Philip Craig 2007-06-13

Philip R. Craig, author of the Martha's Vineyard mystery series, shares his remarkable journey from a remote cattle ranch in Colorado with no electricity to becoming a published novelist at age 35 after two decades of rejections. Born into a frontier life where books were his primary luxury, Craig developed a deep love for storytelling early on, inspired by Tarzan and Prince Valiant. His path to writing was circuitous—shifting from fencing to philosophy, attending the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop, and eventually crafting his first novel, a historical adventure about the search for Beowulf, which unexpectedly became a Double-Day crime club selection despite having no crime. After years of unpublished work, Craig and his wife devised a formula for commercial success, leading to the creation of his beloved series featuring ex-cop J.W. Jackson and nurse Zia Linda on Martha's Vineyard. Craig reflects on the challenges of sustaining a long-running series, the importance of setting as a character, and the creative freedom he finds in writing under the constraints of a beloved series. He also discusses the transformative impact of technology, particularly computers, on his writing process, and the joys of living on Martha's Vineyard, where he and his wife live a working-class life far from the tourist scene. Despite commercial demands, Craig remains committed to authenticity, romance, and culinary detail in his books, and continues to write with both artistic integrity and commercial awareness.