D.J. (Don) Donaldson is a retired medical school
professor. Born and raised in Ohio, he
obtained a Ph.D. in human anatomy at Tulane, then spent his entire academic
career at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. In addition to being the author of several
dozen scientific articles on wound healing, he has written seven forensic
mysteries and five medical thrillers.
His latest novel, Louisiana
Fever, features Andy Broussard, the “Plump and Proud” New Orleans medical
examiner, who obviously loves food. Less
apparent to the casual observer is his hatred of murderers. Together with his
gorgeous sidekick, psychologist Kit Franklyn, Broussard forms a powerful,
although improbable, mystery solving duo.
When Kit goes to meet an anonymous stranger—who’s been
sending her roses—the man drops dead at her feet before she could even get his
name. Game on.
Andy Broussard soon learns that the man carried a lethal
pathogen similar to the deadly “Ebola”—a highly contagious virus, feared
worldwide for killing its victims (grotesquely) in a matter of days. When
another body turns up with the same bug, widespread panic becomes imminent. The
danger is even more acute, because the carrier is mobile. The man knows he’s a
walking weapon and… he’s targeting Broussard.
And when Kit Franklyn investigates her mystery suitor
further, she runs afoul of a cold- blooded killer, every bit as deadly as the
man searching for her partner.
Louisiana Fever
is written in Donaldson’s unique style:
A hard-hitting, punchy, action-packed prose that’s dripping with a
folksy, decidedly southern sense of irony.
Mix in Donaldson’s brilliant first-hand knowledge of forensics, along
with the sultry flavor of New Orleans, and readers will be fully satisfied with
this irresistibly delectable mystery.
What inspired you
to start writing, and when?
Oddly, the thought that I wanted to become a novelist
just popped into my head one day shortly after my fiftieth birthday. Part of this sudden desire was a bit of
boredom with my real job. I was an
anatomy professor at the U. of Tennessee and had accomplished all my major
professional goals: course director, funded NIH grant, teaching awards, and many
published papers on wound healing. So I
guess I needed a new challenge. And boy did I pick a tough one.
I wondered, how does a novice like me learn to write
fiction? Taking a few writing courses is an obvious answer. But I had the vague
feeling that there were a lot of unpublished writers teaching those courses and
I worried that all I’d learn was how to fail. I’m not saying this was the best way, but I
decided to just teach myself. I bought
ten bestselling novels and tried to figure out what made each of them work.
What tricks were the authors using to hold my attention? What made these books so popular? In a sense then, maybe I didn’t teach myself. Maybe Steven
King, Robin Cook, Pat Conroy, Michael Palmer, Larry McMurtry, and James
Michener did. In any event, eight years
later, I sold my first book. So, it took
me about as long to become a published novelist as it did to train for medical
research and teaching.
Is there anything
you find particularly challenging in your writing?
There’s nothing easy about any of it. But titles are a
particular challenge. I often can’t
figure out what the title of a book should be.
Oh, I know when a title is
great and so do you… It’s like the dealer at a flea market who once said to me
when I picked up an expensive item to look at more closely…”You have good
taste.” Then, while I was secretly
preening at his compliment, he added,
“Of course, it’s not that hard
to spot quality.” It’s the same with
book titles. Here’s a test: What do you think of this title? THEY DON’T BUILD STATUES TO BUSINESSMEN.
To me, it’s awful.
I’d think so even if I’d been
the one to come up with it. Actually, it
was the famous writer, Jacqueline Susann, who crafted that one for a book that
eventually became a mega best seller as VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. Could there be anybody who likes the first title better? Okay…. there’s always someone who enjoys
being a contrarian. But that still
doesn’t make the first title any good.
Let’s try another.
How about ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL?
That’s actually not horrible. But
it doesn’t sound like the sweeping saga the author wrote. I certainly think the title it was eventually
given, WAR AND PEACE, is far better.
So, it’s easy to know a great title when you see it, but
boy is it hard to come up with one, especially when you’re writing a New
Orleans series that needs to have a title that reflects the locale. I usually sit for hours playing with words and
rearranging them in what I hope are creative ways. No matter what title I eventually settle on
for a book, I have this nagging suspicion that even if I really like the one I
pick, there was a much better one I could have used. I just couldn’t find it. My WAR AND PEACE was out there, just beyond
reach.
Of all my New Orleans books, I’m the most satisfied with
the title for LOUISIANA FEVER. Although the title doesn’t specifically mention
New Orleans, it lets readers know a lot about the locale. It also strongly
suggests that the story involves some kind of contagious disease. The fever part of the title actually refers
to Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, a bleeding disease similar to Ebola. Most
writers would be thrilled to have written a book that could be related to
unfolding world events. Normally, I’d be
among them. But in this case, I’d much
prefer that there be no reason for Ebola to be in the news every day. I hope
this threat is contained soon.
What was the
hardest part of writing LOUISIANA
FEVER? Did you learn anything
from writing that book and what
was it?
My intention in each book is to reveal more about my two
main characters, Andy Broussard and Kit Franklyn by putting them in situations that
cause them to change and grow. And the more books I write about them, the
harder it is to develop these little character arcs. LOUISIANA FEVER was number
four in the series, so my two protagonists were already fairly well fledged out
when I began work on the book. At that time, I had no idea what would face them
in the new story, or how they would react. But as pieces of the project took
shape, opportunities appeared, as they always seem to do. In fact, those arcs
for Andy and Kit turned out to be more significant than I ever expected.
Strange as it sounds, in each book my characters teach me something new about
themselves.
Why New Orleans?
When I first started writing, I had no idea if I could
produce a book good enough to find a publisher.
That’s of course the big question in anyone’s mind when they think about
writing a novel. But I figured I could improve my chances by setting the book in
a place that provided a lot to write about and could be used to give my story a
palpable atmosphere. I had lived in New Orleans for five years during graduate
school, and even though that was a long time before I got the urge to write,
those years remained burned into my memory. Is there any other city in the
country that better served my objectives for a setting than New Orleans? I thought
it was the perfect choice then, and I still do.
Also, coming from a biology background, swamps and bayous hold a natural
attraction for me. Whenever I see an
interesting body of water, I want to get out of the car and walk the bank,
looking for wildlife. Maybe one day I’ll
tell you how that kind of curiosity once resulted in me heading over to pick my
wife up after work with no knowledge that there was a live cottonmouth moccasin
loose in the car.
Do you have any
advice for other writers?
Don’t write for wealth or fame because most writers in
the world, even those who have sold books to major publishers, can’t claim
either of those status symbols. There’s
an old quote that says, “You can get rich in this country by being a writer,
but you can’t make a living.” Write
because you love it. If you don’t love
doing it then you can be crushed by the difficulties inherent in the
pursuit.
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