Interview with Author HS Burney and her book The Lake Templeton Murders + Excerpt

 

It's been a while since I've conducted author interviews but I'm excited with my first feature for 2022.

Meet author Hurriya Burney. Her first book is an intriguing mystery novel and I'm super excited to share an excerpt from it.

Plus join me for an exclusive interview with Burney, where we talk about writing, her books, and more.

 

First, here's a bit about Hurriya Burney

HS Burney writes fast-moving, action-packed mysteries set against the backdrop of majestic mountains and crystalline ocean in West Coast Canada. She loves creating characters that keep you on your toes.

A corporate executive by day and a novelist by night, HS Burney received her Bachelors’ in Creative Writing from Lafayette College.

A proud Canadian immigrant, HS Burney takes her readers into worlds populated by diverse characters with unique cultural backgrounds. When not writing, she is out hiking, waiting for the next story idea to strike, and pull her into a new world.

 

And here's a bit about the book:

Book name: The Lake Templeton Murders

Series: A Fati Rizvi Private Investigator Murder Mystery

Genre: Mystery, Thriller

Number of Pages: Around 420 pages

 

Synopsis:

A body washes up on the shores of Lake Templeton, a small town on the coast of Vancouver Island. Sharon Reese, the victim, was a dedicated government employee. Everyone liked her, but no one knew much about her. Was she hiding something? Maybe a questionable past riddled with scandal. And did it lead to her plunge to death, in a drunken stupor, off the dock outside her secluded lakefront lodge?

Was it an accident? A suicide? Or cold-blooded murder? Private Investigator, Fati Rizvi, is determined to find out.

Fati arrives in Lake Templeton to find secrets that run as deep as the City’s sewers. Everyone is hiding something and nothing is as it seems. A cult escapee. A corrupt politician. A struggling airline. A multi-million dollar public-private project to revitalize the Lake Templeton waterfront. How are they all connected?

As Fati valiantly unravels the knots, another body is found on the shore. Is it the same killer? And can Fati stop them before they strike again?

 

Get a taste of The Lake Templeton Murders by HS Burney with this excerpt from the book:

Sharon’s body was half-reposed face-down on the wet sand, deposited on the shore like plastic waste. Clumps of hair were caught in the jagged rocks that edge the receding land, one bloated arm flung over a large boulder, as if trying to find a grip. Her legs floated behind her like windsocks. Silk shirt ballooned over the surface of the water like a parachute. 

The crime scene has been cleared up. Culver Beach sparkles in the vestiges of the sinking sunlight, sand glinting like diamond dust. The only remnants of the morning’s tragic discovery - dried boot prints in the grassy sand, left behind by the police. 

The nearest house is walled off by a thicket of trees and is currently empty, owned by a businessman who only spends a few months here in the summers. The beach is quiet, with not even a dog walker in sight. I walk on the sand for a few minutes, shoes in hand, reveling in the quietude. I breathe in the fresh air, slightly briny, and crisp enough to open up my nasal pathways. 

No answers will be found here. Not for me. I have limited experience analyzing crime scenes. Even though, as a beat cop, I elbowed my way to many sites above my pay grade, attaching myself to the most brilliant detectives like a barnacle. Thankfully, you don’t need to be an expert at crime scene analysis to catch a killer.

And catching a killer is what I do best. 

I will answer the plea in Sharon’s outstretched arms, still flailing in death as her body collided against the land, unmoored from its watery grave. I will unravel the secrets in the wide eyes and rote responses of Sharon’s colleagues, all identical, parroting one another. The combative non-responses of Mayor Alena Krutova. And the exaggerated sorrow of Sergio Alvarez, Marketing Manager at City Hall, who claims to only know Sharon as a dear colleague. 

I will piece together the puzzle of Sharon’s life. Who was she? What was she doing in Lake Templeton? Did she steal a half a million dollars from the City? And did it drag her to an early death, pitched off the deck outside her own home? 

What transpired on Sharon’s deck last night after the sun sank behind the heavy winter shadows? 

 

Want to know more about Burney and her books, her writing, and her diverse characters?

Let's get to the interview 

1.     Your first book is a mystery, which means it's one of your favorite genres. Can you tell us who your favorite mystery authors are?

HS Burney: I would read anything by Harlan Coben. I first discovered him when I was frequently taking business trips from Vancouver to Toronto. I would buy a book at the airport and finish it by the time my plane landed in Toronto four-and-a-half hours later.

I’ve also always enjoyed mysteries by Mary Higgins Clark. And who can forget the classics – Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle.

More recently, I’ve been reading works by more independent and less mainstream authors, such as Rachel Abbott and Jackie Kabler. Outside of the core mystery genre, I enjoy reading edge-of-your-seat psychological thrillers.

