Interview with Mike Pace, Author of Full Circle (Belle Bannon Series)

What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write Full Circle (Belle Bannon Series)?

This is the third installment in my Belle Bannon series, and in each installment I use a rather obscure, true, historical event to inform a present day thriller plot. In Full Circle, that event occurred on November 16, 1943, in Florence, Italy. A gang of Italian thugs known as the Carità gang supported the Nazis by rounding up Italian Jews hiding in Florence and the surrounding towns, then shipping them off to Auschwitz. On that horrible Tuesday, the gang broke into a convent where the Catholic nuns were hiding Jewish women and girls ranging in age from 11 to 80. Instead of sending them immediately to the camp, gang members spent four days brutally assaulting them. In my story, one of the young girls survived, and now, in her 90s, just discovered that one of the Caritàs, the son of the leader, happens to be a revered U.S. Senator. He gets wind that she’s about to tell the world what he did and hires a ruthless assassin to kill her. Belle must stop the assassin and expose the senator. And, of course, it being a thriller, the clock’s ticking.

If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of Full Circle (Belle Bannon Series), what would they be?

Like Omar Little in The Wire who whistles “Farmer in the Dell” as he approaches, I’d pick something very cheery like someone whistling “Yankee Doodle” as Belle calmly approaches to rip someone’s head off.

What’s your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

Love all subgenres of thrillers and horror.

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

One Baldacci, one Michael Connelly, one Greg Hurwitz, one Jon Land, and one Karin Slaughter.

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

Like the good guy facing the bad guy, everyone in town holding their breath as each is about to draw his gun on the dusty main street in the climax of an old-time western, I loved writing the final confrontation scene between Belle and Veshenko, the assassin.

Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)

I play the sax, so often will have a little Coltrane playing softly in the room.

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

If you’re learning, by definition, you’re growing, and if you’re growing, by defininition, you’re living. So, learn to live!

If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?

Like Belle, we all have flaws. Some, again like her, rather serious. But they can be overcome and sometimes, even channelled for good.

Mike Pace is the author of the new book Full Circle (Belle Bannon Series)

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