Interview with Sandra Tooley - aka - Lee Driver
by Jon Jordan
Sandra's Web Site

JON:  Your books seem to fall into a number of categories. How would you describe them? I don’t know about you, but the term “woo woo” makes me nuts.

SANDRA:  The term "woo woo" makes me think more of ghost stories. I would consider the Sam Casey series more "mystery/paranormal." Sam has more than just psychometry working for her. Her Native American culture is chock full of mysticism and practices of medicine men and women. There's a lot to be explored. The Chase Dagger series, on the otherhand, has a definite fantasy element with Sara's shapeshifting abilities, again part of Native American mythology. The diaries from the Lewis and Clark expedition document the sightings of manitou, men who could change into animals. The mystery/fantasy theme in the first Chase Dagger mystery gives way to mystery/horror in the second mystery because the villain is more  werewolf and I combine the full moon/Friday the 13th syndrome.

JON:  Why do you write under two names?

SANDRA:  The first book in the Chase Dagger series came out six months after the first Sam Casey. When I was writing it, everyone thought it would be the second Sam Casey. So to distinguish the two, I decided to write under a different name.

JON:  You use Native American characters quite a bit. You also seem to write them much better than a lot of people. Do you ever get feedback from Native Americans?

SANDRA:  I have received feedback from librarians in states with a large Native American population and try to target readers in those states. But to say someone actually told me they were Native American and read my books, no. Unfortunately that hasn't happened yet.

JON:  At any point in the series will we know everything about Chase Dagger? Or do you think the mystery of him is part of what makes it work?

SANDRA:  The mystery of Dagger is fun to watch evolve. Will we ever know everything? He hasn't even told me yet! The first piece will start to fall into place in THE UNSEEN, the 3rd book in the series. The 4th will have even more revealed and I think I might bring Sam Casey in to lend a hand. That's still in the developmental stage.

JON:  Sam Casey is a police officer, Chase Dagger a PI. What differences are there in writing the two series? I would imagine that the Casey series needs a little more formal structure due to the nature of police departments.

SANDRA:  I need to rely more on my police contacts for the Sam Casey series. I take the readers to the crime scenes and need to know a bit more about crime scene investigation. Dagger pretty much does things on his own although the reader does get to tag along with Sgt. Martinez. Now that Sam is no longer a cop, though, her husband still is so when her cases overlap his, I will still have more police procedurals in the Casey series than the Dagger series.

JON:  What kind of research do you do for the books?

SANDRA:  Sometimes very little, sometimes intense. For WHEN THE DEAD SPEAK (Casey #1), I had to find out what a body encased in concrete for almost 20 years looks like. Is it mummified? Can we still get fingerprints? The deceased was a US soldier reported AWOL during the Korean War. I used flashbacks from the Korean War so I needed to know dates, the weather in August, the foliage in Korea. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS (Casey #2) was about a murder on a riverboat casino. I was a casino dealer for six years so other than research on identifying counterfeit bills, I was pretty much on my own. RESTLESS SPIRIT (Casey #3) is based on an actual unsolved murder in my hometown 28 years ago. I obtained a copy of the autopsy report, read newspaper articles, and pretty much fictionalized everything else. To make the Native American characters more realistic, I subscribe to Indian Country Today newspaper which is the largest Indian-owned newspaper in the country. It tells me the issues that concern Native Americans and the letters to the editor give me a pretty good idea of their attitudes and interests. I also have shelves of books on Native Americans including a dictionary.

The Dagger series probably takes more research. I learned everything I needed to know about shapeshifters from the Internet and several Native American mythology books. I have books on macaws, hawks, and wolves. I needed to know what type of "people" food macaws eat. I even found a parrot psychologist who read the first book to make sure I didn't have Einstein doing anything macaws usually don't do. And since Sara shifts into a hawk and a wolf, I needed to know what extraordinary senses (sight, smell) each possesses because the reader will see things from the hawk's and wolf's POV. I located a professor at the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota and picked his brain. For THE GOOD DIE TWICE (Dagger #1)  I had to research moissonite (the best fake diamond around), where the largest diamond mines were, and especially about pink diamonds. For FULL MOON-BLOODY MOON (Dagger #2) I had to research how often a Friday the 13th and a full moon coincide. I also checked with police departments for crime statistics to determine if more crimes occurred during these instances. For THE UNSEEN (Dagger #3) I needed to watch a video of Future Fantastic (futuristic technology) but that's all I can say for now.

JON:  What kind of things did you do before becoming a published author?

