Bookpleasures.com welcomes as our guests Rosemary and Larry Mild whose recent novel, Death Rules the Night, was recently published.

Rosemary and Larry have published award-winning novels, short stories, and essays. They coauthored the popular Paco & Molly Mystery Series; the Dan & Rivka Sherman Mystery Series; two Hawaii adventure/thrillers; a sci-fi novella; and three volumes of short stories, many of which appear in anthologies.


After forty-plus years in Maryland, the Milds currently make their home in Honolulu, where they cherish time with their daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren.

Norm: Good day, Rosemary and Larry, and thanks for taking part in our interview.

How did you get started writing novels and are you full-time or part-time writers? As a follow-up, why do you write? Do you have a theme, message, or goal for your books? Is it merely for entertainment?




Rosemary: Larry and I met on a blind date in October, 1986, at my house in Severna Park, Maryland. He had lost his wife to cancer. I’d been divorced for eight years, coping well, thank you.

In the car on our way home from dinner, he said, “When I retire I’m going to write a novel and I want you to help me.”

Now neither of us had ever written fiction. I was an editor; he was an electrical engineer, and I’d only known this man for four hours. Without even hesitating, I chirped, “Okay!” Instinct told me he was Mr. Right—and I’d better not let him get away.

True to his word, when we retired, he sat down and wrote Cry Ohana, Adventure and Suspense in Hawaii

Larry: Writing is our daily “job.” We’re lucky that we’ve developed this second “profession.”

It keeps us focused and eager for the next step of each project. So far, we’ve written thirteen books together, encompassing mystery, suspense, and even fantasy.

Our goal is to entertain readers with exciting plots and compelling characters. And spoiler alert: In our fiction the good guys always win out in the end. We believe that’s the way to keep our readers satisfied and wanting more.   

Norm: What advice can you give aspiring writers that you wished you had received, or that you wished you would have listened to?

Rosemary and Larry: We’ve suggested the following tips to authors ever since we taught mystery and suspense writing at Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland.

 a. Be a reader in your chosen genre first and learn how it’s done.

b. Good or bad—commit all your pertinent story thoughts to paper. Edit later.

c. Have a reasonable grasp of where your plot is going before you start. But it’s perfectly fine if you change it later. 

d. Choose a comfortable point of view (POV).

e. Create convincing main characters—meaning neither all good or all bad.

f. Keep a good record of their traits.

g. After your first draft, put a lot of extra effort into crafting your first page.

h. Make your climax and ending worthy and relevant.

 i. Keep a small notebook (or more) to scribble ideas, observations, and random thoughts. Novelist Anne Tyler even keeps a notebook in the bathroom.

 j. Take a community college course in creative writing if one is available. Maybe join a writers’ group. We were members of Mystery Writers of America, Hawaii Fiction Writers, and Sisters in Crime, both the Hawaii and Chesapeake chapters (Larry’s a Mister). 

Norm: Many people have the skills and drive to write a book, but failure to market and sell the book the right way is probably what keep a lot of people from finding success. Can you give us 2-3 strategies that have been effective for you in promoting your books? 

Rosemary and Larry: Frankly, the business side is the most challenging part of being authors, because it takes away from the actual writing.

Our thoughts: Subscribe to The Writer or Writer’s Digest for good advice and for markets to submit your work.

We attend writers’ conferences; they always gave us (before COVID cancellations) the chance to network, participate on panels, and, often, to pitch our books to an agent or editor.

As “indie” authors, we offer all our books in print editions on Amazon, and also on Kindle and all other e-book versions.

Our favorite venue has been large holiday craft and gift fairs, because there usually aren’t other authors attending as vendors.

Here in Honolulu for many years (before COVID) we took three-day booths at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall holiday fairs, where we always had good sales, both new customers and fans looking for our latest book.    

Norm: How do you work together when crafting a novel?  As a follow-up, how important is inspiration to you?

Rosemary: Larry supplies the inspiration for each novel and story. He says he’s more devious than I am, so he conjures up all the plots and writes the first draft. Between us we’ve also published four memoirs:

I published Miriam’s World—and Mine, about our beloved daughter, Miriam Luby Wolfe, whom we lost in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988. And Love! Laugh! Panic! Life with My Mother. My latest venture is my new book, In My Next Life I’ll Get It Right, personal essays ranging from the hilarious to the serious.

For years I begged Larry to write his memoir, or at least bits of it. But my husband never does anything half-way. He began with the day of his birth and wrote his autobiography, 460 pages!

Larry: No Place To Be But Here, My Life and Times is not only my own story, but that of my family: how my two wives, three children, and five grandchildren have shaped my life as much as I have molded theirs. Tragedy is certainly no stranger as I dealt with death, cancer, murder, and global terrorism, not only on the written page, but in my own life.  

