Watching the Detective: Bob Hamer

By Jill Amadio

It’s rare to find an author who is actually the authentic fictional sleuth himself.

Bob Hamer is one of those writers. He has lived the harrowing life of his protagonist, Matt Hogan, and experienced the riveting plots of his novels – right down to shooting the bad guys and being shot himself.

As an FBI undercover agent for almost three decades, Hamer played the roles – sometimes for as long as three years – of a contract killer, terrorist, drugs and weapons dealer, gambler and pedophile. He became an expert on Western art, was hired as a stuntman, joined Los Angeles and San Diego street gangs and became a trusted member of the Mafia and Russian mobs.

A charismatic speaker, Hamer talked to members of the Orange County chapter of Sisters in Crime at their June meeting. With little need for research, since his own experiences supply his material, he said that he simply sits down at the computer and pounds out his stories using just two fingers and the memories of the cases he has worked. A former U.S. Marine and lawyer, he’s just signed a movie contract to bring his latest thriller, Targets Down, to the big screen.

Hamer knows his way around Hollywood, too, as a screenwriter, tech adviser and consultant for “Law and Order: SVU,” “The Inside,” “Angela’s Eyes” and other television shows. He’s also written 18 short stories.

His initial writing effort, The Last Undercover, also under option for a television series, was a 2008 nonfiction account of a “dangerous dance with evil,” as the book cover proclaims, a gripping account of his most shocking and difficult case. The book won several awards and testimonials.

Turning next to fiction, Hamer introduced Matt Hogan in his debut novel, Enemies Among Us. The author gives Hogan the ability to find a sliver of goodness in even the most violent of criminals, just as Hamer himself had to do to stay alive in the most dangerous of situations.

While undercover, Hamer began a journal to keep a record of his life for his son. After his retirement from the FBI, the journals became the basis for the thriller series, albeit with an almost renegade approach to writing. He knows that coincidences, for example, are best avoided in fiction – yet his own life with criminals was full of them, so he writes them in.

His writing habits include slamming through a raw, rough first draft as quickly as possible. Once it’s written, he relaxes and has great fun with the rewrites, aiming for 1,000 words a day, constantly checking the word count, then stopping as soon as he reaches his goal. He says he’s still learning what “platform” means, how to use social media and trying to get his talk show interviewers to stop talking so he can give them his answers.


Jill Amadio is an award-winning journalist, author, collaborator, ghostwriter and screenwriter. She is the author of the bestselling biography, Gunther Rall: Luftwaffe Fighter Ace and NATO General, now available for Kindle, and has co-authored several books and ghostwritten a crime novel. Currently, she is at work on a new mystery series. For more information, see jillamadio.com.

Why I Love SinC

By Marcia Talley

Where does a mystery author begin?

Was it the Agatha Christie novels my mother read while pregnant with me? The Nancy Drew books I devoured as a young girl? The fact that Mom was a charter subscriber to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and kept stacks of them around the house?

Or maybe it was the night Daddy made an inspired exception: Even though I had school the next day, I could stay up to watch "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" on Sundays at 9:30 p.m., provided my homework was done.

The seed had been planted.

I wrote my first “novel” in eighth grade, a shameless Hardy Boy ripoff set in a ghost town out west. At the top of my “manuscript” Mr. Ramerez wrote, “Write what you know, Marcia. Have you ever been to a ghost town?”

If I was discouraged by his negative review, I don’t remember it. I continued to write stories with twisty Hitchcockian endings all the way through high school, until the rigors of college and the realities of being the full-time working mother of two young daughters gave me new priorities.

A dozen or so years ago, I had never heard of Sisters in Crime. Slogging away at my job in a windowless office in Washington, D.C. – where I had begun to fantasize about writing a novel in which I bumped off the woman who married my father after my mother died – I often lunched with colleagues who, I soon learned, were also mystery fans.

In the early 1990s, Steve the Techie introduced me to the DorothyL listserv, which I promptly joined. Another colleague, Salle, told me about the Malice Domestic conference in Bethesda, Maryland, which I first attended the year Nevada Barr won the Agatha for Track of the Cat.

