Whiskey Mattimoe meets the Wall Street Journal

One afternoon about two weeks ago, just before I left my office, I opened my email and spotted this subject line in the long list of unread messages:

Wall Street Journal article

The sender was someone named Tanaka, Sanette.

Between the unknown sender and the unlikely subject line, I decided the message was spam. My cursor hovering over the “delete” tab, I was poised to click when a tiny voice in my head said, “What the hell. Open it.”

So I did.

The email contained a credible-sounding invitation for a Wall Street Journal interview from Ms. Tanaka, a real estate reporter. She said she was writing an article about novelists with backgrounds in real estate who now write fictional characters working in real estate. Her research had led her to Whiskey Mattimoe and me.

Two days later Ms. Tanaka and I had a delightful half-hour conversation followed by a shorter chat the following week. Although I had been interviewed many times about my books and plays—not to mention the fact that I interview people in my work as a journalist—I was thrilled to be part of a story in the world’s most widely read newspaper.

I never dreamed that my diverse (to put it nicely) professional background would attract the attention of the Wall Street Journal. Rather than tell you today what Ms. Tanaka and I discussed, I urge you to pick up a copy of the February 22, 2013 edition of the paper and read her well-written piece.

If you're an online Wall Street Journal subscriber, you can read it here.

If you're not a subscriber, Google

"real estate truth in fiction" wall street journal

Excerpt: Nina Wright, author of six mystery novels featuring real-estate agent and sleuth Whiskey Mattimoe, says she often embellishes absurd situations to suit her series. In real life, Ms. Wright, who lives in Oakland County, Mich., found out that one of her tenants was running an underground day-care service. In the fourth book, "Whiskey and Water," agent Mattimoe discovers that her tenant is operating an illegal adoption ring.

"There are so many things that can go wrong in real estate," says Ms. Wright. "I've bought and sold a lot of properties, but I haven't seen a single transaction where there aren't colossal screw-ups." 

Speaking of potential screw-ups. here's what I learned from this experience: Think twice before dumping the contents of your in-box.