by Cynthia Chow

This week we have a review of Perilous Waters by Terry Shames, along with an interesting interview with Terry. Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of the book and a link to purchase the book from Amazon.

Perilous Waters by Terry Shames
Review by Cynthia Chow

After her father was shot and killed when she was 14 years old, Jessie Madison was forced to step in for her alcoholic mother and raise her troubled younger sister Kayla. It also cemented Jessie’s decision to become an FBI agent in order to solve her father’s murder, but she’s forced to abandon her training when Kayla’s drug addiction forces Jessie to quit.

After a three-month stint as a diving instructor in the Bahamas, Jessie is finally ready to return home to Virginia, and her roommate’s gift of a weekend at the Trophy Bay Resorts is meant to be a last hurrah. Instead, a horrific deadly attack on the diving boat leaves a new flirty friend dead and traps her in the islands as she attempts to clear her name. Only her swim training as an FBI cadet allowed her to survive while Johnny Durand drowned, and even after reporting it to the Royal Bahamian Defense Force – their version of the Coast Guard – no one believes that she’s telling the truth. Trust is not something Jessie gives out easily, so she is also very wary about accepting help from Johnny’s friend Nick Garnier, who claims to be investigating a case of his own. Reluctantly agreeing to join forces, Jessie and Nick attempt to investigate wealthy tourists and jaded locals in an effort to bring justice for Johnny and solve the case that brought Nick to the islands in the first place.

This suspenseful thriller is a departure from the author’s Samuel Craddock police chief series set in Jarrett Creek, Texas, but it is just as entertaining with an array of well-written characters. The action and tension progressively ratchet up to the end, with Jessie using her FBI academy training to help her survive multiple threats and follow the tracks left by criminals. Narratives from the man who mistakenly blames Jessie for his brother’s death heightens the threat level, while heartbreaking phone calls with her self-centered mother reveal Jessie’s more vulnerable side.

The exhilarating scenes of Jessie and Nick “borrowing” a boat and dodging attacks are so cinematic that they seem made for the movies, and one can easily envision them on the big screen. Jessie is a brilliant new character who has been forced to grow up too fast and be responsible for too much, and readers will root for her to escape her past. A dash of romance only makes this thrill ride all the more appealing, and the next installment following Jessie’s growth and adventures can’t come soon enough.

Cynthia Chow is the branch manager of Kaneohe Public Library on the island of Oahu. She balances a librarian lifestyle of cardigans and hair buns with a passion for motorcycle riding and regrettable tattoos (sorry, Mom).

Interview with Terry Shames:

KRL: How long have you been writing?

Terry: Do you mean writing vs. making up stories? As soon as I could read, I used to think up stories. They were in my head, but I still remember walking around in a field near my house when I was about six, trying to find “clues” and making up stories about what those clues meant. Yes, I read Nancy Drew really early. When I started working after college, I would go to my car most days at lunch and write. Nothing earth-shattering, but learning how to write.

Terry Shames

KRL: When did your first novel come out, what was it called, and would you tell us a little about it?

Terry: Funny, I just had lunch with a friend who was in my writer’s group when I wrote my first Samuel Craddock book. It wasn’t like anything else I’d brought to the group, and she said she knew immediately that this was “it.” A Killing at Cotton Hill came out in 2013 and to my astonishment and delight hit the best-seller list and was nominated for numerous awards, including the Strand Critics Award, and winning the Macavity Award. The crazy part is that it only two months to write, and another month to edit. It poured out of me as if it had been waiting in the wings for me to become a good enough writer to do it justice.

KRL: How cool! Have you always written mysteries/suspense and if not, what else have you written?

Terry: When I was in graduate school, I wrote a few short stories that were published in small literary magazines. And I always thought I would write mainstream fiction. But I had an idea for a mystery novel and I wrote it—and I was hooked.

KRL: What brought you to choose the setting and characters in your latest book/series?

