Tag Archives: murder mystery

MEET DETECTIVE MAIZIE O’HARA SPECIAL CRIMES TEAM

Interviewer: This week I am privileged to interview Special Crimes Team member, Detective Maizie O’Hara. Detective O’Hara, thank you for taking time for this interview.

Detective O’Hara: (smiles) Lieutenant Williams said it would be good for us to talk to you, so here I am.

Interviewer: Are you a native of Seattle?

Detective O’Hara: No, ma’am. I grew up in Ellensburg, but I moved to Tacoma.

Interviewer: Were you a detective in Tacoma?

Detective O’Hara: Yes, ma’am.

Interviewer: What brought you to Seattle and the Special Crimes Team?

Detective O’Hara: (a cloud passes over her face) I…felt like it was in my best interest for my career.

Interviewer: (lifts brow) Would you care to elaborate on that?

Detective O’Hara: No, ma’am. (Her lips press tightly together)

Interviewer: Okay. Let’s talk about something else. What do you think about having a woman as the second in command of your unit?

Detective O’Hara: (Beams a big smile) I think it’s awesome! Don’t get me wrong, though. Lieutenant Williams is really great, too.

Interviewer: Why did you become a police officer, Detective O’Hara?

Detective O’Hara: (All signs of levity disappears) To help women. I want to help men, too, but I became a cop to help women.

Interviewer: Do you think you’ve been able to do that, so far?

Detective O’Hara: (A furrow appears between her eyes and her lips turn down at the corners) Yes, I believe I have.

Interviewer: Then why the down look on your face?

Detective O’Hara: (Bites her bottom lip) Well…I guess I idolized law enforcement before I became a cop, and for a while after. (takes in a deep breath and lets it out slow) But sometimes, being a cop isn’t enough. As a cop, I have to stay objective, but sometimes, I need to get involved to make sure that justice happens. It kind of…(she shrugs) It kind of wore the shine off the brass, I guess, when I figured that out.

Interviewer: (after she is silent for a long moment, interviewer speaks) Can you tell me anything more specific about your epiphany?

Detective O’Hara: No, ma’am.

Interviewer: You’re a police officer and you serve all of us that way. Are there things that you do to specifically try to help women?

Detective O’Hara: Well, I volunteer at a domestic abuse women’s shelter. I read to the kids so the women can have their support meeting. You know, so the little kids don’t interrupt and…well, women don’t always like to talk about stuff around little kids. And, I’m going on a walk in November with some women friends to show support for domestic abuse survivors. And, I have a friend with a facebook page and sometimes I post links on it that are important.

Interviewer: Sounds like you’re pretty serious when you say you want to help women. Why don’t you have a facebook page?

Detective O’Hara: (ducks head) I’m not very good with techie stuff. (raises her head and gives interviewer a shy smile) I have a girlfriend who’s going to teach me about doing a facebook page. We just haven’t had the time yet.

Interviewer: I’m not great with techie stuff either. (gives a smile to Detective O’Hara) What kind of links do you post?

Detective O’Hara: Stuff about domestic violence, and sometimes links to pages where women are doing something important to help the world and each other.

Interviewer: If there was only one link you could recommend that people go check out, which link would that be?

Detective O’Hara: (catches lip with teeth and worries at it) Well…there’s a blog called upworthy.com and they posted this link to a site where these women in Amsterdam do this really powerful dance performance. They’re in the Red Light District over there and they’re dancing in the windows of this building, like an apartment building and there’s all these men gathering on the street to watch them dance because….(a flush reddens her cheeks), because it’s really very sensual. You know?

Interviewer nods

Detective O’Hara; Anyway, after the dance is over a big sign up on the top of the building flashes and says: “every year thousands of women are promised a dance career in Western Europe. Sadly, they end up here.” Then it flashes “Stop the traffick. People shouldn’t be bought and sold.” Actually, according to Upworthy millions of people are affected by human trafficking every year; not just women in Europe. Their whole dance was about making people, men especially, understand how terrible human trafficking is.

