For some time I have wanted to write a mystery involving a private detective. I was also trying to find a set of characters that I could use in a series of books. It all came together for me on a visit to San Francisco a couple of summers ago. I grew up in the Bay Area so it was a homecoming for me.
I went to the Giants’ ballpark, AT&T Park and I began thinking about the old San Francisco Seals team. The Seals were a minor league team which preceded the major league San Francisco Giants.
I had some recollection of that time from my childhood and what I had read about the Seals. Nineteen fifty-seven was an interesting year in San Francisco.
It was the end of an era as the Seals would disappear into the mists of time.
I decided that my private detective could be a Seal, who was just ending his baseball career. Additionally, 1957 was a great time period for the setting of the story. It’s something of a magical time. It was exciting to revisit that world.
I grew up in the 1950s in the Bay Area and remember what it was like.
My main female character, who would become the love interest for the private detective/baseball player, is a TWA stewardess. The world of 1957 was a very different world for women, particularly the world of being a stewardess.
It would later change to flight attendants and women would work hard to overcome all of the discriminatory practices they encountered in the work place.
However, in 1957 women had few outlets for a career, especially one where they could travel to glamorous locations.
The two protagonists–the baseball player turned private investigator and the TWA stewardess–are an interesting pair to take on the problems they will face in 1957 San Francisco.
The story is appealing to a wide array of readers. It has baseball history, romance and mystery.
I have self published. I have gradually been building up a reader base. “Last of the Seals” is my fourth book and I will publish the second book in the series by the end of 2012. I have also learned a lot about marketing my books and myself through literary groups, and social networks–particularly Facebook and Twitter.
About the Author:
Greg Messel has written four novels and three unpublished memoirs. He published his premiere novel “Sunbreaks” in 2009, followed by “Expiation” in 2010 and “The Illusion of Certainty” in 2011. “Last of the Seals” is the first in a series of mysteries which are set in 1957 San Francisco. The second book in the series “Deadly Plunge’ will be published around Christmas of 2012. Greg grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and has had a newspaper career as a columnist, sportswriter and news editor. He won a Wyoming Press Association Award as a columnist while working for a daily newspaper in Wyoming. Greg also spent many years in the corporate world as a Financial Manager. He now devotes his energies to writing at his home in Edmonds, Washington on the Puget Sound just north of Seattle, where he lives with his wife, Carol. To view all books by Greg Messel: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Greg%20Messel
To learn more about Greg, go to his website: www.gregmessel.com
Visit Greg Messel on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/gregmessel
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The Story Behind the Book 