MEET THE AUTHOR: INGRID THOFT

(The first in an occasional series of articles talking about book signings I attend.)

As a teenager, I attended lots of rock concerts. On occasion, I'd get to meet some of the band members who helped create the musical soundtrack of my formative years. As an alleged adult, I've attended a number of comic conventions where I've met actors and actresses from my favorite TV shows as well as the writers and artists responsible for creating the four color worlds I become absorbed into when I pick up a new comic book.

Lately however, I've been spending most of my time with my nose buried in a parade of mystery and thriller novels. I'm riding that pulse-pounding train to the derring do adventures of private detectives, assassins, cops and FBI agents among others. One of my new favorite literary rock stars is writer Ingrid Thoft.

She's the author of the Fina Ludlow mystery series. The first book was called Loyalty and it introduces us to Fina, the black sheep in the Ludlow family of lawyers. She works as investigator for her family's law firm while attempting to traverse that minefield that is one's own family. A missing family member and buried family secrets help drive the story in the book.

With Identity, Fina finds herself dealing with the unresolved fallout of events from the first book, while investigating the murder of a man over an anonymous sperm donation.

Now comes Brutality, the third book in the series. It was published on June 23rd, 2015 and with it came a publicity tour. Ingrid Thoft is originally from Massachusetts so it was a rather happy turn of events that one of her stops on the tour was at the Framingham, Mass Barnes and Noble store. Thoft has made the store a stop on each of the three book tours she's had and it was well worth the trip!

Aside from attending the event itself, the store had a huge mystery section that enabled me to add five new books to my "read" pile. These would be books that my "local" B&N doesn't carry on their shelves, so the Framingham store gets a big shout out from me to that extent.

One of the store's assistant managers, Josh, got things started by introducing the author and then Thoft herself got the event rolling by talking about herself, her previous (still unpublished) writings and concussion research that she did to form the basis of the plot for Brutality. She also talked about how she earned a certificate from the University of Washington in private investigation, saying how she wanted to "know the rules of the field so she knew which rules she wanted Fina to break".

(You can learn more about Ingrid Thoft by visiting her website and checking out the interview with the author from around the time of the first novel.)

Once Thoft was done with the background information, she moved on to reading a couple of chapters from the latest book. While the two chapters weren't directly tied to each other, I found it pretty interesting to hear the story told in the voice of the person who actually wrote it. At the few other signings I've attended for other writers in the past, there wasn't any reading portion of the evening.

After said reading was done, Thoft opened the floor to the Q&A and the audience quizzed her on various aspects of the books, Thoft's thoughts on the concussion research she'd done, Fina's eating habits in comparison to her own and many other topics as well.

I had made a mental list of things to ask myself, but between her introductory remarks and the questions asked by other audience members, I got all of them answered before I said a word. The one question I did ask related to a running subplot in the books - if one of Fina's brothers was ever going to get his comeuppance for his (while trying to avoid spoilers) dark and depraved actions. The answer I received was that he does face at least some consequences in Brutality and there will be more to come in the forthcoming 4th book in the series.

One of the questions asked related to Thoft's writing process. I don't remember the exact wording of the question, but she was essentially asked if she outlined her story before she did the actual writing. Thoft acknowledged that while some authors don't outline, she does put together the bare bones of her story that way. That particular question was asked by Boston TV investigative reporter and mystery novelist Hank Phillippi Ryan (see photo below), who came to the event as a member of the audience.

There were a couple of off-topic questions related to Thoft and her husband being Patriots fans living in Seattle. The story she related about her usually quiet husband throwing open the windows and cheering in celebration when the Patriots won the Super Bowl over Seattle brought a rousing laugh from the crowd.

Thoft was also asked about the news of a pilot in development based on the Fina novels. She said she hopes that it happens, but she's not really sure what is going on and has no involvement in the project.

Once the questions ended, the actual book signing took place. At this point, I held back until everyone else had been taken care of. I used that time to talk to Hank Phillippi Ryan, as her Jane Ryland novels are favorites of mine as well. It was an unexpected surprise to see Ryan at the signing, so I took the time to have a brief conversation with her and get a photo as well.

After everyone else had received their signed copies of Brutality by Thoft, I was able to get mine and snap a few pictures. I also was able to chat with her for a few minutes about the book and general topics tied to some of the conversational points she made in her talk. I was pleasantly surprised that she remembered me from our interactions on her Facebook page. Her inscription on my copy of Brutality made mention of that as well.

(For more on you can check Ingrid Thoft's Twitter page too.)

All in all, the Ingrid Thoft book signing was a fun little excursion that paid off quite handsomely. For my money, she's one of the rising stars in the mystery genre and I can't wait to see where she and Fina take readers next. If you like mysteries, you can do no wrong in hopping on board the Ludlow Express! Loyalty, Identity and Brutality...three great things (or books for the sake of clarity) that, much like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, go great together.