Interviewer: Whoa, sounds like a powerful video. I will definitely post that link here. We’re almost out of time. Is there anything else you’d like to share with the women of our audience?

Detective O’Hara: Just…well, just don’t let anyone tell you stuff like you aren’t good enough, or pretty enough, or thin enough. You are enough, just the way you are!And, if they say stuff like that, get away from them because they aren’t really your friend.

Interviewer: Again, Detective O’Hara, thank you for coming in and sharing with us.

To visit the site recommended by Detective O’Hara:

“Who Doesn’t Like to Watch Half-Naked Girls Dancing? These Guys After They See Why It’s Happening http://www.upworthy.com/who-doesnt-like-to-watch-half-naked-girls-dancing-these-guys-after-they-see-why-its-happening (Red Light District, Amsterdam.)

To learn more about Detective Maizie O’Hara, read Sketch of a Murder, Book 1, Special Crimes Team http://www.amazon.com/Sketch-Murder-Special-Crimes-Team-ebook/dp/B00KU6AIPQ

Visit Aya at http://www.facebook.com/ayawalksfar

MEET SERGEANT SLOWATER, SPECIAL CRIMES TEAM

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Interviewer: Sergeant Slowater, thank you so much for coming to visit with us today. I am pleased to interview you, again.

Sergeant Slowater: Look, this interview wasn’t my idea. It was strongly suggested that I participate in your series about the Special Crimes Team, so here I am. As I told you before: I am not a fan of the media.

Interviewer: Yes, I believe you did make that clear the last time I spoke with you, Sergeant, but I am happy to have the opportunity to see if we might forge a bit more amicable relationship. With that in mind, I have given a great deal of thought to what I’d like to ask you. (Interviewer stops and waits for acknowledgement from Sergeant Slowater)

Sergeant Slowater: (shrugs) Whatever.

Interviewer: I understand that you lived in Mount#Vernon before moving to Seattle. How do you like Seattle?

Sergeant Slowater: (Frowns): I am not a fan of big cities. Too much noise. Too many people all crowded together.

Interviewer: (Raises an eyebrow): Why did you transfer here if you feel that way?

Sergeant Slowater: Let’s just say it was strongly advised as a wise career choice.

Interviewer: Okay. Since you don’t like big cities, can you tell me why you like smaller cities?

Sergeant Slowater: (looks at interviewer and restlessly taps fingers on chair arm) They’re the opposite of big cities. Quieter, not as crowded. Where I grew up, there was farmland all around us.

Interviewer; Tell me something else about Mount Vernon, Sergeant.

Sergeant Slowater: Like what?

Interviewer (gives a small shrug) Whatever you would like to share. Like what is your favorite time of year up there?

Sergeant Slowater: The spring. (gives a little smile) I love how the trees start leafing out, and I like going up to the tulip fields in bloom. There are rows and rows of colors: red and yellow are the most prominent, but the one I like best is the deep purple; the orange-red ones are my choice for second best.

Interviewer: That sounds lovely. You know, I’ve never gone up during the Tulip Festival. I think I might have to, now. (gives a warm smile to Sergeant Slowater) There is one thing I think Mount Vernon cannot ever top Seattle in: the best pizza. (Interviewer gives a sad shake of head)

Sergeant Slowater: (slight snort): Seattle has nothing on Mount Vernon in a pizza contest. The absolutely best pizza I have ever eaten came from a place in Old Town, called Pacioni’s.

Voted Best Pizza in Skagit County! Best Pizza in Western Washington per Sergeant Slowater!

You can buy a pizza from the list of different ones, or you can build your own. You start with a crisp, thin crust, then you pick from a list of sauces, meats, fruits, veggies and cheeses. There’s three different sauces. My favorite is marinara. Then you have eight different meats; I like Pacioni’s Italian sausage and Black Forest Ham. Then you add the fruits and veggies. I love the roasted red peppers, Kalamata olives, Portabella mushrooms, zucchini, and pineapple for a bit of sweetness. That’s all topped off with a choice of seven cheeses. The ones I like are feta, shredded parmesan and shredded mozzarella.

