Author Interview with B.D. Lawrence, Author of Killer Redemption

Author Interview with B.D. Lawrence

The book and the character

Describe the book in 10 words or less for people who are just learning about it.

Mob hitman falls in love with a Christian woman.

Is there anything you would like people to take away from your book?

No one is beyond redemption. It is available to all. One of the models for Lyle Hardgrave in Killer Redemption is the Apostle Paul. For those not familiar with Christianity, Paul wrote more than half of the New Testament. He was also a killer of Christians, a hitman, sent out by the religious elite to find and eliminate Christians. But, on the road to Damascus he had an encounter with Jesus Christ and from then on served Him. Paul, a hitman, was redeemed. Lyle Hardgrave, from a very young age, is a killer. He has an encounter with Cora Wilson, a Christian woman, and this changes his life forever. No one is beyond redemption, even a hired killer.

Who is your favorite character to write about, and why is that person your favorite? If picking a favorite character would be like picking a favorite child, which character seems to be the most demanding or your attention and detail as a writer?

Cora Wilson is one of my favorite characters to write. She’s a Christian woman but has a past where she’s made bad decisions. Like most of us. She isn’t a theologian, she’s just a woman trying to live her life like she thinks she’s supposed to. Like all of us, she struggles in many areas. But the thing that I like about her the most was my making her so emotional and transparent. Cora is an open book. There is never any doubting what she’s feeling. This is the opposite of myself. Cora gave me the opportunity to write a character that has no emotional boundaries. Someone who embraces everything all the time and gives it her all. It allowed me to write someone unreserved, so very much different than myself.

Do you identify with your main character, or did you create a character that is your opposite?

On the other hand, we have Lyle Hardgrave. He has chained his emotions, thrown away the key, and buried them deep. Reserved can hardly describe him. Always in control. Logical thinker. Meticulous. Careful. Yes, I identify more with Lyle than I do with Cora. I want to be more like Cora, but I am more like Lyle Hardgrave. Killer Redemption gave me the opportunity to create two opposite characters, one similar to me and one how I’d like to be and to bring them together. Who would change whom?

 

Writing background and process

At what point did you decide to be an author and what was your path to publication?

Ironically, English was my worst subject in high school, on the ACT’s and in college. I was never a fan of doing the writing assignments. I loved reading, though, and talking about stories. I read a lot as a kid. Science fiction, crime fiction, literary fiction. Never did I think about writing fiction. Until…there I was sitting in a master’s level computer science class thinking about vigilantes. I’ve always had a fascination with superheroes and vigilantes. Street justice. My thoughts turned toward writing about a particular vigilante. Why not? I could write a book. I meticulously outlined the book. Ten chapters. Had the plot all laid out. I started joining online writing groups on CompuServe (yes, I’m that old). I also wrote some short stories. All these ideas came to me, and I started playing with them, writing out stories, while working on my novel. I finished that first novel. Tried publishing, but this was back before Amazon. Never went anywhere. I may resurface that book someday. We’ll see. I published around twenty-five short stories in various small subscription magazines. Almost got one into Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Then, my work life became busy, and writing was put aside. This was in the middle of writing An Angel and a One-Armed Man. Five years later, I changed jobs and was able to get back to more writing. I finished An Angel and a One-Armed Man and published it in January of 2022. Killer Redemption started life as Assassin: A Love Story written more than five years ago. When I came to Christ, I rewrote it with Cora as a Christian, tried to get it published, then put it aside. This year, I resurrected it as Killer Redemption and published it May 31, 2022.

Describe your writing process. Do you outline, plot and plan, or is your writing more organic?

When I started, I outlined every chapter. But my ten-chapter outline became a thirty-chapter book, so that process didn’t work. In general, when I start a story, I know the beginning and I know the ending. It’s the middle that evolves more as I write. I tend to write out scenes that come to me. I’ll write out a few scenes, then take each scene and flesh it out.

