Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a Farmer, History Professor and former CIA Intelligence Officer. When I’m not out chasing staying cows who have no respect for fences, or tracking-down undergraduates who have no respect for assignment deadlines, I am at my desk, penning the next Montclaire Mystery. There, accompanied by my Chief Beta Reader, Scruffy (cat) and Editorial Assistant, Willie Boy (beagle), I write Edwardian Mysteries that are every bit as good as those that captured my attention as a 10 year old and have held it ever since. The Montclaire Mysteries are tales of intrigue, revenge, jealousy, espionage, political corruption, and international conspiracy – just the ingredients that make for a deliciously evil soup. I get my greatest thrill when new readers taste the genius of Gérard de Montclaire, the most formidable detective of the Belle Époque, as he navigates problems that would make the likes of Sherlock Holmes, Arsène Lupin, and Hercule Poirot shudder with dread and cringe with self-doubt.
There are presently two novels, four novellas, and twelve shorts in the Montclaire Mysteries Series. A third novel — “Dead Angle” — is on the way.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The second in the Montclaire Mysteries series is “Shadows on a Distant Shore.” Though not a true sequel, it follows chronologically and thematically on my first in the series, so I suppose that is the true inspiration for the story. The location — Lake Constance in the borderlands between Germany and Switzerland — is personal. My German family is from that area, though another branch of my family originates in Lower Silesia.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
The oddest, though not so unusual, is that I scribble anywhere and everywhere that a notion strikes me. I always have a notebook or scrap of paper at hand, and if a plot idea or useful idea for a revision comes to mind, I stop what I’m doing and write a note.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Scratching a lifelong itch to write mystery fiction was easy for me, because the love of mysteries – especially those of the Golden Age – has been with me since childhood. It was then, in about the fourth grade, that I first enjoyed “The Red-Headed League,” followed quickly with “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.” Soon, I had read all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Agatha Christie, the Hardy Boys mysteries, and Nancy Drew. I thrilled at Robert van Gulik’s Judge Dee mysteries and at Sapper’s Bulldog Drummond stories. Even today, I’d rather curl up on a rainy night with anything by Dorothy L. Sayers than with a modern thriller.
Aside from the great mystery writers, I am constantly inspired by the good writing of two very different wordsmiths — Ernest Hemingway and P.G. Wodehouse. Both, as far as I am concerned, share the glory of being the greatest writers of English prose in the Twentieth Century.
What are you working on now?
I have written my first Middle Grade mystery novel. It is called “Percy St.-John and The Chronicle of Secrets.” It is based on a boy character who has appeared as a major character in three of my Montclaire Mysteries.
Percy St.-John is a protagonist with flaws, not the least of which is that he is an enthusiastic criminal with pride in his resume. He is also tenacious. A mysterious, missing book, a dead priest with expensive shoes, an unbreakable cipher, a hermit who has conversations with saints, an angry French girl, and a guardian angel with attitude might stop the ordinary 13 year old safe-cracking genius, but not Percy. He’s out to prove that he is innocent of the only crime in his life he did not commit.
When you are a self-declared “prodigy among safe-crackers,” you have two choices in life. You can freelance and stay out of prison for a while, or you can work for some government or other and hope to stay out of jail even longer. Percy St.-John works for the French Intelligence Service, or he did, until he gave into impulse and made off with a valuable painting. Now, instead of jail, the French have locked Percy in a remote alpine monastery for a year – the year 1911 to be exact – where he is encouraged to “reflect and reform.” And that is where my new story begins. I hope Middle Grade readers enjoy it half as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awsomegang is as good as any and better than most that I have tried. Ereader News Today and Robinreads are excellent. Of course, BookBub is the best, but few writers qualify for a BookBub posting.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes. Never rely on the advice of a writer whose readership could fit in a portapottie.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
From my agent, Greg. “Be prepared to work for years to become an over-night success.”
What are you reading now?
I am an eclectic reader. I am just finishing A.J.P. Taylor’s “A Personal History,” and I am just started P.G. Wodehouse’s, “The Mating Game.” Next up for me? Malcolm Muggeridge’s autobiography — “Chronicles of Wasted Time.”
What’s next for you as a writer?
When the two novels I now have on the front burner are into publication, I will probably write the next in the Montclaire Mysteries series — a story I call “The Third Key.”
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
“The Sun Also Rises” and “A Farewell to Arms” by Hemingway. “Something Fresh” and “Uncle Fred in the Springtime,” by P.G. Wodehouse.
Author Websites and Profiles
E.A. Allen Website
E.A. Allen Amazon Profile
E.A. Allen’s Social Media Links
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