When I was on a panel at the Southern Festival of Books last month, author Jennie Bentley wasn’t the only one to accept my request for an interview. So did this next author, who moderated the panel.
JB Thompson is the immediate past president of the Middle Tennessee Sisters in Crime and has always done nothing but welcome me with open arms and extraordinary graciousness every time I’ve participated in any SinC event. The funny thing is, every time I’m around her, I learn we have something else in common. For instance, on previous occasions I learned we both write romantic suspense and were both paralegals once upon a time.
But it wasn’t until this past panel that I realized she also was a pet lover. We actually had a little time to get to talking about such things. (Normally our conversations are brief because everyone’s vying for her attention.)
So it is my great pleasure to introduce you both to JB Thompson and her animal menagerie.
Courtney Mroch: For those who aren’t familiar with your work, what do you write about? (Genre, subject matter, themes, what have you.)
JB Thompson: I write romantic suspense standalones. My first two (published) books actually feature the same characters, but it’s not technically a series, and I’ve left those characters behind and have written four other books with different settings and characters. Most of my novels feature two leading characters –male and female, of course– and with one exception it’s usually the female who’s in some kind of trouble. That’s not to say these are damsel-in-distress books –my women are pretty self-sufficient, strong and colorful. The men aren’t knight in shining armor types, but they’re all pretty hunky, anyway.
A quick run-down on the books/manuscripts I’ve written:
- The Blue Frog – An heiress is stalked by a gangster with a family grudge.
- The Mozart Murders – An FBI agent is kidnapped by the international assassin she’s investigating.
- An Ordinary Girl (unpublished) – A psychotic fan turns a mystery writer’s quiet life into a journey through the mind of a killer.
- Two Of Hearts (unpublished) – A Chicago attorney finds the key to his past — and his future — on a Texas ranch.
- Betrayal (unpublished) – What do you do when you’re betrayed by the one person you thought you could trust?
- No Evil Lost (on submission) – One man’s obsessive ambition … one woman’s quest for the truth … and how devastating the truth can be.
At the moment –that is, while I’m waiting to hear from that agent in New York who’s reviewing a partial from the sixth manuscript– I’m doing some editing for a couple of writers, one fiction manuscript (paranormal/gothic) and one nonfiction (self-help). I’ve also done mystery book reviews for Reviewing the Evidence, an independent online reviewing service, but I’m taking a break from that, at least for a while.
CM: What kind of pets do you have? (Or have you had.)
JBT: We are a pet family! I’ve had pets all my life –my parents had Airedales when I was growing up, and then when we moved into a smaller condo they got a cat, which sort of influenced me into being a cat person. My husband hated cats until he met me, and now we have three cats and a dog. All the pets we’ve had since our marriage have had music-themed names because my husband is a musician and I love music in general, the classics in particular. Our family presently includes cats Sebastian, Haydn and Smokee, and we have an English shepherd named McCartney.
CM: Do you ever use your pets as the basis for any animal characters?
JBT: I did use the name Sebastian for one of the dogs in my first book, but I named him before we got our cat (I’m not sure I’ve convinced my husband that I didn’t name the real pet after the fictional one). There is a cat in Betrayal that belongs to the main female character, and he has some characteristics that are very similar to our cats’ –I sort of combined some of the quirkier personality traits from all three into my fictional kitty (whose name is Mouse). Like his uncanny ability to place himself directly in Gabrielle’s path and become entwined around her feet when she’s trying to walk from the refrigerator to the kitchen table. Yep, have that happen on a regular basis at my house!
CM: Do your pets contribute to your work methods and help with the process?
JBT: They are my stress relief. I work a full-time job from home on top of doing the writing and editing, and I enjoy taking very short breaks to go outside and play fetch with McCartney (he has a ball he just loves) or cuddle with the cats for a few minutes. There’s just something so relaxing about spending time with an adorable creature who loves you unconditionally –they don’t even care if you’re having a bad hair day.