At Malice I met Deborah Crombie, Kate Charles, Donna Andrews, Margaret Maron, and dozens of authors who are still my friends. It was one of these new friends, in fact, who made a suggestion over dinner that changed my life – “Why don’t you join Sisters in Crime?”

I walked into my first Chesapeake Chapter meeting at Bish Thompson’s Seafood House one Saturday knowing no one. I selected a table pretty much at random, and found myself chatting about mystery novels in progress with two other aspiring authors – Laura Lippman and Sujata Massey.

Sisters in Crime brought Sujata and me together in a writers critique group (10 years later, still offering tough love) where we browbeat one another into finishing a novel. After Sujata won the Malice Domestic grant that would launch her career, she encouraged me to enter my novel in progress and, amazingly, Sing It To Her Bones won the Malice grant, too, which led to an agent and a three-book deal with Bantam/Dell.

Sujata, Laura, and Margaret Maron graciously provided me with my first blurbs, and Sisters in Crime members have fed me, housed me, and driven me to book signings from Maine to California, with stops in Ohio and Kansas along the way.

But support from SinC didn’t stop there. Publishers merge, editors get fired, imprints are dropped, proposals get rejected, contracts aren’t renewed, agents retire prematurely – and through it all, SinC has been there offering resources, advice, ideas, support, and even shoulders to cry on.

In the volatile and increasingly perplexing world of publishing, SinC is more than a network, it’s a safety net. With help from my Sisters (and Brothers) in Crime, I have a new agent, a new two-book deal, and life is good.

Back in the 50s, sitting cross-legged in front of a flickering black and white tube on which a familiar profile took shape while Gunod’s "Funeral March of a Marionette" played in the background, I confided to my father that I wanted to write mysteries when I grew up. He simply smiled.

The seed might have been planted that day, but it lay dormant for many years until my Sisters in Crime helped the dream grow, blossom, and flower.

And I couldn’t be more grateful.


Marcia Talley is the Agatha and Anthony award-winning author of nine Hannah Ives mysteries including All Things Undying. Hannah’s 10th adventure, A Quiet Death, will be published in 2011. Marcia is the immediate past president of Sisters in Crime.

Swing Shift: Riding with the Riverside Police, Part 2 of 2 parts

by Loni Emmert


This blog entry continues the story of a recent ride-along with the Riverside (CA) Police Department (RPD).


Swing shift, RPD, days later:

During an evening of routine patrol on November 7, 2010, Riverside Police dispatch received a call about a hit-and-run accident.

Near the scene, RPD Officer Ryan Bonaminio attempted to pull over a stolen semi-truck believed to be involved in the crash. The truck didn’t stop, even though Bonaminio had lights and sirens running.

The truck driver eventually stopped in front of Fairmount Park, a location known for gangs and a violent homeless population — a few years earlier, a homeless man entered a nearby residence and stabbed a pregnant mother to death.

The driver exited the truck and ran into the park. Bonaminio called for backup and pursued the driver on foot. Shots were fired. Officer Bonaminio was down.

Other officers arrived to find Bonaminio wounded. Paramedics rushed him to Riverside Community Hospital, only minutes away, but Officer Ryan Bonaminio died from his injuries, just days before his 28th birthday.

Swing shift, RPD, two nights later:

Riverside homicide detectives and police officers, along with FBI agents, arrest the suspect in the killing of Officer Bonaminio.

The news continues to break on this story, even as I type this blog entry, and we learn that the suspect is a parolee with a violent history, who may have killed Bonaminio with his own gun after a struggle occurred.

The suspect's family members had restraining orders against him because he had threatened to kill them after disputes. The suspect lived in a small town adjacent to mine, in an area known for gangs, drugs, prostitution and violence.

Swing shift, RPD, my thoughts:

I first heard the news about Officer Bonaminio as I prepared for work on a Monday morning, the day after he was killed. Startled, I wondered if he was one of the nice cops that I had met as I sat in the break room at the station waiting for Sgt. Rusty.

