Welcome

The Literary Chimera: Today, I am thrilled to talk with Luna Nightcrow, the “great FMC” of
three critically-acclaimed mystery novels by author James Blakley; the most recent, The
Burning Desire Dupe, that I read.
Luna Nightcrow: A great FMC! I’m flabbergasted by the fanfare.
The Literary Chimera: You deserve it, for all you went through in this case.
Luna Nightcrow: Yeah, like you wrote, there were “quite a few twists and turns.” I got
punched, slapped, kicked, chased, and called a whore. But there was a creature
comfort, you could say, that made it all worth reappearing as the heroine.
The Literary Chimera: For those who don’t know Luna Nightcrow, tell us about yourself.
Luna Nightcrow: Sure. I am a member of The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. I am 50,
as of The Burning Desire case. In my pre-pandemic debut (The K-Frost Caper) I was in
my early 40s, with raven-colored hair, dark brown eyes, and skin that's the shade of
cinnamon.
The Literary Chimera: You still sound about the same here and sport a varied wardrobe.
Luna Nightcrow: Yeah, I should have been named Luna Clotheshorse because I also
like dressing to the nines (in skirt suits, boots, and short, red silk robes). The red silk is
for when I type up my deductions and reports at the end of a long day. Charming, huh?
The Literary Chimera: So if you begin deducing, might we see a change into the red silk
robe?
Luna Nightcrow: Nice try. The robe is for the end of a long day. But I don’t anticipate
our chat becoming a soirée.

The Literary Chimera: Touché. How did you become an insurance investigator, Luna?
Luna Nightcrow: After 6 years adjusting all types of insurance claims and learning the
ins-and-outs of the business but mostly in an office, I left to do freelance fraud
investigations. After 4 years on my own, I'm an in demand player in the often
complicated insurance game.
The Literary Chimera: Wow! Sounds like you're what many women want to be, Luna:
Smart, sexy, confident, needed...
Luna Nightcrow: But still single.
The Literary Chimera: That is not necessarily a bad thing, Luna. Or is it for you?
Luna Nightcrow: Only on Valentine's Day. Oh, I can still bring a man to his knees, if
only sometimes with my Stinger smartphone stun gun. But, hey: You can't have
everything, right? I'm pretty well-off. As a freelancer, I set my own rates (which can be
rather steep). Because owning a sports car and living in a downtown Oklahoma City loft isn't cheap!
The Literary Chimera: Potential clients may want to know why they should hire you.
Luna Nightcrow: Don’t forget potential readers who may want to read my adventures,
too.
The Literary Chimera: Right. So, what are your sleuthing strengths and character traits?
Luna Nightcrow: A considerable strength is that I'm a woman. I know that sounds
sexist, but I've found that being a female investigator has many advantages. People
often find it easier to talk to me –that whole nurturing thing, I guess. Second, suspects
usually tend to take me lightly, when it comes to being a physical threat. Sure, I'm pretty
tall (for a woman)--about 5 foot 8 or 9. But, I'm still just a woman to the average guy:

Someone they assume can be taken down in a fight or ignored outright. So I can be
good at surveillance. But, I carry a stun gun in my smartphone case and sometimes, a
.22 or .38 caliber handgun.
The Literary Chimera: My goodness, Luna! Is being an insurance investigator that risky?
Luna Nightcrow: It can be. After all, my specialty is busting fraud in faraway places.
These are desperate times, with people looking for any way to make more money. And
when you come after it, they tend to get defensive. I know of three insurance
investigators who were brutally murdered when they tried to uncover insurance scams.
The Literary Chimera: Well, in The Burning Desire Dupe, you have some downtime,
although not originally planned. Would you care to talk about that?
Luna Nightcrow: That’s putting it mildly. I was fired from a California case for being a
bit reckless, which can be a character flaw. But, I’ll take the time off where I can get it.
The Literary Chimera: So, tell us what you did.
Luna Nightcrow: I took one of those Alaskan cruises.
The Literary Chimera: Your author treats you well.
Luna Nightcrow: Including pairing me with a lot of Luna Lads.
The Literary Chimera: “Luna Lads?”
Luna Nightcrow: Yeah. Kind of like “Bond Girls” in the James Bond movies. In K-Frost,
it was police detective Tiago Toussaint who oozed Miami Vice vibes. In Diamond Head,
it was a Hawaiian surfer turned jeweler named Lono Kuhl. And to keep my love life

warm in Alaska, it's Dr. Adonis Healy – that “creature comfort” I mentioned earlier. And
all were a just a few years younger than me.
The Literary Chimera: It’s great having more mature characters, especially FMCs.
Luna Nightcrow: Agreed. And not just eye candies but confident, seasoned, and
determined FMCs. I mean, I’m still “mamacita” (hot momma) material, or so one of the
seminal characters told me. But I get to use brain and brawn more often. My author
must work with lots of women or listens very carefully to what they want in a FMC. As a
result, I usually get rave reviews and my cases at least pass The Bechdel Test with
flying colors.
The Literary Chimera: The Bechdel Test? Please illuminate, Luna.
Luna Nightcrow: Cute pun, by the way. It’s a way to judge female representation in
fiction. If a story has at least two women talking to each other about something other
than a man, it passes.
The Literary Chimera: There are many important female characters in The Burning
Desire Dupe…
Luna Nightcrow: Doctor Eleanor Fjord, the dancer and aspiring pyrographer Sunny
Ignacio, and Bernie Sparks’s estranged wife Tanis (just to name a few).
The Literary Chimera: Right. But I’d like to focus on your co-protagonist: Kelly Day, the
fire investigator. I thought “Kelly is a great match to team [you] up with.” Did you hold
any ill-will, though, for having to share the spotlight with as bright a personality as
yours?

Luna Nightcrow: No because as I mentioned before, I’m always sharing the spotlight
with someone. And in most professional insurance settings, that’s true. You’re working
with an agency or company. For poetic license, which I don’t mind, my author gives me
smart guys that are easy on the eyes. And I had a Hawaiian-Japanese female partner,
Nani Nyoko, in Diamond Head but not for the balance of the case. In The Burning
Desire Dupe, it was nice having a female partner throughout. Partner, as in business
partner.
The Literary Chimera: Thanks for explaining, as “partner” has a different meaning now.
Luna Nightcrow: And in a case full of sexual innuendo, context is key. As for Kelly, she
was also a fellow Generation Xer; so we could relate personally. It’s been noted that
Kelly’s more of “a science person.” Whereas I, for better or worse, am not adverse to
taking risks and bending the rules…sometimes. And our pairing also explored
something not often seen in literature or movies: African Americans interacting with
Native Americans. There are plenty of Caucasian connections, although many are set in
westerns. But this case not only shows our professional relationship but some of the
historical struggles shared by our peoples – a nice subplot.
The Literary Chimera: Well, Luna, I’ll let you get back to Dr. Adonis. Still cruising, I take
it?
Luna Nightcrow: Oh, yes, through The Inner Passage ports of Ketchikan, Skagway,
and Juneau, hopefully ending up with penetrating “the bush country.”
The Literary Chimera: Oh, Luna!
Luna Nightcrow: Like the synopsis says, “Ashes, intrigue, and innuendo abound…”