Cops and Writers Podcast

Bonus Episode! Author Spotlight With Editor & Author Coach Lori Puma Interviewing Me!

Patrick O'Donnell Episode 247

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Welcome to a bonus episode of the Cops And Writers Podcast, where the tables, or mics, are turned. Today on this special Author Spotlight, I’m being interviewed by book coach and editor, Lori Puma.

A little about Lori: Lori Puma helps authors write novels that inspire readers to skip bathroom breaks and survive on chips and salsa. She started her writing career by publishing scientific papers. (Great reading if it’s 3:12 am and you’ve run out of Ambien.) Since then, she’s worked a variety of jobs, many of which involved telling stories.

Now a developmental editor and story coach, Lori works with writers who are trying to figure out how to tell a story readers can’t put down, as well as seasoned authors who are looking for ways to make their stories stand out. 

 

For today’s interview, Lori will pick my brain, analyzing what today’s crime writers can learn from the Edgar Allan Poe classic The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Of course, we go off course a bit with some of my war stories from working the streets.

I had a lot of fun chatting with Lori and learned a bunch! Lori asked some excellent questions that will be of service for crime writers. Please enjoy this informative and fun interview with Lori steering the boat.

 

In today’s episode, we discuss:

·      Edgar Allan Poe's classic The Murders in the Rue Morgue.

·      What is a ‘locked room’ mystery?

My first week as a rookie cop, I had to decide whether to pull the trigger on a man running at me with a butcher knife. He'd just killed his brother over the last hot dog.

That was my introduction to policing in Milwaukee.

From Wall Street Journal-featured author Patrick O'Donnell comes a memoir of rookie years on Milwaukee's streets.


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