Q&A: Jeffrey B. Burton, Author of ‘The Keepers’

We chat with author Jeffrey B. Burton about his latest novel, The Keepers, which is the next installment of the Mace Reid K9 series, featuring golden retriever cadaver dog Vira and her handler, Mason Reid.

Hi, Jeffrey! Tell our readers a bit about yourself!

Though born in Long Beach, California, I’m really a Minnesotan as my parents moved back to the glacier when I was two. I was a ski bum in my youth but still managed to receive a degree in Journalism from the University of Minnesota (and remain a diehard Gopher football fan). I live in St. Paul with my wife, Cindy, an irate Pomeranian named Lucy, and a happy galoot of a beagle named Milo.

Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!

My grandfather loaned me his Louis L’Amour books when I was in grade school. He claimed to have all the Louis L’Amour books (nobody has all the Louis L’Amour books), but really meant he had all the ones sold on the rack at the local pharmacy. Grandpa and Louis L’Amour turned me into a lifelong bookworm.

I can’t get books like Catch-22, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, A Confederacy of Dunces, and most stuff by Ray Bradbury out of my mind, but it was reading Stephen King as a child that got me thinking about becoming an author.

I could rattle off a dozen mystery writers that I follow, but if you’re able to pull the rug out from under me with a twist I never saw coming yet makes perfect sense—I’ll love you forever.

When did you first discover your love for writing?

I started writing short stories and realized the ones that sold quickly were in the horror genre. I’d find myself giggling uncontrollably whenever I took something so inherently absurd and turned it into something believable and creepy. The laughter wasn’t because it was funny. It was because I’d pulled it off.

The Keepers is the second installment in your Mace Reid K-9 Mystery series and it’s out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Dogs versus big city corruption.

What can readers expect?

Let me steal a pull quote from Library Journal: “A fast-paced story of an ordinary man and his extraordinary dogs.”

Did anything in particular inspire the premise of The Keepers?

The novel takes place in Chicago, a city which has a notoriously checkered past.

Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?

Covid screwed up getting invited to book clubs. I love book clubs, not only because of the great give-and-take, but because they ply me with appetizers, dessert . . . and booze. Usually the meetings go long as it takes me awhile to finish that third slab of apple crisp.

Here’s to 2021 returning to normal.

Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

Sue, Mace Reid’s male German shepherd (Reid is my dog handler protagonist), has become my favorite character. He’s the pack’s alpha male who struts about Reid’s trailer, chest out, presenting Old Testament–like editorials on passing cars, squirrels and rabbits, mailmen, the doorbell, and the sound of toast popping up. Sue’s not that much of a human remains detection dog, but he scares the piss out of any marketers that may stop by.

What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?

I signed my first book deal with a publisher whose name I’d gotten from one of the Writer’s Market books. I thought publishers listed in Writer’s Market had all been vetted. Boy, was I mistaken.

The best advice was to get an agent, which is no easy task, but they do open doors.

Now for some advice from you! What advice would you give to aspiring mystery and thriller writers?

You’d best be a major bookworm in the mystery and thriller genre. Read, read, and then read some more.

What’s next for you?

The Losers (3^rd in The Finders series) will be coming out in June of 2022. I’m currently scrambling like crazy to finish editing the novel.

Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?

I tripped over Steve Cavanagh’s The Defense as well as Peter Swanson’s The Kind Worth Killing. Cavanagh writes legal thrillers and Swanson writes domestic/Hitchcockian-like thrillers. Since reading these novels, I’ve since gobbled up everything the two have written.

Will you be picking up The Keepers? Tell us in the comments below!