Are they adding something to Lake Michigan's water?  It seems like an awful lot of the best new crime fiction is coming from the Windy City.

Whatever they're putting into the water is clearly working, and I'm proud to be part of it. In fact, crime fiction in Chicago is "coming out of the closet." For the first time since its inception, the "One Book, One Chicago" program chose Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye for its city-wide read. (Note: The Outfit will be blogging about the book and the man for two weeks in April-Chandler was born in Chicago). Turns out Mayor Daley is a crime fiction and thriller buff as well. So we do have a tradition to uphold.

You write about Chicago and the North Shore, but that's not where you're from.  Does it help to have an outsider's perspective?

I'm originally from Washington, DC, where, when you're gossiping about the neighbors, you're talking politics. So for me, moving to Chicago was a reality check - here were real people, working real jobs, committing real crime, and producing real graft. I've been here over 30 years now, but I still feel a little like an outsider, and I hope I always will. It keeps me sharp.

You've moved from an amateur sleuth to a P.I. with Easy Innocence.  Any problems?

You're kidding, right? It was and continues to be difficult. Where I used to only have to get police procedure correct, now I have to pay attention to both police procedure and how a PI works. Fortunately, I have two real PIs that I call regularly - they've been a tremendous help.

Did you always know that Georgia Davis, who started in your books as a police officer, was going to end up being a PI?

Not really, although Georgia actually predates the Ellie Foreman series. I wrote 3 "practice" novels before I was published, and Georgia was a character in #2 and #3. She made her "published" appearance in An Image of Death, and at that point I realized that she deserved her own book. But I also knew there was no way I could write a police procedural. I'm not a cop, and don't enough to write one credibly. So Georgia was "conveniently" suspended at the end of Image and decided to hang out her shingle as a PI. The cops want her back, though, so we'll have to see where she ends up. For now, though, she enjoys the PI work. So do I.

I saw that Midwest Book Review called Easy Innocence a "gritty noir" mystery.  Fair characterization?

Yes. I'd just add that suspense also plays a large role. Before I ever started writing, I read thrillers -- what I call the "L" guys... Ludlum, LeCarre, Len Deighton, and Ken Follett...(okay, there's an "F"...  notice there weren't many female thriller writers back then, except maybe another L -- "Lynds.")  Still, I love the inherent suspense of the genre and I always knew that suspense would be an important factor in my stories, as it is in Easy Innocence.

You've changed publishers with Easy Innocence?

Bleak House Books is publishing Easy Innocence. I feel very lucky to be a part of their "family." They may be small, but their quality is unsurpassed... as seen by their three Edgar nominations this year.

What do you think of your book cover?  It's not subtle, is it?

Actually, for what is going on in the book, I thought it was on the subtle side. I really liked the vulnerability of the girl's pose - it spoke more about her (and other girls' attitudes)  than I imagined.

You were at Left Coast Crime in Denver last month on a panel called "He Writes/She Writes" with Steven Torres, Cara Black, Rick Mofina and Neal Plakcy.  What was that all about?

The idea originally came from ITW fellow member, Chris Kling. She and I were talking at a conference a couple of years ago about the difference between what drives male protagonists vs. female protags. Her theory is that men seek redemption while women seek recognition. We had a lively discussion about it, which ultimately evolved into a Bouchercon panel (in Madison). I thought it might be fun to continue the conversation at Left Coast. Of course, it was a very different panel, which only made it more interesting.
 
You train executives in presentation skills, you're a past president of Sisters in Crime, you edited a collection of short stories set in Chicago, and you've just published your fifth mystery.  How do you do it?  Cloning?

Actually, my schedule has cleared out recently, and I'm concentrating on writing and promotion. I'm not actively marketing my training business - just coasting on referrals and word of mouth -- which makes a huge difference. So it's all pretty do-able. At least at the moment.

What are you up now?  What's next?

I just finished a stand-alone thriller called Set the Night on Fire. The middle part is set in the late '60s in Chicago starting at the Democratic Convention and going through Kent State. With luck that will be out in 2009. I'm currently writing (very slowly it turns out - where did my discipline go?) a new Georgia and Ellie book (They're working together again...)  Which is trickier than it seemed at the outset, because their voices are so different. So we'll see how that turns out.

Keith Raffel wrote DOT DEAD, "without question the most impressive mystery debut of the year" according to Bookreporter.com. Former counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee, he is currently finishing up TWO GRAVES, a political thriller set - where else? - in Washington, D.C.