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Author Michele Martinez Rob Holden: Michele Martinez, welcome -- FINALLY to ReadersRoom.com. It has taken a few tries, but it is a pleasure to have you with us here today! Michele Martinez: It's great to be here. It was a bit star-crossed, but that just makes it better when it finally happens! Rob Holden: Let's start this off by talking a little bit about your novel Most Wanted. Can you tell our readers a bit about it? Michele Martinez: Most Wanted is the first in a series featuring New York City federal prosecutor Melanie Vargas. In this book, Melanie takes on the case of her career at a moment of deep crisis in her personal life. She has a new baby at home, has just returned from maternity leave to face her witch of a boss and has just kicked her husband out of the house after she caught him having an affair. But one night, she goes out for a walk with her baby in her fancy neighborhood on Manhattan's Upper East Side and finds herself smack in the middle of a crime scene -- a wealthy former prosecutor has been tortured to death and his townhouse set on fire to cover up the crime. Melanie is extremely ambitious and needs some distraction from her personal problems, so she grabs the case, and puts herself smack in the killer’s sights -- he's going around whacking all her witnesses before she can interview them! Rob Holden: Melanie is a big part of what makes Most Wanted as good as it is, and I am wondering how much of her is based on your own career -- and how much is based on other prosecutors you've known. Michele Martinez: Certainly all of Melanie's knowledge about crime and how to handle it is based on my own career. I was a federal prosecutor in New York for eight years, specializing in gangs and high-level narcotics cases -- real blood and guts stuff. Lots of violence. Serious bad guys. You learn a lot that way, so I think I bring a lot to my writing in terms of the authenticity of the crimes. A lot of the stuff in my book, while fictional, is just really TRUE -- like how killers and drug dealers in lots of neighborhoods in this city have big, scary dogs, for example. I can’t tell you how many guys I prosecuted who used pit bulls as a basic accessory to intimidate people. Stuff like that makes it into the book.

Rob Holden: We have chatted with a lot of lawyers turned writers here, and one of the things that makes Most Wanted unique is that -- unlike most of them -- the story stays OUT of the courtroom. How was it you decided to write a thriller as opposed to a "legal" thriller for your first novel?

Michele Martinez: Simple, actually -- it's very difficult to write a suspenseful legal thriller from the prosecutor's point of view. I think what's suspenseful in the legal thriller is the possibility of miscarriage of justice. There are two ways that can happen. The first is, an innocent man gets wrongly convicted. Obviously, we don't want our protagonist out there convicting the innocent! The second possibility is, a guilty man walks free to kill again. Bad idea if you are the prosecutor. But Melanie going to trial and convicting the guilty? That may be a just result but it's not too interesting to read about. (Scott Turow solved this problem by putting his prosecutor on trial in Presumed Innocent. Other harrowing legal thrillers tend to be written from the defense lawyer's perspective -- I would highly recommend Offer of Proof by Robert Heilbrun in the innocent man vein if you haven't read it.

Rob Holden: You mentioned that Most Wanted is the first in a series with Melanie Vargas. Do you see the other books in this series being basically the same style, or do you think you might "take her to court" in the future?

Michele Martinez: I would definitely love to write a trial book at some point, basically because I can, which not everybody can say. I do have this specialized knowledge, and trials are great fun. It would be fun to write. But again, I'd have to come up with a scenario where everything is at stake, and the outcome of the trial is a life or death issue. When I get that scenario from the prosecutor's perspective, I'll do it.

Rochelle Krich: Given the recent killings of two judges, what was your experience re courtroom security? Did you ever find yourself in jeopardy?

Michele Martinez: The federal courthouse in Brooklyn was well secured, I thought. Interestingly -- this is an aside -- I was actually in the US embassy in -- hmm, I forget if it was Bangkok or Singapore -- working on extraditing some heroin traffickers on April 19, 1994, the day of the Oklahoma City bombing. We got locked down -- there was a total red alert at first because every thought it was Islamic fundamentalists. After that I noticed a big uptick in courthouse security in the US. As to feeling personally threatened well, of course, there were the occasional defendants where I said this one is extra crazy and it bothered me. There were also days where we'd just done a big take-down in some gang case and the benches in the courtroom were full of incensed family members. The DEA agent would tell me that if I wanted to go to the bathroom, he'd escort me. Also, when I traveled in Southeast Asia I was closely guarded, although I could never tell if that was protect me or to keep tabs on me. I never got any death threats that I was aware of however.

Rob Holden: You have now left the AG's office and are writing full time. How are you finding the change -- and do you find yourself missing the excitement of your old job?

Michele Martinez: I totally miss my old job. It's not the excitement, per se, because what I'm doing now is just as if not more exciting. What I miss is the sense of relevance, of making a difference in the world. And I miss crime. I just LOVED the visceral-ness of it all. I miss the cops, and I miss the bad guys. It's interesting that you asked about trials, because I think there's a misconception that prosecutor's spend all their days in court. I was in court constantly, but an even bigger component of the job was the investigation. The US Attorney managed and directed the investigations in partnership with the FBI or DEA agent, so I spent most of my days interviewing witnesses -- mostly killers and drug dealers – and getting wiretaps and search warrants. You felt like you were right there with the crimes. I used to love listening in on wiretaps -- crime in real time!

