Until the first Tapp mystery is released in November, and I have reviews, interviews and so on to post here, I'm providing an FAQ. If you have other questions you'd like answered, email me, and I'll answer if I can.

FAQ

1. When did you know you wanted to be a mystery writer?
2. What sort of books do you read?
3. How did you learn the trade?
4. What was it like, being a nun?
5. Where do you get ideas for your stories?
6. What about ideas for the characters in your stories?
7. Do you always know the end of a story before you start writing it?
8. Give us an overview of your Acey Tapp mystery series.
9. Tell us about the characters in The Hobo Chronicles.
10. A writer needs good resources. Tell us about yours.
11. What about the names of your characters?
12. Have you been previously published?
13. Was there a next appearance, as mentioned in Publishers Weekly?
14. Is The Hobo Chronicles the next in this series?
15. Who is publishing The Hobo Chronicles?

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1. When did you know you wanted to be a mystery writer?
   Strangely enough, the idea of writing mysteries had not even crossed my mind until I was in my late forties. It was the year a winter storm saddled our town with a long-term power outage, forcing my husband and me to take refuge at a motel in an unaffected area. I hadn’t thought to bring reading material and there was nothing on TV, so to pass the time, I started writing. I enjoyed it so much, I’ve been writing ever since. [Top]
2. What sort of books do you read?
   Mostly mysteries and thrillers. I like the suspense and surprise and hunting for clues. Early on, my favorite writer was John D. McDonald – especially his Travis McGee series. Currently, I’m enjoying books by Michael Connelly, Daniel Silva, Patricia Cornwell, Patrick Robinson, Sue Grafton and T. Jefferson Parker, just to name a few. [Top]
3. How did you learn the trade?
   Basically, I learned by doing. I was lucky in that from day one I thought I was a great writer. Now if I want a good laugh I read the first draft of my earliest mystery. But it’s fun to see how far I’ve come and to speculate on how far I can go. [Top]
4. What was it like, being a nun?
   Different and invaluable. I learned discipline and the value of spirituality in one’s life. Being a missionary nun, I also was giving the eye-opening experience of living in a culture different from my own. [Top]
5. Where do you get ideas for your stories?
   My mind is always busy and when I have a thought that might work in a current or future story, I write it down. When I’m ready to start a new story, I go through all these scraps of paper and a mystery begins to form itself. It’s tremendous fun. [Top]
6. What about ideas for the characters in your stories?
   National Geographic Magazine is my best tool for creating characters. I buy old copies of the magazine from garage sales or the library and go through them. Pictures of people in this magazine are usually the real thing, no makeup, pretense or put-ons. Not knowing these people, I can only guess at their personalities, problems and life in general. So in fact, I give them a bit of a make-over and a whole new identity. [Top]
7. Do you always know the end of a story before you start writing it?
   Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. That never worries me. I believe in the power of the mind and the imagination. Let them run loose and they usually come up with some very interesting twists. [Top]
8. Give us an overview of your Acey Tapp mystery series.
   The stories are very big on the fact that – just like the food we ate in our youth affects the bodies we live with in our middle and later years – our pasts travel with our todays. Tapp and team spend a lot of time digging up the past in order to solve cases.
        In real life, hundreds of thousand of people go missing every year. In 2001, there were 840,279 missing persons entered into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center. That represents 840,279 mysteries. In a fictional sense, Acey’s boss, Webster McMunn was once part of that statistic. Or, to sum up the series, Rockford Files meets Cold Case. [Top]
9. Tell us about the characters in The Hobo Chronicles.
   This is the first book of the series and it introduces the players. Top of the list is Acey Albert Tapp. He’s a big guy who has reached middle age without any goals or sense of purpose. In The Hobo Chronicles we find him unemployed and facing his mother’s death. He hooks up with a private detective by the name of Webster McMunn, and never looks back.
        As for Webster McMunn, who goes by Webb, he’s a complicated man who is obsessed with finding missing people. His own story involves having been abducted at the age of two and only rescued around the age of ten. He was adopted by his rescuer, a PI by the name of Charlie McMunn, and eventually takes over the agency. When Acey comes into the picture, he is alone and dealing with poor health as well as his demons.
        And of course, there’s a woman to make the story “whole”… Her name is Megan Bork and we meet her as the manager of her brother’s motel that caters to the down and out. It is this motel that is the last address of the dead man found in a drop box outside a resale shop. [Top]
10. A writer needs good resources. Tell us about yours.
    The Internet is invaluable. If I need a picture of a truck so I can describe it better, I just Google truck in the image option and find one that meets the picture I have in my mind. I also have a lot of old Sears catalogs. If I want to know what was around in the twenties, thirties or forties, etc., I just check one of my catalogs. And as I said, National Geographic Magazine provides me with ideas for my characters. As for the plots, clues and story twists, it’s amazing what the mind will throw out when you set it free. [Top]
11. What about the names of your characters?
    Names, well, I’m a collector. Any time I come across a name I like, I add it to my lists of first names, last names, places, streets and pets. [Top]
12. Have you been previously published?
    Yes, In 1994 I had my first book published. It was a hardcover mystery put out by AKA Seattle. I had hoped it would be the first in the series. I’m honored to say it was favorably reviewed by Publishers Weekly (March 21, 1994), writing that "Schenkel's Ray and Kate are full of charm and vigor; readers will welcome their next appearance." [Top]
13. Was there a next appearance, as mentioned in Publishers Weekly?
    Only on my bookshelf. Unfortunately, my publisher went out of business and around that same time I took over caring for my ailing dad. I did keep writing, but there was no time or energy left to hunt for another publisher. Anyone who has ever looked for a publisher knows what an impossible task it can be. [Top]
14. Is The Hobo Chronicles the next in this series?
    No, it’s a different series all together. Perhaps the Acey Tapp mystery series will do well enough to allow me to forge ahead with the Ray and Kate mystery series. [Top]
15. Who is publishing The Hobo Chronicles?
    Wings ePress. They are an online publisher offering both ebooks and paperbacks. They have my deepest respect and appreciation for offering serious writers a place to go to be heard and read. [Top]