Tao of J.T. is the online blog of New York Times bestselling author and EMMY-award winning television host J.T. Ellison.
The indefatigable and brilliantly talented Zoë Sharp has interviewed me over at Murderati - it's a glimpse into the working mind of an author, the challenges we face writing thrillers, and of course, the correct term for an upper-class British erection. Check it out!
Also, my dear friend Erica Spindler's new novel came out Wednesday - BLOOD VINES. You must get it! Erica and I have several events together over the next week, and we hope to see some of you there!
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J.T. Ellison signs her name to murder at Sherlock’s bookstores |
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| Friday, February 26, 2010 | |||||
Special to The Wilson Post J.T. Ellison’s favorite place to commit murder is Nashville. No, she’s not a serial killer, but the Conductor, the villain in her latest crime thriller, The Cold Room, is. Thus, the action in the fourth book of her homicide detective Taylor Jackson series opens with a grisly scene in a house on Love Circle, one of the first places that Ellison’s hubby took her when he introduced her to Music City in 1998. “My husband took me to Davis-Kidd, and we drove along to downtown, and he drove me around Love Circle. He told me his dream was to buy a house there. We never bought a house, but I really wanted to use it in a book. I’m so pleased how it turned out,” said Ellison, whose novels have been published in 14 countries. Other Nashville sites Ellison has selected for death include the entrance to Belle Meade in “All the Pretty Girls,” the Parthenon in “The Judas Kiss” and Bicentennial Mall State Park in “14.” She hopes to make a killing Saturday at Sherlock’s Bookstore in Lebanon but only in the area of book sales as she signs books 1-4 p.m. The following Saturday, March 6, Ellison will sign at Sherlock’s downtown Nashville store, along with Jennie Bentley, 6-9 p.m. during the First Saturday Art Crawl. (The first Saturday of the month, downtown Nashville art galleries between Fourth and Fifth avenues hold receptions and art openings 6-9 p.m. More than 1,000 people attend. Many galleries serve free wine and other refreshments.) In “The Cold Room” Detective Jackson discovers a perverted killer who kidnaps women, starves them to death in a glass coffin and then utilizes the corpses to recreate scenes from famous paintings. Similar ghastly crimes show up in Europe. So Taylor, her fiancé (FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin) and a New Scotland Yard detective team up to smear out the Conductor's art collection. Ellison concocted Detective Jackson out of thin Nashville air. “She literally leapt into my head fully formed while I was driving down I-40. I was thinking about (writer) John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport character who represents Minneapolis-St. Paul. I wanted to develop a character to help Nashville,” Ellison said. “I got to thinking about this woman who is a cop, very strong and independent, and boom, she was there. I had always seen her as Athena, the warrior goddess of Nashville.” To make her books as realistic as possible, the novice novelist began a front-seat relationship with the men and women in blue of the Metro Police force. “I wanted to write about a female cop, and my sole experience was watching ‘Law & Order.’ I had to go and do the research and make it as accurate and real a possible,” she said. “The Nashville police were so open with me to help me get it right.” That openness turned into an invite to do some eight-hour ride-alongs and a bond with one of Nashville’s top cops. “It was just a fluke. I called homicide to ask about serial killers in Nashville and got Det. David Achord, a font of information. He and I talked, and he invited me to do a ride-along.” Her first time riding shotgun turned into an unbelievable trip. “Going out on midnight patrol and seeing a guy die does really change your approach,” she said. “We were called out to a stabbing. We beat the first responders there. I asked the cop I was with what do I do, and he said, ‘Stay on me.’ The guy had been stabbed in the stomach, and it was horrible and very graphic. We caught the killer. We had the murder weapon. We took him (the suspect) to the station and got him into booking, and it was so surreal, a start-to-finish case on my first overnight patrol. It was very intense and scary and sad. I had the guy’s blood on my cowboy boots when I got home.” Ellison, who lives in Nashville with her husband and a poorly trained cat, grew up in Colorado and Washington, D.C. She quit writing in college due to bad advice but returned with a vengeance in 2004 with her original Taylor Jackson book. “I had written in college and thought that I wanted to be a writer, but I had a professor who told me that my stuff was not good enough to be published. So I went the politics route and did some marketing. I moved to Nashville and couldn’t find a job and was going stir crazy. I needed to be outside, so I went to work for a vet for three days,” Ellison said. “Then I picked up a golden retriever and threw my back out and had surgery. I began reading a lot and decided I wanted to try this (writing). So I came back to it.” (Can her fans thank that dog?) She is as big a fan of Steve and Patty Guynn, the owners of both Sherlock bookstores, as they are of hers. “They had me out to do a signing,” she recalled. “Their enthusiasm for the written word and selling books and finding authors they love and want to push epitomizes what you want for an independent bookstore. It’s great to have a bookstore so far behind you.” Her next Taylor Jackson novel, “The Immortals,” is complete and comes out in October, and she is in the midst of penning the sixth in the series, “The Pretender,” for a March 2011 release. As for what the letters in her name “J.T.” represent, she says, “That’s my initials and my nickname. I don’t tell what they stand for. If I did I would have to kill you.” Ken Beck may be contacted at kbtag2@gmail.com . |
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J.T. Ellison discusses her fourth Taylor Jackson mystery and how much she loves riding shotgun with Nashville's homicide police
Though she began her career working as a staffer in the White House, J.T. Ellison now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and writes full time. Her novels—All the Pretty Girls, 14, and Judas Kiss—have earned her a reputation as a popular and prolific mystery novelist. "Fusing gritty cop drama with dark psychological thriller, Ellison distinguishes herself with exceptional character development, consistently breakneck pacing and a sense of authenticity," the Chicago Tribune says.