Interviewer: Now I’m hungry, and challenged. I’ll have to try Pacioni’s. I didn’t know Mount Vernon had an Old Town section.

Sergeant Slowater: Some of the buildings there date back to 1906. The Lincoln Theatre dates back to 1926.

Lincoln Theatre Mt Vernon Washington

Interviewer: Are old buildings of special interest to you?

Sergeant Slowater: (gives a solid head shake) Not really. I’m not a history buff, and I don’t get all gaga over the way a building is built or who the architect was. I just like how some of the older buildings look, the sense of having been a survivor of unplanned progress and unconsidered development. It makes me think there are people who value the old, not because it’s old, but because it’s beautiful, and functional and solid. Something you can depend on. Some of the buildings built today won’t last fifty, much less a hundred years.

Interviewer: I have to admit. I like old buildings, too. I like the sense that if they could talk they would have fantastic stories to tell. (looks at watch) We don’t have a lot of time left, so tell me, Sergeant Slowater, what are the three best things you remember about growing up in Mount Vernon?

Sergeant Slowater: I didn’t grow up in town, just close to it, and the area was still considered Mount Vernon. What did I like about it? (purses lips and gazes off thinking. Fingers tapping again) Fresh food. There’s farm stands during the summer, plus Farmer’s Markets–usually on Saturdays–and the Skagit Valley Food Co-op year round.

Fresh, organic food!

The Food Co-op has been around for forty years–before I was born–and is still the place to buy organic food,

Vine ripe Tomatoes!

free-range meat including pork, and well, it just smells interesting. I go into most food stores and there isn’t any smell to them. When I walk into the Co-op that is one of the first things that happens: I’m greeted by these spicy, sweet, tangy smells. All of them pleasant, and intriguing.

The second thing I like about Mount Vernon and Skagit County is the farms. Tulip farms, berry farms, alpaca, cattle, and horse farms, flower farms. There is myriad things grown around the Mount Vernon/Skagit County area. It is a place that feels….well, for want of a better word, alive. Alive and hopeful. Do you know what I mean?

Interviewer: Yes, yes, I believe I do.

Sergeant Slowater: (gives a little smile) THE thing I love about that area, though, is a little produce stand called The Snow Goose Produce Market. It’s up close to La Conner. It has homemade ice cream, the longest list of flavors I have ever seen, and waffle cones made right there as you are ordering your ice cream. You can smell the sweet smell of waffles cooking. And the ice cream scoops are GINORMOUS! They even have some specialty ice cream from Lopez Island. I love the Skagit Strawberry and Wild Mountain Blackberry.

Interviewer: Now that is a place I am absolutely going to visit! It appears that we have run out of time, today. Again, thank you, Sergeant Slowater, for being my guest. You’ve have given me a new perspective on a small city that I really hadn’t given a lot of thought to. Now, I’m going to have to go up there and visit.

For more photos of Mount Vernon, Washington go to: http://www.pinterest.com/ayawalksfar

For more information on the places Sergeant Slowater told us about:

www.skagitfoodcoop.com All about local farming and sustainable food production. Newsletter and more information

www.pacionis.com Voted Best Pizza in Skagit County

www.tulipfestival.org

www.snowgooseproducemarket.com A f amily-owned seasonal produce stand known for “immodest ice cream cones”.

Read Sketch of a Murder and discover why Sergeant Slowater is “not a fan of the media”. http://www.amazon.com/Sketch-Murder-Special-Crimes-Team-ebook/dp/B00KU6AIPQ

Visit Aya at: http://www.facebook.com/ayawalksfar

MOUNTAIN SPRINGS HOUSE BLOG TOUR!

