The Killer in Me (Benoit and Dayne Mystery 1) by Winter Austin-Review & Interview

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 14, 2021.

What price is too great to stop a killing spree?

Elizabeth Benoit ran for sheriff to wipe out the corruption in the good old boys network of Eckardt County, but she has yet to break in her shoes when a stranger’s body is found in a ravine. With her ex back in town, a new deputy detective on the edge of losing control, and a crooked ex-sheriff out for revenge, Elizabeth’s resources are stretched thin. And then the second body drops.

Fearing a serial killer on the loose, Elizabeth launches an investigation that lays bare more than one family secret: The Kauffmann matriarch is full of advice, but her progeny have a mean streak that leaves a path of destruction in their wake. The Meyer patriarch has his own agenda, and the Kauffmanns have been a thorn in his ambition for too long.

Elizabeth and her deputies are about to face off against odds that are not in their favor. Only one source can tip the scales, but will she sell her soul for his help?

••••••

REVIEW: THE KILLER IN ME is the first instalment in Winter Austin’s contemporary, adult BENOIT AND DAYNE MYSTERY murder, suspense series focusing on small-town Sheriff Elizabeth “Ellie’ Benoit, and former Chicago police officer Lila Dayne.

Told from third person perspective THE KILLER IN ME focuses on a series of murders in the small town of Eckardt County, murders in the wake of the ousting of a corrupt police department. Elizabeth Benoit’s return to Eckardt County comes with the new position of sheriff, a position in which she is hoping to dismantle years of corruption at the hands of the former people in charge but when several bodies begin surfacing in and around Elizabeth’s jurisdiction, Elizabeth needs all hands on deck in an effort to take down a potential serial killer, taking aim at the people she has sworn to protect.

Meanwhile, former Chicago PD police officer Lila Dayne, arrives in town just in time to jump head first into the first of four murder investigations but informing the families pushes Lila over the edge, bringing with it memories she won’t soon forget. Struggling to move on from a past without any closure, hoping for a much slower pace than her previous assignment, Lila’s ongoing pain and physical reminders, are too often at the forefront on her current investigation.

THE KILLER IN ME introduces the players in Winter Austin’s Benoit and Dayne Mystery series: Sheriff Elizabeth Benoit, Deputy Lila Dayne, Deputy Rafe Fontaine, Deputy Ben Fitzgerald, Deputy Brent Meyer, and Deputy Kyle Lundquist, as well as Elizabeth’s ex-husband, Delta force specialist Joel Fontaine, ME Dr. Olivia Remington-Thorpe, and former Eckardt County Sheriff Kelley Sheehan. The requisite evil has many faces.

Winter Austin pulls the reader into a complex story of betrayal and vengeance, power and control, murder, mayhem, greed and extreme dysfunctional family dynamics. The premise is intriguing, haunting, twisted and tragic; the characters are impassioned and determined. We learn some of the history between Elizabeth, her ex-husband Joel, and his brother Rafe, as well as a little bit about the past events that forced Lila from Chicago to Eckardt County, a past that is likely to follow Lila wherever she goes.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

TRC:  Hi Winter and welcome to The Reading Café. Congratulations on the release of THE KILLER IN ME.

We would like to start with some background information. Would you please tell us something about yourself?

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Winter:  I’m a long time Midwestern gal with a penchant for the macabre. Always nose-deep in a mystery/suspense or a comic book when I was growing up. I was that girl classmates looked at cross-eyed because I was weird for my small rural town upbringing. If I wasn’t reading, I was writing or dreaming of writing. I have a thing for action movies, especially if the heroine is the kick-butt one holding her own and saving the dude’s life.

 Today, I’ve raised 4 weirdos just like me, and been married over twenty years to a veteran who is now teaching. And my writing has gone from romantic suspense to full on mystery/suspense with female leads.

TRC: Who or what influenced your career in writing?

Winter: The deciding factor in my decision to become an author came about in the fourth grade when I earned a spot to go to a young writer’s conference with a story, that ironically, was a mystery. I was horse crazy kid who found and fell in love with Walter Farley’s THE BLACK STALLION, and upon learning that he’d written that book while in college and became an author at an early age cemented it for me. Fast forward to high school, I returned to that same young writer’s conference, and on the suggestion of an English teacher, I began to pursue that dream. It wasn’t until my twin sons were born and with nothing better to do, I began writing—a mystery. (See a theme here?)

