Potomac MD: When will the next book come out? Will Dan be a part of the story?

Michele Martinez: I'm writing what we call a "stand-alone" book right now, meaning that it's not part of the series. (I'm really excited about it, by the way --- it's super fun!) Neither Melanie nor Dan are in it, but I can reassure my fans who might be concerned about the state of Dan and Melanie's relationship in NOTORIOUS that Dan will definitely be in many future Melanie Vargas books.

Robin from Vienna, VA: Have you been approached to make your series into a movie or a made-for-TV movie?

Michele Martinez: Yes, but nothing has come of it yet.

Robin from Vienna, VA: Are there plans for other books in this series?

Michele Martinez: My next book will be a stand-alone and not part of the series, but Melanie's adventures aren't over yet.

Robin from Vienna, VA: Do you plan to start any new series? If so, will they also be legal thrillers, or do you plan to branch out and do something different?

Michele Martinez: The stand-alone I'm working on is very different from my series. It's a crime novel rather than a legal thriller.

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