Terry: After having written ten books in the Samuel Craddock series, I wanted to write something different. I had written part of a novel years ago—an adventure story set in the Bahamas. So I went back to it and revamped it. I’ve been to the Bahamas several times and thought it was a great setting for an adventure. Also, my husband and I are sailors and have sailed a lot in the Bahamas, so sailing was a natural part of the story.

KRL: Do you write to entertain or is there something more you want the readers to experience from your work?

Terry: My Craddock series always addresses social issues, but I also want readers to enjoy the read. I often use humor to avoid being didactic. For example, in my second book, The Last Death of Jack Harbin, I introduced a member of a religious cult who swaggers and waves his gun around as if he’s an expert. When he has a shootout with someone, and is wounded, he howls like he’s been killed. Craddock has no patience for him and tells him he’s barely been nicked. It was a funny scene, but I intended a message about how ridiculous gun culture can be. Perilous Waters was intended to be an adventure story—a thriller, with no particular message. But in the next one, a work in progress I realize that I do have a deeper message. We’ll see how that pans out.

KRL: Do you have a schedule for your writing or just work whenever you can?

Terry: I’m lucky in that it hardly matters to me when I work. As soon as I turn my attention to writing, everything else falls away. So I don’t have a particular schedule. For years, I wrote after I got off work, so I’d work until midnight sometimes.

KRL: What is your ideal time to write?

Terry: I really like working in the morning, but late afternoon works, too. The important thing is to have a block of time, because I often do “dithering” before I actually get down to writing.

KRL: Do you outline? If not, do you have some other interesting way that you keep track of what’s going on, or what needs to happen in your book when you are writing it?

Terry: I just had a long discussion with someone about this subject. She is a dedicated outliner and believes that those of us who write by the seat of our pants actually have an outline in our heads. Maybe. I usually just plunge in and start writing. I’ve tried getting to know my characters before I begin writing, but I don’t find that satisfying. Instead, I find that the first few chapters are about getting to know the characters—where they are in their lives, their challenges, the way the meet challenges, the things that make them happy, and the things that upset them. But around 20,000 words, I usually stop and ask myself where the story is going. I’ll make what I think of as a rough outline. And sometimes I even follow it.

KRL: Did you find it difficult to get published in the beginning?

Terry: You bet! I would send out a manuscript to an agent, get it accepted, and then after a year the agent would send it back and say they had been unsuccessful in placing it. By then I would have written another book. Same thing would happen. I wrote six books with those results before I got A Killing at Cotton Hill published. It took me two years after I wrote it and 75 query letters before I found an agent. It took another two more years before the agent was able to place the book. So when new writers tell me they’ve queried 25 agents with no success, I gently explain that they are barely getting started.

KRL: Do you have a great rejection/critique or acceptance story you’d like to share?

Terry: One of my favorite rejections, with one of the early books that never did get published, was from the fabulous agent, Dominick Abel. Of the book I queried he wrote some comment about the characters that I don’t recall, but then he said, “…the contrivances are too ample.” I thought it was hilarious. Years later, I met Dominick and told him about the line and he laughed and said, “How pretentious!” I still get a kick out of the line. But I have other rejections that I treasure because a few agents were kind and encouraging. A couple of them gave me critiques, which were very helpful.

KRL: Most interesting book signing story-in a bookstore or other venue?

Terry: Ooh, there are a few. But I have to say I still remember at my first book launch when I took questions from the audience and a man asked, “Do you write mysteries because you think you aren’t good enough to write mainstream novels?” When I tell people that they are aghast. But for some reason, I came up with a great answer. I said, “I think at the heart of every great novel there is a mystery.” And I gave a few examples. He later came up and said, “Good answer!”

KRL: That was a good answer to a very annoying question lol. What are your future writing goals?

Terry: I want to write another Craddock novel. The 11th comes out next fall. And I want to write another Jessie Madison book. And I’m revamping an old manuscript that I still like with the idea of publishing it myself just to see what that’s like.

