Betwixt And Between is perfect for anyone interested in the process of writing fiction or those looking for “not your average mystery”, one in which characters struggle against each other to find their author and control their story’s narrative.

Johnny Marathon is trapped on Manhattan Island. He doesn’t know who he is, how he came to be in The Big Apple or the identity of the woman he loves. Desperate for answers, Johnny meets a quasi-religious homeless man who reveals the name of a struggling author and Johnny’s creator, Judd Myrvin. Only Judd can return Johnny’s memory but the young writer must first overcome his need to control his characters and plagiarize movie dialogue.

For Johnny, trouble is not far behind. Two rival gangs, a woman assassin and the entire New York City police force harass and threaten him to get Judd’s name, each bent on their own control of the author’s story. Johnny finds his writer but so do his pursuers leading to a shootout between the gangs and police. When the battle ends in a stalemate, threats against each other turn to threats against Judd. The author must take control of his story or his characters will exist betwixt and between forever.

Unlike my other books, I don’t recall how or when I came up with the premise for Betwixt And Between. One day it was under my radar and the next, I was fully engaged, tapping on a keyboard and racing to keep up with where my characters were taking me. Two of the biggest surprises were the physical appearance of a character called, The Fat Man, and the other, when Man In The White Suit takes it upon himself to kill Julie or Judy. Ok, he really had no other choice but still…

One of my favorite Hollywood movies is “Big Jake”, starring John Wayne. The story is about a grandfather, Big Jake, played by Wayne, who goes after a gang of cutthroats who kidnapped his grandson for ransom. Richard Boone, whose character name is, John Fain, is the leader of the gang and in a scene where Big Jake and Fain face-off just prior to the exchange of what is supposed to be the ransom money, Fain warns Big Jake with lines which, by themselves, are good but made stellar when Big Jake gets one-up on Fain and wraps the bad guy’s warning in his own, making it one of my favorite movie scenes.

Why am I telling you about dialog from a Hollywood movie? Well, when Tubby, one of the bad guys in Betwixt And Between, gets the draw on the story’s hero, Johnny Marathon, that scene in “Big Jake” popped into my head and I knew Tubby would say exactly what Boone’s character, John Fain, says in movie. I’m sure you will agree that Johnny’s repeat of Tubby’s lines, word for word, makes a good scene a great scene. Taking the use of Hollywood movie dialog a step further, I decided to salt all of my main characters’ dialog with lines from other Hollywood movies, both vintage and modern, as part of the storyline. And the rest, as they say, is history.

I hope you enjoy Betwixt And Between and have fun matching up plagiarized lines with the movies in which they were featured. Good luck.