ROSEMARY AND LARRY MILD,
cheerful partners in crime, coauthor mystery, suspense, and fantasy fiction.
Their popular Hawaii novels, Cry Ohana and its sequel Honolulu Heat,
vibrate with island color, local customs, and exquisite scenery. Also by the
Milds: The Paco and Molly Murder Mysteries: Locks and Cream Cheese, Hot
Grudge Sunday, and Boston Scream Pie. And the Dan and Rivka Sherman
Mysteries: Death Goes Postal, Death Takes A Mistress, and Death
Steals A Holy Book. Plus Unto the Third Generation, A Novella of the
Future, and three collections of wickedly entertaining mystery short stories—Murder,
Fantasy, and Weird Tales; The Misadventures of Slim O. Wittz,
Soft-Boiled Detective; and Copper and Goldie, 13 Tails of Mystery and
Suspense in Hawai‘i.
ROSEMARY, a graduate of Smith
College and former assistant editor of Harper’s, also delves into her
own nonfiction life. She published two memoirs: Love! Laugh! Panic! Life
With My Mother and the acclaimed Miriam’s World—and Mine, for the
beloved daughter they lost in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103 over
Lockerbie, Scotland. On her lighter side, Rosemary also writes award-winning
humorous essays, such as failing the test to get on Jeopardy; and as a
writer for a giant free-spending corporation on a sudden budget: “No new pencil
unless you turn in the old stub.”
LARRY, who was only called
Lawrence when he’d done something wrong, graduated from American University in
Information Systems Management. In 2019 he published his autobiography, No
Place To be But Here: My Life and Times, which traces his
thirty-eight-year professional engineering career from its beginning as an
electronics technician in the U.S. Navy, to a field engineer riding Navy ships,
to a digital systems and instrument designer for major Government contractors
in the signal analysis field, to where he rose to the most senior level of
principal engineer when he retired in 1993.
Making use of his past
creativity and problem-solving abilities, Larry naturally drifted into the
realm of mystery writing, where he also claims to be more devious than his
partner in crime and best love, Rosemary. So he conjures up their plots and
writes the first drafts, leaving Rosemary to breathe life into their characters
and sizzle into their scenes. A perfect marriage of their talents.
THE MILDS are active members
of Sisters in Crime where Larry is a Mister in Crime; Mystery Writers of
America; and Hawaii Fiction Writers. In 2013 they waved goodbye to Severna
Park, Maryland and moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where they cherish quality time
with their daughters and grandchildren. When Honolulu hosted Left Coast Crime
in 2017, Rosemary and Larry were the program co-chairs for “Honolulu Havoc.”
Over a dozen worldwide trips
to Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Great
Britain, France, Italy, Israel, Egypt, and more have wormed their way into
their amazing stories. In their limited spare time, they are active on the
Honolulu Jewish Film Festival committee, where Larry is the statistician and
recordkeeper for their film ratings.
Interview with: Rosemary and Larry Mild, coauthors of Copper and
Goldie, 13 Tails of Mystery and Suspense in Hawai‘i
Tell us about your book!
What is it about and what inspired you to write it?
LARRY: Homicide detective Sam
Nahoe takes a bullet in his spine in the line of duty. Disabled, his career
with the Honolulu Police Department shattered—what now? Jobless, lonely, and
unwillingly divorced, Sam becomes a Checker Cab driver. Seeking a partner, he
adopts Goldie, a rescue golden retriever—with a dollop of Doberman, and trains
her to perform neat tricks like growling at a fare who doesn’t tip. He and
Goldie cruise Oahu for fares, encountering thieves, kidnappers, vengeful wives,
and even killers, compelling Sam to get his private investigator license. His
Sunday visitations with his daughter, Peggy, can turn a magical park day into a
hair-raising crime scene, but his shrewd little kid becomes a miniature sleuth
in her own right. Sam’s Hawaiian heritage provides him with spunk and street
smarts. With the bullet still in his spine, he hobbles around on two canes he’s
dubbed Cane and Able as he orders Goldie to chase down the bad guys. His
favorite snitch, card-sharp Sophie, asks him: “You still walkin’ with them
giant chopsticks?” The book includes thirteen individual detective mysteries
with pictures.
There really wasn’t any
inspiration involved. Writing is a work of love. Copper and Goldie was
the next book we were looking for. An ex-cop, a disabled native Hawaiian, and
the darker streets of Honolulu produced the mix that mattered.
Tell us about your
publishing process. What was it like? Did you go indie or the traditional way?
