Featured Interview With Mark Bliss
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in the St. Louis area, but have lived most of my adult life in Cape Girardeau, a city located along the Mississippi River in Southeast Missouri. I spent more than. 30 years working as a journalist at the daily newspaper in Cape Girardeau. In that time, I covered everything from murders to politics. I retired in 2019 and began writing mystery novels set in a fictional town of Elmwood, which I patterned after Cape Girardeau. I have now written four Elmwood Mystery novels, the latest being “Stacked for Murder.” All my novels are available on Amazon/Kindle and on audiobook.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My parents loved reading. From an early age, my mother would take me and my sister to the public library every Saturday to check out books. When I was young, I wrote by hand a short Western on lined paper, which my parents fondly kept. I love history, particularly American history. Mystery stories intrigue me. I am an avid newspaper reader and read several newspapers online daily.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
In terms of fiction, I have always enjoyed mysteries. I have read everything from Agatha Christie to Louise Penny novels. Louise Penny, John Sanford and C.J., Box are some of my favorite mystery writers. They have inspired me with their richly drawn characters and their ability to make you feel at home in their landscapes whether in Quebec, Canada, or in Minnesota or in the Rocky Mountain West of Montana and Wyoming.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
“Stacked for Murder” involves the killing of a librarian set against the backdrop of a minister’s effort to ban some books at the library that he and his community group felt were pornographic. Police arrest the preacher, but newspaper reporters Connor Tate and Rachel Long doubt he did it. As in my other novels, the reporters work to uncover the truth in the river city.
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