 Over time, lots of self-learning, years of dogged determination, and few writer’s conferences more I made it. I’ve had people tell me, without having ever read a word I wrote, that I couldn’t be a writer/author because it wasn’t a legit job and I wouldn’t earn a living at it. I wasn’t out for the $$, I did it because if I didn’t it would consume me. It was also a great learning tool for my kids, as they watched me struggle through and finally succeed. It taught them to never give up, and never let anyone tell you who or what you could be.

TRC: What challenges or difficulties did you encounter writing and publishing this story?

Winter: Publishing the book was never an issue. When Tule’s editorial team saw the tidbits I had, they wanted it and the series.

Writing the story, however, was a challenge, because I hadn’t done a lot of developing on the story line and the characters, which is something I need in order to write, and that takes time. Sometimes a story needs to stew in my head for a bit before I get all the pieces together. Also, I had just decided to get my long overdue college degree right before I signed with Tule, and that meant juggling college courses along with a day job and family obligations. Then Covid hit. But that gave me more time at home to write when I wasn’t working. Eventually the book came together and here it is today.

TRC: Would you please tell us something about the premise of THE KILLER IN ME?

Winter: The premise of THE KILLER IN ME is about family dynamics, long-standing feuds, and the lines one is willing to cross. It’s the dark, dirty secrets of a rural small town come to life.

TRC:What kind of research/plotting did you do, and how long did you spend researching /plotting before beginning THE KILLER IN ME?

Winter: THE KILLER IN ME is my tenth novel that dealt with police procedure. Most of my research was done long before, but I still consult with law enforcement and forensics personnel all the time as I write. The plot, however, took me way longer than any book has before. Tule contracted the series based on a few pages and an idea of how the series might go. I usually have the ending and the antagonist in mind before I start writing, I had none of that. As I wrote it things began to fall into place for me and eventually, I figured out what I needed. Though there were a few hours lost when I was trying to find out if an ME could figure out if and how long a body had been cold, not frozen, just cold, and how it would mess with the timeline of death.

TRC: Is any of the premise based in reality or fact?

Winter: To be frank, yes it’s both in fact. You see a lot of ID network shows on small town murders and it always stems back to 3 things; Money, Love, and Hate/Envy. I chuckle every time I see some comment online about that isn’t how small towns are, most of this coming from people who have lived in cities all their lives and believe that romance novels and other venues depict how small-town life is like.

Misogynistic/Patriarchal behavior, the likes of which Elizabeth and Lila must deal with in the book, are still on full display even today. And family feuds that date back decades can be found. Murder happens. And so does corruption. We might not be in the deep south or the mountains of the east, but we have our own crime escapades here in the Midwest.

TRC: How many books do you have planned for the series? Will Elizabeth Benoit be the lead heroine in each of the stories?

Winter: Right now, I’m trying to finish book 2 and book 3 is contracted. I don’t know how many books this series will go, I hope a lot, but that depends all on the readers. ?

Elizabeth and Lila Dayne are the main female leads, and they will be leads in all of the books. Book 2 has a surprise new lead, female as well, but I don’t want to give it away who it is.

TRC: Believability is an important factor in writing story lines especially stories of mystery and suspense. How do you keep the story line believable? Where do you think some author’s fail?

Winter: I try to keep it as real as I can. But I also take fictional licence where I want, because I can. Reading is an escape, and just like watching a movie, I want the reader to suspend disbelief and just flow with it. I read a lot in the genres I write in, but I’m really into action thrillers where the lead characters do things that feel and seem impossible, but it works because of who that character is. Oddly enough, that old line, “truth is stranger than fiction” is true. Weird things can happen in real life, but if you were to write it in a book no one would believe you. So, take licence where you can and have fun with it. If I get too bogged down in the minute details of making it all factual, I lose the love of writing what I’m writing. I’m not doing this to teach someone something, leave that for the textbooks. Enjoy! Have fun! And pretend that just for once, a woman can be more than what the world has told her to be.

TRC: Do you believe the cover image plays a deciding factor for many readers in the process of selecting a book or new series to read?

Winter: Personally, for me, I love a good cover, especially for my own books. But in the end does it drive me toward a book? No. Let the meat of the story be your deciding factor. Does the back cover blurb convey exactly what I want to read? That’s where I think a lot of readers go.

TRC: When writing a storyline, do the characters direct the writing or do you direct the characters?

