Virtual Book Tour: The Woke and the Dead by Mark S. Bacon #blogtour #mystery #interview #giveaway #rabtbooktours @baconauthor @RABTBookTours

 

 

Nostalgia City Mystery #5

Mystery

Date Published: 03-13-2025

Publisher: Archer & Clark

 

A public war between a governor and a theme park lights the fuse on a story of hate groups, murder, corruption, racism, and political espionage.

Ex-cop turned theme-park cab driver Lyle Deming finds the body of a park visitor during an LGBTQ event. The dead man catered gay weddings. Was it a hate crime?

Arizona governor Rod Gudgel, running for reelection, calls it a random shooting. He mocks Nostalgia City theme park for its inclusiveness, uses homophobic and racist slurs, and later challenges the safety of its rides.

Park CEO, “Max” Maxwell lambasts the governor’s prejudice and insensitivity, and the fight is on—in public and undercover.  Maxwell drafts Lyle to investigate the murder while Kate Sorensen, his 6’-2½” public affairs VP, goes on the offensive in the media.

When an assault rifle attack kills and injures park employees demonstrating for gay rights at a Gudgel campaign office, Nostalgia City mourns, and Kate slams the governor’s unsympathetic response to the slaughter. While the FBI and sheriff’s deputies investigate the crime, the governor redoubles his efforts to regulate the park out of business.

Looking for a shooting suspect, Lyle gets a little too close to an armed hate group—with a possible connection to the governor. His lady friend Kate flies to Montana where she digs into the governor’s unseemly past uncovering a trail of malfeasance dating back two decades and arousing Gudgel allies who want to stop her at all cost.

With Lyle’s wry humor and Kate’s stick-to-itiveness the story moves quickly as mysteries and subplots multiply and loop together threatening the park, their relationship, and their lives.

 

Interview

What is the hardest part of writing your books?

Finding time to do other things. When I’m working on a book I get completely involved in the story and characters. When I’m brushing my teeth or walking my dog I may think about what Kate needs to do to get out of a predicament. It’s totally involving. What dangerous situations can I throw at Lyle to have him—and readers—wondering how he’s going to escape?

What are your most played songs?

I mention (and play) different songs in chapters to contribute to the atmosphere. When I wrote The Marijuana Murders and had my characters spending time in a head shop, I listened to Ravi Shankar sitar music. For this new book I have Lyle listening to songs such as Dust in the Wind by Kansas, Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jacks and Long, Long Time by Linda Ronstadt. If you remember these oldies, you’ll have an idea of the moodiness of the story.

Do you have critique partners or beta readers?

Yes, both, absolutely and I’m grateful to them. You can’t write in a vacuum. You need feedback from other writers.

What book are you reading now?

I just finished ‘Murder Your Employer’ by Rupert Holmes and plan to reread an old Raymond Chandler novel.

How did you start your writing career?

I majored in journalism in college and became a reporter. Following that I wrote all forms of advertising, PR materials, magazine articles, business books and when I retired I took up mysteries.

Tell us about your next release.

The Woke and the Dead is part of my Nostalgia City series, but I wrote it so it could be read as a separate novel. It deals with murder, but also contemporary politics, politics of intolerance and hate as a state governor clashes with Nostalgia City theme park.

About the Author

My first three mysteries were published by Black Opal Books with my debut novel earning recommendation from the American Library Association.

I started writing mysteries after a writing career in journalism and marketing. Prior to my novels, Ether Books of the UK published a collection of my flash fiction mysteries and many of my shorts have been published in online literary magazines. During my business career I wrote two books for John Wiley and Sons, one of which was a Library Journal Best Business Book of the Year. I have an MA in journalism and a golden retriever.

I write the kind of mysteries I like to read.  I appreciate stories with twists, turns, and puzzles which appeal to the head. But I also like a mystery that appeals to the heart with a fast pace and challenges and threats that put the protagonists in peril.

 

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