Cold Hands...Evil Hearts with Guest Blogger: Bev Irwin

Meet Author Bev Irwin & 

Win your Choice of Books 

today at the Book Boost!

Thank you all for stopping by, and to Kerri for inviting me. So what shall we talk about today?

It’s cold here in London, Ontario. The wind raging through the trees around my property sounds like a speeding train. The trees are swaying and bending, but not breaking, at least not yet. And the snow. It blusters, then stops, then starts again. So far not much on the ground. I hope it stays that way. I’m shuddering listening to the weather outside. Wait while I turn on the fireplace.

There that is better. What a way to spend a day. Sitting in front of a roaring fireplace with a computer on my lap, safe from the cold, wind and snow.

Kerri says the freezing January temperatures make her think about villains. So lets talk about my favorite characters to write about, villains. I love to write about those people who sometimes have frozen hearts just as cold as the temperatures outside.

I write several genres but enjoy writing mystery and thrillers more than anything else. I like to add a little medical aspect to my writing and I enjoy delving into the psyche especially, if it’s warped.
And what villain doesn’t have a warped psyche?

What interests me is how they became that way. Were they born like that? Was there some trauma in their childhood to cause it? What effect did his parents or lack of them have on him/her? Can he change? Did anyone see the movie We Need to Talk about Kevin? Seeing that movie brought up those questions, but no answers. Sometimes there are never answers.

When Regan Murphy, a professional reviewer, reviewed my book (Thank you, Regan, for a wonderful review), she commented on my villains. I’ve taken a quote from her review.

"Without Consent is another spectacular psychological thriller from Bev Irwin. Once again Irwin has given us a villain who is totally believable. I remember when I took a psychology class in college, my professor said that no one, no matter how evil, ever thinks of him or herself as being evil. I never fully understood that until I met some of Irwin’s villains. She does such a marvelous job of justifying her character’s motives in the character’s mind, that he seems real, like someone we should know...well, no, I guess we wouldn’t want to know them, after all. LOL!"

If you read any of my villains, the kidnapper in Missing Clayton, the creepy boyfriend in Ghostly Injustice,  or the serial killer in Without Consent, then you can tell me if she is right.

Think of the villains you have heard or read about. Would you have known they were capable of the deed if you had met them on the street, lived next to them or worked along side them. Sometimes we can see the evil in men’s hearts but sometimes it is hidden by a cloak of charm.

How many psychopaths have charmed women into letting him into their homes and were murdered or raped?

Or a woman who is so desperate to have a baby that her mind becomes deranged to the point that she has a psychosomatic pregnancy, or steals a baby from a hospital and in her mind is convinced the baby is hers.

Or my kidnapper in Missing Clayton, suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), who becomes convinced that Clayton is his son. He did have a son, years ago, but his wife left town years ago taking his son with her. He even deludes himself that Jenny, Clayton’s single mother, has feelings for him. By the end of the story his mental state has deteriorated even more.

In Without Consent, my serial killer, also suffering from mental illness, hears voices and has deluded himself that he needs to find the perfect kidney for his ailing mother. Even when he picks the wrong woman and things go wrong. Below is Regan’s quote on this.

"I love the way Irwin has the killer twist the situation in his mind until it is the victim’s fault for being murdered."

See aren’t villains fun to write about? If you want to read an excerpt from my novels just head over to my website and meet my nasty characters.

Now, tell me about your favorite real or fictional villain, or the one you are dying to create.


A Note from the Book Boost:  Oooh, these sound chillingly wonderful.  Looking forward to checking out your newest evil creation.  Thanks for joining us today, Bev.  Best of luck on the latest release!

Want More Bev?

Visit her on the web here: www.bevirwin.com

Pick up a copy of her latest today!  Click here.

Contest Time:

Leave a question or comment for Bev and be entered to win an e-copy of one of Bev’s books. Five to choose from (When Heart's Collide, Ghostly Justice, In His Father's Footsteps, Missing Clayton, or Without Consent.)