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I am thrilled to announce that Mountain Springs House Publishing is doing a blog tour from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

This is the VERY FIRST blog tour I have ever been involved in and I am honored that my publisher, Allison Bruning, has asked me to participate. I will be getting to host some really fine authors on my blog, and I will be doing guest posts on other blogs. This is going to be so much fun! Even for a technosaur like me!

Check out Mountain Springs House on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/mountainsprings/
And “LIKE” us on http://www.facebook.com/MountainSpringsHouse?fret=ts

I have been asked to post a bio and photo so you can get to know me a bit better.

One dark night, just as the wolves howled…. Oh, wait! I’m supposed to do the true stuff, right? Okay, try again.

I was born. I grew up. I am now a big monster. Oh, okay, that’s not quite what I was supposed to do. Do I ever do what I am supposed to do? Not really. Probably why I like Sergeant Nita Slowater of the Special Crimes Team.

Sooo…here’s the real skinny:

Born in a rougher section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (and there were several of those areas when I was growing up. I hear they’ve cleaned Pittsburgh up very nicely, now. Haven’t been back in many years.) I soon learned how to make myself invisible. If you tend to be on the smaller side, this is a very good talent. As a result, I got to observe people in their myriad of attitudes and emotions. They fascinated me.

In self-defense against loneliness, I learned to read very early, and to write. My first story was written in pencil on those tablets for little kids with huge spaces between lines. It was a story about a lost dog. Do you ever forget your first?

Ever since that day, I have been creating alternate realities.

Fortunately, my life has been anything except traditional, and therefore, I have never run out of stories to tell. I lived on the road for several years, have worked non-traditional jobs (and a very few traditional jobs), and have walked many dark roads and city streets.

Currently, I live on a 12 acre wildlife/wild bird/indigenous plant habitat that my wife of 25 years and I have created. During a single year, we host over 68 different species of birds, and many different animals.

When I am not either reading or writing, I love to hike, take photographs, work with my dogs, tend the land, horseback ride, travel, learn new things, and recently, I acquired a motorcycle, so I am having a great deal of fun learning to ride. Whenever I have the opportunity, I also search for the perfect chocolate. There are many good chocolates in the world, but I am convinced that there is a “perfect one”. Have to eat a lot of chocolates while I am researching!

Aya Walksfar

Now that you know who I am, let me share what I write.

My novella, Dead Men and Cats, is a murder mystery set on an island in Puget Sound, Washington. Two women, Megan Albright and Janie Sampson, while walking on the beach, discover an old rowboat stuck in a driftwood tree. As they turn to continue their walk, a calico kitten leaps from inside the rowboat and onto the slick tree trunk. Nearly falling into Shallow Point Cove, the frightened animal leaps back into the boat.
Megan wades out to the rowboat to rescue the kitten, and encounters the body of a dead man lying in the bottom of the boat. A few days later, Dan Uley’s bookstore is firebombed. With a black cat.
Not long after his bookstore is firebombed, Dan is gruesomely murdered.
Fearing that Sheriff Johnson’s lack of progress may stem from his well-known anti-gay sentiments, Megan and Janie launch their own investigation. They never expected their search to lead to a young man that they both considered a friend.

In mid-July, my literary, coming-of-age novel, Good Intentions, will be re-released as a second edition, by Mountain Springs House.
In August, the first book in my three-book series about the Special Crimes Team, Sketch of a Murder, will be released by Mountain Springs House.

So, there you have it: who I am and what I’m up to!

Ruby Standing Deer Interviews Aya Walksfar

Aya Walksfar, Author

Hard hitting, in-the-news murder mysteries

Tag Archives: murder mystery

MEET DETECTIVE MAIZIE O’HARA SPECIAL CRIMES TEAM

MEET SERGEANT SLOWATER, SPECIAL CRIMES TEAM

MOUNTAIN SPRINGS HOUSE BLOG TOUR!

Ruby Standing Deer Interviews Aya Walksfar