This week’s Crime Cafe guest post and book giveaway comes from Ellen Kirschman.
Ellen is giving away a set of the first three Dot Meyerhoff mysteries. To enter the giveaway, just email Ellen through her website email at ellenkirschman[dot]com with “Crime Cafe” in the subject line! You have until March 15, 2019, to enter.
Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, Ellen’s interview had to be rescheduled. However, in its place, I’ll put up another great old-time radio episode.
Ellen’s interview will be posted later this season. I look forward to speaking with Ellen on the Crime Cafe podcast about crime fiction and police psychology, etc.
And with that, I’ll turn things over to my guest. Take it away, Ellen! 🙂
***
Hello Crime Cafe fans. I’m the author of the Dot Meyerhoff mystery series, Burying Ben, The Right Wrong Thing and The Fifth Reflection.
Like me, Dot is a police psychologist. She has a few problems, mostly of her own making. Firstly, she’s too dedicated for her own good. Secondly, she really should be counseling cops, not solving crimes. Thirdly, she suffers from post-divorce-dumped-for-a-younger-woman syndrome and is on the verge of running from Frank, a man most women would be running toward.
Dot is in her 50’s and works for the Kenilworth Police Department. She has a love hate relationship with cops, starting with her boss, Chief Pence, who, I must admit, is rather hard to like.
People become psychologists for many reasons. This is how Dot explains her career path in The Fifth Reflection.
I didn’t become a psychologist like some of my colleagues who went from BA to PhD on Mommy and Daddy’s credit cards. My parents didn’t have credit cards. Didn’t believe in them. My father thought bankers were Shylocks who cheated the poor. My mother was for simplicity and against needless consumerism.
I worked my way through college and grad school waiting tables, serving cocktails, and pleading for scholarships. Turns out I am better at reading people than serving them food. I acquired this skill trying to anticipate when the sins of the rich and powerful would send my father on a rant. While my mother, for whom all life’s challenges contain lessons to be learned, regarded my father’s rants as opportunities to practice patience and understanding. With righteous indignation for the underdog combined with the ability to normalize bizarre behavior as my parental legacy, how could I have not become a psychologist?
A bit about me: My current psychology practice consists of holding workshops for first responders and their families, volunteering as a clinician at the First Responders’ Support Network, blogging with Psychology Today and (mostly) writing. I’ve just finished revising a fourth Dot Meyerhoff mystery (still looking for a title) and I’m delighted that my first-ever (since college) short story, “Welcome to the Sisterhood”, will be included in the Nasty Woman Press’s debut anthology. My husband Steve¾I’ve plagiarized his entire life for the character of Frank, Dot’s love interest¾and I live in the heart of Silicon Valley, where my mysteries are set. He’s a photographer and amazing amateur cook. You can find his recipes in my newsletter. Sign up at ellenkirschman.com.
In appreciation for the chance to talk to the Crime Cafe’s subscribers, I am giving away a set of the first three Dot Meyerhoff mysteries. To enter, send me an email through my website with “Crime Cafe giveaway” in the subject line. The giveaway ends March 1st.
*****
About the Author:
Ellen Kirschman, Ph.D. is a police psychologist. She is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, The Society for the Study of Police and Criminal Psychology, The American Psychological Association and the International Association of Women in Law Enforcement. She is the recipient of the California Psychological Association’s 2014 award for distinguished contribution to psychology as well as the American Psychological Association’s 2010 award for outstanding contribution to the practice of police and public safety psychology. A writer, she is the author of I Love a Cop: What Police Families Need to Know, I Love a Fire Fighter: What the Family Needs to Know, lead author of Counseling Cops: What Clinicians Need to Know as well as the Dot Meyerhoff mystery series published by Oceanview. Dr. Kirschman is a member of Sisters-in-Crime and serves on the board of Mystery Writers of America, Northern California chapter.
