Lost Tomorrows by Matt Coyle

A phone call thrusts Rick Cahill’s past and all its tragic consequences into his present. Krista Landingham, his former partner on the Santa Barbara Police Department, is dead. When Rick goes to the funeral in the city where his wife was murdered and where he is seen as guilty for her death in the eyes of the police, he discovers that Krista’s death may not have been a tragic accident, but murder. Hired by Krista’s sister, Leah, to investigate, Rick follows clues that lead him to the truth, not only about Krista’s death, but about the tragedy that ruined his life. Along the way, Leah shows him that his life can be salvaged and he can feel love again if he can just move beyond his past. But the past is Rick’s present and will always be until he rights his one great wrong. In the end, Rick is left with a decision that forces him to confront the horrific actions he’ll need to take to exact revenge and achieve redemption.

Award-winning author Matt Coyle gave The Big Thrill a few minutes to pick his brain about his latest thriller, LOST TOMORROWS:

Which took shape first: plot, character, or setting?

Character always comes first. However, as Rick Cahill is a series character, I always look for a case or a problem that will test him and cause him to risk something of himself. That is true with LOST TOMORROWS, where Rick’s soul and humanity is tested as he searches for the truth about his wife’s death.

What attracts you to this book’s genre?

I’ve read the mystery/crime genre my whole life. There’s nothing I’d rather write. Nothing reveals character like the stress associated with someone’s murder. How that stress affects loved ones left behind, law enforcement trying to solve the crime, an outside actor trying to find the underlying truth, and even the killer, is what draws me to the mystery/crime genre.

What authors or books have influenced your career as a writer, and why?

Raymond Chandler has had a huge influence on my career. His protagonist Philip Marlowe set the stage for private detectives who distrust vested power structures and are willing to take them on.

Contemporary influences are T. Jefferson Parker, Robert Crais, and Michael Connelly. Parker’s Silent Joe put an exclamation point on the importance of character in mysteries for me.

*****

Matt Coyle is the author of the Rick Cahill mysteries. He knew he wanted to be a crime writer at age 13 when his father gave him Raymond Chandler’s The Simple Art of Murder. His books have won the Anthony, Ben Franklin Silver, Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Silver, and San Diego Book Awards, and have been nominated for the multiple Macavity, Shamus, and Lefty Awards. LOST TOMORROWS is the sixth book in the Cahill series. Matt hosts the Crime Corner podcast on the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network and lives in San Diego with his yellow Lab, Angus.

To learn more about the author and his work, please visit his website.