Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Lisa Fantino is an award-winning journalist and attorney. During 20+ years in NYC, she worked as a writer, reporter & anchor at WINS-AM, WCBS-AM & the NBC Radio Networks, as well as hosting her own celebrity chat show on Cablevision. She has interviewed everyone from Walter Cronkite & Yogi Berra to Robert Plant, Mick Jagger and several world leaders, along the way.
Lisa has a true wanderlust spirit. She released the best-selling travel memoir, “Amalfi Blue-lost & found in the south of Italy,” in 2013 and will release her first novel, “Shrouded in Pompei,” this spring.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Shrouded in Pompei” is the first in the Mickey Malone Mystery series. For more than two decades, as a news reporter/anchor, I have seen a lot of life and learned about the dark side of humanity. It served as perfect fodder for a new view of crime with legs to die for.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My travel memoir, “Amalfi Blue,” was written basking in the glow of the Mediterranean sun in my apartment in Italy. This was not the case with “Shrouded in Pompei” and I had to learn to focus during the gloomy New York winter. I reverted back to an old law school trick, Siberian Eleuthero. I swear it gives me laser beam focus when I need it most.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Prior to law school I sued to read a mystery or thriller a month. Then law books replaced the luxury and I began to rad less. My favorite writers have always been: Mary Higgins Clark, whom I was honored to have interviewed on my TV show, as well as Anne Perry, Dick Francis and Sue Grafton just to name a few. The romantic side of me turns to Nora Roberts and Jude Deveraux because they always add the esoteric, other-worldly element which allows me to truly escape.
What are you working on now?
“Shrouded in Pompei” has taken up the last year of my life. I began outlining it during the promo tour for “Amalfi Blue” and hope to release it by late spring 2014.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I don’t think any one way works for every situation. In this age of social media, our attention is misdirected in so many directions that you need to throw everything against the cyber cloud and see what floats.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up your day job.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It was from Mary Higgins Clark. She told me that I eed to grab the reader’s attention from the first paragraph and invite them into your story. If they are not hooked by the first paragraph, then you’ve lost them. It has served me well when cutting and pasting “Shrouded in Pompei.”
What are you reading now?
Don’t laugh. “Moonlight Become You” by Mary Higgins Clark. Are you seeing a pattern here?
What’s next for you as a writer?
Waiting with baited breath as the manuscript is now in the hands of my editor, having survived the first go-round with my excellent team of beta readers.
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 classic “Tristan and Isolde”
The Whitechapel Conspiracy – Anne Perry
I’ll Be Seeing You – Mary Higgins Clark
Blood Washes Blood – Frank Viviano (a true Sicilian murder mystery)
The Wedding Officer – Anthony Cappella
Author Websites and Profiles
Lisa Fantino Website
Lisa Fantino Amazon Profile
Lisa Fantino’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account