This week I’m hosting Ann H. Gabhart with Murder at the Courthouse (worldwide), Lee Tobin McClain with Loves Gift ($10 Amazon gift card US only), and Marta Perry with When Secrets Strike (North America only). If you want to enter the drawings for any of these books, please leave a comment on your post with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (October 18th) evening.
Interview with the hero from Murder at the Courthouse by Ann H. Gabhart
1. Michael Keane, tell me the most interesting thing about you.
That’s some question to try to answer. Sometimes I don’t think there’s anything much all that interesting about me. I’m a small town guy. I like having roots in a place like Hidden Springs. I like being a police officer in a town where I feel like I can make a difference and keep my town safe.
2. What do you do for fun?
I go fishing. That’s why I bought the house down on Eagle Lake. Eagle Lake has over 25,000 acres of water with plenty of great fishing spots. I like to go out in my motor boat to catch my supper. I also like to take my rowboat out on the lake sometimes and just get away from the noise of the world. Of course, that’s best early in the morning or during off seasons when the tourists aren’t out in force on the lake.
3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?
I put off helping my Aunt Lindy keep her rose gardens weed free. Or I would put that off if she let me get away with it. Alas, she doesn’t, and twice a year, I’m out there in her gardens with a grubbing hoe fighting a losing battle with those pesky honeysuckle trees that seem to sprout everywhere. Aunt Lindy has an ongoing war with dandelions too. I try to tell her that dandelions have blooms we’d love if they were rare, but she just hands me a trowel.
4. What are you afraid of most in life?
Not remembering. You see, when I was fifteen, my parents were killed in an automobile accident and I was gravely injured. In fact, the doctors didn’t think I would recover. I was in a coma for weeks. But Aunt Lindy never gave up on me and even before I could respond to her or the doctors, I knew she wasn’t going to let me die. When I did finally come out of the blackness that had kept me prisoner after my head injury, I discovered that many memories of my life before the accident were lost. That was scary for a kid. It’s still scary for me these years later. Sometimes it feels as if I need to step back into that black abyss to pull out memories that matter.
5. What do you want out of life?
Happiness. Love. Children. A feeling of service. I think serving the citizens of Hidden Springs gives me that feeling of service. The love and marriage that might lead to me having the family I want is a little more difficult. The woman I love can’t imagine living in Hidden Springs. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.
6. What is the most important thing to you?
It’s hard to narrow that down to one thing. Maybe I can say living a good life. That would include finding out the path the Lord wants me to travel, taking care of my Aunt Lindy, keeping the peace in Hidden Springs, and finding the right person to love and marry. I hope Aunt Lindy doesn’t read this. She would narrow her eyes in that way of hers that has made every student she’s ever taught in her algebra classes sit up a little straighter and then tell me she’s quite capable of taking care of herself and will be for years to come.
7. Do you read books? If so, what is your favorite type of book?
I’m a Civil War history buff, so books about that time in our country’s history are my favorite. I also read novels with Civil War settings, but usually stick with the actual historical accounts. I do read other books too. Mysteries. Humor. Bestsellers, sometimes.
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would be braver in love and ready to risk everything to capture the woman I have loved since I was fifteen and even before if I could remember those years.
9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
I have a black Labrador mix named Jasper. I’ve always liked dogs but my Aunt Lindy who moved in with me after my parents were killed in that automobile accident, had a cat that didn’t want to share territory with a dog. Then when I was on the police force in Columbus, I lived in an apartment. No dogs allowed. So when I moved back to Hidden Springs and bought the log house down on the lake, I went looking for a dog first thing at the Humane Society animal shelter. Jasper had been found abandoned on a road. He looked to be about a year old and very skinny with sad eyes. Life had obviously been hard for him. When he saw me, he came over to the edge of the enclosure and just looked at me while barely wagging his tail as though afraid to hope I’d pick him. So I did. He doesn’t have sad eyes any longer. He has a great life with me down on Eagle Lake.
10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
I’d go back to the Civil War years to try to better understand what divided our country so completely. You can read hundreds of books telling you about an era, but nothing replaces the actual experience of living in that time. Of course, I might get shot if I landed on one of the battlefields. So maybe I’ll just stay here in Hidden Springs and try to make sure nobody gets shot in my town.
