Cruising Into A Writing Career: Author D.V. Whytes

Today’s author interview is with guest and fellow SinC/Hawaii member, Vicki White. Vicki and her husband Don make up the writing team of D.V. Whytes. 

SISTERS IN CRIME/HAWAII: Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to participate in a Sisters in Crime/Hawaii interview, Vicki. You and your husband Don write mysteries under the nom de plume of D.V. Whytes. The setting of your mystery novel Prism Poison is an African Cruise. How did you come up with the title for this novel?

 

VICKI WHITE: The book had several titles ... The Fever Tree, On the Limpopo, and others. None seemed to fit. There is a murder by poisoning and there is diamond smuggling, so we decided Prism Poison was the name.

 

 

SISTERS IN CRIME/HAWAII: When did you decide to write the novel Prism Poison? 

VICKI WHITE: I had just been laid off from my job, the department I was working for closed. So Don and I went on a trip. We flew from Honolulu to Nairobi in about 40 hours. I can't sleep on planes. Don slept through the trip. 

When we arrived in Nairobi, they took us to the Karen Blixen home at the foot of the Angola Mts. Then we went to our hotel to clean up and go to a dinner at the Magnificent 5, where they serve rhino, giraffe, wildebeest, lion and elephant. I tried to settle down with a diet coke and piece of toast, but couldn't do it because I was so tired. We missed the dinner. 

We did 2 safaris, one in Amboeseli and one in Tsavo. We arrived in Mombassa the day of the bombing to catch a cruise ship to travel the east coast of Africa to Capt Town. The trip was terrific and we decided to write the trip into a Novel/murder mystery.

 

SISTERS IN CRIME/HAWAII: What was it like for you, Vicki and Don, to be in Mombasa the day of the bombing in November 2002, and how did you incorporate your experiences into the novel? 

VICKI WHITE: The city was in mayhem, but we thought it was somewhat normal, as Africa is always in some type of turmoil. They have no organizing skills there that we have ever seen. The security to board the ship was heightened, but no one told us about the bombing. 

When we got to the ship's restaurant for dinner, there was a great crowd. One woman was sitting on the floor. I spoke with her. She was on the El Al plane that diverted from the land to air missile. 

During dinner the Captain gave the announcement and also told us we would not be going to Zanzibar as it was an Al-Qaeda hideout. This was a direct order from Great Britain Prime Minister and the President of the US. 

I had made a daily diary of our trip and used it with our pictures that we took on the trip. There was a hotel that was bombed and we just imagined what it might have been like to have been there.

 

SISTERS IN CRIME/HAWAII: Do you have plans for another novel based on your travels? 

VICKI WHITE: Most definitely. We have one coming out very soon titled Cookie Crumbs, Green Eyes and Murder. This is taken from our trip, when we caught a cruiseliner from Thailand and sailed to Venice. A most wonderful 30 days. This book is great. It is our hope to continue the Greystone Murder Mysteries into a series of several exotic travels.

 

Vicki and Don White's novels are available at Amazon.com under the nom de plume of D.V. Whytes.

 

 

 

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