Author Showcase: Charles Dougherty

 The inspiration for the J.R. Finn Sailing  Series

I was alone, tying my dinghy to a marina dock in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. Looking down at the cleat as I secured the bow line, I was surprised when two bare feet came into view.

"Coming or going?" a girl asked.

Glancing up at her, I saw that she was deeply tanned, with shoulder-length hair bleached by sun and saltwater. She wore cutoffs and a plain, white T-shirt. A worn backpack hung from one shoulder. Smiling, she looked me in the eye. She was an appealing young woman in her early twenties — about my daughter's age.

"Sorry," I said. "What's that?"

Holding my gaze, she grinned. "Are you just arriving, or are you about to leave St. Lucia?"

"I've been here a couple of days," I said.

"I'm looking for a ride. Are you by yourself?"

"No."

"Got a lady aboard?" she asked.

"My wife."

"That's cool," she said. "I'm flexible if you guys are."

I shook my head. "We aren't planning to leave any time soon. Sorry."

"No problem, but if you hear of anybody looking for crew, they can find me in the bar."

"Where are you headed?"

"Anywhere," she said. "I need to get out of St. Lucia. Thanks."

I nodded, and she turned away, heading for the bar in the marina.

That was twenty-plus years ago, but the memory is vivid. She was living dangerously. Did I look harmless to her, or was she so desperate to leave that she didn't care?

I've often wondered what became of her. Every time I hear about a woman going missing, she comes to mind.

Early in 2018, I decided to write a third series of sailing thrillers. My first two series, the Bluewater Thrillers and the Connie Barrera Thrillers, were well established. The Connie Barrera books are a spin-off from the Bluewater series, so I was looking for something different. I needed a new challenge. I settled on a male protagonist, as both of my established series featured women in the lead roles.

My protagonist is a retired government assassin named Finn. He lives on a beat-up old sailboat in the islands. Maybe Finn's not really retired. He does a little contract work for his old employer sometimes.

Needing an opening scene for Finn's first adventure, I drew on memories of my years sailing the Caribbean. That young woman I met in St. Lucia had promise. What if she wasn't as clean-cut as she appeared? She might have been looking for trouble. What if she approached Finn instead of me?

And that's how Assassins and Liars began. The young woman found Finn tying up his dinghy in Puerto Real, Puerto Rico. She introduced herself as Mary O'Brien and told him she was looking for a ride.

And so the J.R. Finn Sailing Mystery Series began. Eight books later, Finn's still trying to understand what Mary's game is, but he's enjoying her company. She seems to be fond of him, too, but there's still plenty of trouble ahead for both of them. I'm working on the ninth book in the series, and I'm enjoying their company more with every chapter.

For more information on the Finn books, go to https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PDJ5LQJ.

Sharks and Prey

Amazon

Kidnapping, Sex-Trafficking and Betrayal in the Islands

Sharks and Prey is the eighth and latest book in the J.R. Finn sailing mystery series. The series begins in Puerto Rico with Assassins and Liars, when Finn meets Mary O'Brien.

"People just call me Finn," he says, by way of introduction.

Finn is retired after a 20-odd-year career as an assassin with an unnamed government agency, but he still handles a contract job for them once in a while.

He's about to leave on a mission when Mary appears out of nowhere and asks to hitch a ride on his sailboat. She doesn't care where he's going; she just wants to leave Puerto Rico in a hurry.

Finn agrees to take her along, thinking she'll provide cover for his clandestine mission. The trouble begins before they even leave port. Mary isn't at all what she appears to be, but somehow, she and Finn become a couple over the course of several books.

In Sharks and Prey, Finn’s daughter, Abby, disappears from a beach resort in Antigua while on a semester break. Finn and Mary have just arrived in Antigua aboard their boat, Island Girl, to relax between missions. They learn that Abby’s missing when they see a poster in the Customs and Immigration office.

Finn has never met Abby; her mother divorced him while he was on a clandestine mission over 20 years earlier. He hasn’t spoken to his ex-wife since he left on that mission, but he’s followed his daughter’s life from afar. Distressed, Finn calls his ex-wife and offers his help.

