by Matt Lubbers-Moore
Today we are interviewing Jack Dickson, author of the Jas Anderson series and a score of other amazing books. On behalf of the Kings River Magazine, thank you for giving us a little of your time today, answering questions fans of the genre really want to know.
Q: Where do you live?
Jack: Dennistoun in Glasgow, Scotland. In the east end of the city, Dennistoun’s an area which has undergone massive changes since the 1980s, when Crossing Jordan is set – but I can still see the steeple of Royston Church from my living room window.
Q: Without getting too personal, can you share a little about your home life?
Jack: I live in a tenement flat with my partner of 30+ years. We met at a Blondie gig, many moons ago, when we were punks. Until a few months ago, we shared our lives with Dixie, the Princess Baba––a 16-year-old Jack Russell terrier. Although her spirit was willing, the flesh was weak, and we made the hard decision to end her life before she began to suffer. We’ve always had dogs––usually Jack Russells––but for now the flat is a canine-free zone and feels very empty. Next year, maybe?
Q: Writers rarely like to toot their own horns; seriously! What would you say is your greatest accomplishment?
Jack: That’s a horrible question:) These days I’m finding my definition of both “greatest” and “accomplishment” change on an almost hourly basis. If you’d asked me 20 years ago, I’d have said something along the lines of “writing Crossing Jordan”––and I’m still very fond of Danny and Ken and their journey through darkness into the light. From where I currently stand on the sweeping continuum of existence, however––and if I’m really honest, which I know you’d want me to be––I’d have to say trying NOT to think of life in terms of greatness and accomplishments is something I strive for.
Q: What inspires and challenges you most in writing? And can you describe your writing process?
Jack: Injustice is always my inspiration: I want to give a voice to people we don’t hear from often enough in the mainstream world––I want to show readers characters they’ve maybe not seen before and give them insight into those lives. Telling the untold stories, I suppose. Challenges? Probably “injustice” too––in the sense there’s often a lot of anger there, especially these days. Not a useful fuel to the writing process, for me, so that anger has to be parsed and somehow channeled into something that makes me wanna sit at a keyboard and type rather than take to the streets and shout at people:) My writing process? I get up every morning at 7 a.m., do the t’ai chi 42-step form, take a walk around the block, drink a cup of luke-warm water then fire up the Mac and write for an hour: write anything. But do it for an hour. I’m huge on editing afterwards cos I know getting it down is the important thing and I never want to censor that. After that, I move onto whatever my current project is.
Q:You’ve probably answered this question a hundred times, but please indulge our readers (and fellow writers): Do you fly by the seat of your pants when writing or plot out your storylines?
Jack: Oh, I’m a plotter––I at least have to know what my end is! Usually, I outline each chapter: where the characters are at the start, where they are at the end. I can’t write any other way and COMPLETELY take my hat off to those who “let the story unfold”––while secretly believing they’re telling lies and actually have the most detailed outline known to man! Seriously, for me stories ARE structure: it’s not what happens, it’s the order YOU, the writer, choose to have it happening in that makes a story work. And by “work” I mean “deliver a satisfying experience to the reader/listener.” Cos the first stories were oral, right? Maybe told round campfires at the mouths of caves at night. You have to draw your audience in––especially if you’re telling them a story they’ve not heard before … or maybe a story they might not want to hear. So storytellers have to, in a sense, trick them into jumping onboard. Maybe start with something familiar, put your readers/listeners/audience at their ease––maybe a joke, maybe a bit of humour to let them relax. And THAT is structure: how you chose to start, where you choose to end. Yes, obviously, content and subject matter are important too, but you’ll never get people to listen if you don’t draw them in. Writers are maybe just carnival barkers at heart:).
Q: How do you sustain serialized, continuing characters?
