Why are Mike Roth novels written in the third person?
Almost all writers of detective fiction write in the first person. I'm not sure why, but suspect it's to avoid the challenge of hammering out details regarding how significant case information is developed. Note, for instance, how most non-P.I. authors conveniently have a police source who comes across with background information for the hero, some old chum from yesteryear. It isn't explained how the information was developed. Having police sources is rare. Cops don't particu
Can I get work like Roth's?
Of course. It's simple. Spend fifteen or 20 years learning everything you can about locating people, bounty hunting, repo work, insurance law and adjusting, product liability, rules of evidence, security-perimeter and executive-surveillance and technical surveillance,arson, photography, surreptitiously recording, eavesdropping devices,TSCM (technical security counter measures), medicine, forensic medicine, drugs, criminal and civil law, penal measures, accounting-forensic acc
Roth seems to bounce around a lot, with glimpses into various cases going on simultaneously. Why is
That's because our business is like that. Most cases are usually completed in a few days, but others may take weeks, even months. Even years. So, we may return to a case and geographical location more than once as sources become available and questions present themselves based on earlier findings. The clean cases are easily resolved. It's the dirty cases where things get complicated because we handle assignments with a view towards possible criminal charges or litigation. Tha
What started you writing?
It started when I was on assignment in the Philippines. Specifically, at Puerto Galera, on the island of Mindoro. I'd been on Mindoro many times before, the first occasion when I was in the Corps, during a SEATO exercise around 1961. Anyhow, some time around 1995, I started jotting down notes for a journal as I'd been keeping for years, and soon found that I had many elements of a novel. All it lacked was a scenario, and a time frame. I've always been interested in Asian cult
What got you into P.I. work?
I was always impatiently curious, but abhorred school or being spoon-fed information not necessarily pertinent to what I wanted to know at any given time. So, it was an obvious avenue; become a P.I. and get paid learning. It's what I always wanted to do. A P.I. will eventually touch on just above every aspect of life, slice through a cross-section of society, most lines of work, every character under creation, and probably every situation or problem imaginable. It's challengi