 

2.     You mentioned working on your second book, so is The Lake Templeton Murders going to be a series? Do you have a number of books in mind? Can your books be read as standalones?

HS Burney: You can call it a series. But they are also standalone novels. Private Investigator, Fati Rizvi, was such a joy to write. I know her intimately. She feels like a close friend. I want to solve more mysteries with her, put her in interesting situations, and let her put the puzzle pieces together.

My next book, which I am hoping to publish by Spring 2022 takes PI Fati Rizvi on a new adventure. I don’t have a number of books in mind that I want to write. In fact, I have more ideas than I can execute in a lifetime. The only shortage is time.

 

3.     Can you tell readers what your novel research process is like?

HS Burney: My research process is primarily focused on police procedure. I am blessed to have a police detective and a judge within my network, who were instrumental to lending a touch of authenticity to The Lake Templeton Murders.

There is a theme of financial fraud in the novel, which I am a somewhat of an expert at as a 15-year banker. I’ve seen some very interesting situations during my career!

My setting is one in which I live and work and am proud to call home. This is important to me as I write more powerfully when I can visualize, touch, and breathe in my setting. My novels don’t require a ton of research because I situate them in real settings that I am familiar with. This is important to me – to write what I know.

 

4.     Your bio says you like to include 'diverse characters with unique cultural backgrounds.' Do readers get to see this in The Lake Templeton Murders? Can you elaborate more about the cultural backgrounds you like to include in your writing?

HS Burney: I am blessed to be surrounded by a mosaic of diversity in my hometown of Vancouver, Canada. Being an immigrant myself, it is very important to me to incorporate this diversity into my books – not in a way that looks like tokenism but in an authentic, natural way. Given that I am surrounded by people from all kinds of ethnic backgrounds in my real life, writing characters that reflect this requires no extra effort. It happens organically.

My main character, Private Investigator, Fati Rizvi, is a South Asian female PI born to Pakistani immigrants. Her sidekick, Zed, is a young gay man. Another main character is an immigrant from Russia. But they aren’t the only diverse characters in the book.

I believe that adding elements of diversity adds rich complexity to a story. It’s something I’ve found lacking in mystery novels, although I’m starting to see more writers put focus on this in recent years.

 

5.     Have you set a Goodreads goal for 2022? If yes, how many books would you like to read this year?

HS Burney: I gave myself a very conservative goal of 12 books for 2022 – because I wanted to make sure I hit it! Having said that, I have no doubt I will exceed this goal. My goal as a writer is to write and publish 2 books this year.

 

6.     Other than mystery, what are your favorite genres?

HS Burney: A related genre – psychological thrillers. I suppose you can say that I enjoy any book that keeps me on the edge of my seat. I want twists and turns and bombs dumped on me. I want suspense. I want to keep wondering what happens next until the very end.

 

7.     Some mystery books tend to be a bit gory or descriptive in the details of the crime, is The Lake Templeton Murders similar? How much blood and violence can readers expect in the book and series?

HS Burney: Not at all. That’s not really my thing. My murders are relatively clean and involve minimal blood. I am also not a fan of violence. I don’t have the stomach for it.

The Lake Templeton Murders is more focused on the puzzle of the case. The narrative weaves through the background of the characters involved and how it feeds into their motivations, and relates to the problem at hand, i.e. solving the murder. Here is an excerpt from a reader's review:

“What I found when compared to today’s genre of most modern day murder mysteries, [was] that there is no gratuitous “in your face” violence, explicit sex scenes or profane language every other sentence. On reflection I found that to be somewhat refreshing.”

 

8.     Can you tell us a bit about your work or works in progress?

HS Burney: I’m one of those odd writers that can only have 1 work in progress at any given time. I struggle to pull myself from story to story and world to world.

I am currently working on the next mystery involving Private Investigator Fati Rizvi, which I have titled The Missing Twins. It’s set in the wealthy neighborhood of West Vancouver, one of Canada’s priciest postal codes.

In The Missing Twins, The Azad-Shah family are pillars of the community, both successful entrepreneurs with a brood of four. They are lauded on magazine covers and their bespoke, custom-built house has been showcased in Canadian Real Estate Magazine. Fati gets called in because their nineteen-year-old twins are missing. They disappeared on their 19th birthday, the day they ushered in official adulthood.

As Fati starts to unravel the knots, she uncovers that the Azad-Shah family isn’t as picture-perfect as they would have you believe. There are secrets, dysfunction, the messy nest of hidden ties and grievances. The happy family dance is just a veneer, like garnish on a peeling painting.

The book explores themes of family dysfunction, similar to my first book, The Lake Templeton Murders. I am looking forward to releasing it by Spring 2022.

 

Connect with HS Burney via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Goodreads.