Rochelle Krich: In fiction, you determine the outcome. How did you deal emotionally with cases that you lost?

Michele Martinez: I never lost a case that really mattered. The only cases I lost were drug mule cases in my first few months in the office that we trained on. They were tough cases. Usually an attractive young female defendant (mules are chosen for appearance based on the increased likelihood of getting through Customs) and the only evidence would be the kilo of heroin in her suitcase. Good evidence, you say? Not when you need to prove she knew it was there. They always had a good explanation, believe me. But losing one of those cases -- it wasn't the end of the world. I think I lost two of them -- other than that -- if you're doing your job, you won't lose a case, because you indict according to the evidence you have. Also, as I got more senior, when I wanted to be aggressive and indict based on what I knew the defendant had done rather than what I could prove at that moment, I could always plead it down.

Rochelle Krich: You talked about misconceptions. What are other misconceptions that the public has about the criminal justice system? And do you try to correct those misconceptions in your books?

Michele Martinez: I think it's fashionable to believe there are a lot of innocent people in jail, whereas I think the reality is heavily in the other direction -- there are a lot of guilty people on the street because law enforcement does not have the resources to pursue them, and very few innocent people in jail. In my experience, the FBI and DEA, which are the main agencies I worked with are full of honorable people trying to do the right thing and rarely is there true corruption. I think I try to dispel the “Big Brother” notion that the law is everywhere at all times and all-seeing. Melanie and Dan are kind of out there alone facing down this crazed killer while wishing they had more help.

Rochelle Krich: But does reality make good fiction?

Michele Martinez: No. Here's another misconception that you have to face as a prosecutor-turned-author. People think it's hard to figure out who the killer is. This whole multiple-suspect thing is made up! In reality, the way it would work was as follows. The FBI has an informant who says Joe Blow down at Central and Troutman is running a heroin spot and he's killed seventeen people in the last three years. Okay, so what do you do with that information? You set up surveillance, see if you spot Joe Blow. You check cold cases, see if anything matches up with the murders your informant is telling you about. You pull phone records and maybe try to get a wiretap, or send undercovers in to make drug buys. But it's never one of these -- okay, there are ten people in a room, any of whom could have committed this crime, and if we ask a few clever questions we can figure out whodunit. Agatha Christie invented that -- it's not real life.

Rob Holden: I would like to talk about your character Melanie for a moment. She is a strong, talented, professional and positive Latina character. As a Latina author, how do you think this impacted the initial sale of the book? Did you meet with any resistance to her from the publishing world, and how has reader reaction to her been so far?

Michele Martinez: Readers love Melanie. The reception has been overwhelmingly positive. Not only was there no resistance, but she has been embraced -- I think in large part because she is not a stereotype. I was interviewed the other day by a reporter for a Spanish language paper who said she was just deeply thrilled to encounter a Latina in fiction who's not -- I think she said like, a chicana on a road trip. Melanie is Latina but her ethnicity does not define her. She is also an every woman. She has real people's problems -- like finding a babysitter in the middle of her murder investigation, like dealing with a crumbling marriage and a nightmare boss, like coming from a poor background and trying to make it as a professional. She could be any ethnicity and still work, but the fact that she is Latina has an extra appeal right now. I think people are finding her to be a very fresh character.

Rob Holden: Michele, one of the things our readers who are also writers like to know about is our guest's writing schedule. Do you shoot for a page/word count per day? Do you do more research than actual writing, or the other way around?

Michele Martinez: I do practically no research. I have friends from back in the day to call with firearms and forensics questions, but the crime stuff I could do in my sleep. Occasionally I will visit a location to get details of setting right. When I am writing, which is less than I would like with my touring schedule these days, I write all out. Like eight or ten hours a day. It's like hallucinating! Very intense.

Rob Holden: And so what is next -- writing wise -- at any rate – for Michele Martinez?

Michele Martinez: The third book in the Melanie Vargas series. (The second one is already written).

Rob Holden: I know you have been touring extensively. Do you have a website where readers can find out where you will be doing readings/signings?

Michele Martinez: Yes -- www.michelemartinez.com, which also has the first two chapters of Most Wanted posted both written and in audio (in a fabulous reading by Tony-award winning actress Anne Twomey).

Rob Holden: Before we wrap this up, I would like to thank Jeff Anderson at FSB Associates for all his help in setting this chat up!

Michele Martinez: And I would like to thank you, Rob, and Rochelle for the excellent questions! It's been a pleasure.

Rob Holden: Finally, Michele, is there anything you would like to say to your readers who might read this chat at ReadersRoom.com?

Michele Martinez: Stay tuned for the next installment in the Melanie Vargas series -- especially all you readers who are dying to find out what's next between Melanie and Dan O'Reilly, the sexy-as-hell FBI agent. Next time, Melanie investigates a harrowing case involving the deaths of two beautiful teenagers from a ritzy Manhattan finishing school from apparent drug overdoses -- or were they? She also goes to Puerto Rico on the trail of a possible killer, where she sees her long-lost father. The Finishing School will be out in Feb. 2006.

Rob Holden: We will be looking forward to it! Michele Martinez, thank you for being with us here today, and best of luck with Most Wanted, and all your future projects!

Michele Martinez: Thanks, Rob!




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