Jack:I fall in love with my characters––yes, it’s a bit sad and probably a bit worrying, but I find if I care about my characters I want to spend as much time as I can with them. And I do like a “bad boy”:). Conjoined with that is, I suppose, wanting to know more about them. In some tangential way, every character I write is based–– however loosely––on someone I’ve encountered. Even in the briefest sense. Jas Anderson was based on every cop I ever met––and I’ve met quite a few in a professional capacity and as an activist, good/bad/most complicated. Danny and Kel initially came from two wee boys I saw on a bus then fleshed out with several guys I knew growing up. Writers are observers––people watchers. My “real life” stories with these people were finite and maybe didn’t always end well.
My fiction enables me to explore the “what ifs” for those people––and that, for me, prompts endlessly sustainable characters. To the extent it can be very hard to let them go. When I was writing the “Jas Anderson” books, I dreamt about Jas––seriously! I went for walks where he walked, traced his path throughout our shared city. I still have a fourth volume of the series in my head, waiting to be written––any publishers reading this, please get in touch:).
Q: Have you ever had to deal with homophobia when it comes to your books, and if so, what form has it taken?
Jack: When my novels were first published, they were always put in the “Gay” section in bookshops––yes, our own little ghetto/echo chamber, however well-intentioned. I made a point of going into bookshops and taking one copy and moving it into the “Crime” section, sneaking the thing into the enemy camp as it were. Nine times out of ten, when I went back to check it had been moved back by someone: I’d like to think it had sold, but it happened too often. Does THAT count as homophobia?
Q:What got you into reading and writing gay mysteries?
Jack: John Preston’s Alex Cane series, Lawrence Block’s Matt Scudder novels, James Lee Burke’s Detective Robicheaux and––more than any of these, probably––Johnathon Kellerman’s wonderful Detective Milo Sturgis. Note they’re all American––we Scots are MASSIVE USA-ophiles, culturally! I was raised on I Love Lucy, The Man from UNCLE, and Star Trek🙂 This is why our hearts go out to that great country right now, in its time of trouble. Anyway … the Alex Delaware novels were mainstream, nicelyplotted, but Milo always had too small a part, for my tastes––I wanted MORE of him. John Preston had a LOT of sex in his Alex Cane novels so that showed me how nicely THAT could work (and who doesn’t like a bit of sex with their crime?!). Block’s “Scudder” books had a lovely muscular style and hardly any adjectives––that’s the way I write anyway, so I took reassurance from that. And James Lee Burke’s southern gothic showed me how powerful a sense of place can be and THAT’s what I wanted to do with Glasgow: use this dirty, desperate, wonderful city as a character. AND, I suppose––he said, grudgingly––Stephen King’s It––for atmosphere, a sense of looming dread hovering just beyond the edge of the page.
Q: Who have your role models as an author been? And what books are currently on your reading list?
Jack: I LOVE Dennis Cooper––for structure, for subject matter, for courage, for hope. AND, I suppose, for making me cry. If a novel makes me cry, touches me in any way, that’s a rare and precious thing. I strive to affect change in my readers––and I admire when I am changed by what I read. The power of words, eh? And it IS power: you get the right words into the right mouth in the right place at the right time? You can change the world. Yes––YOU … and I exhort EVERYONE reading this to remember that. It’s easy to feel powerless and helpless in the face of what we’re confronted with today: but words change minds.
Q:Last two questions; can you share with us a little about your upcoming current release?
Jack: Crossing Jordan is my third novel and I set the story at a time when Glasgow was undergoing massive change: we were the drugs-death capital of Europe, the murder capital of the UK, with many of our traditional sandstone brown stone neighbourhoods torn down to make way for
motorways and inferior housing. This huge, heaving Victorian city of great beauty, wealth, and appalling poverty was trying to rebrand itself, attract some of those tourist-dollars that usually head for Edinburgh or The Highlands. We had a Garden Festival––we were a European City of Culture! But the inequality, injustice, desperation and violence were still there––and those two Glasgows were kept apart by a paper thin marketing. Our co-heroes, teenagers Danny and Kel, are those two Glasgows––kept apart yet somehow managing to forge a relationship. It’s a love story. It’s a tough story that offers no easy answers. But it is a story of hope, and if I’ve done my job properly, you’ll fall in love with Danny and Kel as I did. I suppose I should say here the novel uses a certain amount of Glaswegian vernacular––which some readers have found problematic. All I can offer as help is “read it aloud”––oh, and do remember “ken” is Glaswegian for “know,” rather than Barbie’s sidekick:). Enjoy!