Join Finn and Mary in Antigua as they wreak havoc while looking for Abby and her roommate.

Another page-turner in the J. R. Finn series, Sharks and Prey is perfect for fans of mystery / thrillers set in the Caribbean.

Learn more at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PDJ5LQJ

Author Bio

Charles Dougherty has written over 35 mystery/thrillers in three series set in Caribbean sailing world, plus two non-fiction books about life as a full-time cruising sailor, and a few other stand-alone novels.

Dougherty is a lifelong sailor; he's lived what he writes. He and his wife spent over 30 years sailing together. For 15 years, they lived aboard their boat full-time, cruising the East Coast and the Caribbean islands. They spent most of that time exploring the Eastern Caribbean. Dougherty is well acquainted with the islands and their people. The characters and locations in his novels reflect his experience.

A storyteller before all else, Dougherty lets his characters speak for themselves. Pick up one of his sailing thrillers and listen to the sound of adventure as you smell the salt air. Enjoy the views of distant horizons and

meet some people you won't forget.

These days, Dougherty and his wife are living in Texas to be close to their two children and eight grandchildren. As he says, "The sea and the islands will always be there, but little ones grow up quickly."

Find out more about his books at http://www.clrdougherty.com/p/home.html

Meet My Character Blog Tour

This tour highlights two main characters from my new book, Prime Target.  I was invited to participate by my friend Charles Dougherty, author of the Bluewater  Thriller Series. You can read more about his books at http://www.clrdougherty.com. Do take a look—they’re very good and take place in the Caribbean. Charles and his wife live on a sailboat there, and he knows what he’s talking about. His new book is Bluewater Bullion.

1) What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

My fictional characters are contemporary. Madeleine Schier is an ad exec and former concert pianist, and Charlie Dance is a former Navy Corpsman (medic).

2) When and where is the story set?

It begins in New York City, moves through the Kentucky mountains, and comes to rest on an apple farm near Hendersonville, North Carolina.

3) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

Madeleine is hiding from her husband’s murderer, adjusting to a different way of life, and Charlie is searching for purpose and a way to live with his damaged body and soul. Both characters suffer from PTSD. They don’t trust their situations or even themselves enough to live fully.

4) What is the personal goal of the character?

Madeleine wants to bring down the man who killed her husband and destroyed her life; she’s hiding from a killer, marking time until he’s brought to justice. Charlie, a natural caretaker, needs a purpose and a way to contribute, but he’s hindered by people’s reaction to him.

5) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

The title is Prime Target. There's a short excerpt two blogs before this one.

6) When can we expect the book to be published?

October 1. The eBook is available for pre-order on Amazon, and the print book will be out this week.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N34SOV2

Charles Dougherty's Interesting Characters

Today Charles Dougherty, author of the Bluewater Thrillers, talks about the interesting people who inhabit his fictional bluewater world.

At Amazon

THE CHARACTERS

Your characters seem very real and the sort of people you might meet in the islands. Do you know or have you met the characters in your books?

The characters in my fiction books are composites.  Their personalities and physical traits are always borrowed from real-life people, but none of them are real people.  I’ve always been a people-watcher, and when I see or hear something interesting, I often imagine having a character say, do, or look like whatever caught my attention.  It’s fun to mix and match behavior and appearance.  The character Sharktooth, for example takes his physical appearance from a gentle giant that I know.  His Rastafarian beliefs and lack of adherence to them come from another friend who is a commercial fisherman.  The controlled violence in his personality is drawn from yet another acquaintance, a former bodyguard for a deposed dictator down here.  His bald head above dreadlocks and his wry sense of humor belong to another water-taxi driver down island.

Who would you like to play your main characters in a movie?

I never know how to answer that question, because I’m completely out of touch with movies.  When we’re visiting back in the states, we sometimes watch DVDs, but I have no idea who the actors are.  I could pick some of the people that I’ve encountered in real-life, but their names wouldn’t’ mean anything.

