Welcome Back to Pottersville: Interview with Debra Purdy Kong

“When police inform transit security officer Casey Holland of her father's murder the previous night, Casey doesn't believe them. After all, she buried her dad three years earlier. Complicating the situation is the stranger now following Casey, the irritating new tenant living below her, and her estranged mother, Lillian. The search for answers about her father's past takes Casey to Europe, where she discovers how little she knew about her parents. But revelations only lead to more trouble. A killer wants the missing three million dollars he's convinced Casey has, and he won't stop killing until he gets it.” –synopsis for The Opposite of Dark, the first entry in the Casey Holland mysteries.

This month, we go back north of the border and profile Canadian mystery novelist Debra Purdy Kong, author of the Casey Holland and Alex Bellamy mystery series. Debra’s a veteran author who’s been writing for over 30 years, producing over 100 short stories, many articles and essays and at least nine novels.

15)\ Debra, we know you’re a highly-seasoned author and you’ve made quite a fan base on both sides of the border in your avocation. But what do you do as a vocation and does it inform your literary work?

I’ve had several jobs over the years that include secretarial, retail, and security work. My work as a campus patrol officer and a communications officer (working the phones and computer in the dispatch office) turned out to be invaluable research for the Casey Holland mystery series. My last regular job was working in the Linguistics Dept at Simon Fraser University. These days I work as a facilitator for the creative writing program through a local parks and recreation department. I’ve been doing this for ten years, and although the pandemic cancelled some of sessions, we’re getting back to in-person instruction and guidance for students who need feedback on their manuscripts.

14) First of all: Casey Holland. A Canadian transit cop who solves mysteries, a concept that’s compelling and unique, to my knowledge. I’ve read the first book in the series, The Opposite of Dark, and loved it. What or who was the inspiration for Casey’s invention?

Thank you, Robert. I’m really glad you enjoyed the book. Back in my secretarial days in the mid 1980’s, I had a temporary job in the typing pool for BC Transit bus company (now known as TransLink). A young woman walked in, wearing a black leather mini skirt and jean jacket. It definitely wasn’t the type of outfit we wore in the typing pool back then. I later learned she was an undercover officer on the buses. I thought that was a cool job for a mystery series protagonist. She’d encounter a variety of situations and people and crime, of course.

13) From having read the introduction to the series, I know about Casey’s psychological makeup. But for those who haven’t read the series, what makes Casey such a compelling detective? What are her strengths and weaknesses?

As readers will see in The Opposite of Dark, Casey comes from a dysfunctional family and at thirty years of age, she’s already been married and divorced. These experiences have taught her to be extremely self-sufficient, but also reluctant to enjoy a deep emotional connection with people. She lives with a deep-seated belief that she’s not quite good enough, so she goes out of her way to be the best she can be at her job. Casey’s fearless and has a strong moral compass, which is both her strength and her weakness. Her quest for justice compels her to go out on a limb that often seems to break.

12) How does one set out researching the life of a transit cop in Vancouver's Lower Mainland? Did you have to consult with Casey’s real life analogs and is it an ongoing process?

Not only was working in security great research, but I was contacted by a local bus driver through Twitter who heard about my books. It turned out he lived just a few minutes from me, so we met for coffee a few times and I asked him about his work, and how specific situations might be handled. He’s no longer a driver and moved out of the city, but I learned a lot from him.

11) When you were a girl growing up in Canada, who were some of your favorite authors and had any of them influenced your own work?

When I was growing up, I read all the Nancy Drew mysteries I could find. I was also a fan of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables books. In my teens, it was Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers, and Dashiell Hammett for their mystery plotting skills. In my late teens, and early twenties, the work of great Canadian authors Margaret Laurence, Alice Munro, and Margaret Atwood taught me how beautiful language can be. Their skills still inspire me.

10) Plotter, pantser or plantser?

I’m a bit of both, actually. I start by thinking about the plot and villain and reasons for the murder for weeks or months before I start the outline. The first half of the book is outlined in a fair bit of detail to make sure I introduce characters and the subplots, but by the last third I let it go and see how it turns out. Sometimes it means going back and changing the villain or the weapon or the reason, but I get there, eventually 😊.

9) Let’s switch gears and talk about Alex Bellamy, who debuted way back in ‘95 in Taxed to Death, another intriguing character. Alex is a Revenue Canada auditor, a guy who crunches numbers, yet one who keeps finding himself in murderous situations. What gave you the idea for this unique character?

Ah, that’s a nostalgic time in my life. I was working as a secretary for an accounting firm in the 80s, which is where I met my future husband. In those days I was writing short stories and occasionally discussed writing with the articling students during our Friday lunches. One day, one of them said “How come no one writes about us?” And that was it. An idea was born. My husband came up with the title, Taxed to Death, which sparked a lot of interesting conversations with customers walking by my table at craft fairs.

My college studies in criminology also sparked an interest in white-collar crime. I wanted to write about fraud, completely unaware what a huge problem it would become worldwide.

8) The second entry in the series, Fatal Encryption, didn’t come out until 21 years later. Why such a long wait between Bellamy books?

Actually, the print version came out in 2008 (13 years later), which was still a long time. It took a while after that to delve into the world of ebooks. I was doing a lot of different things in those days, raising kids, volunteering, working, and starting my Casey Holland series. I struggled with novel plots for a long time until I was happy with the end result. I still tend to work on several projects at once, which means nothing is written, edited, or published quickly. But that’s fine with me. I think I’m a more interesting writer because I got out into the world and did things.

7) So, how does one go about making a Revenue Canada auditor interesting while keeping the storylines plausible?

You make him quirky, a little bit incompetent as a crime solver, kind, caring, and also clueless when it comes to women, but not in a mean way. It’s more in a lacking confidence and experience way. He’s a character that I think both men and women would find relatable.

6) Since both series take place in contemporary Vancouver, is there any chance of Casey and Alex collaborating on a crossover adventure?

That’s a great question and I wouldn’t rule it out. For me, it’s about finding the time to come up with a great plot, then write and edit the book. I’ve also thought of having my campus cop from the Evan Dunstan novellas and Casey meet.

5) Describe your typical writing day, if there is such a thing. Do you draft your novels exclusively in journals, a laptop? Do you set a word goal for yourself and, if so, what is it?

I have two different routines. When I’m at home I edit and write in the morning and early afternoon. Late afternoon and evenings are more for blogs, book reviews, social media and working on promotion plans. But half the week I babysit my 19-month-old granddaughter, so the work doesn’t begin until two in the afternoon, and then only for about an hour. Most of the work is done in the evening. This is the time when my tired brain likes to play with ideas and I start making notes on new stories.

4) Since you live in Canada, have you ever been tempted to go full Scandinoir and set a story during a fierce Canadian blizzard?

In Vancouver, a blizzard is about six inches of snow, which paralyzes buses everywhere. Actually, they get stuck in much less snow than that. I’m working on the idea of a Casey novella set on New Year’s Eve during a snowstorm. On New Year’s people ride for free in Vancouver, so it would be the most dreaded night of the year for Casey and her coworkers. Between the weather and drunk passengers, it could be a fun story.

3) I found a third series in your Amazon profile, one featuring security guard Evan Dunstan, but both books in the series appear to be out of print. Any chance of resurrecting both books?

Thanks for asking, and yes, there’s a good chance of that. Those two novellas feature a campus security guard who finds himself dealing with situations he doesn’t know how to handle, like a dead body floating in the river in book one. They’re light fun reads, which were published by a small press here in BC. The publisher closed the doors, and I did have a third book in the works, so we’ll see if I can make time to release all three.

2) Failing that, do you have any plans to start a new series?

During those evenings I was mentioning, I’ve been working on an outline for a paranormal mystery series that I’m excited about. There’s so much I still want to accomplish with my writing, and time management is always a challenge.

1) So, what’s next for Debra Purdy Kong?

I’ve been working on an urban fantasy novel for quite some time and am getting close to finishing an intense round of edits with my critique group. This is, by far, the longest, most complex book I’ve written. At the moment, it’s 121,500 words, but I work on it every day and am getting close to the beta reading stage. If the book is well received there will be a sequel, but for the moment, I’m learning a lot about this genre. Fantasies stretch my imagination in ways I wouldn’t have thought possible a decade ago.

If you’re interested in learning more about Ms. Kong’s work, please make use of the links provided below.

Website: www.debrapurdykong.com

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/debra-purdy-kong

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DebraPurdyKong

Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/DebraPurdyKongAuthor

Blog: https://debrapurdykong.wordpress.com/

Newsletter: https://sendfox.com/debrapurdykong

Series link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075VG59Z2?ref_=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_tkin&binding=kindle_edition

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debra-purdy-kong-13624927/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debrapurdykongauthor/

Author central page: https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B000APLEFU

THE OPPOSITE OF DARK (#1):