Press Kit
Welcome to the Mike Donohue press kit. This comprehensive media resource contains everything you need for interviews, book reviews, and speaking engagements with thriller author Mike Donohue. To request an interview or inquire about speaking engagements, please use this contact form. Based in Boston, MA USA, Mike can be available via Skype/Zoom.
Email: mike AT mikedonohuebooks.com
Contents
Mike Donohue Author Bios
Short (50 words)
Mike Donohue writes crime fiction featuring the Max Strong thriller series and the Marti Wells PI series. His latest novel is THE GRAVES, the eighth Max Strong book. He lives outside Boston with his wife, two daughters, and Dashiell Hammett. Dash is the family dog.
Medium (105 words)
Mike Donohue writes crime fiction featuring two popular series. His Max Strong thrillers follow a reformed thief trying to live quietly—but Max isn’t the type to turn down trouble. His latest novel, THE GRAVES, is the eighth Max Strong book. Mike also writes the Marti Wells PI series about a hard-boiled detective operating out of a basement laundry room in Jersey City. Four-time divorcee, ex-cop, and reluctant cat owner, Marti has a talent for solving seemingly impossible cases.
Born in New Jersey but raised in New England, Mike now lives outside Boston with his wife, two kids, and Dashiell Hammett. Dash is the family dog.
Long (150 words)
Mike Donohue writes crime fiction featuring two compelling series. His Max Strong thrillers follow a reformed thief and criminal trying to put tragedy, bad decisions, and blood behind him and live quietly—but Max isn’t the type to turn down trouble. His latest novel, THE GRAVES, is the eighth Max Strong book. Mike also writes the Marti Wells PI series about a hard-boiled detective operating out of a basement laundry room in Jersey City. Four-time divorcee, ex-cop, and reluctant cat owner, Marti has a penchant for red wine, a talent for pissing off the wrong people, and a knack for solving cases that seem unsolvable.
Born in New Jersey but raised in Rhode Island, Mike was an avid reader from an early age, devouring the Hardy Boys, science fiction, and mysteries. He credits his love of the genre to late Sunday nights watching Jessica Fletcher with his Mom. He now lives outside Boston with his wife, two daughters, and Dashiell Hammett. Dash is the family dog. We are getting closer. Can you check the live page again as well as the attached analysis and provide specific places and suggested text for rewrites?When he’s not writing, he enjoys triathlons, making pizza, and reading.
Press Kit Photos
These photos are free to download and re-use.
Please credit the photographer, M. Donohue.
Color small // Color largeback to contents
Mike Donohue Social Media
- Email: mike AT mikedonohuebooks.com
- Website: www.mikedonohuebooks.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/mikedonohuebooks
- BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/mikedmystery.bsky.social
Sell Sheet for Hidden Fury
Book Cover for The Graves
Excerpt from Hidden Fury
Hidden Fury (Prologue & Chapter 1) [PDF]
Sample Interview Questions for Mike Donohue
- Hidden Fury opens with a prison transport crash and a fifteen-year-old heist coming back to life, all before Marti Wells takes her first case. What drew you to that kind of layered, multi-perspective opening, and how did you balance the thriller setup with the PI procedural elements that define the series?
- The novel puts Marti up against a mob heir, two escaped convicts, and forces she doesn’t fully understand, all converging during a hurricane bearing down on Jersey City. How do you manage that kind of ensemble pressure on a single protagonist without losing the intimacy that makes Marti’s voice work?
- Hidden Fury is built around a fifteen-year-old secret. Stolen money quietly redistributed into a community, and the violence that comes looking for it. What interests you about crimes that have gone quiet and then suddenly resurface, and what does that kind of delayed reckoning allow you to explore thematically?
- Gwen Torres is one of the more morally complex supporting characters in the series, a woman with a criminal past who has quietly built something good in her community. How did you develop her arc, and how do you think about the line between redemption and accountability in your fiction?
- This is the third Marti Wells novel. How has Marti evolved as a character across the series, and where does Hidden Fury, with its questions about loyalty, truth, and who deserves justice, fit in her larger moral journey?
Sample Q&A
About Max and Marti
Where did you get the idea for the Max Strong series?
I wrote most of the first Max Strong book, Shaking the Tree, over a decade ago in 2009 and 2010. This was after the financial crisis and there was a lot of anger and tension in the world. This was also the height of peak TV and the rise of the anti-hero. Shows like The Shield, The Wire, Breaking Bad, or Justified were popular. I was interested in the mixing of those themes and moral shades of gray.
No one ever thinks they are the villain. Max was born out of that. How would a criminal or immoral man react when he tries to do the right thing and it all goes very wrong? And through seven books now, Max continues to ask those questions of himself. Where is that line for him personally? What are the consequences of his actions? How can he make amends?
What traits and other tidbits do you share with Max or Marti?
If there is any of me in Max it comes through in his downtime or quieter moments. We both like to read and stay active and perhaps ponder the big cosmic questions as we lie awake at night. But after that, we are very different! I wouldn’t last ten minutes with Max on a job or trying to help someone one. I’m a very big rule follower, which makes writing these books a kick, but I’m the first one calling the police.
Writing Process and Inspiration
Did any of your inspiration for this book originate in your real life experiences?
Thankfully, truth is not stranger than fiction in these cases. I’ve never had the crazy experiences that I put Max through. The only part that is inspired from real-life is some of the settings.
I’ve lived in Boston now for over twenty years so that sense of place was within easy reach for HOLLOW CITY and the two Max prequel novellas. Furthermore, for the past two summers, we’ve traveled to Prince Edward Island in Canada for vacation and just fell in love with place and I couldn’t resist using the province as a setting for TROUBLE WILL FIND ME. The sense of strong community, but also isolation was catnip for a thriller writer.
Finally, I have still have a lot of family in Philadelphia and we visit often so I hope I did the city of brotherly love justice in the latest book.
Self-publishing Journey
What made you decide to self-publish?
In addition to writing, I just love creating and learning new things. Back in 2011, there were few of the tools that exist today that make self-publishing so much easier, so that was part of the challenge. I wanted to write a book but I also wanted to figure out how to get it uploaded and working on this new thing Amazon had put out called a Kindle. I continue to self-publish today because I enjoy running a small business and there are always new tools, processes, and products to learn.
When you self publish, do you do it all yourself?
My number one goal in self-publishing is to be indistinguishable from the traditionally publisher authors and the first unbreakable rule for that is to have a quality editor. I’ve been lucky to work with Melissa for the past four years and she has really helped level up the books and avoid embarrassing typos and grammar gaffes. After Melissa, is the team of early advance readers. One the best parts of self publishing is the direct feedback and relationships you develop with readers. I have a monthly newsletter and some great friendships have developed just in the back and forth that started from those emails.
Literary Influences
Are there any specific authors whose writing styles or subject matter inspired your book?
I love reading mysteries and thrillers almost as much as I enjoy writing them. In particular, I like John Sandford’s Prey and Virgil Flowers series both for the way he handles the cast of characters over time and his mix of humor, drama, and suspense. It’s a delicate balance to make work and I think he almost always nails it. I also enjoy the prose of Dennis Lehane, the intricate plotting of Richard Powers, and the small, everyday, yet sometimes devastating observations of Laura Lippman and Louise Penny.
Future Projects
Do you have another project in the works? If so, what is it?
I’ve always admired the way Tana French’s Dublin Murder Series uses one side character from the previous book and they become the focal point of the next book. I’ve gotten more than one comment about a detective in Hollow City and what she might be doing now. I think her and Max may cross paths again in the next book and if she has more to say, she might get a few books of her own.