Nike Chillemi Interview

Q: How long have you been writing and what other careers or jobs have you had?
A. My first published novel (Burning Hearts, Book One in the Sanctuary Point series Desert Breeze Publishing) released in 2013. I got serious about learning the craft of fiction writing two years before that. In the real world, I worked in the the bridal manufacturing business and attended bridal shows in Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, NYC, and Las Vegas.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release Last Days?
A: LAST DAYS in a nut shell..

A spry elderly woman has died mysteriously in a Florida coastal town, and the head of a clandestine organization in Washington D.C is interested in the case. All evidence, or lack thereof, points to accidental death, but Detective Katerina “Kat” Andruko has nagging doubts. She also has doubts about a mysterious phone call profiler Dimitri Garmonin, PhD, her intended, took and hid from her.

As if that wasn’t enough, Kat’s former fiancé and fellow law enforcement officer gleefully taunts her, predicting the demise of her relationship with Dimitri. Her future mother-in-law thinks she’s less than demure and not suitable marriage material for her son.
Meanwhile, all leads on the elderly woman’s death go nowhere. Old enemies at the local TV station are calling the police incompetent. They air an unfavorable segment about Dimitri. Just as Kat and Dimitri reluctantly begin to believe the death was accidental, the woman’s neighbor goes missing.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for this story?
A: I already had the main and secondary characters. This is the second Katerina Andruko/Dimitri Garmonin novel. I gave one of the secondary characters (a septuagenarian gent involved all of his adult life in covert operations) a soon to be in-law and then had her mysteriously die. Florida has several military instillations. I used them as a backdrop for portions of the story, and the plot unfolded.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
A: One of the take-aways I hope the reader gets is that law enforcement is hard work, often drudgery and most often thankless.

Q: How do you choose your settings for your books?
A. There is a sub-sub-sub-genre, that of the Florida mystery/thriller. Since I live in Florida, I thought it would be fun to write a few of my novels in that sub-genre. This is one of those novels.

Q: Do you base your characters on people you know or are they totally made up?
A: They are totally made up, and creating them is one of the best parts of the process for me.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. I’m working on another Florida novel with different main characters. I may venture out of Florida waters a bit with the next one and take my characters into the Caribbean.

Q: If money were no object what vacation would you like to take and why?
A. There are three places I want to go: Scotland, Malta, and Israel. If money were no object, I’d simply stay longer and in better accommodations.

Q: What is the silliest thing you have ever done?
A. As I’m a seasoned (not senior) citizen, I confess, I’ve done a lot of silly, even stupid things. One, in particular, doesn’t come to mind. I assure you, there’s a long list of them.

Q: What is the hardest thing you have ever done?
A. Fight cancer and come out at the other end. PTL. Only possible with His power and help.