Mystery Scene Magazine
Mystery Scene: Michael Lister
by John B. Valeri
If writers are grown in the soil of their native lands, then Michael Lister's roots are firmly planted in North Florida - a fertile ground that has now fortified him for 25 years as the acclaimed author of the John Jordan "Blood" mysteries.
"I can't remember a time when story wasn't a huge part of my life," Lister says. "Of course, it's a part of everyone's life, but there's something about the Southern storytelling tradition that infuses the lives of all those of us who grow up here in the South."
The son of a second-grade schoolteacher (his mother) and a local business proprietor (of a generations-owned hardware store, his father), he found no lack of inspiration.
"We were surrounded by great storytellers - colorful characters who always had a yarn to spin," Lister recalls. "I got to listen to those tales day in and day out for my entire childhood. I've seen the quote 'I am a reader moved to emulation' attributed to many writers, so I don't know who said it originally, but it's exactly how I feel. It was my love for story and reading - and what reading and story did for me - that made me want to be a novelist."
But not just any novelist. As his early reading tastes would suggest, he wanted to explore the world of crime and its ripple effects on humanity.
"I can remember reading the Hardy Boys as a kid," he says, "and Agatha Christie as a teenager and in college. When I came upon the Spenser novels of Robert B. Parker, the Dave Robicheaux novels of James Lee Burke, and the Father Brown stories of G.K. Chesterton, I knew I wanted to write mystery novels."
Of course, more practical concerns came first, resulting in an impressively eclectic resume. Lister taught at both the high school and college levels, was an inspirational speaker, owned a bookstore, wrote for and edited newspapers, operated a community theater, and worked for a production company - all the while penning plays and screenplays.
He also became the youngest prison chaplain in the state of Florida - a position he held for nearly a decade, and one that greatly informed what would become his debut novel, 1997's Power in the Blood.
"Part of the reason I took the job...with the Florida Department of Corrections was because I was already developing ex-cop, prison chaplain detective John Jordan," he confesses. "I wanted my detective to have an interesting career in law enforcement and outside of law enforcement, and I wanted his job to bring him in contact with not only many crimes but many people in need and opportunities to serve them by using his gifts."
And while men of the cloth have often been mainstays in the mystery genre - Lister points to Father Brown as the most famous example - there had never been a prison chaplain detective before.
"I thought that would make for an interesting series," the author says. "In many ways, John Jordan's journey, his worldview, his intellect, his spirituality, and his nature make him an outsider. I created a chaplain who was not comfortable with nor engaged in organized religion and an investigator who never fit comfortably inside any law enforcement agency."
Lister continues, "But I never wanted John to just be a prison chaplain. He was always a detective first." Consequently, he had Jordan return to law enforcement full-time as a sheriff's investigator after serving a frustrating stint as a prison chaplain and a detective. "[He] looks for opportunities to help people outside of the context of chaplaincy. John's faith and spirituality have always been more part of the social justice and counselor/social worker tradition."
It's a set-up that has not only caught on with the reading public but also with his crime-writing contemporaries - which has allowed Lister to devote himself fully to his craft. (As evidence: Michael Connelly recently said, "Michael Lister has become a master storyteller in his first 25 years, and he's only getting started.")
"I wanted to be a full-time novelist before my first novel came out, so I knew I would take the very first opportunity I had to make that leap. I had such a strong desire to do it that I didn't spend a lot of time weighing the risks. I just went for it," the author - who initially supplemented his income by writing a syndicated column and the occasional script - says. "It's such a gift, such a dream. I am paid to do work I'd pay to be able to do."
Lister - whose name has appeared on both the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists, and who has received two Florida Book Awards - has expanded his creative canvas since those early days. In addition to the John Jordan novels, he also writes the Burke and Blade Panama City Beach PI saga and the 1940s Jimmy Riley noir series, as well as thrillers including Double Exposure, Burnt Offerings, and Separation Anxiety.
But John Jordan remains at the forefront of his mind. The series now tallies 29 entries (including two Christmas novellas) - more than one book a year.
In his latest, Blood Reckoning, we find Lister's protagonist grappling with a tragedy that hits close to home - and one that's compounded by the lingering effects of last year's Out for Blood, in which personal and professional upheavals left him reeling.
"John is still grieving the loss of a dear friend when a young woman who has been like a daughter to him goes missing. He needs more time to heal, but he's not going to get it," the author says. "John is confronted with his limitations when it comes to helping people. Carla is...someone he has helped for a very long time, and yet when she disappears, he discovers aspects of her life that he knew nothing about."
The woman in question, Carla Pearson (first introduced in the series' second book, Blood of the Lamb), was last seen in a water-access-only river camp cabin by her boyfriend, who claims to have left her there following a fight. It's a locale that further stymies the investigation.
"North Florida river swamps often feature prominently in my books. These are wild, dangerous, yet beautiful jungle-like places," Lister says. "People can get lost in them and never be seen again. They are also the perfect places for crimes and for hiding bodies."
This landscape - along with a core cast of characters - has served as a unifying factor throughout the books, which otherwise differ by crime and criminals.
"North Florida is unique and worthy of exploration. I like for setting to inform character and plot and for it to be a character in the novel," the author says. "I feel like when most people picture Florida, they think about Central Florida and theme parks or the international vibe of South Florida, but few by comparison have experienced the beautiful and wild area I call home. I live in a rural land surrounded by lakes and rivers and swamps, in a region that is in many ways unexplored, undiscovered," says Lister.
It's a vast and varied area that Lister is happy to traverse along with readers, whether they're already familiar with the territory or taking the journey for the very first time - a prospect that also applies to the vista of the books themselves, which can be experienced singularly or as a collective whole.
"Every John Jordan mystery is a complete mystery within a single book. Though most readers like to start from the beginning and read through in order, I write them so a new reader can pick up any title in the series and start with that one," he says. "My hope is that any questions raised about the characters and their pasts will send readers back to earlier books in the series, but I try to write them in such a way that each one can be enjoyed without this being necessary."
The small screen might also serve as a possible introductory point, as the novels are currently in development as a potential TV series (while Double Exposure has been optioned for film). Regardless of John Jordan's fate beyond the page, Lister has no plans to abandon long-form fiction. After all, that's where he's discovered as much about himself as he has about his characters.
"Writing has taught me so many things about life and about how to live," he says. "Life is my teacher. And I learn far more by processing and reflecting on life through writing than I would otherwise. Life is the inspiration and raw material for my writing."
Consequently, he credits his craft with the ability to be fully present in the world - "I am trying to soak up every facet of every experience not only to get the most out of them, but also to better be able to write about them" - and to make sense of it.
"After nearly 30 years of writing and 25 years of being a published author, I am as interested in and passionate about novel writing today as I have ever been. It is such a part of my identity and purpose that I can't imagine ever not doing it," Lister says. "I have attempted to keep my writing fresh and relevant and engaging throughout the course of my career in many ways. I think a lot of it comes down to lifestyle and a certain way of being in the world, remaining open and questioning and reflective."
Which just goes to show that growth is both possible and sustaining, no matter how many years lived - or stories told.
John B. Valeri is a reader, writer, and reviewer of crime fiction and host of Central Booking. He lives in Connecticut and can be found online at www.johnbvaleri.com.