Please Welcome Back Mystery and Thriller Author Maris Soule

We are delighted to welcome back author Maris Soule to Omnimystery News today.

Maris's new thriller is Echoes of Terror (Five Star; March 2017 hardcover and ebook formats) and we recently had the opportunity to spend some time talking with her about it.

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Omnimystery News: Introduce us to the lead character of Echoes of Terror.

Photo provided courtesy of
Maris Soule

Maris Soule: Katherine Ward took form in my mind after the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping and (later) her rescue. Perhaps, if Smart’s kidnapping had been an isolated case, I wouldn’t have continued thinking about what a woman who had been kidnapped, raped, and terrorized for months would be like years later, but since the Smart rescue there have been many other women (and boys) rescued after years or months of captivity.

It took me a long time for Echoes of Terror to develop in my mind and on paper. I slowly realized it wasn’t a story that could be told solely from Katherine Ward’s point-of-view, I also had to let the reader know what was going on with the kidnapped teenagers, especially with Shannon Morgan. I wanted both Katherine and Shannon to be females who wouldn’t simply give up, while also showing how these madmen can drive their captives into submission, both mentally and physically. With Katherine, I wanted to show how such an event can affect a woman in later years, even if she appears to be “normal,” but, also, how what happened in the past doesn’t have to destroy the future.

OMN: You've written both series mysteries and stand-alones. Is Echoes of Terror the first in a series?

MS: With my first mystery, The Crows, I thought I’d written a stand-alone, but after it was published, librarians and fans asked when the next book featuring P.J. Benson would be out. After writing three in that series, I wrote A Killer Past, which I saw as a stand-alone. But ever since that book was released, readers have been asking when there will be another Mary Harrington book. (I’m working on one.) So, now I’ve written Echoes of Terror, which is a thriller rather than a mystery, and I really think it will be a stand-alone. Really, I do.

OMN: How would you tweet a summary of the book?

MS: In Skagway, Alaska, two teenagers are abducted by a rapist who, in the past, abducted the female police officer now searching for them.

OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in the book?

MS: Luckily, I can say that I have never experienced what the characters in Echoes of Terror had to go through, but in order to make the story as authentic as possible, I read several articles written about real abductions and listened to interviews of the victims. Mentally I tried to put myself into a similar situation and draw on how I would feel. But, of course, unless a writer has actually been a victim, it’s fiction.

OMN: How did you go about researching the plot points of the story?

MS: When I came up with the idea for this book two very good friends (one a writer, the other a photographer) had been spending their summers in Alaska volunteering for the National Park Service. They were presently volunteering in Skagway, Alaska. My husband and I had often talked about taking a trip to Alaska; in fact, when I met my husband his plan was to go to Alaska and work there for a while. He ended up marrying me instead, so I felt I owed him.

We signed up for a three week tour of Alaska which included a stop in Skagway. I contacted my friends and they said they could drive us around so we’d get to know the area. They also set up an interview for me with one of the park rangers, Jacqueline A. Lott Ashwell. I, via email, contacted the Skagway Police Department and set up a meeting with Sergeant Ken Cox, who spent more than an hour explaining how the police would handle such a kidnapping. After returning to Michigan and starting the book, both Sergeant Cox and Jacqueline continued answering my questions via e-mails. I also subscribed to the Skagway newspaper for a year and used the Internet for further research. I know I gave my police officer (in Echoes) more latitude than she might have had in real life, but I’m hoping when Sergeant Cox reads the book he feels most of it is correct.

OMN: Now that the book is complete, how true were you to the setting?

MS: With Echoes of Terror, I tried to be as true to the geography around Skagway, Alaska as possible. By using that town, I was able to bring in the cruise ships, yet keep the location fairly isolated. I did my best to be true to the location. I researched the trees and undergrowth of the area where outdoor scenes take place, used real businesses as points of reference, and depended on my friends who had worked there for several seasons to fact check the manuscript. The major problem with writing a contemporary novel (in any genre) is by the time it’s published, some businesses may have disappeared or changed. Also, since Skagway is such a small town, I took some liberties with where I placed Katherine’s and her grandfather’s house as well as with the streets she drives down.

