Mystery
Date Published: July 2013
When crime scene cleaner Charles 'Yey' Reyes helps a detective friend solve a Roanoke homicide, he shuns the praise. He quickly changes his mind when his friend is killed while on duty. But this time, his offer to help is rejected by the police captain. Meanwhile, homegrown celebrity Sydney Estes buys a house near town. As the citizens swoon, Yey notices a link between Sydney and a flurry of homicides. Harangued by the captain, local media, and Sydney's fans, Yey struggles to connect clues which will prove his theories.
Interview:
How did you decide how gory to make the crime
scenes? Did that decide the genre (mystery versus horror)?
My goal was to make all of the crime scenes and
descriptions more suggestive than explicit. If I had written "Cap'n
Random" as a younger, more carnal writer, it probably would have leaned
more toward horror instead of mystery. But now I am capable of tossing out a
few sentences and letting the reader fill in the blanks. As time goes by and
society becomes more jaded, people are harder to shock. This is why we see
movies like the "Saw" series, for example, which I haven't seen based
on what I've heard about them. Showing blood spurting from a knife wound isn't
enough to titillate the 21st century audience... they have to see the actual
decapitations, the most imaginative tortures, the most hoarse screams from
victims. It really speaks to our growing depravity, because this stuff is not
necessary, yet it sells. It's analogous to sex appeal: We now have drain
cleaner commercials in which male plumbers are blatantly talking about
"clearing women's pipes" and such nonsense; it's not sexy or even
funny, just sick. I want to go the other way. Our imaginations are already able
to form crime scenes that no writer or director or artist can render, anyway.
So I don't need to go the Stephen King route. I don't have to do my best to
give the reader nightmares. I want him or her to be either solving the case
along with the characters, or take the Columbo approach by showing the culprit
at the start and slowly closing the trap upon him.
How did you prepare for the crime scenes?
Pictures, experience, TV, or asked a CSI?
I have always been a fan of police procedurals,
where the crime is usually already done by the time police and detectives and
CSIs reach the scene. The piecing together is more interesting to me than
watching the crime take place. When it's a story that feels a need to portray
the slashing and shooting, I generally lose interest. I want the mental,
intellectual, intuitive part as a consumer. Of course, the graphic stuff has
shaped me in some ways, because if you watch any TV or read books at all, you
will come across someone who is trying to shake you up with brains on the wall.
I really stopped being interested in gore after I turned thirty and became
saved by my faith in Christ, but my teenage fondness for the "Child's
Play" and "Friday the 13th" type films can't be easily flushed
from my memory. The crime scenes in this story are admittedly a combination of
those past, fading memories and trying to make the reader do some work by not
describing every blood spot. I want to show that men and women are capable of
wicked things, without glorifying those things.
Will this be a series?
"Cap'n Random" originally came about
because my mother suggested the idea of the homicide of a social worker. The
story came out differently than she wanted, probably, because I tend to go
where the story flows. I see stories as water, and you don't stop water from
running; all you can do is steer it. But she deserves the credit for the seed
of an idea. I definitely can see Detective Reyes becoming a recurring
character. Actually his first brief appearance was in my third book,
"Shakespeare Ashes," when he was investigating a brawl that injured a
military veteran. When my mother gave me her idea, I immediately thought of
Reyes, and expanded his character. He interests me, and usually if something
interests me then I know at least a few other people will be interested, too.
Dogs or cats?
I love them all. I grew up with dogs and never took to cats back then. I thought felines were aloof or just plain snobby... which they can be. But I adopted my first cat in 2004, when I wanted a pet. I named him after the tough-guy Panthro from the Thundercats cartoons. I was working nights and didn't think a dog should be alone during the overnight hours. The cat didn't seem to mind. And I learned that the kitties have distinct personalities of their own, which I never thought about before.
Do you work with an outline, or just write?
I usually begin with a scene or a character that will flash through my mind. If I can't stop thinking about it, then I know it's interesting. If it's interesting to me, I know that others will find it intriguing, too, even if just a few others. I sometimes write an outline, but it almost never takes. The characters and situations will always shift around on their own, and I let that happen. I've learned the hard way that I can't force square pegs into round holes. And it is just more exciting to go with that flow.
Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
An artist's works can't help but be somewhat based on what they've either been through, or seen and heard. You can only give away what you possess. But my imagination is more interesting than my real life. Maybe I'll live long enough to write a memoir, and then I will do the "true experience" thing.
What books have most influenced your life most?
The most important and influential book in my life is clearly the King James Bible. From a secular standpoint, the stories in there have been copied and interpreted over and over, but never improved. It's influenced me in my writing to not use fifty words when ten will do. Spiritually, that book is more truthful than any other. It's laughable when people say it is just a book of myths, because the prophecies in there have been proven to be true. Those who don't believe that simply haven't done their research. And in many cases, that's because they are afraid on a deep level to really do their due diligence, reading for themselves instead of depending on what the History Channel or other so-called scientific sources tell them.
What would you like my readers to know?
Never give up on God, because He cares for you!
Chris DeBrie
Chris DeBrie is an American publisher, author, and artist. He has written hundreds of news and sports articles for a variety of sources. DeBrie has independently published several novels and comic books. He lives in Roanoke, Virginia.
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