Winter: It’s all character. All. The. Time. If I step in and control the story it blows up and dies. Which is exactly what has happened to me in the middle of writing book 2. I got in the way and now I’m having to unravel the mess I made. As much as I love to say my books are mystery and suspense driven, the reality is everything I write is all character driven. They dictate what I do with them.

TRC: The mark of a good writer is to pull the reader into the storyline so that they experience the emotions along with the characters. What do you believe a writer must do to make this happen? Where do you believe writer’s fail in this endeavour?

Winter: This is where Voice comes into play. If a writer hasn’t finetuned this part of their writing process it will make the characters fall flat and the reader won’t find a way to connect with them. As a writer, you need to draw on your own life experiences, what were you feeling at this moment, have you ever been in a situation that you’re putting your characters and how did you feel at that moment.

When I’m writing, if I don’t feel the character’s emotions, then I know the reader won’t. Writing action scenes or fight scenes I’m practically buzzing along with the character as they are in a tense situation. I’ve bawled my eyes out during certain scenes in past books and I later learned so did my readers.

As my editor always says, when she gets a draft from me, or opens a Winter Austin book, she expects to be swept right into a Winter Austin experience.

TRC: Do you listen to music while writing? If so, does the style of music influence the storyline direction? Characters?

Winter: Most of the time I do, and it really depends on what’s going on in that particular scene. I have an eclectic taste in music ranging from instrumental soundtracks from TV shows and movies right up to heavy metal. But there are times I just need silence, those are rare, but they happen.

While writing THE KILLER IN ME I listened to tracts by Tommee Proffit and The Sweeplings. During the editing process I was listening to the soundtracks from Yellowstone seasons 1-3. This is a trend for me, music with singing okay while writing. Instrumental music only during editing. YouTube Music has become my best friend.

TRC: What do you believe is the biggest misconception people have about authors?

Winter: That writing is easy. That we just sit around and the words flow right onto the page. We have all the time in the world to just daydream and write. I wish!

Writing is not easy, it’s ugly and stressful. And there are times when you put your heart and soul, blood and tears, life and death into those books, then the check comes, and you just die. Or worse, you find out people are stealing your work in some fashion or another and you just want to scream.

We are not just authors, as in my case, I’m my own agent, publicist, promoter, financer, and secretary. When I’m not working my day job or tending to family obligations, and I’m not writing, I’m promoting that next book. I’m lining up reviews. Working with the publishing team to get places. Then reaching out to potential new readers and enticing them with my books. And somehow in all of that, I need to read my writing partner’s books, and other authors’ books to keep my imagination fuelled.

This is a job. And it needs to be treated as such.

TRC: What is something that few, if anyone, knows about you?

Winter: More people are beginning to see it. I play on this card a lot because it drives interest toward my books. My daughter shows cattle. We have long been a 4-H/FFA family and her career is falling into showing and raising cattle. She works on the family farm and is building up a small herd of her own.

We travel all over the state of Iowa to show—as a unit, she, me, and my husband—and soon we’ll be traveling out of state to show. The end goal for her is to show at the Grandaddy of them All in Denver, the National Western Stock Show.

TRC: On what are you currently working?

Winter: I’m writing book 2 for this series, called Hush, My Darling. And working on edits for a second book in another series for another house that is a military romantic thriller.

TRC: Would you like to add anything else?

Winter: THE KILLER IN ME is available now at all retailers for purchase. You can hang out with me at many of the social media platforms.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food: Pesto, I would eat this on everything if I could.

Favorite Dessert: Peanut Butter Thumbprint cookies—you will be stabbed if you steal one from me.

Favorite TV Show: Yellowstone & Blue Bloods

Last Movie You Saw: Black Widow & Gunpowder Milkshake

Dark or Milk Chocolate: Dark all the way, baby.

Secret Celebrity Crush: Phillip Winchester & Sullivan Stapleton—have to pair them up. ?

Last Vacation Destination: My last official vacation for myself that didn’t include a trip to the Iowa State Fair was Boulder and Denver, CO with my bestie and writing partner.

Do you have any pets? Oh, yes. 2 dogs, 1 inside kitty and a handful of farm cats. Chickens—but they’re not really pets just livestock. And rabbits.

Last book you read: The Lost Ones, by Ace Atkins

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. Congratulations on the release of THE KILLER IN ME. We wish you all the best.