RIW: What's your story/back story? Why would
someone come up with a story about YOU?
LEE: I have absolutely no idea. I think I’m boring
as yesterday’s toast with no marmalade on it. However, detective work is the family business.
We own Discretionary Inquiries. So maybe that’s it. Before Dad’s sudden death
two years ago due to an aneurism, he taught me everything he knew about being a
good detective, hoping I would follow in his footsteps. He built up this
thriving business specializing in tracking down law-breakers in software and
intellectual property computer fraud, here in the Silicon Valley. Of course, I
have to deal with my family who run it with me. They can drive you nuts.
My kid brother, Richard, head of the
Discretionary Inquiries Research and IT Department, is always giving me some
new-fangled piece of equipment no bigger than a match and then yelling at me
because I can’t get to work. I mean, I’m chasing down murderers in the middle
of San Francisco winter storms and it’s my fault his stupid scanner doesn’t
work? I haven’t read the instructions? I don’t think so. And then there’s my
mother, the lovely Lila Hamilton Alvarez, a serious fashionista. She sends me
out on jobs no other self-respecting gumshoe would take and then it’s my fault
somebody gets killed on my watch? And God forbid, I should be wearing navy blue
with black. She’ll tell me to stop chasing the perp and go change clothes.
At least I have Tío, my wonderful
uncle, a retired Mexican chef who can do things with chorizo and cheese that
stops traffic in the streets. Speaking of streets, there is a new addition to
the Alvarez Family, a little kitten I found wandering the streets in the
rainstorm. I’ve named him Rum Tum Tugger. He’s my best guy. I’ve been getting
into a lot of messes lately, so I’m lucky I’ve got my family around, warts and
all.
LEE: Here’s something nobody knows. I’ve
always wanted to play the ukulele. In fact, I have one gathering dust under the
bed. It’s been there for three years. I tried to play it when I first got it,
but it’s really hard. For about two
weeks I would practice every day. The tips of my fingers were raw. I asked a
musician friend and he said that if I practiced for the next two years or so,
maybe I could advance from ‘horrible’ to ‘amusingly bad.’ I don’t know if it’s
pride or just the time factor—I mean, I do spend the majority of my life
investigating the theft of intellectual property and software piracy, with a
few murders thrown in every now and then. Do I see myself like Sherlock Holmes
and his violin? Maybe. Maybe I’ll pick
up my uke one of these days and play Tiny
Bubbles for all the world to hear.
RIW: What problems do you have to face and
overcome in your life?
LEE: In my heart of hearts, what I really
wanted to become was a ballerina. I studied ever since I was five years old. I
worked really hard at it. But the truth? There’s no substitute for talent. I
am, at best, a mediocre dancer, no matter how hard I work at it. It doesn’t
help that I’m 5’8” tall, either. A good ballerina is usually around 5’4” in
height. Anyway, at about sixteen-years of age I had to face it. I could never
get a job in anything more than the chorus of a second-rate ballet company. We
all have our secret “what ifs,” things we wish had turned out differently. But
I’m smart enough to know that not being able to do a first-rate glissade arabesque is probably one of
life’s bigger regrets.
RIW: Where do you
live?
LEE: The gorgeous Bay
Area in the Golden State. Not sure if California is named for the gold hills or
for the gold panned back in 1849. Whatever. Palo Alto is the location, to be
specific but I’m always bopping everywhere. Like in my latest adventure, Death runs in the Family, I take off for
Las Vegas and then Ipanema. Fortunately, I love to travel.
RIW: During what time
period does your story take place?
LEE: Right here, right
now. When you live in the Silicon Valley and deal with the theft of
intellectual property or the rip-off of somebody’s latest software, yesterday
is
centuries old.
It’s the future we think about around here.
RIW: How are you
coping with the conflict in your life?
LEE: A Sapphire Bombay Gin martini—shake
that sucker, please—with two olives, served icy cold. Throw in a bowl of mixed
nuts, and a Barbara Stanwyck movie. Curl up with my cat, Tugger, and my Snub
Nose Lady Blue Detective Special, conflict solved. OMG. I just reread that.
Does that sound as pathetic as I think it does?
RIW: Not at all. By the way, Acey and Tinkerbelle asked me to
say hi to Tugger. They can’t wait to help
me read his latest adventure. Those are all the questions we have for
you. Thank you for speaking to us.
LEE: My pleasure. One favor, please. Don’t show
this to my mother. She’ll have a cow.
RIW: I
wouldn’t dream of going up against the infamous Lila Hamilton Alvarez with my
off-the rack clothes, Wal-Mart sandals, and beluga white legs!
Hi, Tugger!
Death Runs in the Family
Blurb:
Lee Alvarez’
ex-husband, Nick -- a man she divorced with joy in her heart and a gun in her
hand – sprints back in her life only to disappear again. She’d love to leave it
at that, but could he be responsible for the recent death of her cousin, who keeled
over at the finish line of a half-marathon in front of hundreds of spectators?
As PI for the family run business, Discretionary Inquiries, Lee follows the
clues to Vegas, where she joins forces with Shoshone PI, Flint Tall Trees. Together they uncover a multi-million dollar
betting syndicate, a tacky lounge lizard act, and a list of past but very dead
runners, plus future ones to off. At the top of the ‘future’ list is the love
of her life, Gurn Hanson. Hoping to force the culprits out in the open, Gurn
and Lee’s brother, Richard, vow to run San Francisco’s famous Palace to Palace footrace
in only a few days. Can Lee keep the two men she loves from hitting the finish
line as dead as her cousin? With more at stake than she ever dreamed possible,
Lee is in a battle against time to stop the Alvarez Family’s 12K race with
death.
Heather's
blog at: http://tinyurl.com/4nensnp
Twitter@HeatherHaven
Twitter@PILeeAlvarez
