Authors send me books now and then. They can take all kinds of approaches. Some of them are slightly over the top, they'll e-mail me demanding to know when I plan to interview them? Others take a gentler approach and I really appreciate that. Douglas Boatman is one of those. He mailed me a copy of "Danger in the Rain," his debut as a crime novelist and he included a friendly note. He wasn't pushy, he was polite. He wrote that he had heard I'm a crime novel buff and he wanted to share his book with me. No demands for reviews or interviews. I liked his tactful style.
I started reading the book and it made me laugh. Boatman is clearly a devotee of the PI/mystery genre and his Dayton based detective heads to Florida and has some truly wacky adventures. What a fun read!
During the interview I asked Doug about his previous occupations. He is 68 years old so I assumed he has done a variety of things over the years. He told me that he had been a tech writer for Reynolds & Reynolds. I thought, OK, fine, but I'll admit I was surprised, based upon his writing style, that he didn't tell me about some more unusual jobs that he might have had during his younger days. He didn't mention any other jobs so I left it at that. I just perused his bio on Amazon.com and almost fainted when I saw he mentioned previous careers in mortuary maintenance and movie theater management in South Florida-how I wish he had told me about those jobs! We could have had some fun talking about that. Maybe next time. Doug is working on another book in what is now looking like a series.
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