Would you like to live next door/next berth to your characters? Why or why not?

That could be fun.  Most of them would make pretty good neighbors, if you overlook their quirks.  The villains, of course, are another matter.http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0053GWJ3M

At Amazon

Which of your characters would you least like to meet in a dark alley?

Mike Reilly, from Bluewater Killer.  He’s the scariest one to me, because in some ways he’s so normal, yet he’s completely unpredictable.  He’s provoked to violence by things that most people never even consider.  While some of the other characters may be more consistently dangerous, they’re easier to understand.

How do you determine your character’s flaws?

I try to develop characters that have the same basic elements of personality that all of us have.  I think that we have character flaws that are a result of adapting our behavior to accommodate to our experience.  That leads to certain traits being emphasized at the expense of others.  What may be a character flaw in one situation may have been a strength in a former encounter.  In the case of a villain, I often don’t spend much time delving into the causes of character flaws; the villian’s job is just to be bad, unless the villian is the focus of the story.  Significant characters need to have flaws consistent with their personalities and backgrounds, and I think the flaws should be exaggerations of traits that exist in all of us.

Would your main character make a good roommate? Why or why not?

I think Dani Berger would make a fine roommate for the right person.  She’s loyal, hard-working, and intense, but she does have a violent temper and the skills to make her dangerous when she’s provoked.  She and Liz Chirac seem to get along fine; Liz’s cool head balances Dani’s temper.

Which characteristic do you consider most important in your main character?  She’s believable, at least to most people.

Thanks for hosting me, and have a great 2013.

 

MORE ABOUT CHARLES DOUGHERTY

Website:  www.clrdougherty.com 

Sailing blog about life afloat: http://voyagesoftheplayactor.blogspot.com

Books for Sailors and Dreamers (Non-fiction) : http://www.clrdougherty.com/p/books-for-sailors-dreamers.html

The Bluewater Thrillers :

 http://www.clrdougherty.com/p/bluewater-thrillers.html

Twitter: @clrdougherty.com 

           

Interviewing Charles Dougherty, The Story, Part 2 of 3

My interview with Charles Dougherty, author of the Bluewater Thrillers, part 2.

At Amazon

THE STORY

What is the worst thing you’ve experienced on your boat?

We were three days out of Miami and were finishing a rough trip north up the Gulf  Stream when we entered Beaufort Inlet in North Carolina.  It was 3 a.m., and we were tired.  Offshore passages are a 24-hour per day commitment; there are no rest areas at sea.  My wife and I alternate 4 hour watches, so we get some sleep, but it takes us longer than 3 days to get into the rhythm.  We had been under sail for the entire time until we left the ocean, at which point we dropped the sails and started our auxiliary engine to make our way to an anchorage a few miles north of Beaufort on the Waterway.  Just inside the inlet, our engine died.  That’s not unusual after an extended period in rough weather; all sorts of stuff gets churned up from the bottom of the fuel tank, and the filters clog when you start the engine.

We were still in the ship channel, and Beaufort is a busy place, with lots of commercial traffic even at 3 a.m.  We were in a hurry to get out of the channel to clean the fuel filters, so my wife took the helm and steered us outside the danger area while the boat was still coasting.  I went forward and dropped the anchor, not realizing how fast we were moving, and I got both hands caught in the anchor chain, pinching my fingers between the chain and the roller as 30,000 pounds of boat pulled the chain over them relentlessly.  My first thought was that when we reached the end of the chain and it stopped, it would cut my fingers off.  Before that could happen, I gritted my teeth and fell backwards, pulling my hands free.  My wife still says that’s the only time she’s heard me scream.  I engaged the chain clutch and got the anchor set, thinking that my days of playing classical guitar were finished.

I had several broken fingers, and lost a good deal of flesh.  It took a long time to recover, but I still play classical guitar.

Did/will you use it in a book?

I had not considered it before you asked; maybe I will someday.  Mostly I think of it as a dumb mistake, and I’m thankful that I eventually recovered the full use of my hands.

Which comes first, characters or plot?

