Baron Birtcher and James L. Thane at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore
Watch the conversation on YouTubeJim's Interview with Patrick Millikin of the Poisoned Pen Bookstore
Watch the interview on YouTube"A Flathead Valley Mystery"
A few summers ago, James Thane was sitting near Flathead Lake in Lakeside when an idea for a mystery novel popped into his head.
“I just couldn’t get rid of it,” Thane said. “So I started playing around with it just for the fun of it and one thing led to another and seven months later, I had a very, very bad book finished.”
His practice novel paved the way for four better books since he transitioned from teaching college to writing full time. His fourth book, “CROSSROADS,” was inspired by an environmental and logging court case in the Kootenai National Forest.
"Author sets crime novel in Valley"
The new crime novel from an author who divides his time among Scottsdale, a village in Montana and Moline, Ill., is packed with Valley references, including streets and neighborhoods, city names, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, department store Nordstrom, Channel 12 newscaster Lin Sue Cooney and the women's softball stadium at Arizona State University.
For readers living outside the Valley, "NO PLACE TO DIE" might not evoke images of familiar locations, but its tale of a serial killer being chased by a Phoenix police team will be just as enthralling.