Norm: How do you choose the names of your characters?

Larry: I combine first and last names from the telephone book, obituaries, wherever. Or have fun just making them up.

Norm: Do you write more by logic or intuition, or some combination of the two? Please summarize your writing process.  

Rosemary: It’s a combination. After inventing the plot, Larry’s logical mind goes to work; he’s very precise in planting clues and coming up with the resolution. 

Then he hands the manuscript to me. I toss the narrative salad, add scenes, flesh out the characters. and streamline the pace. I call it “judicious pruning,” an expression I learned as an assistant editor at Harper’s Magazine

Larry: I call it slash and burn! Then, with sleeves rolled up, we negotiate. But often Rosemary adds a scene for more conflict. She’ll take an anecdote I told second-hand and turn it into real-time drama, like an ugly—and funny—shouting match between two women in a crowded restaurant.

Norm: What served as the primary inspiration for Death Rules the Night?

Larry: I’ve lived in a suburb of Annapolis, Maryland, for over sixty years. Until we moved to Honolulu in 2013, Rosemary and I lived in Severna Park, eight miles north of Annapolis. Its beauty on the Chesapeake Bay and 300-year colonial history provided my inspiration.

Death Rules the Night is our fourth Dan & Rivka Sherman Mystery.

When Dan and Rivka buy The Olde Victorian Bookstore they think they’re buying into a pleasant, predictable life. Instead, they become unwilling, frightened sleuths in the wake of a mugging, robbery, kidnapping—and murder. A tell-all biography about a prominent (fictional) Annapolis family has disappeared.

The focus of the book is the Atkins family’s eighteenth-century house, where three unhappy sisters and their wild brother live. Their ancestors date back to the American Revolution. I delved into research—as long as it didn’t overshadow the plot—touching on the Revolutionary War, the Underground Railroad, and Prohibition.

Norm: What was the most difficult part of writing this book?  

Larry: My biggest challenge was inventing the biography of Arthur Atkins— creating characters and accurate historical events. 

Rosemary: For me, the biggest challenge was keeping the family members in sync with each other, in terms of their birth dates, their personal histories and relationships. It was tricky! But I love the big bad guy Larry invented.

Norm: How did you go about creating the characters of Dan and Rivka Sherman? Are they based on couples you know? Is there much of you in these characters?

Larry: We made Dan and Rivka a lot like us, but much younger: a Jewish couple in their early fifties. Physically, Dan is his own man. Tall and gangly, he sprawls when he sits. He has bushy black hair and eyebrows.

The only thing that’s thin about me is my gray hair. However, Dan’s personality is very much like mine. We’re former engineers—analytical and practical, born problem-solvers. 

Rosemary: Dan also has a quirky sense of humor. Rivka says she’s putting out stuff for Goodwill. Dan says, “I’m putting mine out for Goodwon’t.”

Rivka is a lot like me. Affectionate, addicted to chocolate, and feisty—I came out of the womb arguing.

In Death Rules the Night Dan secures a manuscript copy of the tell-all missing book. One night a burglar breaks into the bookstore. Dan thinks it’s the manuscript the intruder was trying to steal. Rivka despairs. “Oh, Dan, do you think the intruder is violent? Are we in danger? Forget trying to discover the Atkins family secrets. You are being so pigheaded!”   

Norm: What was the time-line between the time you decided to write your book and publication? What were the major events along the way?  

Larry: It takes us about a year. Major events? Living! Interruptions for daily business and too many doctor and dental appointments. Plus Physical Therapy, which means exercises at home every day—forever. Rosemary goes to Jazzercise.

She says it satisfies her suppressed desire to be a Rockette! COVID has severely impacted our happy life.

We’re long-time members of Temple Emanu-el. Now the Shabbat services are streamed. Our weekly Wisdom class is Zoomed. We miss the camaraderie and inspiration that go with attending in person. All our writers’ meetings are Zoomed. And, of course, we sorely miss restaurant dates with good friends. We continue to be extra cautious.   

Norm: Did you know the end of your book at the beginning?  

Rosemary and Larry: Generally, yes. We hash it out. After finishing our first Paco & Molly mystery, we sent it to our sister-in-law and she said, “The ending is too predictable.” Ding-ding-ding. We decided she was right and changed it literally and dramatically. But we always keep our promise to our readers.

We include hints of foreshadowing and character behavior, and, yes, red herrings. But we never throw in an illogical villain—contrived, phony theatrics—just to create a surprise ending. 

Norm: Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors

Follow Here to Learn More About Rosemary and Larry Mild

Follow Here To Read Norm's Review of Death Rules the Night