Q: And where can readers buy your books?
Jack: From the wonderful ReQueered Tales.
Upcoming Queer Mysteries for July 2025!!
Justice and Liberty by Sam Burns
Out July 4, 2025
Jaycie Jones goes where the wind takes her. From the college her childhood best friend dreamed of, to staying in LA for her girlfriend’s job, she’s always just drifted along. Eventually, that led to a dead-end retail job, a cheating girlfriend, and now, a crossroads. Her mother died and left everything to her, including a business back where she grew up: South Liberty, Iowa. When she follows the wind there, though, things aren’t quite what she expected, from the gorgeous blonde woman she keeps seeing everywhere, to the grimoire among her mother’s possessions. Of all the discoveries she could have made about her mom’s life, magic was not one she expected. Her attempt to build a new home is threatened when a friend is accused of murder, and even the town sheriff looks to Jaycie for answers. Can she fix this disaster, or will her small town dreams shatter around her?
In Harm’s Way by Barbara Winkes
Out July 10, 2025
She just wants to bring them home. Wendy Tillis goes missing after an appointment at the Women’s Health Center, a clinic that has been the target of violent opposition. For Detective Luce Allen, who returns to work days after her own procedure, it’s personal. Soon, the investigation takes a tragic turn, and the detective newly assigned to the case is someone Luce knows all too well. They soon discover that more women are missing. Having to navigate hostile witnesses, office politics, and her own personal experience, Luce turns to her friend Dr. Kendra Jones for comfort. Their relationship is on the verge of moving beyond friendship, when Luce gets too close to danger…
Tangled Darkness by MM Desch
Out July 15, 2025, Rowan Prose Publishing, LLC
When a psychiatric clinical assistant turns up dead, Dr. Leslie Schoen finds herself a suspect in the case—and facing allegations which could destroy her career. As Detective Davis works the investigation, Leslie launches her own inquiries. She soon uncovers deception and illegal schemes involving stolen prescription opioids. It seems everyone around her is hiding something, and as she gets closer to the truth, the threats against her escalate. She struggles with keeping dangerous information from her pregnant wife, Izzy, and knows she needs to confront traumatic demons from her own past. But as she delves deeper into a web of lies, one thing becomes clear: someone will do anything to keep their criminal plans in the shadows.
The Nursing Home Hoax by Shelley Thrasher and Ann Faulkner
Out July 15, 2025, Bold Strokes Books
Taylor, a semi-retired lawyer, and Marilee, whom she met in college, reunite in their eighties with a bang. They bond over the return of their college friend Edith, a doctor working in Africa who returns to the US for medical treatment and ends up in rehab at a local nursing home not far from Taylor and Marilee. But when Taylor and Marilee visit, all is not as it seems. Several long-term patients have been victimized by a cybercriminal, and local law enforcement seem as uninterested as they are inept. With the help of two high-school seniors, amateur sleuths Taylor and Marilee must solve the mystery of who is taking advantage of wealthy residents so they can spend more time dealing with their romantic feelings, which have evolved during their sixty years apart.
House of Beth by Kerry Cullen
Out July 15, 2025, Simon & Schuster
After a heart-wrenching breakup with her girlfriend and a shocking incident at her job, Cassie flees her life as an overworked assistant in New York for her hometown in New Jersey, along the Delaware. There, she reconnects with her high school best friend, Eli, now a widowed father of two. Their bond reignites, and within a few short months, Cassie is married to Eli, living in his house in the woods, homeschooling the kids, and getting to know her reserved neighbor, Joan. But Cassie’s fresh start is less idyllic than she’d hoped. She grapples with harm OCD, her mind haunted by gory, graphic images. And she’s afraid that she’ll never measure up to Eli’s late spouse, who was a committed homemaker and traditional wife. No matter what Cassie does, Beth’s shadow still permeates every corner of their home.
