Interview with Dr. Richard Mabry

Today, we welcome Dr. Richard L. Mabry to Interviews & Reviews.

Dr. Mabry is a retired physician, now writing “medical suspense with heart.” His novels have garnered critical acclaim and been finalists for multiple awards. In addition to one non-fiction book, The Tender Scar, he has written eleven novels and four novellas. The latest is Surgeon’s

Choice. 
    He and his wife live in north Texas, where he works fruitlessly to improve his golf game and tries to convince his family that staring into space is really working. You can learn more at his blog and web page, as well as finding him on Facebook and Twitter.

​Dr. Mabry, welcome to Interviews & Reviews!

Your bio says you are retired as a physician, but how long have you been writing?

I began writing after the death of my first wife, to share my feelings and experiences. That was seventeen years ago, The Tender Scar was released over a decade ago, and is still in print.

Tell us about your latest book Surgeon’s Choice.

Initially Dr. Ben Merrick thought his most difficult task would be getting the parents of his fiancé, Rachel Gardner, together in the same room for the wedding. Soon he discovers that a bigger problem will be staying alive.

Is there a message in your book that you want to convey to your readers?

​The opioid epidemic is real. I wanted 
to show how it can affect anyone, 

and how they deal with it.

What is the hardest thing about writing for you?

People may think it’s putting down the words, but it’s not. It’s developing the ideas, shaping them into a coherent plot, and keeping the reader’s interest while making a point.

Do you have any other books in the works?

I’m working on a novel I hope to release in mid-summer. In Guarded Prognosis, a surgeon must deal with his father’s malignancy and the man’s request to help him take his own life. As if this isn’t enough, his mother is in a coma and his father’s nurse may be trying to take her place.

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

I believe that, in addition to learning the craft, the writer must keep at it—persistence is paramount. Read, write, revise, repeat, and remember the mantra of the writer: bottom in chair, fingers on keyboard.

Is there anything in particular you’d like to say to your readers?

My novels may be classed as “mysteries,” but they’re sleep-with-the-lights-off books. I try to show how God interacts with us all: the believer, the unbeliever, the seeker. I hope that, when you’re through reading, you’ll examine that relationship and, if it needs repairing, do it.

Thank you Dr. Mabry for visiting with us today! And now Dear Readers, I little surprise! Dr. Mabry is offering a free Kindle copy to one lucky winner. This contest will run until January 17. THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED.

And the Winner is: Mindy H.! 
Watch for our email Mindy.

Dr. Ben Merrick and his fiancé, Rachel Gardner, can’t get her divorced parents to stay in the same room, much less attend their wedding together. He is already looking over his shoulder expecting more trouble from a very senior surgeon who has shown he is still smarting from a previous dust-up, but Ben doesn’t know if a series of mishaps and accidents are caused by a disgruntled patient’s relatives or represent more from the older surgeon. Complicating it all is the question of whether Rachel’s father is back doing drugs. Then, when people start dying, Ben and Rachel wonder if

they can escape unscathed…and alive.