I always have a few characters in mind when I start writing a book.  To me, the plot is secondary; it’s a vehicle to show off the characters.

At Amazon

Plotter, pantser, or in between?

I guess I’m in between.  I usually have a loose idea of plot when I start writing, but as the characters develop, they drive the plot.  I think it’s important to keep the characters’ behavior consistent with their personalities as they react to one another and their environment, so the plot has to be flexible.

Which part of the story is usually the most difficult to write?

For me, the transition from exposition to development is always the hardest part.  I usually struggle for days before I figure out that I’m stuck there, and it’s time to get on with the story.  Once I get past that point, everything else falls into place.

Can you quote a favorite line from one of your books?

“I’m hung over and in jail, somewhere in the Caribbean,” he said aloud. “It’s Sunday.  I need water and food.”   From Bluewater Killer.

FINDING CHARLES DOUGHERTY

Website:  www.clrdougherty.com 

Sailing blog about life afloat: http://voyagesoftheplayactor.blogspot.com

Books for Sailors and Dreamers (Non-fiction) : http://www.clrdougherty.com/p/books-for-sailors-dreamers.html

The Bluewater Thrillers : http://www.clrdougherty.com/p/bluewater-thrillers.html

Twitter: @clrdougherty.com

Interview with Charles Dougherty, Part 1 of 3

Where to find the book

My guest this week is Charles Dougherty, author and sailor. I found him an interesting interview. It turned out to be longer than expected, so I've divided it into three parts, to be posted Dec 28, Dec 30, and Jan 1. This one is mostly about life on his boat, but the next two are about his writing. Check back!

GENERAL

How did you decide to live on your boat?

Living on a boat was a dream from my childhood. I grew up around the water and some of my earliest memories are of watching boats come and go. I had been away from boats for several years when my wife and I got married. She had no exposure to boats before she met me, although she liked the outdoors. A few years after we were married, we bought a 30 foot sailboat on Lake Michigan, and she quickly got hooked on sailing. Once she began to talk about living aboard and cruising, my old dream became a possibility. One cold November weekend on the Chesapeake in 1988, she said, “You know, if we’re going to take off and do this full-time someday, maybe we should go ahead and get the boat for it. That’ll give us time to get it fixed up the way we want it and learn its quirks.” Two weeks later, we owned the boat that we still call home. It was our weekend and vacation getaway for 12 years before we were finally ready to cut our ties to the shore.

Do you miss having space to spread out?

No. That’s a reasonable question, but we find living in a small, well-organized space to be pleasant; everything we need and care about is close at hand. Since we sail in warm, pleasant places, we sit out on deck and enjoy the ever-changing scenery, so there’s no sense of being confined. We spent an extended period ashore this summer with my in-laws, who have a very large house with beautiful gardens outside. We felt more closed in there than aboard our boat, and as pretty as it was, the scenery didn’t change. We found ourselves yearning to return to the boat and the islands.

Do you have access to the Internet or do you have to go ashore?

When we’re actually at sea, we don’t have Internet access. We can send email via a ham radio system, but it’s very slow. We use it primarily for obtaining offshore weather forecasts and letting family know we’re all right. Most of the time when we’re in port, it’s possible to get Wifi access on the boat using a long-range Wifi adapter. In some places like St. Martin, where we are now, I’m able to get mobile high speed access on the boat for a reasonable price.

Is there an author you particularly admire or who has influenced/inspired you?

I’ve always been a voracious reader. I usually read a book a day, so that’s a tough question for me to answer. If I look back to my youth, I was a great fan of William Faulkner. Ernest Hemingway and T.E. Lawrence were also favorites of mine back then, and I’m sure there are influences from many others that have made their way into my writing.

WHERE TO FIND CHARLES

Website: www.clrdougherty.com

Sailing blog about life afloat: http://voyagesoftheplayactor.blogspot.com

Books for Sailors and Dreamers (Non-fiction) : http://www.clrdougherty.com/p/books-for-sailors-dreamers.html

The Bluewater Thrillers : http://www.clrdougherty.com/p/bluewater-thrillers.html

Twitter: @clrdougherty.com

FIRST FRIDAY--Anderson, Bishop, Dougherty!

