Bookpleasures.com welcomes as our guest DAVID UNGER, PhD, 

David  is a writer, therapist, educator, and author of the mystery series A Lesson in…, which currently has nine books, with two more coming soon.

He is also known for his series of relationship training manuals, which includes a guide to parenting teens.  A graduate of UCLA, he lives in California. He’s been a licensed therapist and Chair of a graduate psychology program most of his career.




His recent novel, A Lesson in Woo-Woo and Murder is available for pre-order.

Norm: Good day David and thanks for taking part in our interview.

How does it happen that someone with a doctorate in psychology comes to write fiction? 

David: Hi Norm. I’m happy to be doing this interview with you. I’ve written a few non-fiction self-help books about relationships, but I’ve always been a reader of mysteries and wanted to try my hand at writing one. 

A Lesson in Woo-Woo and Murder is my ninth, so I’ve actually taken to it quite well. Plus solving any mystery does require a fair amount of psychological sleuthing.

Norm: Why do you write? Do you have a theme, message, or goal for your books?



David: You bet. The easy answer is I write because I love it. I suppose it all started when I was a teenager and wrote love letters to my girlfriends.

I just so enjoyed being able to take my thoughts and see them come to life on the page. Well, that and hoping they would help win the day.

Professionally I’ve always been a therapist and an educator. My books, be they non-fiction or fiction, are a way for me to blend those interests.

My protagonist is a therapist and a teacher so when they get caught up in the mysteries it’s those skills that lead the way to discovering whodunit.

Unraveling a mystery is not all that different from helping a client unravel why their life is not going as well as they would like.

The goal in therapy is to figure out the why and then figure out how to overcome it. With the mysteries it’s a similar challenge.

Norm: What do you think most characterizes your writing? 

David: I endeavor to have a sense of humor and relatable perspective about life. Not sure you are getting any of the humor right now, but hopefully in the books it comes through.

My goal is for readers or listeners to learn some therapeutic tricks of the trade without really grasping that these are self-help books masquerading as mysteries.

All the books have the title A Lesson in… because I feel there are lessons we all can learn, and it’s a lot easier to learn them when they fold seamlessly into a story.

Norm: Who comprises your readership? 

David: Hopefully you. Mostly people who like mysteries without violence, with humor and psychological insight. They call what I write soft-boiled or cozy.

Most cozy mysteries, and by that think of Agatha Christie, have no violence, no sex, no drugs, no four-letter words.

Mine have no violence and the kind of sex you see in movies where the couple starts to kiss and you know where things are headed and then the screen fades out.

There is a little drug use and the kinds of four-letter words you overhear in many conversations. 

Most of my readers find that they breeze through the books, enjoy them and have trouble figuring out whodunit. And then, a week later, they find themselves saying or doing something they read about in the book.

Norm: With your experience as an author, is it difficult for you to read a novel just for the pleasure of being the reader?

David: Not at all. I enjoy getting lost in the stories and the different ways authors tell them. Therapists tend to be voyeuristic.

We listen to people as they take us into the intricacies of their lives. When you read a book, you get to accompany people on their journey without having to worry about getting to the airport on time.

Norm: What did you find most useful in learning to write? What was least useful or most destructive? 

David: The most useful part of writing for me I first discovered when I wrote those love letters back in high school. The thoughts that were in the recesses of my head came out on the page and I could see them in a new way.

That continues to be useful to me. If I am uncertain about something in my life I can sit down and write about it and usually in the process clarify what I feel, think and want to do.

It certainly stings when others don’t like what I’ve written, but when I can get past the hurt, I usually can find the truth in what they say and find a way to learn from it.

I try to leave the evaluation of my work to others and just enjoy the act of creation, although there are times my inner critic feels a need to speak up. He too often has something valuable to say, I just wish sometimes he'd be kinder.

The most destructive thing would be if I let any criticism stop me from doing what I love.

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

David: An editor told me I’m a pantster. I didn’t know what that meant. She told me I write by the seat of my pants. I’m in good company. Stephen King, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, and Raymond Chandler wrote some of their books by the seats of their pants.

