I first met Tim around 7pm on Friday, June 20, 2008, at the Bookwagon bookstore on Ashland Street. I can pinpoint the moment so precisely because Maureen Flannigan Batistella and the Ashland Mystery Reading group organized author readings there and the guest author that day was John Straley, one of my favorite mystery authors at the time.
After the author reading and Q&A were done, and I got to meet John Straley, I asked Maureen about the mystery writing group about which I’d heard rumors. She introduced me to Tim. I asked him if there was a possibility of joining the group. He said, “What have you written?”
In hindsight, that was a logical question. But at the time, the it caught me by surprise. I wanted to get my feet wet, trying out mystery writing. Wasn’t that what writing groups were about? Tim’s question was the first indication, that Monday Mayhem, as the group came to be known, wasn’t the writer’s equivalent of a kiddie pool. It was a serious undertaking to focus on craft and, eventually, publication.
After a moment of embarrassed silence, I said that I had been working on a crime story. That was quite an exaggeration. I’d been fiddling with a story for a while, I had a few pages, I didn’t even know how it was going to end. Tim said, “Send what you got.” No promises. We exchanged cards.
For the next several days, I tried as best I could to whip my fragments into some coherent shape. I may have had six or seven pages. The way I think of it now, the only thing it had really going for it was the setting, the Kosi Lakes on the Indian Ocean side of South Africa, near the border with Mozambique. I sent the fragment maybe a week later and waited with trepidation.
Imagine my surprise when Tim emailed back and said that he liked it. He invited me to visit the next meeting, observe the group and see if it was a good match. I came to the group, which then consisted of five members. I introduced myself, sat and listened. After a couple of hours, I knew I wanted to be part of it.
Monday Mayhem’s modus operandi was straightforward in its focus on the craft. Submit up to twenty pages, 12 point font, double spaced on the Thursday before the Monday meeting, read and critique the other submissions before the meeting, come to the meeting, tell each author what you have to say about their submission, and listen to what the others have to say about yours. No crosstalk, no debate.
The group helped me immensely in my journey of developing my craft. That fragment of a story was eventually published by an online mystery magazine. The group suffered through my story attempts, most of which are buried in a forgotten folder on my computer. They bore the burden of my first novel which shall forever remain in yet another folder.
Along the way, Tim nourished my desire to learn, provided a critical eye and commented not only specific points in a submission but also highlighted general aspects of the craft that distinguish the mystery genre from other writing. He was patient, but outspoken. When something didn’t work, he didn’t sugarcoat it. His critique wasn’t always easy to hear, but always to the point. He zeroed in on the weak points to push me to make my writing better.
In late 2010, I wrote a story to try out a new character. He was an investigator for the United Nations. Inspired by play “Ruined” by Lynn Nottage at OSF, I revisited my last academic article and used some of the material for story set in eastern Congo. I submitted it to the group and the feedback was positive. At the end that session, Tim said, “This would be perfect for the next MWA anthology.”
My response was, “The what?” Unbeknownst to me, the Mystery Writers of America commissioned regular anthologies and the next one with a deadline of November 1, 2010 was to be called “Dark Justice,” and it was to be edited by Lee Child. All of this was news to me. I didn’t belong to any organizations and hadn’t even read Lee Child yet. I joined the organizations, bellyached about the ninety-five dollar membership fee, read the submission requirements carefully and submitted the story.
On May 19, 2011, I received the message. “Africa Always Needs Guns,” as the story was now titled, had been selected for inclusion in the anthology. That was the birth of Valentin Vermeulen, my series protagonist, who’s now appeared in four novels.
I was in Nashville, attending the 2019 Killer Nashville conference when I learned of Tim’s death. My third novel “Illegal Holdings” won the 2019 Silver Falchion Award for best thriller. I’m terribly sad that I couldn’t share that achievement with Tim. There’s no doubt in my mind that this honor is due to his steady mentorship over the past decade. Thank you, Tim. I’m deeply grateful for your guidance and help.