 It’s FIRST FRIDAY! One photo, three terrific authors with very different styles. This is how they saw it, in 150 words or less. 

ANDERSON

Oh, my. I sent Beth Anderson the Dreamstime comp instead of the purchased one, and she wrote about it.This is the picture that goes with hers.
He'd been having the dream for at least six months. Targets everywhere, shimmering in the hot air. All he could remember every morning when he woke were those targets and the unmistakable sound of gunshots near and far, as if someone whose face he could never make out was running back and forth. The papers said it happened, but had it really, or had he seen it in a movie somewhere? He wasn’t sure.

Slowly over the past two days though, the pictures had become more focused. Today he could feel the ground under his feet now stilled, where before it had always moved. Sounds had finally focused, and the aftermath was beginning to sharpen. Today the circles came at him from every side, voices drawing him toward the edge, telling him he only had to take one more step and he'd have all the answers.

Just one more step.

BISHOP

How easy it would be to take that last step.

Body’s crumbling.

Parents gone.

The dog’s not going to last much longer.

Free fall down the canyon, fly briefly.

Who would clear out all the mementoes and scrap books left at the home place?

The dog would die of a broken heart instead of old age.

What would happen to my signed book collection?

Stomach’ growling, time to head back and fix dinner.

DOUGHERTY

The invitation was obvious, but her normal impulsiveness was restrained by an unaccustomed sense of caution.  “Where did that reaction come from?”  She asked, her words bouncing back from the guano-stained rock as she sought the source of her discomfort.  Perplexed by her sense of foreboding, she wracked her memory.  The shoes were familiar, but why, and why did they evoke this odd feeling of unease?  Was it the setting?  She thought not; she came here often, seeking solitude.  Maybe it was the feeling that somebody had found her hideaway, her ‘happy place.’  She glanced around at that thought, checking to see if she was alone; she didn’t sense another presence, but still, the shoes didn’t get here by themselves.  Feeling foolish, she crept to the edge of the precipice and peered into the bottomless crevice.  Eyes starting from their sockets, she heard the echo of her scream.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

BETH ANDERSON

Beth Anderson is the author of seven published mainstream mysteries, with three more in various stages of completion, which of course means barely started.  She wants everyone to know describing this picture in 150 words is one of the hardest things in the world because every time she attempts to write a short story, when it’s finished she always wants to know what happened then and what on earth led up to this?  So there she goes again, turning a perfectly good short story into another novel.  So far that has happened seven times. This may be the eleventh. 

Beth’s Website:  http://www.bethanderson-hotclue.com

You’ll find four of Beth’s latest mysteries in print or e-book on her author page at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Beth-Anderson/e/B000APMRR4

MAGGIE BISHOP

Maggie Bishop started with romance and turned to murder in her Appalachian Adventure novels set in the Appalachian Mountains near Boone, North Carolina.  Her cozy mysteries include Murder at Blue Falls where she introduces Jemma Chase, trail ride leader and CSI wannabe, Perfect for Framing has trouble brewing in the Property Owners Association, and One Shot too Many with the photography group meeting at Blue Falls Dude Ranch. The romances are Emeralds in the Snow with a treasure hunt, downhill skiing and a cold case mystery, and Appalachian Paradise set in the spring on a hiking trail. Books available at http://dld.bz/maggiebishopamazon and other outlets.

CHARLES DOUGHERTY

Charles Dougherty and his wife live on their sailboat and cruise the Eastern Caribbean.  He recently completed Bluewater Voodoo, the third book in his Bluewater Thriller series, and is working on another thriller that’s not part of that series.  He has written four thrillers, one nonfiction book about his travels afloat, and one short story.  For more information, see his web page at www.clrdougherty.com, or dive right into the Bluewater Thrillers with Bluewater Killer, the first book in the Bluewater Thriller series, available from Amazon in Kindle or paperback: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0066O4GHW

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