Interview With Author Morley Swingle
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My day job for over thirty years was serving as a prosecutor. Most of my career was spent as an elected prosecuting attorney in Missouri. I also served as an Assistant United States Attorney prosecuting cases in federal court. I spent a few years as a criminal defense lawyer in Colorado. During my career as a trial lawyer, I tried 178 jury trials and prosecuted 111 homicide cases, everything from DWI to death penalty litigation. My courtroom experience informs my stories.
I’ve published two novels: The Gold of Cape Girardeau; and Bootheel Man. Both are hard to categorize because they are mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction, romances and legal thrillers rolled into one. Each opens with a modern trial, but then switches to a story occurring years earlier that explains the history leading up to the courtroom battle, and then closes with the modern trial reaching its climax. One of my favorite writers, Elmore Leonard, read the manuscript for both novels and said: “Move over Michener, here’s Morley Swingle with high adventure on the Mississippi. It’s the most amazing historical novel I’ve ever read, opening and closing with absorbing courtroom drama.”
Elmore Leonard, a past President of Mystery Writers of America and the author of several of my favorite books, read The Gold of Cape Girardeau and Bootheel manuscript when it was one fat stack of 1,500 pages intended to be one book. It turned out, unless your last name really is Michener, no publisher wants to publish a book that long, so I split it into two separate books and found a publisher.
My true crime book is Scoundrels to the Hoosegow: Perry Mason Moments and Entertaining Cases From the Files of a Prosecuting Attorney. It grew out of my “humor file.” I started keeping the humor file during my first week as a prosecutor. Any time something funny would happen–and amusing things did happen–I would scribble a note and put it into the file. After a while, when invited to give talks to service clubs, I’d give them my “Top Ten Funny Cases” as prosecutor speech, which they much preferred to hear than a talk about the “war on drugs” or the death penalty. Eventually, I turned the humor file into a book, adding important points about being a prosecutor in America. Vincent Bugliosi, one of my heroes, read it and said: “Morley Swingle’s Scoundrels to the Hoosegow is not only consistently fascinating, but there is much to be learned from it about life in and out of an American courtroom. I highly recommend this engrossing book.”
My short story “Hard Blows” won a Mystery Writers of America contest and was published in the anthology The Prosecution Rests alongside writers much more famous than myself. It was fun to go to the book-signing in New York City! I sat next to Michael Connelly, another of my favorite authors.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I consider all three of the books my “latest books” because in the late summer of 2023 I re-wrote all three of them to put out as second editions as Kindle e-books on Amazon.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I doubt my writing habits are unusual. When I was still working my day job, my writing took place on evenings, weekends and vacations. It can be hard on one’s family. Now that I write full time, I generally put my butt in the chair about 8:00 a.m. and write four or five hours. Afternoons are often spent editing, reading and researching.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’m a huge fan of Mark Twain. My absolutely favorite modern writers include Scott Turow, Robert Crais, Michael Connelly, Elmore Leonard, Tess Gerritsen, Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling), James Lee Burke, Lee Child and Thomas Harris. Lately, I’ve been reading lots of Taylor Jenkins Reid, Louise Penny, Liana Moriarty, Ruth Ware and John D. MacDonald.
What are you working on now?
My books came out between 2002 and 2007, before e-books were a thing, so my project in the late summer of 2023 was to put them out as Kindle e-books. It was fun, but much more time-consuming than expected. I thought I’d simply re-type them–the Gold of Cape Girardeau won an award, after all–but if you’ve ever tried to simply re-type something you wrote years earlier, you’ll realize why I ended up heavily editing them. The good news is that the Kindle e-books are actually better books than were the hardcovers and paperbacks. I’m proud of the way they turned out.
I’m currently working on a new mystery/thriller series. Each involves at least one murder and at least one courtroom scene. The first two manuscripts are done, but my agent just told me she is retiring, so now I’m sending out query letters to agents. So goes the life of a writer!
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Contacting friends and acquaintances is a tried and true way to have an early splurge of sales. I finally bit the bullet and had a professional design an author web page for me. I picked him after studying web sites for authors I like and decided the one he did for Megan Abbott was just the sort of web page I wanted. The blood spatter was my idea, though.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep plugging away. Read lots of “how-to” books about writing, especially if you are writing fiction.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best books I’ve read about writing fiction, in no particular order include: (1) On Writing by Stephen King; (2) Kill the Dog by Paul Guyot; (3) The Mystery Writer’s Handbook, edited by Lawrence Treat; (4) Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass; (5) How to Write Best Selling Fiction by Dean R. Koontz; and (6) How to Write a Mystery, edited by Lee Child.
What are you reading now?
I’m working my way through Liane Moriarty’s books. I recently re-read Suspect by Robert Crais and Bloodwork by Michael Connelly, two of my all-time favorite books.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m working on a mystery/thriller series featuring a young veterinarian as the main character. Each book in the series will include at least one murder and at least one courtroom scene.
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?
Oh, that’s hard. For the first three, I guess I’d say Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain; Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow; and The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. If I had a consenting lady stranded with me I imagine the fourth book would be Tracey Cox’s Hot Sex: How to Do It. It’s really good. 🙂
Author Websites and Profiles
Morley Swingle’s Social Media Links