Thanks for stopping by! What attracted you to the mystery genre?
Curiosity. Be it missing persons, unsolved crimes, or unexplainable natural occurrences, I enjoy the thrilling hunt for the one clue that explains everything.
Do you write in any other genres?
Yes. I have a couple of science fiction short stories that I will stretch into novels.
What inspired you to write The K-Frost Caper?
Heroine Luna Nightcrow was originally inspired by a TV insurance fraud investigator, instead of a real-life one.
When I was growing up, there was an NBC TV show called “Banacek” that featured actor George Peppard in the title role: A refined and clever Boston- based insurance investigator named Thomas Banaceck. Unlike most insurance investigators, who are tied to a company, Banacek was self-employed; he chose his own clients and charged them whatever he wanted. Often, Banacek travelled cross-country to foil the oddest insurance frauds. Banacek was also ethnically Polish and proudly included “old Polish proverbs” in chats with friend and foe.
By the time “The K-Frost Caper” was first written, however, 63.3 percent of
insurance investigators were women (per the following):
https://www.iii.org/table-archive/23055
When Luna Nightcrow and “The K-Frost Caper” were created, there were several high-profile cases of insurance investigators being murdered in the line of duty.
So the profession could be as telegenic as “Banaeck,” but also present the real-life danger (per the following examples):
Louisiana insurance fraud investigators should carry guns, commissioner says
Ed Anderson, The Times-Picayune
Aug 13, 2011
Sallie Rohrbach Murder: Where is Michael Howell Now
Sounak Sengupta
September 22, 2022
https://thecinemaholic.com/sallie-rohrbach-murder-where-is-michael-howell-now/
‘Nub City,’ and Other Stories Of an Insurance Investigator
The Story Of Florida’s “Nub City,” Where Residents Cut Off Their Own Appendages For
Insurance Money
By Gabe Paoletti
Published November 2, 2017
Updated June 12, 2019
https://allthatsinteresting.com/nub-city-vernon-florida
Can you give us your book blurb so others can find out what your book is about?
A cold case heats up when Kelvin Frost, believed to have drowned in Alabama, returns from the dead to apply for more life insurance. Or has he? When a body- a dead body-identified as Kelvin Frost, turns up in Miami, murder complicates matters. Enter Luna Nightcrow, the insurance fraud investigator whose "smartphone never sleeps." After recovering a valuable Cherokee relic, Nightcrow accepts Charmed Life Mutual Insurance's offer of $50,000 to sniff out and close down the K-Frost Caper. But it won't be easy with so few leads or clues. That doesn't surprise Luna. After all, when is the last time anyone saw
Frost … in Miami?
How can readers discover more about you and your work?
Where can readers buy your book?
https://www.amazon.com/stores/James-
Blakley/author/B004ICSOYK?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=tr
ue&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22James%20Blakley%22;jsessionid=0858189B9C
F73E4B3B80588EFC5D7225.prodny_store02-
atgap03?Ntk=P_key_Contributor_List&Ns=P_Sales_Rank&Ntx=mode+matchall
