S. 9, Ep. 6: Interview with Crime Writer Naomi Hirahara

The Crime Cafe

This episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features my interview with crime writer Naomi Hirahara. Check out our discussion about her latest work: a series of historical novels, as well as her inspiration for writing them. Before I bring on my guest, I’ll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two eBooks for sale: the nine book box set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy inks for both on my website, debbimack.com under the Crime Cafe link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You’ll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, along with our eternal gratitude for doing so. Check us out on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/crimecafe Debbi: But first, let me put in a good word for Blubrry podcasting. I’m a Blubrry affiliate, but that’s not the only reason I’m telling you this. I’ve been using Blubrry Podcasting as my hosting service for my podcast for years and it’s one of the best decisions I ever made. They give great customer service, you’re in complete control of your own podcast, you can run it from your own website, and it just takes a lot of the work out of podcasting for me. I find for that reason that it’s a company that I can get behind 100% and say, “You should try this.” Try Blubrry. It doesn’t require a long-term contract, and it’s just a great company, period. It also has free technical support by email, video, and phone, so you can get a human being there. Isn’t that nice? If you want to podcast, try out Blubrry. No long-term contract, excellent distribution, and great technical support, too, by email, video, and on the phone. I’ve included affiliate links on this blog. Download a copy of the transcript here. Debbi: Hi everyone. Our guest today is the Edgar Award-winning author of multiple mystery series and noir short stories. Her first historical mystery Clark and Division won a Mary Higgins Clark Award and follows a Japanese-American family's move to Chicago in 1944 after being released from a wartime detention center. She's also written numerous nonfiction books and a middle grade novel. It's my pleasure to have as my guest Naomi Hirahara. Hi, Naomi. How are you doing today? Naomi: I'm doing well. Thanks for having me, Debbi. Debbi: It's my pleasure, believe me. You seem to have several series going. How many series do you have and which one did you start with? Naomi: Well, my first one was my Mas Arai Mystery series and its aging Los Angeles gardener and Hiroshima survivor who solves crimes. It's an homage to my own father. It's not my father, but inspired by someone like him, and that went for seven books. Actually two of my series, they've only made it as far as being duologies. One is the Ellie Rush bicycle cop mysteries, and there's a Leilani Santiago shave ice mysteries. I guess we're calling that the Leilani Santiago Hawaii Mysteries set on the island of Kaua’i. More recently, I've changed to historical mysteries and because publishers like series but it's loosely linked, it's called the Japantown Mysteries. And as you mentioned, Clark and Division is the first. The second just came out - Evergreen - and it'll be followed by a third one, but not from that main character's point of view, but another character. More recently, I've changed to historical mysteries and because publishers like series but it's loosely linked, it's called the Japantown Mysteries. Debbi: Interesting. So it's like the same world, but a different character. Naomi: Exactly. And it's actually even a different time period, so the third one will be set in 1903. Debbi: Huh. So you go back in time? Naomi: Exactly. I wanted that latitude to jump around. And in terms of Clark and Division and Evergreen, I look at it as bookends to my lead character, Aki Ito, her kind of resettlement story, and I didn't want to turn her into an amateur sleuth where she's investigating random incidents. The two storylines in both books are deeply personal,