OMN: What are some of your outside interests? And do any of them find their way into your books?

MS: I majored in art in college (and taught it for 8 years), and I still paint. I love animals, and over the years, when we were younger and lived in the country, we had horses, chickens, rabbits, goats, pigs, and a few other “critters” that came and went. We raised and showed Rhodesian Ridgebacks for a while (I love those dogs), but now I have a crazy, loveable Miniature Poodle who makes me take walks. I loved it when we had a 32’ cruiser and took it on Lake Michigan to several ports, but I’m not as wild about the sailboat my husband now owns and I only go out on that occasionally. I wrote three romances that involved horses, my “Crow” books all include a Rhodesian Ridgeback who helps P.J. stay alive, and I also wrote about the Iditarod sled dog race and a search and rescue dog, so yes, my love of animals sneaks into my writing.

OMN: What kind of feedback have you received from readers?

MS: I love it when a reader complains that she (or he) couldn’t put the book down. I love being told my books are page turners. I love it when a reader starts talking about characters in my books as if they were real people that the reader and I both know (because it’s true, they do become real to us). I love it when readers want to know when the next book with (name of character) will be out. (I also hate that because I’ve become a very slow writer and they want the book NOW.)

OMN: What kinds of television or films do you watch for entertainment?

MS: I don’t like series that are promoted as comedy. In part that’s because of the canned or forced laughter connected with the shows, but it’s also because the plots often seem contrived. There are, of course, exceptions to that. I like Tim Allen’s shows (both the older one and the newer one) and The Big Bang Theory. Mostly, I like shows that are character focused and have some plot. In the past M.A.S.H. and Barney Miller captured my interest. For the last few years it’s been NCIS. Doc Martin fits somewhere between comedy and drama and is one of my favorites, again because of the characters…and they are characters. On the whole I watch very little TV. My husband flips from channel to channel, and I read a book.

OMN: What's next for you?

MS: I think A Killer’s Revenge, (which will be the sequel to A Killer Past) may be my first “independently” published book. (I have re-reissued several of my early romances as e-books, but all I’m doing there is reformatting them and creating new covers.) Also, playing around in my head is a story set in Florida (where I spend the winter) in a retirement park similar to where I live.

Other than writing, I hope to stay relatively healthy and active, and have my husband around to pester and drive crazy for many more years.

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Maris Soule started her career writing romances, however at the turn of the century she began writing mysteries and suspense novels. Originally from California, where she graduated from U.C. Davis and received her secondary teaching credential, Soule and her husband moved to Michigan in the early '70s. (They now scoot down to Florida during the winter months.) Over the years they raised two children that they're very proud of and a slew of animals, including Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs like the one in her "Crow" series. Although Soule taught art and math for 8 years, reading and writing have always been her passion. She does do some painting when in Florida.

For more information about the author, please visit her website at MarisSoule.com and her author page on Goodreads, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.

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Echoes of Terror by Maris Soule

A Novel of Suspense

Publisher: Five Star

Katherine Ward is assigned the case, never expecting it to parallel her own kidnapping experience seventeen years before …

In Skagway, Alaska, the usual crimes faced by the police department's small force are DUIs and missing bikes. With the chief in the hospital and one officer missing, they're not prepared for the kidnapping of a billionaire's daughter.

Misty Morgan thought running off with a college boy would get her father's attention. Now she and another teenager are praying for their lives.

Stuck in China, Misty's father knew his daughter was up to something, so he asked his longtime friend Vince Nanini to fly to Alaska and stop Misty. Problem is Vince arrives too late. The college boy is dead, Misty is missing, and the police aren't eager to let him help.

When Katherine realizes the same man who kidnapped and raped her years ago is the one holding Misty and the other teenager, the terror of those months resurfaces. Vince finds her drunk and in tears, and he's with her when she realizes the kidnapper has struck again. Together they must figure out where this man has taken three people, and they must find him fast.

— Echoes of Terror by Maris Soule