When I start a book, I know the title, maybe a location and a sentence or two about what will happen. I don’t know who will get murdered or whodunit.

Writing the books for me is much like reading them. They are a mystery and unfold moment to moment. I write a scene and then think what would happen next and then write that.

Norm: How did you become involved with the subject or theme of A Lesson in Woo-Woo and Murder come about?

David: Some years ago I started to use the term Woo-Woo to describe those mystical mysterious things that happen that I didn’t understand. My books primarily take place in the 80’s and there were Whole Earth Expos where various branches of the healing arts would gather – think psychics, tarot card readers, chakra balancers.

I thought it would be fun to go to such an event and see how the people with those talents and skills could aid me in solving the mystery.

Norm: What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?

David: My intentions for this book were mostly the same as they are for all my books, with one exception. I would imagine all authors want their books to entertain and engage the reader and, in my case, I would add to provide helpful tools that people can use with themselves and others to improve what needs to be improved.

While the term woo-woo may feel disrespectful to the practitioners of these less conventional methodologies, I hoped that the reader ends the book feeling better about the field.

How well have I achieved my goals? I think I’ve done a good job, but that really is up to each reader or listener to determine for themselves.

Norm: Is there much of you in the novel?

David: Guilty as charged. The protagonist actually shares my name and many, but not all, of my characteristics. I wanted the stories to feel real and that I was sharing something that happened to me.

I have a lot of personal anecdotes sprinkled in and my hope is that the reader will identify with the humanness of my character and get a chuckle out of going through the various adventures that come my way.

Norm: Did the characters come first or the story? 

David: They evolved together. Aside from the main character I have some recurring characters that help out, but otherwise the various characters appear as the story unfolds.

Norm: What have your other novels taught you that you have been able to apply to A Lesson in Woo-Woo and Murder?

David: Good question. One does want to believe that learning is an ongoing process. I make a good portion of my living sitting in a room talking with people so the books have a lot of dialogue.

I’ve learned that while the conversations can provide insights and clues, the characters need to be involved in various activities that also render information and provide a greater degree of excitement and tension.

All my books start and end the same. That’s been very helpful to me when I face that initial blank page. I know my character is going to be eavesdropping on people having a conversation that has some version of this sentence – What’s the best ___?

In the sex book it was what was the best sex someone had, in the music book it was the best concert they went to and in this book it was, “What’s the best otherworldly, self-enhancing, spiritually awakening moment you’ve ever known?”

I’ve learned having that question start the book makes it easy for me to get going. Same thing with the ending. I know all the suspects will be gathered together and there will be a reveal. How that will unfold I don’t know, but I have a general framework.

Norm: What do your plans for future projects include? 

David: I’ve actually got a few in the pipeline. Next is a Lesson in Dogs and Murder where I go to the Beverly Hills Kennel Club Dog Show and not everyone makes it out alive.

After that is A Lesson in Learning and Murder where bad things happen in the classroom and then comes A Lesson in Movies and Murder where the movie magic isn’t so magical.

Norm: Where can our readers find out more about you and your work?

David: I do have a WEBSITE and people can sign up for the mailing list. I also have a couple of other sites for the very curious, but you’d have to do some sleuthing to find them.

Norm: As this interview comes to an end, if you could invite three authors to your dinner table (alive or dead), who would they be and why?

David: We couldn’t have the buffet table? I suppose first I’d invite A.A. Milne as Winnie the Pooh taught me so much about kindness and friendship.

Then it would have to be J.D. Salinger. When I was a young boy in school we had to go to the library once a month and pick a book to read.

I mostly read sports books and had gone through most of them when I found a book that no one had checked out. I opened it up and to my amazement it had dirty words in it. Plus the narrator sounded like me and my friends.

I quickly checked it out and entered into a world of books I hadn’t known existed. I need to thank that librarian who never opened the book and just thought The Catcher in the Rye was a baseball book.

The last seat is tough. I’d invite Agatha Christie. I’m not sure A.A. Milne or J.D. Salinger would be the most lively dinner companions and I’d need to keep my eye on her, but I’d hope she’d teach me a thing or two.

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

Follow Here To Read Norm's Review of A Lesson in Woo-Woo and Murder