Rusty and I had patrolled another section of town, but the area where Bonaminio was killed would have been the area that I would have chosen given the chance. I know it well.

My ride-along was exciting, something new and different and observations from the experience fill a lot of pages in my notebook that may translate into fodder for the manuscript I’m currently writing.

For Sgt. Rusty, Officer Bonaminio and all of the other RPD personnel, however, going out on patrol every day is a test of bravery, skill, intelligence and dedication that many of us will never really understand.

I don’t know what goes on during roll call, but I hope a prayer or two is whispered.

[BlogEditor's Note: Information about Officer Ryan Bonaminio can be found in the Riverside Police Department's online press room and in the online edition of the Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper.]

Loni Emmert is the co-author of Button Hollow Chronicles #1: The Leaf Peeper Murders and the author of Lights! Camera! Murder! A member of Sisters in Crime since 2006, she is currently working on her first thriller.

Swing Shift: Riding with the Riverside Police, Part 1 of 2 parts

by Loni Emmert

Put up or shut up. That’s the order I gave to myself recently.

For years, I’d been threatening to go on a police ride-along. I’ll admit it: I’m addicted to watching "Cops" and "The First 48."

I emailed the Riverside Police Department (RPD) in my hometown, explained that I needed to get out on the mean streets as research for my writing. After a background check on me and a signed waiver protecting them if I was killed, they asked when I wanted to go.

I chose swing shift, wanting the opportunity to patrol during both day and night. I arrived early, along with a very nice young man who, as a sworn LAPD officer, was allowed to attend roll call, a privilege that I, as a humble mystery writer, was banned from experiencing.

Lucky me, I rode on Sergeant Rusty’s shift and we rolled Code Three — lights and sirens — to a man-beating-another-man-with-a-crowbar call.

Friends laughed when I told them that on my ride-along I wanted to be in the front car of the high speed chase so I could experience doing the pit maneuver in person. We didn’t have a high speed chase, but I bet Sgt. Rusty would have been the lead car — with me by his side, hanging on for dear life.

During my three-hour trip, we went to the crowbar call, left, and got called back — which led to my waiting in the car for 1 ¾ hours while Sgt. Rusty and his men arrested three parolees with guns and drugs in their possession. The crowbar guy got away.

Another call about a suspicious package came in next.

We drove to where a man said he found a suspicious device that seemed like a bomb on his porch. The street was dark so Rusty asked dispatch to call the man to meet him in his driveway.

Dispatch replied there was no answer at the house. Sgt. Rusty informed dispatch that we were leaving and would come back if the man made contact. We drove away.

I was perplexed.

In my job, I have to go above and beyond to help out my co-workers and clients. I can’t just leave.

But a policeman leads a different life. Rusty told dispatch he thought the call sounded like a “set-up.”

Wow. That never even occurred to me.

We finished my ride-along after scanning a mall parking lot that had been the target of car thieves and cruising bad neighborhoods slowly, staring at everyone with suspicious eyes and getting many nasty stares in return. While it made me nervous, Rusty seemed to enjoy it.

I asked a lot of questions, took a lot of notes and found myself wanting to schedule another ride real soon.

To be continued (tomorrow) ...

Loni Emmert is the co-author of Button Hollow Chronicles #1: The Leaf Peeper Murders and the author of Lights! Camera! Murder! A member of Sisters in Crime since 2006, she is currently working on her first thriller.

How I Got an Agent

by Jude McGee

Last winter my beautiful artist friend, Marina, was headed to Manhattan to see her agent! She had an agent!

Her cute cookbook/memoir/photos of gay divorcees cavorting around the kitchen was designed to get you through divorce with homespun chat and yummy recipes.

I could have used it when my first marriage was ending. Never mind. She had an agent for it!

So, while I was biting back envious nigglings, we were discussing the fun things New York puts on for the holiday season — Mayor Bloomberg lighting the Christmas trees along Park Avenue, churches putting on caroling concerts, Handel’s Messiah and the fabulous windows along Fifth and Madison Avenues. It might even snow.

