Ms. Lucci, would you please tell us a little about yourself?

I am so excited to be a part of the Dead Silent boxed set and be among such an amazing group of authors.  It is an honor.  I thought I’d take a little time to tell you about me.  I’m Judith Lucci and I love to kilI people. I spent the past 20 years or so of my career as a college professor who was required to “publish or perish.” Trust me, good food is high on my agenda, and I didn’t want to perish. I published a large number of research studies, scientific papers and several textbooks — all technical writing — and a lot of gogglygook I’m not sure I still understand today. Once I made tenure, it wasn’t hard for me to decide to write something I wanted to write in the way that I wished to write it.  Becoming a fiction author and writing thrillers just seemed like the way to go. It took me what seemed like forever to learn to write good, meaningful dialogue. At first my characters were kind of like robots talking, just sort of mechanical. Hopefully, I’ve gotten better. Today, I’d like to talk about my Alexandra Destephano medical thrillers since that is my first series and one I continue to write to this very day.

Many authors have a “real job.” Can you tell how your career as a professor influenced your stories?

I am a registered nurse, a clinician and a researcher who has spent many years in hospitals, healthcare organizations, caring for people on other continents, and teaching global health. In my Alex series, Alexandra Destephano is a registered nurse from a political family in Virginia, who grew up halfway between Richmond and Washington DC.  Alex decides to go to law school and when she finishes at the University of Virginia, she moves to New Orleans to become the in-house counsel for the largest hospital in the Big Easy. Big, bad, and sinister things happen in large medical centers and New Orleans is home to a lot of crazies. Alex is at the middle of them.

Why did you choose to write crime fiction/thrillers?

I decided to write crime thrillers because I knew a lot of medical stuff that could easily become a medical thriller. Based on my practice, education and research, it was easy to come up with devious ways, and very unusual ways, to kill people. I guess it just builds on my natural talents, so to speak! 😊

Where did the inspiration for your protagonist come from?

Alex is my protagonist. In each novel she’s teamed against some nefarious criminal, perhaps a wayward physician, hospital visitor, killer nurse, psychopath or even the supernatural which makes her job tremendously hard. The visions for my story often come from medical mistakes, malpractice claims, or simple hospital errors I’ve confronted in my professional life. The rest of my ideas come from my warped and often devious mind. At any rate, I’ve never had any difficulties with plots or twists in my stories. I can always find a unique or novel way to do away with someone.

I’d like to mention the Alexandra Destephano series is a part of my Women of Valor World. I honor and write about women who make a difference, women who are courageous, brave, ethical and vulnerable. Other series in this world include my Michaela McPherson crime series as well as the Sonia Amon, MD thriller series. More recently I’ve added Maura Robichard, in my Seer books. Maura is a psychic witch who is also an investigative journalist at the Times Picayune in New Orleans. Seer of Evil released early this month. I anticipate several more Seer books will release in the next six months or so.

Every author has other authors they draw inspiration from. Which authors have inspired you in your writing and storytelling career?

I was a big reader of Robin Cook, David Baldacci and Patricia Cornwell, or at least most of these guys in the early years so I drew some of my inspiration from them. It seemed to me that everyone has been a patient in the hospital, or will be at some time, and I’m well aware that there is a certain mystique or aura that surrounds the practice of medicine. There’s also a certain drama to hospital life. I decided to capitalize on my knowledge of this often mysterious, secretive arena. As you know, there are many things that can go wrong during any illness or medical event. Because I know how hospitals function, (or fail to function) it’s easy for me to figure out a way for things to go wrong.

What do you find to be the most enjoyable or satisfying aspect of being an author?

I absolutely love to write, I love to make stuff up, I love to do the research that’s required with any novel, but my huge albatross is editing and finding someone to proofread my books. Even though the books go through numerous edits and proofreaders, a few errors manage to get by. I want to thank each of you who contact an author directly about an error and allow them to fix it. This is SO much better than posting a bad review or reporting an author to Amazon. I’ve had both of those things done to me and it takes up a bunch of time when I could be writing. I’m thankful for those of you who alert me to an error! I’ll heap many blessings on you for the rest of your life.

What advice do you have for would be authors who have yet to take the plunge?

My best advice for new writers is 1) keep writing and 2) get a great editor. Please understand that you may never become famous, but you can offer many people the pleasure of reading your books. It takes a long while and several releases before your name really gets out there. Trust me, when it does, you can be very successful in so many ways.  I would love for you to sign up for my mailing @judithlucci.com and to follow me on Facebook and my readers group at Author Judith Lucci. I’m always looking for help and ARC readers.
Many many thanks for allowing me to present myself in this newsletter and, be sure to tell your friends about Dead Silent because it’s going to be #awesome.

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