Dan Petrosini writes Am I the Killer? which is Book 1 in A Luca Mystery Series. It is a story that explores the effects of a brain injury. The idea for it came from watching a documentary on HBO called Crash Reel which followed an Olympic snowboarder who suffered a traumatic brain injury.
In my novel, a returning Marine suffers a brain injury and is accused of murdering a man who bullied him as a child. The investigation is complicated by the marine’s inability or unwillingness to recall the events on the night of the murder.
Homicide detective Frank Luca leads the investigation and the book was so well received that I wrote featuring him.
Tell us about yourself and how you got into writing:
Born in NYC but living in S.W. Florida, I am married with two daughters and a needy Maltese. I began writing stories as a child and enjoyed expressing my ideas through them. When it came to longer format, ie novels, I started many but finished none until about 25 years ago when I finally pushed one over the finish line. Since that time, I have whittled away at my non-completion rate and complete most projects.
Tell us about your stories:
I have learned not to wait for inspiration. Its wonderful when it comes but if you want to (and in my case its not want to write, its I have to write) write you must do it every day. And you must write when the words do not come. I have gone from a panster to an outlinerer and now ‘reside’ in between. I come up with an idea and develop a rough outline. Then i begin writing and veer off from there. One of the great joys is having your characters take you places in a story you had not thought of.
My most recent project is book seven in the Luca Mystery Series. I am not a series reader and never thought i would write one. However, readers kept telling me to write one featuring the detective i created in Am I the Killer?, Frank Luca. In that book he doesn’t appear until about halfway through but according to readers, he steals the show. Det. Luca’s calling and obsession is catching killers.
What kind of success have you had?
I have been fortunate to be awarded three best seller tags on Amazon and a couple of number 1 new release tags as well.
Are your characters pure fiction or based on something/someone?
My characters are all inspired by different aspects of my own life, then shifted by the world and conditions I put in their history. With the main character of the Pillar Universe series I really tried to dig into the meat of what it felt like to be lonely and how people, including me, fight to fit in.
Where do you write at?
I write at home most times listening to piano jazz music. My office is really a cool space but I find myself at the kitchen table, out on the lanai, or at the kitchen counter more often than not. I can’t explain it other than maybe I don’t want to be in a room (I am claustrophobic)
Tell us about a scene you wrote that gave you “all the feels.”
This is harder than it should but this came to mind – Luca is armed with a search warrant believing he may find where an escaped killer is hiding. He had visited the home twice but was never allowed inside. When he throws open the door he is confronted with the home of a hoarder. Luca fights his claustrophobia an disgust and waddles through the mess as he conducts his search.
I am a stronger believer in encouraging people to take action and pursue their dreams. Don’t allow fear of failure of criticism to hood you.
Check out this book by out FEATURED AUTHOR.
Inside the Inkwell 