KRL: Who are your writing heroes?

Terry: So many, including science fiction writers. I often say that if I was smart enough, I’d write science fiction, but my mind just doesn’t work that way. So Isaac Asimov, Ursula LeGuin, and more recently Justin Cronin. And in the mystery field of course there are my early loves, Agatha Christie and Nero Wolfe—I devoured their books. Elmore Leonard—how did he come up with those plot twists? Ruth Rendell for her intricate, devilish twists. Don Winslow rips my heart out. I could never write he writes, but I admire him tremendously. But I also have mainstream writers who I call on. William Faulkner for his descriptions. Truman Capote for his mood. Stop me now or I’ll go on and on!

KRL: What kind of research do you do?

Terry: I tend to write what I think could have happened first, and then research it. That’s because in my Craddock books, I’m writing things I know intimately—small-town Texas. The things I need to look up are details—guns, vegetation, motorcycles, policing. That sort of thing. In the new Jessie Madison, there are things I need to familiarize myself with before I write, though. Jessie will be joining the FBI dive team. So I need to know how that works, and how the setting, in the Mediterranean will figure into the story.

KRL: What do you like to read?

Terry: Everything. Well, almost everything. I tend to find that a lot of non-fiction political books would work better as long articles. They tend to have a lot of padding. I like to read science, although I don’t have much time for that. I also don’t read a lot of biographies although I perked up this weekend when Wanda Morris said she likes to read biographies because it helps her create characters. Interesting. I always have a lot of reading to do for blurbs or for awards, etc. So going into a bookstore is not a good idea for me. I recently went into a gift shop and found a book by Barbara Kingsolver that I had never heard of, so of course I had to buy it and neglected my other reading while I finished it.

KRL: What are your favorite TV shows or movies?

Terry: One of my favorite series is the Slough House series. I read Mick Herron’s books and then watch the shows and find both very satisfying. I wish Line of Duty would come out with another season. And I eagerly await the next Strike series. I was a big Succession fan. As for movies, I find them often bloated and in need of a good editorial hand (I’m looking at you, Oppenheimer). LA Confidential is one of my all-time favorites.

KRL: Have you any advice for aspiring or beginning writers?

Terry: Yes. Take yourself seriously. By that I mean, take seriously what you are trying to accomplish. I spent too many years writing carelessly and sending things out before they were done. That’s because I didn’t take the job seriously. Only when I began to mingle with other writers did I start to find out about the nuances that would make a difference in my career. Join Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and/or International Thriller Writers, depending on what you want to focus on. Attend workshops, attend conferences. Learn not just the craft side but the business side of writing so when you do have something ready to submit you’ll know what to expect.

KRL: What is something people would be surprised to know about you?

Terry: I’m so social with other writers that people might be surprised that when I meet people who aren’t writers or artists, I tend to hang back. I’m not shy, exactly, just cautious. I don’t know the right questions to ask, so I wait until I know something about them before I can jump in.

KRL: Do you have any pets?

Terry: Max the Cat, and Monty the Dog. Both rescues. Max is an orange male, which as every cat lover knows is usually a very affectionate cat. And he is. Monty is the ultimate dog—me, me, me—love me!

KRL: Is there anything you would like to add?

Terry: This interview was very stimulating and thorough. I think the only thing I would add is: if you read a book, consider writing a review. Doesn’t have to be long, just a few lines, but it’s always helpful to authors.

KRL: Thanks for chatting with us! Where can people find you online?

Terry: Website? Terryshames.com
Twitter/X? Not my favorite, but it’s @TerryShames
Facebook? Yes, under Terry Shames
Instagram? Terry.shames.

You can click here to purchase this book.

To enter to win a copy of Perilous Waters, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “waters” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen May 18, 2024. U.S. residents only, and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via email please include your mailing address in case you win. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.

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