Caridad Pinero: September 2010 Archives

Recently I had the opportunity to interview JT Ellison, the best-selling author of the Taylor Jackson series and Nashville Scene's "Best Mystery/Thriller Writer of 2008" about her new novel The Immortals.  JT is also a columnist at the Anthony Award nominated blog Murderati and a member of several professional writing organizations, including International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America and Romance Writers of America. You can follow JT on Twitter under the name @Thrillerchick, visit JT at her Facebook community or get more information at www.jtellison.com.

Prior to your writing career, you've worked as a White House staffer and as a financial director and marketing analyst for several defense and aerospace contractors.  What made you make the jump into the world of mysteries and thrillers?

A move, an inability to find a job, and a stray cat. We moved to Tennessee in late 1998, and there weren't a lot of jobs in my field. To get out of the house, I went to work for the vet that saved my 5-week-old adopted pound cat from being put down. On the third day I  picked up a Golden retriever and ruptured a disc in my back, had to have surgery, and while recovering, discovered the books of John Sandford. I was three books into the Prey series when I realized I wanted to try it for myself. I've always been interested in crime and forensics, so it was a natural extension of my interests at the time.