Don’t look now but it’s Friday, friends. Whether I’m taking one of her classes or hosting her on my blog, it’s always my pleasure to spend time with Katherine Ramsland, a woman who wears so many professional hats, it’s a challenge to list them all. Love psychological thrillers? Read on! ~ Donnell
The Making of a Murder Mentalist
By: Katherine Ramsland
Author Katherine Ramsland
As a writer, I spend time talking with people whom others view as “characters.” I don’t mind approaching a tattooed, pierced, nearly naked man in a vampire club to learn his story (Piercing the Darkness). Or interview a woman who’d break into mausoleums to cozy up to corpses (Cemetery Stories). I’ve listened to all kinds of people (including serial killers) tell their tales because it enriches my imagination. I can later produce unique characters for my fiction.
In I Scream Man, the first novel of my “Nut Cracker Investigations” series, I used what I knew about a “physical medium” who really exists to create Airic, a quirky medium who might or might not have legit talents. He’s an oddball, unable to communicate directly but nevertheless keenly perceptive. To understand his clues, “normal” characters must rewire their own thinking processes.
In the second novel, In the Damage Path, I created several oddball characters, including Monroe the Murder Mentalist. His name popped into my head while listening to a true crime podcast. Monroe’s not a magician-type mentalist. He’s a self-proclaimed mind-reader with a specialty in murder. I created him by combining a story a psychic once told me about how she’d received her powers with an “expert” I’d met who boldly conned people with fake credentials.
The plot partly involves podcasters vying for audience share within the serial killer craze. Monroe is one of them, and he’s quite successful. My protagonist, Annie Hunter, learns about him from his podcast. Here’s part of that scene:
*****Excerpt*****
I turned up the volume. A confident male voice came on. “Ever wonder how a serial killer thinks? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Welcome to another episode. This is Monroe, the Murder Mentalist. I penetrate the minds of murderers. I know how they think better than they do themselves. From their brains to your ears, I can tell you exactly why they do what they do.”
I rolled my eyes. Another shyster. The name alone confirmed it, along with the measured breathiness of his voice. He explained his business, found at killerbesideyou.com. For $50, he can discern if you need to flee from a risky relationship. For $100, he’ll read the mind of a killer in prison. For $250 and up, he’ll help detectives with an ongoing case. I figured Monroe used basic risk assessment probabilities while faking special vision. With a moniker like that, no doubt he had a client base, especially groupies who correspond with infamous killers.
“If this is your first time listening,” Monroe said, “here’s the scoop. I got my psychic powers for doing this work after a serial killer strangled me and threw me, bound, into a river. I nearly died. But I mysteriously gained the ability to breach mental barriers, so I use it for good. I turn it to the minds of murderers, and I’ve discerned many extraordinary things that no cop could find out.”
*****
The scene continues, and to Annie’s alarm, Monroe claims to have read the mind of the killer she believes abducted her childhood friend. Not only that, he’s also aligned with a young woman who’s trying to spring this offender from prison. Annie refers to Monroe dismissively as “3-M,” but then discovers, like it or not, she must deal with him. 3-M turns out to be full of surprises.
I had fun with this character and my early readers commented on him. He’s a good target for Annie’s wit, which brings out facets of her personality. He’s also an adversary with tricks up his sleeve. I look forward to developing more such characters in future Nut Cracker novels. They create a buzz and help to make stories memorable.
About the Book:
Annie must prove a killer grabbed her childhood friend before he’s free to kill again.
Forensic psychologist Annie Hunter runs a PI agency. She pits her talented “Nut Crackers” team against Tommy Ray Bruder, who’d snatched her best friend, Hailey, when Annie was 14. Annie made a pledge at the time to find her. Bruder was caught for another crime, but he refused to reveal what he’d done with Hailey. After years in prison, he’s trying to get free. He’s writing coded poems to entice groupies to help him. These same codes offer Annie new clues, but she must act on them before Bruder walks free. Her efforts alarm Bruder’s former partner, a dangerous man with his own damage path. Annie soon finds that her pledge to Hailey has imperiled her entire team.
About the Author: Katherine Ramsland has played chess with serial killers, dug up the dead, worked with profilers, and camped out in haunted crime scenes. As a professor of forensic psychology and a death investigation consultant, she seeks unique angles. The author of 71 books, she’s been a forensic consultant for CSI, Bones and The Alienist and an executive producer on Murder House Flip and A&E’s Confession of a Serial Killer. She’s become a go-to expert for the most deviant forms of criminal behavior, which provides background for her Nut Cracker Investigations.
Buy link: https://tinyurl.com/2bhmxzwc
Website: https://www.katherineramsland.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katherine.ramsland
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katherineramsland/
Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/KatRamsland
Blog: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/shadow-boxing
Excellent blog. Fantastic and interesting stories and background. I’ll be checking out her catalog of books. Thanks to both of you.
Thank you. I had so much fun with some of these characters. I hope you do as well.
Sounds intriguing!
Thank you for reading the blog.
I can’t even arrive to my own blog on time! Thank you, Katherine, for being my guest! The topic, the blurb and the cover, you and your publisher nailed it, my friend!
Thanks, Donnell.
Oh my! What interesting characters. Thx for sharing w donnell
He gets even more interesting later in the book!
Oh how intriguing and fascinating.
Thank you.
Hi Katherine,
I received Donnell’s email about your interview this morning and bought In the Damaged Path after she mentioned it. You hooked me after three paragraphs. Thank you for sharing this interview.
That’s fantastic! Thank you. I hope you continue to enjoy the tale.