Mark Arsenault

Mark Arsenault has been a reporter since 1989 and most recently covered state politics for The Providence Journal in Rhode Island. Gravewriter was his first thriller in the Billy Povich series; the sequel, Loot the Moon, releases this month.

From Arsenault's Q & A about Gravewriter with New Mystery Reader:

NMR: You're also a journalist, and it seems more than likely that you have seen more than your share of possible plots for a good novel. Why, instead of creating a macho kick butt character that travels the world and exposes conspiracies, did you choose to create one who has crashed and burned and now writes obits?

When the fiction world runs low of macho butt-kickers, I’ll pick up the slack.

In the meantime, I prefer Billy Povich, the Everyman action hero. He takes a punch better than he delivers one, and he’s taken a lot of them, but there’s a special kind of toughness in a person like that.

NMR: Billy's choice of self-destruction is gambling; why does he continue with it after all he's lost, besides the obvious reasons of addiction?

MA: I know a lot of addicts. They are ABOSOLUTELY POSITIVE they will win this one last wager.

NMR: It's refreshing that you chose to focus on Billy's relationships with his father and son, leaving out the romance factor. Was this a hard sell to your publisher?
MA:...[read on]

Visit Mark Arsenault's website.

--Marshal Zeringue