LARRY: We are Indie
publishers. Rosemary and I prefer to write our first drafts using the Microsoft
Works (.wps) word processor, because we don’t have to change screens quite so
often as in MS Word or deal with its many quirks. When a story or book is
text-ready in MS Works, I format it with Adobe’s InDesign software, which
governs strict margins, headers, footers, pagination, images, and justification
in accordance with a specific book’s trim size. I design the interior text. I
transfer the .wps output into this software. The pdf interior text output is
what we send to the printer. Using the page count, we obtain a cover template
with the correct spine size from the printer, and purchase the bar code image
from Bowker Identifier Services. We send the cover template, the bar code
image, our preliminary cover design, and back-cover blurb off to our cover
designer. After several proof exchanges, we wind up with a pdf of our new
cover. We then upload this and the interior text pdf to our printer, Lightning
Source, Inc., a division of Ingram, the largest distributor of English language
books in the world. After at least one exchange of proofs, we order copies to
sell locally. Others are sold through Ingram, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. I
also use InDesign’s html output to format two types of e-books, Kindle and
Nook, through Amazon Kindle Create and Nook Press.
How did you choose the
title for your book? Did it come to you right away, before you started writing
it or did it come later?
LARRY: We hadn’t even written
the first story yet, but we had identified the ex-cop and his female golden
retriever partner. Her color wasn’t brown or tan, it was gold; and so the name
Goldie emerged. Goldie and the Ex-cop didn’t have a ring to it, but Copper
and Goldie did, so it became our title. Our subtitle, 13 Tails of
Mystery and Suspense in Hawai‘i, wasn’t added until we put the short story
collection together. We used a friend’s dog named Tavi for a few of the book’s
photos, Goldie’s stand-in, so to speak. In the book we quote Tavi as saying, or
is it woofing, “….By the way, these authors do know that a tail is something
that follows me around wherever I go, and a tale is a story told about a dog
like me. Rosemary grew up with a golden named September Blaze. She devotes a
chapter to him in her memoir Love! Laugh! Panic! Life With My Mother. Rosemary
and Larry also immortalize a golden in Locks and Cream Cheese, their
first mystery novel, where Shana helps catch a vicious thug….”
Tell us about your cover
design process. Did you have a basic idea of what your book cover would be
like?
LARRY: We knew the cover to Copper
and Goldie had to have four elements: A classic Checker Cab, a golden
retriever, a mention of police, and a palm tree as a symbol of Hawaii. We
located stock pictures of the cab and I came up with the idea of using a
picture of seated Tavi for the “I” in Goldie. To denote that Copper meant a
policeman, the word was colored deep blue as the word Goldie was colored gold.
We had all the elements for our cover. By the time we ship our cover
suggestions off to the cover designer we know exactly what we want. Prior to
becoming an Indie publisher, we had no say in what was on the cover. Our cover
designer selects the font and font size, the background and the basic colors,
and adjusts the layout within the confines of the printer’s template.
Who is your cover designer
and how did you find her?
LARRY: Marilyn Drea,
Professional Graphic Design Services, in Annapolis, Maryland, has designed our
covers ever since we bought back our rights from our original publishers. She
was referred to us by a friend in the Maryland Writers’ Association.
How was your experience
working with the designer?
LARRY: Marilyn is
knowledgeable, talented, and a pleasure to deal with. She’s a pure graphics
designer, not an artist. None of our covers ever required specific artwork, so
she was the perfect match for us.
What has been the readers’
response to your cover?
LARRY: The first batch of
books arrived only two days ago. The first few friends to see it loved the
cover and bought copies, so we have high hopes for Copper and Goldie.
When all fifteen of our books are on display for signings and sales, we find
even passersby are stopped in their tracks with titles like Locks and Cream
Cheese, Hot Grudge Sunday, Boston Scream Pie, and more.
What tips would you give
to authors who are looking for a cover designer?
LARRY: “Don’t judge a book by
its cover” doesn’t apply here. Do check out the designer’s workmanship and
experience. First, look at past covers. Decide whether you need an artist or a
graphic designer. Discuss the technical aspects to determine whether the
designer is easy to work with and compatible with what you are looking for.
Check out pricing on former work before you commit to anything. Speak with a
former customer if possible. Good luck!
Anything else you’d like
to say about your book?
LARRY: We published ten of
the thirteen short stories in an online e-zine. A recent email from the editor
said, “Your stories are fun and a great addition to Mysterical-E—keep
sending!” A reader of “Carnival Caper” wrote: “I loved the detail. ‘Spam musubi,’
‘intentional shortage of gunpowder.’ I was rooting for Sam all along. Glad he
got his man.” Author Lizbeth Hartz commented about “A Dead Man Isn’t Fare”:
“Really enjoyed the story, Rosemary and Larry. Couldn’t stop reading from the
first word to the last. Clever and engaging, Well done.”