Ellison's fourth mystery novel The Cold Room once again features Nashville homicide detective Taylor Jackson. This time around, Jackson's investigation takes her into the twisted horrors of necrophilia and then through a macabre chase involving reenactments of famous paintings both here and in Europe. Ellison talks with Chapter 16 about Nashville, her writing, and the delights of research, which in her case includes some quality time with Nashville's boys in blue.
Read the full interview here.
I was featured today at Jen's Book Blog. Jen Forbus is a reader with a creative slant - she's been gathering six-word memoirs from all the crime fiction writers. Here's what she had to say about me:
J.T. Ellison not only calls Nashville, Tennessee home these days, she also sets her Taylor Jackson series there. The tough homicide detective came to life in J.T.'s first novel ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS in 2007 and in February she will release, THE COLD ROOM, book number four in this best-selling, critically acclaimed series. J.T. says she was in the midst of reading John Sandford's Prey series when she decided she wanted to give crime fiction a whirl, and she had definitely taken the thriller genre to a new level.
Before deciding to move into a career in crime fiction, J.T. was a presidential appointee and worked in The White House and the Department of Commerce. Then she moved on to the private sector working as a financial analyst and marketing director for several defense and aerospace contractors. But Nashville seemed to be the turning point. It was after moving to Nashville that she started researching forensics and crime then moved on to researching and working with several law enforcement agencies including the FBI and the Metro Nashville Police Department. And the rest, as they say, is history.
J.T. writes short stories, in addition to her novels. She is one of the Friday bloggers at Murderati and main blogger at her own Tao of JT. And she active in various writing organizations, including International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.
With this complex, diverse background is it no wonder her books are constructed with intricate and complex plots? Nashville Scene's 2008 Best Mystery/Thriller Writer puts it altogether with:Dreamed a plot, wrote it down.And the crime fiction community is ever so glad that she did!
My six word memoir was difficult - not because I couldn't come up with one, but because I couldn't narrow it down to one. So after much thought, I went with my very first thought. Later this week, I'll share some of the other ones.
The full article can be found here: http://bit.ly/4aObyl
Be prepared to stick around for a while and read all the six word memoirs Jen has pulled together, it's an absolutely fascinating exercise.
December 2, 2007
Breathing easier after getting this great review from my old boss at Reviewing the Evidence
November 9, 2007
Here's an essay about my path to publication -- "Piecemeal Avenue" courtesy of Dear Author
Piecemeal Avenue has just been picked up by USA Today!!!!
And... Ron Wynn at The Nashville City Paper gives All The Pretty Girls a wonderful and in-depth review
November 7, 2007
My very first print interview -- Down and Dirty in the Nashville Scene
November 6, 2007
Here's a lovely review of ATPG by Diana Risso, Romance Readers Today
Also, another great one from Jean Hanke at ReadertoReader.com
November 2, 2007
The first pictures from the book launch are in...
October 31, 2007
Check out this fabulous review in BookPage!!!
October 30, 2007
A Word on Words Podcast -- John Seigenthaler interviewed me for A Word on Words, Nashville Public Television. The program aired on Sunday, October 28. What an incredible honor!
October 23, 2007
ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS is on sale. Oh my! What a cool feeling!
October 10, 2007
The Nashville Scene Features our Southern Festival of Books Panel in the Best of the Fest Picks!!!!
October 9, 2007
A great review just in from Library Journal!
October 7, 2007
4 Stars from Romantic Times!!!!!
September 29, 2007
Here's a quick interview from this year's BEA, posted by Moving Stories TV
LOVERS, DETECTIVES AND SERIAL KILLERS -- A Day In The Life of ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS
September 25, 2007
A very nice review from Romance Reader at Heart!
September 6, 2007
Sarah Weinman chooses ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS as a Pick of the Week on Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind
