CRIMINALLY GOOD: Interview with author Polly Iyer

Who are you and what have you written?

I’m Polly Iyer and I’ve written and published eight crime fiction novels: Hooked, InSight, Murder Déjà Vu, Threads, the Kindle Scout winner, Indiscretion, and three books in The Diana Racine Psychic Suspense series: Mind Games, Goddess of the Moon and Backlash.

All but Indiscretion are self-published. That is published by Kindle Press. I wrote a first-time screenplay for this book because I thought it would make a great movie. I entered it in a contest but it went nowhere. I still think it would be a fun movie. There’s sex, great characters, humour and dead bodies. What more could anyone want?

Why do you write crime fiction?

I like to read page-turners, so it stands to reason I would write them. There’s always a romance, however, though not always fitting the Romance Writers of America requirement of a happy ever after.

What informs your crime writing? 

I’m a “what if” kind of gal, but I’m influenced by real crimes or subject matter that interest me. For example, Indiscretion is a “what if” about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist. Where have the paintings been for the last twenty-five years? Wouldn’t it be fun to find them?

Murder Déjà Vu is about real life cases of people convicted of crimes they didn’t commit. InSight is about my biggest fear, being blind. Hooked evolved when a New York governor who fought prostitution rings got caught paying for a prostitute. What kind of gal does that and why?

The Diana Racine series came about when I read about the police using a psychic to find a missing person, which is how Diana started.

Threads is about how a woman gets caught up with an abuser. All pertinent subject matter.

What’s your usual writing routine?

Most of the day, way into the night. No waiting for a muse. I just park myself down and write. Of course promotion is a major distraction. No writer likes it, but we do it to make some sort of presence in a great big sea of writers. This is especially important for self-published writers to rise above the thousands, maybe millions of others. This is getting harder all the time with many of the big advertisers going for the high dollar clients.

Which crime book do you wish YOU’D written, and why?

Mystic River, by Dennis Lehane. I think it’s the perfect crime novel, all starting with one event in the lives of three boys and how it impacts their futures.

In this new feature, CRIMINALLY GOOD, I’ll be interviewing authors and writers (novels AND screenplays) who’ve written crime and mystery stories. The questions will be the same for everyone, so if you like what you see here, send your answers (plus your links to your books on Amazon and/or IMDB page if a screenwriter) to Bang2write@aol.com. Looking forward to hearing from you!