This is one in a series of interviews with some of my and The Wife’s favorite novelists. Today we are visiting with the truly singular and USA Today bestseller Jon Land, one of the most prolific thriller novelists and all-around good guys I know. His Caitlin Strong novels about a fifth-generation Texas ranger, his Blaine McCracken series about a rogue CIA agent and former Green Beret, and his Ben and Danielle novels about a Detroit cop and an Israeli detective working to save the Holy Land are just the tip of Jon’s artistic iceberg. His incredible writing led to his being tapped to continue in print the celebrated Murder She Wrote television series starring Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher. But writing is not all that Jon does, as you’ll momentarily learn. And consider the awards, accolades and achievements Jon has accumulated, and continues to accumulate, to name here just a few:
+ 36 of his 45 novels to date national bestsellers.
+ RT Book Reviews special prize for pioneering genre fiction.
+ Shortlisted for a Dagger Award for best short fiction.
+ Included among Best American Mystery Stories.
+ Named a Top Thriller of the Year by Library Journal.
+ Runner-up for Best Novel of the Year by the New England Book Festival.
+ Winner of more than a dozen major thriller or mystery awards including the International Book Award, the American Book Fest Award, and the USA Best Books Award.
Ron: Welcome, Jon. But enough of the hyperbole. Let’s get started, shall we? Jon? Jon? Where’d you go, Jon? No, were not yet quite finished. Hold still! Let’s start at the beginning. How’d you become a writer? Why did you become a writer?
Jon: I could write a book on that, but let me give you the short version. To paraphrase Stephen King, writing is the one profession that chooses you. I became a writer because I fell in love with the process while an undergraduate at Brown University—not just writing, but also reading because no one can be a writer if they’re not a reader first. Beyond that, I’ve always loved the whole concept of storytelling. In my younger days as a summer camp counselor, I became adept at telling campfire stories, learning to perform and developing a keen sense for how to keep an audience on the edge of their seats. I often tell people I get that same feeling when I’m writing. It’s like the audience is right in the room with me to the point where I can feel their precise reaction to whatever it is I’m writing.
Ron: The Jon Land I know always has a moment for the other guy or gal who needs a hand, no matter how incredibly busy he is. Tell us about your typical days, sun-up to sun-down. If even you can remember all the balls you have up in the air at any given time.
Jon: Let me start by telling you it’s Sunday night at 10:15 as I write this and, while I have an idea of what’s on tap for tomorrow, the odds are very good things will change and I’ll be working on things tomorrow I’m not even pondering now. When you have as many irons in the fire at any given time as I do, you just never know what the next email or phone call may bring. I can tell you I generally work about four hours, break to go to the gym and eat dinner, and then come back to my desk for another four hours. What happens during those two sessions of work is sure to surprise even me, especially on a Monday! But I can tell you I’m gearing up to start my next Caitlin Strong book, STRONG FROM THE HEART. There’s nothing work wise I enjoy more than when I can focus on writing a single book from start to finish with as few distractions as possible.
Ron: Normally, it’s the novelist who gets to pick his stories and his characters. Seldom does the story or the character pick the novelist. To put it mildly, that’s quite an honor when that happens. Can you tell us how you were selected to write the Murder She Wrote series. And by that, I mean the novels and not the TV show. (Editor’s note: The TV show had an incredibly successful twelve year run on CBS—one of The Wife’s and my favorite Sunday evening fares—and is still in syndication.)
Jon: Back in May of 2017 my agent called to ask whether I’d be interested in working with Don Bain, the original author of the MURDER, SHE WROTE novels. Don’s health was failing and needed a writing partner who’d eventually succeed him. Well, having never written a straight mystery, a cozy, or from the first person POV, I immediately said I was all in. That’s the thing about this business, Ron, as you know: When given an opportunity, the answer is always yes—never mind the question! Sadly, the health of Don Bain, who’d written all 46 books in the series, failed faster than expected and I was left on my own far too early in the process. So I owe this entire opportunity to the fact that I shared an agent with another writer, the very definition of why networking and building relationships is so crucial to all writers.
Ron: As a fairly new novelist, I can relate to your observation about the importance of networking in the literary community. Staying with the USA Today bestselling Murder She Wrote series, your next in the series, MANUSCRIPT FOR MURDER, releases in just a few weeks, on November 6, 2018. Tell us a little bit about the story? And will there be more in the series? How do you put these stories together? Of course, by definition, you’ve met Jessica Fletcher. But have you also met Angela Lansbury?
Jon: No, I’ve never met Angela—neither had Don Bain before me! In my first Murder She Wrote, A DATE WITH MURDER, I came on board a story that had already been approved and more than the first fifty pages of which Don Bain had already written. In MANUSCRIPT FOR MURDER, I was able to develop the concept from scratch—take full ownership of the story on my own. What emerged was what one critic has called a “cozy thriller.” This time out, Jessica would be trying to figure out why everyone who reads an unpublished manuscript, including her beloved publisher, mysteriously dies. Because Jessica would be in possession of what might prove to be the last copy, her life would be in danger the whole way. Different than the normal template, MANUSCRIPT FOR MURDER is one of the tweaks I am bringing to the series. Will there be more? You bet, a whole bunch, starting with A TIME FOR MURDER, book #50 in the series, which for the first time ever in the books or TV series will introduce us to Jessica in her younger days when she is still substitute teaching and when she finds herself investigating her very first murder.
Ron: Fun, especially for this Jon Land and Jessica Fletcher fan. Besides Murder She Wrote, what’s next on your horizon? And what do you do when you’re not writing?
Jon: I do a lot of volunteer work at my alma mater Brown University, always a labor of love. I have several nonfiction books pending, STRONG AS STEEL (the next Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong thriller) in April, then MURDER IN RED in May. If that’s not enough, check back with me next month and the next month after because invariably things will somehow change and there will likely be more “breaking news.” Like I said before, never a dull moment!
Ron: Jon, no interview of you would be complete if we didn’t talk about . . . all you do to give back. Not just talking the talk, or even walking the walk, but sprinting the sprint, including as the chief cheerleader for ITW, short for International Thriller Writers. How do you find the time to help those you help, especially aspiring new writers, and what motivates you to do that?
Jon: I’m motivated by the fact that so many others have helped me along my journey over the past decade has happened directly because of ITW. I landed Murder She Wrote because of my agent, Bob Diforio. Can you guess where I met Bob? That’s right—at ITW’s ThrillerFest! And that’s just one of the many things ITW has done for me so it’s a true pleasure for me to give back to others who can use a hand now and then just as I have benefitted so often. That’s the thing about this business, Ron: very few writers ever succeed in a vacuum. It’s almost always a team effort of some kind and that’s why I always stress how important it is to build relationships and, yes, even in this crazy business, to be someone others like and want to work with.
Ron: Jon, you are a genuine and proven role model for others to follow when it comes to lending a hand to your fellow writers. Thanks so much for your time today. The Wife and I are looking forward to another round with Jessica Fletcher in MANUSCRIPT FOR MURDER when it releases this November 6.
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