My love for murder can be traced straight to David Morrell. There I was in school, happily devouring sweeping historical sagas, along with my steady diet of science fiction & fantasy. (Who doesn't love Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders of Pern?) And, of course, I was scouring libraries & used bookstores for old Edgar Rice Burrows Tarzan installments. And then I stumbled across it: a dog-eared copy of David Morrell's Fraternity of the Stone.
For those who've read the book, you know it's not even the first in Morrell's Mortalis series. It didn't matter. I was hooked. If you missed this amazing novel, it begins with a mysterious man living in seclusion in a monastery, a man atoning for a lengthy list of mortal sins. His only human contact is the silent hand that delivers his daily meal through a slot in the door. A mouse shares his spartan cell. Burdened with guilt over the companionship brought by that tiny creature, he feeds the mouse before he eats—always. But on this particular day, the mouse dies after consuming his portion, leaving our protagonist to finally open his door for the first time in years…
I won't spoil what happens next, but I freely admit I can trace my love of murder to the brilliant scene that occurs in the following pages. It may also explain why I leave so many bodies for my own characters to find—especially Regan Chase.
—Candace