Nancy Glass West, mystery author

BIOGRAPHY
Nancy Glass West, mystery author

When Nancy Glass West was seven years old, she and her mother wrote poems to each other on special occasions. In high school, Nancy published a poem in the library journal Pegasus. At eighteen, she realized she might have to get a real job.

Since journalists were underpaid and English majors were selling lingerie, she studied General Business at the University of Texas and University of Houston and earned a BBA.

Married, with two daughters, Nancy realized she had to study English literature and write. She read numerous books on writing and wrote articles, poetry, and the biography of artist Jose Vives-Atsara (Shoal Creek Publishers). She founded Book Publishers of Texas, edited their trade journal and promoted their books for seven years.

She worked on Nine Days to Evil, a novel of psychological suspense while earning her MA in English at University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio.

Her poem, Time to Lie, was featured by “Theme and Variations” and broadcast on NPR, and she wrote book reviews for San Antonio Woman’s Book Shelf column for two-and-a-half years.

Nine Days to Evil, a Blether Gold Award winner, is available on line and can be ordered at bookstores. West’s first title in the Aggie Mundeen Mystery series throws three people together whose lives intertwine in the others’ dilemmas.  In this novel, Meredith Laughlin, Aggie’s young graduate school friend, receives a call from her physician husband that propels her through nine horrendous days and into a deadly snare. Aggie and Detective Sam are drawn into her plight.

In Forever Fatal, laced with humor and romance, Aggie Mundeen, appalled at the prospect of middle age, enrolls at San Antonio’s University of the Holy Trinity to take Aspects of Aging. She joins Forever Fit Health Club where she deals with detestable machines, workout groupies, and too many perfect women. Then she stumbles into murder. Despite her friends’ efforts to dissuade her, Aggie is determined to solve the crime. Forever Fatal, a 2008 mystery novel finalist, is available at stores and online. For order information, see home page.

In the next story, Aggie, Meredith, and Sam share a Texas dude ranch vacation. Along with discovering Hill Country atmosphere and traditions, they learn that “Home on the Range” can mean murder. Check this site for publication date of the third Aggie Mundeen Mystery. 

Nine Days to Evil is available on line or can be ordered at bookstores.

Forever Fatal, a mystery laced with humor and romance, is now available. See home page. 

 

INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR

Q: Why do you write mystery fiction?
A: In mysteries, evil invades someone’s ordinary world and hurls everyone into chaos; but as the story progresses, evil is gradually revealed and, at least partially, explained. Unlike what can happen in the real world, evil in mystery fiction is exposed to the light, overcome, and order prevails again. We seek order in our lives, so mystery fiction appeals to us.

I relish creating suspense in mysteries, and I love developing characters who have to overcome serious problems. In Nine Days to Evil, Meredith Laughlin faces a deadly snare and has to dredge up repressed courage.

Forever Fatal is the humorous story of what happens when loveable but klutzy Aggie Mundeen, the over-thirty graduate student desperate to avoid aging, stumbles into murder at her health club and decides to catch the killer. SAPD Detective Sam Vanderhoven, her friend (and secret love), sets up roadblocks to thwart her outlandish schemes.

Q: Which comes first, character or plot?
A: Either can generate a story. My husband was musing about possible events at the San Antonio medical center. I subsequently read a newspaper account of a bizarre incident in California and combined the two ideas to create the plot for Nine Days to Evil. I considered what type of person would be most affected by these events and created my protagonist, Meredith Laughlin.

Mystery writer Marilyn Wallace describes it this way: “Something gnaws at you and refuses to go away. It’s like a grain that serves as an irritant….As a writer, I am compelled to probe it, consider it, and expand it.”

Forever Fatal is the first book told from Aggie Mundeen’s viewpoint. In her next book, she talks Meredith and Sam into going with her to a Texas dude ranch.

Aggie, the “mature” graduate student, has a tendency to stumble into murder. Determined to solve the crime, she creates chaos.

While I was writing Nine Days to Evil, Aggie Mundeen repeatedly invaded my thoughts until I knew I had to write more about her. Forever Fatal is the first of Aggie’s escapades. Meredith Laughlin and Detective Sam Vanderhoven provide support, but this is Aggie’s story.

Q: How much writing success is due to luck, perseverance, or talent?
A: Luck is essential in getting the right piece of work to the right agent or editor.

Perseverance is key. If a writer constantly works to improve her writing, she will succeed when she develops sufficient skill to draw readers into her fictional world and hold them to the end of the story.

Talent is probably a fascination with stories and language--fascination strong enough to keep a writer happily spending hours reworking plots, deepening characters, and re-crafting sentences. Maybe talent is simply a sensitive inner ear that tells a writer when something works.

 

 

Home

 FOREVER FATAL: Sneak Preview  

News & Events

West Reviews Favorite Books

Meet the Author

Books for Writers

Bio/Interview

What Readers Say About FOREVER FATAL

NINE DAYS TO EVIL: Chapter One, the story that started it all...

What Readers Say About NINE DAYS TO EVIL

Talk to Aggie about Shaping Up and Heading Out: AGGIE'S INTERACTIVE BLOG

 

All material copyright 2008-2009 by Nancy G. West