Fine Points Malice and Payback Book Tour

Fine Points Malice and Payback by Sherrie Todd Beshore examines how past experiences and present responsibilities can collide during a complex investigation. The novel centers on a young detective tasked with connecting multiple murders while navigating the unanswered questions of his own childhood.

Andrew Coates uncovers a pattern linking three unsolved murders, a revelation that places him at the forefront of the next active homicide. The fourth victim’s case intensifies scrutiny and heightens tension within the department as Andrew works through incomplete evidence and tangled motives. A fifth attack, leaving the victim alive, introduces new direction—and emotional conflict—when Andrew forms a connection with the victim’s sister. Parallel to the investigation, his own long-standing search for identity emerges more strongly. Having grown up in foster care with little knowledge of his beginnings, he must confront personal uncertainty as he pursues professional clarity. The interplay of these threads fuels the story’s momentum.

Amazon: https://bit.ly/4ioTrUx

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44094178-fine-points-malice-and-payback

Sherrie Todd-Beshore began her writing career as a reporter and editor before moving into magazines and daily newspapers across Canada and the U.S. A dual Canadian–U.S. citizen, she later shifted from journalism to fiction, writing middle-grade mysteries and adult suspense thrillers. Her award-winning titles include The Crow Child, The Count of Baldpate, and Dream Gate II: Grabbing Time. She is the author of 17 books and has earned honors from the Independent Press Award and the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards. Learn more on her website and Facebook.

Author Q&A

How did you research your book?

After 20 years of journalism [columns and features] my research takes me everywhere. For me, finding accurate historical and/or factual research is as enriching as building the plot [though it adds to the plot challenge].

 

What’s the hardest scene or character you wrote—and why?

Though I seek to create mystery-suspense plots, writing/conveying the extreme motivation that drives someone to kill/take another human life requires developing a specific ‘mood’ and that extreme level of motivation is time consuming to get right. What made that person [seemingly like you and me] to ‘snap’?

 

Where do you get your ideas?

Like the research that goes with each plot, my ideas come from everywhere too. Sometimes there’s an obscure local or national news feature or a song or photo will trigger a memory of the ‘seed’ of an idea.

 

What sets your book apart from others in your genre?

Two elements. The first is characters as complete as three-dimensionally possible in a two-dimensional medium for protagonists and antagonists. There is motivation and a backstory for everyone, so the reader ‘feels’ they have ‘met’ each character. Second, is the story/plot. How is everyone connected and why. I hate to waste any reader’s time and if each reader is unable to figure out how the book ends – before the ending – then I’ve done my job.

What helps you overcome writer’s block?

I’ve been fortunate to have been so excited about a new book idea that I can’t write fast enough…having said that while in the midst of building a plot I have found myself ‘stuck’ not happy with how a specific scene is going. [Confession: when that happens, some days I can’t write a to-do list without listening to Earth, Wind, and Fire.]

 

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