In my first draft, I identify areas that need research and leave comments as I write. I also write first drafts with minimal description. During my second draft, I’ll go through and layer in more description for both ascetics and to control pace of the story. I’ll also put in the information I’ve found doing research where I needed it.

One more read through, then off to the copy editor. To date, I’ve not used a developmental editor because I feel I have a good grasp of story. I think writing short stories is a great way to understand the concept of story. Therefore, while writing a novel, I often veer off and work on a short story or two. I try to get a new story out once a month.

 

Tell us what you enjoy most about writing crime fiction.

My theme has become stories of justice, vengeance, and redemption. I love writing stories about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary situations. In Killer Redemption, that’s Cora Wilson. Imagine meeting a suave, sophisticated, wealthy man who treats you like a princess, only to find out he’s a mob hitman and everyone is after him. Crime fiction gives me the opportunity to explore justice. It’s not about laws, it’s about balancing the scales of good and evil. I can explore vengeance and that fine line between justice and vengeance. Finally, I can explore redemption. Who can be redeemed? What is that path to redemption for someone society would deem evil? With crime fiction the opportunity to explore anti-heroes and ordinary people gone bad exists. There is such a continuum from good to evil and crime fiction allows me to move up and down that continuum.

 

What have you found to be most challenging about writing in crime fiction?

The challenging aspect within crime fiction is the number of authors in this genre. Also, the number of good authors. But there’s also a plethora of bad authors, so rising above the noise is difficult. It’s hard to break into crime fiction, to become known. Crime fiction is also challenging because of television. Everyone thinks they know how cops work and all the technical things about fighting crime. Everyone’s an expert. That’s why I’ve chosen to write outside of law enforcement. I have law enforcement characters, but the main emphasis isn’t police work.

The challenge overall with writing for publication is marketing. I hate marketing. I want to write and people just buy the book because it’s a good book. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that nicely. I have to spend as much time, if not more, trying to get myself known.

 

The writer

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

We live in Arizona, so we like to hike, except in the summer. Also, being in southern Arizona allows me to golf year-round. I’m a little unusual in that I like to play in the summer when the temperature gets above 100. Why? I lived in St. Louis for twenty-five years. And the summers there are hot and humid. I’ll take dry heat any day. Also, here, in the summer, rates drop and so do the crowds. I can play a round in half the time on a summer afternoon.

I’m active in my church. I like to read. And I like to travel, especially to see our son in Vancouver, Canada.

Other thoughts

What are some books or authors that you would recommend to our readers?

The books I’ve read recently that I think are good ones include Terry Toler’s Save the Girls. This one is about human trafficking, like my first book, An Angel and a One-Armed Man. “Save the Girls” was the working title of that book. I changed it when I found Terry’s book. The subject of human trafficking is one I’m passionate about helping to stop.

If you like police procedurals, as I do, try anything from Ed McBain, especially his 87^th precinct novels.

One of my favorite writers, and a mentor to me, who unfortunately has passed away, is Ed Gorman. He writes in a couple genres. His private investigator novels are great. Some are set in my hometown (and his) of Cedar Rapids, IA. He also writes westerns if you’re into those.

Finally, another book I read recently is called Win, by Harlan Coben. It’s fascinating to me because of the main character Windsor Horne Lockwod III, who can be described as Batman without all the technology. A rich, vigilante crime fighter. A fascinating character and fun read.

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Killer Redemption

Author: B.D. Lawrence

Praise for B.D.’s earlier work:

“You will be enticed, ensnared, and ultimately surprised by B.D. Lawrence’s An Angel and a One-Armed Man. Lefty Bruder, the one-armed man of the title, is a private investigator in that beloved line of knights errant dating back to Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe and Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer. And just as Chandler and Macdonald brought to life the world of Southern California in their hard boiled mysteries, Lawrence does the same with his vivid portrayal of St. Louis. Enjoy!”

– Michael Kahn, Trial lawyer and award-winning author of the Rachel Gold mystery novel series

About the Author

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