P.J. Tracy is a team of authors writing very exciting thrillers about a funny team of hackers and two detectives.
P.J. Tracy are Patricia Jean Lambrecht and her daughter Traci TeAmo Lambrecht. They were so friendly to answer some questions. (Photo: Copyright private)
Thank you for taking the time for this interview.
Your thrillers are so exciting you can’t put them down. How did you come up with a team of computer whizzes who are each unique characters?
First, thank you so much for the kind words and the opportunity to speak with you.
The Monkeewrench gang started out as a rebellion against the genre where we started our careers, which was mass market romance. We enjoyed writing romance novels, but there were so many limitations. Our publishers only wanted boy meets girl, boy and girl fight, boy and girl finally get together, the end, and secondary characters were frowned upon as a distraction to the main storyline. Ultimately, we found those parameters paralyzing, and decided to spread our wings and explore a different, less restrictive genre. And then we just went nuts with the freedom, and conjured as many crazy characters as possible! We wrote about fun, quirky people, the kind of people we’d like to know and have dinner with.
You’re working as a team. Who has the final word when you see things differently?
We’ve always had a blessed mother-daughter relationship – we communicate always, and on those rare occasions when we have a difference of opinion, we talk things through, and come up with a solution that we believe serves the book the best. And here’s a real shocker – we’ve never had a fight over anything!
Grace is a very tragic but also kick-ass heroine. Was the underlying romance between her and Magozzi planned?
Not at all, but our romance roots obviously came through as we wrote Monkeewrench. What’s not to love about a little romantic tension? It is worth mentioning to readers that Monkeewrench was originally written as a stand-alone novel. When our publishers suggested we turn it into a series, we were faced with unexpected challenges regarding Grace and Magozzi and their relationship. As we work on the seventh book in the series, we’re really confronted with big decisions about where they go next. I think the general consensus is that something more definitive has to happen between them, but we’re not sure where we’re going to take them at this point.
What plans do you have for your team of detectives?
Magozzi and Gino will always find ways to get into trouble, but at this early point in plotting the next book, we’re not sure what they will have to confront. That’s part of the fun of creating the next episode.
Which novels would you recommend for reading or are currently lying on your nightstand?
The sad truth is that we don’t have a lot of free time to read for pleasure anymore. It sounds terrible for a couple of writers, but we’re being completely honest. I (Tracy) have a lot of food and science related books and magazines on my nightstand, along with a copy of the complete Grimm’s Fairytales.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to chat with you!
Thank you.