“Don’t you remember what it‘s like there in December?” I asked, aghast, when I saw the light-weight coat she planned to take. “Take my mother-in-law’s mink.” I said.

I know. I know. Many resist the charms of fur on humanitarian grounds — or should that be animalitarian grounds?

Anyway, it’s a beautiful old coat that I inherited. (And aren’t minks little animals that only truly fulfill their destinies as coats?) Mine has a large sable collar. (I have nothing against sables; maybe they're sweet. But what a collar!)

Out of animalitarianism, or other concerns, Marina demurred. I pressed.

Finally, I got her to actually try the coat on. When she put on its full-length magnificence – and when I pointed out that it was drying up in my closet and needed to be worn before its inevitable demise, she took it.

Luckily the coat distracted me and kept me from revealing my fundamental issue at that moment – envy that she had an agent and I didn’t.

Sweetly, Marina said she would mention me to her agent. Yada, yada, yada.

A day later, she sent me her agent’s info, saying the agent would like me to contact her. Because of my poor attitude, I didn’t move on it right away.

A few days later, imagine my surprise when I got an email from the agent:

“Dear Jude,” the message said. “I just met your coat. Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself and your novel?”

It turned out that we were kindred spirits.

I sent her a copy of my PI thriller, Prey for the Church. She asked to rep my book – and I hope the rest will soon be history.

"Death is Golden," a short story by Jude McGee, can be found in the anthology Murder in LA-LA Land.

Photo courtesy of Amanda Kennedy.

Living in the Library

Cathy Pickens holds the official Sisters in Crime "Great Seal of Office" in the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, shortly after her election in mid-October as national SinC president.
Photo courtesy of Sandra Parshall.

Living in the Library
by Cathy Pickens

When I was three years old, my parents did one of the most amazing things – they moved to a house with a library smack at the end of the driveway.

Imagine, your very own library! That's what it felt like. My own library. We could check out as many books as we could carry. (Later, when we walked down the long driveway on our own, having to carry our books back up the hill became a consideration.)

As soon as we finished reading, more books were waiting. Well, with one notable exception: Nancy Drew books weren't considered a suitable use for scarce library funds ("lacking in literary merit" or some such excuse).

That library funding rule has, unfortunately, driven me to a lifelong addiction. I was forced to scout out Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden books when my allowance permitted me to feed my habit. As a result, I still buy embarrassing quantities of books. So far, there are no 12-step programs for this addiction, or my husband and I would be involuntarily committed. (Please don’t tell me if you know of such a program!)

The "library ladies," as they were known (forgive me, it was a long time ago), also fed another passion. At the age of 11, when I learned people could grow up and write mysteries, the library supplied me with copies and back issues of Writer’s Digest and The Writer and how-to-write books. Once, when the librarians were purging the collection to make room, they gave me old copies of The Writer’s Handbook and Writer’s Market. Oh, joy! I poured over them.

As a result of all my study, I sent my first short story – my last attempt at science fiction – to Jack and Jill magazine. It was promptly, but very politely, rejected – with a personalized letter from the Editor-in-Chief. That was the last personalized rejection I would get for many years but, thanks to the education the librarians provided for me, I knew that rejection was part of the writer's life and that personal rejections were to be coveted as a sign of progress. I kept writing.

You might not have been lucky enough to live at the library but, if you are a reader, I bet a librarian somewhere has given you unexpected gifts. Make it a point some day soon to thank a librarian for letting you check out all the books you can carry.

And librarians: Who knows what that strange little round-headed kid who comes in all the time might grow up to be? A reader, for sure. Maybe a writer. Or any of a world of wonderful things.

So, to all librarians, from one of those kids: Thanks!

Cathy Pickens, the national president of Sisters in Crime, is the author of the award-winning Southern Fried mystery series featuring South Carolina attorney Avery Andrews. The most recent title in the series is "Can’t Never Tell."