SANDRA:  I was a secretary, sales assistant, administrative assistant, car salesman, seminar coordinator, and a casino dealer.

JON:  Are there things that you won’t write about? Certain topics you just wouldn’t feel right writing?

SANDRA:  Heavy sex scenes make me feel uncomfortable. Maybe I'm afraid people will think I am "writing what I know" or maybe HOPING people think I'm writing what I know.

JON:  Being with a smaller press usually means less publicity for the books. What kind of things do you do to get the books heard about?

SANDRA:  I don't have that much time and money to do a lot of traveling and there are so many conferences. For conferences I can't attend, I make sure I send postcards, bookmarks, other promo items, and also donate a signed book if they are having a conference. I also found placing ads in conference programs catches the attention of the attendees. I have been fortunate to have every one of my books reviewed by Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, or Mystery News which lets the bookstore owners, librarians and readers know my latest release. I also do extensive mailing of postcards when a new title is released.

JON:  Do you read mysteries? And if so, who do you enjoy?

SANDRA:  I delve into both mystery and horror and some that have a little of both. I love the work of William Kent Krueger, F. Paul Wilson, Joe R. Lansdale, Patricia Cornwell, Barbara D'Amato, Stephen Booth, Iris Johansen, Donald Harstad, Victor Gischler, and then I get into the cross-genre and horror with F. Paul Wilson, Laurell K. Hamilton, Owl Goingback, and Stephen King, just to name a few.

JON:  Are you a morning person or a night person?

SANDRA:  My brain works better during the morning. I have an actual paying job from 3-11p and it's hard to get the creative juices going after midnight when all I want to do is unwind and watch the TV shows I've taped.

JON:  Hollywood decides to do a movie about you. Who would you cast in the movie?

SANDRA:  Gee, is Ashley Judd available? I would think more along the lines of who would I cast for the characters in one of my books. This is something I've given a lot of thought to because I feel the Chase Dagger series would make a great TV show. I would cast Eric Ettebari (Witchblade) as Dagger, Jessica Alba (Dark Angel) as Sara, and one of the Lone Gunmen (X-Files) as Skizzy.

JON:  Is there an advantage to writing two different series?

SANDRA:  I know of writers who write only one series and decide to try a stand-alone because they have either lost interest or just can't get a story idea for the series. With me, I have another series to jump into which allows me to let story ideas ferment and grow for the previous one. The only disadvantage I see is that I have to re-read the last book in the next series before I start writing a new one just to get the characters into my head so I can focus only on them.

JON:  What’s the best advice you ever got concerning writing?

SANDRA:  Write for yourself first...don't write for the market. Write what you love or it will never come from the heart.

JON:  What kind of music do you like? Do you listen to music when you write?

SANDRA:  I'm not one of those who can do two things at once. I'm a diehard Fleetwood Mac fan but my tastes run a little smoother now, a lot of New Age like Enya, Enigma, Cusco, and I love Josh Groban which is as close to classical as I have been able to get. I listen to very little country but do like Shania Twain and Faith Hill. Can't forget Celine Dion who, in my opinion, has the best voice ever in the business.

JON:  What’s the strangest thing a reader has asked you?

SANDRA:  Guess that depends on what the meaning of "strange" is. I've been asked if I've seen a ghost, if I was ever abducted by aliens, and once someone asked me where the bathroom was (that happens often when a bookstore places you at the door like a Wal-Mart greeter).

JON:  Where is the coolest place you’ve ever been?

SANDRA:  The freezer at the retail store where I work. I don't get out much. Seriously, when I used to ski I was out in Nevada standing on top of Heavenly Valley. If you ski down one side, you're in California, if you ski down the other side you're in Nevada. I thought that was pretty "cool."

JON:  When you are writing do the images of what you write stay with you for a while? When I read When The Dead Speak parts of it pushed into my dreams for a while.

SANDRA:  More so while I'm writing the book. Images, scenes, seem to take shape in my dreams so I make sure I have a pad of paper and pen by my bedside. Even after I think everything is complete and just the way I want it, images will play in my head as though telling me what doesn't work, what would work better. I especially like the mental voices that tells me when I gave a character blue eyes in Chapter 4 but changed them to green in Chapter 11. Have to listen to those voices.

JON:  What’s the best part of being an author?

SANDRA:  Creating an escape world, telling a story that you hope is compelling, imaginative and entertaining.

JON:  What’s the one thing always in your refrigerator?

SANDRA:  Kit Kats.