Noted thriller writer John Sandford entertains standing room only crowd at Schuler

Noted thriller writer John Sandford made a rare mid-Michigan appearance last night at the Okemos Schuler Books and Music to promote his newest book “Bad Blood”. Sandford is best known for his “Prey”  novels featuring Minneapolis detective Lucas Davenport, but he is on the road promoting his relatively new series that features police detective Virgil Flowers. He has written four novels in that series which grew out of the “Prey” franchise.

 Fans have adopted the one-name moniker since “prey” is in the title of all 20 “Prey” books. Flowers was first showcased in the book, “Invisible Prey”. Admiring fans took to standing in the aisles to hear one of of best thriller writers in the business explain his craft. As an added bonus he spent a good 10 minutes ranting about the bosses in the newspaper industry. One fan brought more than 60 Sandford books for signing and even showed Sandford some quirks about his own books.

John Sandford, a pseudonym for John Camp, also wrote four books in what are called the “Kidd” series before moving on to the Davenport books which feature a tough Midwestern detective who leads an elite group in the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The unit gets all the tough cases and is under constant criticism from the media and traditional law enforcement agencies.

Sandford said that although his Kidd books were somewhat successful, it wasn’t until his agent had a conversation with him about what makes a best-selling thriller that his writing jumped to the next level.

“I learned about using gravity, a back story and writing to a certain length.

The real magic for me was when I was writing the first Davenport thriller (Deadly Prey).”

My co-workers (at the St. Paul Pioneer Press) would see me wandering around the skywalks. I could barely stand work. I would literally spend 14 or more hours thinking about the book and writing. It was the most obsessed time in my whole life.”

At the time, Camp was already a successful newspaper reporter and columnist, but he yearned to be a fiction writer. Some of that may have come from associates in his previous job at the Miami Herald where Edna Buchanan and Karl Hiassen, both successful mystery and thriller writers, shared the newsroom with him.

Camp who started at the St. Paul newspaper in 1978, went on to become a Pulitzer finalist in 1980 and then won the award in 1986 for a series on the farm crisis.

“I had a good job, but when I analyzed it I didn’t have enough to send my kids to state college. It just freaked me out.”

Then in one day Camp landed book contracts totalling $800,000.

“I went from nothing to everything in one hour.”

Camp now Sandford, to his soon to be adoring fans, would help create a Midwestern style of thriller different from that being written on the coasts.

“It’s much easier to write about a place you live in. There are things you don’t find out about unless it’s the place you live.”

He doesn’t believe the Midwestern approach has hindered his writing in any way. Pointing to the late mystery writer Tony Hillerman who sets his books in Four Corners (New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado) he said, “You write it as a national story.”

Sandford said he is still drawing on his experiences as a newspaper writer to bring a sense of reality to his books.

He points to one series where he spent a month in a state prison researching a specialized training program which was primarily made up of lifers.

“ I talked to all the killers in prison and that experience allows me to visualize prisons.”

The most recent Virgil Flowers’ book “Bad Blood” which takes place in farm country likely draws on his Pulitzer series on farming. Although the Prey and Flowers series are vastly different, both series have unusual plots, characters and settings accompanied with great dialogue. And let’s not forget violence and sex.

This time Flowers is sent to investigate a cut and dried murder of a farmer by a hometown football hero who then hangs himself in prison. Asking “why” leads to a complicated story of a long-held community secret and a suspenseful ending which is a trademark of any Sandford book.

What’s coming up for Sandford and his “Prey” series is in a way a spoiler.

“I think I’m coming to the end of the “Prey” series,” he said.

“I’ll probably write one or two more books.”

In the final “Prey” book, Sandford will reintroduce the patently bad guy, Jason Kidd to readers.

“Davenport will bring Kidd on to work with him, never realizing he was a criminal.”

What happens to Davenport is up in the air, but Sandford’s writing career will have gone full circle and is likely not to