Fanboys, Foul Play, and Fashion by Shane Morton
Out July 16, 2025
Cory has written a play version of Vicki’s novel, Murder in the Front Row, and has talked Vicki into starring in it for the new community theatre in town. Everyone is excited to see her stage debut, but before the curtain rises, it’s clear that the show is cursed. Ripped from the pages of her novel, things begin to happen that follow the plot of her very scary book. Can Vicki, Cory, Jensen, and Sheriff Hottie solve the mystery before the final act? Or has the culprit finally outwitted them with a new plot of their own?
Camp Spirits by Morgan Spellman
Out July 22, 2025, Meadow Cat Press
Hoping to boost her paranormal agency’s reputation, Abby Spector returns to her childhood summer camp in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains in search of a legendary ghost said to guard hidden treasure. Instead, she finds the ghost of a former camp counselor who went missing 10 years ago. With a hazy memory of her death, the ghost knows one thing for sure––she was murdered. And she’s refusing to move on until Abby finds out who killed her and why. With a mystery to solve, Abby’s cheerful summer plans soon give way to guilt-ridden secrets and dangerous accusations. The friendly camp staff quickly become questionable suspects, and the ghost’s growing vengeance threatens to seize more than the truth. In order to solve this mystery, Abby will need all the help she can get––including her bookish best friend and her captivating long-distance girlfriend that she’s trying to sort out her feelings for. She better hurry––with the mystery and her feelings––because this ghost has a few otherworldly tricks Abby’s unprepared for, and they could be deadly.
Richard Stevenson’s Don Strachey Reissues:
Out July 15, 2025
Cockeyed
When Hunny ‘You go, girl!’ Van Horn, Albany’s flaming-est working-class flamer, wins the state lottery’s first billion-dollar payout, his chaotic life gets even messier. It’s PI Don Strachey who’s brought in to deal with the skeletons tumbling out of Hunny’s non-closet, some violent.
Red, White, Black and Blue
In an election year, Don finds himself in the unlikely role of political operative. Rumors about the Tea Party’s opportunistic gubernatorial candidate, Kenyon Louderbush, paint him as an unfaithful, callous exploiter of young men … young men that he puts into the hospital … or perhaps the morgue. Don smells truth in those rumors. But he’s confounded by a shadowy conspiracy, witnesses’ fear, and a grieving family appallingly willing to give up on justice for a brutalized son and brother.
The Goblin Market by Lauren Wright Douglas
Out July 15, 2025
Here is another mystery featuring the shadowy, intriguing world of Caitlin Reece, winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery. Who is sending Laura photos from her past cut and pasted into a gruesome jigsaw puzzle?
John Morgan Wilson’s Benjamin Justice Reissues:
Out July 15, 2025
Justice Be Damned (formerly Blind Eye)
Under contract to write his tumultuous life story, Justice is trying to put all the elements of his life into perspective for the first time. When trying to locate his childhood priest, however, he runs into a bureaucratic stone wall. Then his best friend’s fiancé, a Los Angeles Times columnist, is killed in a tragic and suspicious hit-and-run accident shortly after trying to aid Justice in his search.
A Blueprint for Justice (formerly Moth and Flame)
When Bruce Bibby, a freelance writer, is murdered during an apparent burglary, Bibby’s uncompleted assignment for the city of West Hollywood is a much needed opportunity for Justice. Hired to complete the dead man’s assignment––researching and writing a booklet on the city’s historically relevant buildings––Justice resists becoming involved in the murder investigation, wanting only to maintain his quiet, stable life.
Other Releases:
Ghost Eye by Xanthe Walter out July. 1, 2025
Spellweaver Contract by Marina Rose out July 14, 2025
Dauntless by Lisa Henry out July 14, 2025
My Sister’s Keeper by Erin Wade out July 15, 2025
Buried Past by Declan Rhodes out July 16, 2025
Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Also listen to our new mystery podcast where mystery short stories and first chapters are read by actors! They are also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify.
Click on this link to take you to Mysterious Galaxy’s website where you can purchase many of these books & a portion will go to help support KRL:
Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.
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