Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, April 13, 2023. Reprinted with permission and gratitude.
By Gretchen Mensink Lovejoy
Is Sheriff Zeb Hanks’ wife a cold-blooded killer, and is this the end?
“Only if I drop dead before I finish the next one. I have plans for probably six or so more books in this series,” remarked Spring Valley native author Mark Reps, speaking of what will—or won’t succeed “Native Deception,” the 13th book in his “Zeb Hanks: Small Town Sheriff, Big Time Trouble” book series that has captivated readers for nearly two decades and continues with “Native Deception” as his most recent contribution, this time placing investigative crosshairs on character Zeb’s wife, Echo Skysong.
He elaborated, “Basically, it’s about Zeb proving his wife, Echo, is not a cold-blooded killer. It has numerous twists and turns that involve local Graham County and San Carlos Apache Reservation characters and places.”
The synopsis of “Native Deception” reads, “Echo Skysong, Hank’s wife…[a] combat knife found with an unidentified dead woman’s body, makes her look profoundly guilty. Darker corners are turned when a world-famous Apache scientist, also an acquaintance of Echo’s, turns up missing. Proving Echo’s innocence is complicated when the National Security Agency (NSA) and Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) enter the picture and seek a scapegoat. Zeb’s team joins forces with ambitious San Carlos Police Chief Cocheta and steps to the very edge of his legal authority in order to find justice. The twists and turns in ‘Native Deception’ will keep the reader on edge to the very end. Readers of the ‘Longmire’ series or any of Tony Hillerman’s works will enjoy ‘Native Deception,’ the 13th book in the ‘Zeb Hanks’ series.”
Spring Valley High School Class of 1969 alum Reps has long balanced his career in chiropractic with writing compelling stories that capture the attention of his readers. He admitted, however, that “Native Deception” didn’t spring from his keyboard quite as quickly as the other 12 novels. “This book took a little longer than the others in the series to write. I’d say about 14 months from start to finish. It took a little longer, as I was working on several other books at the same time. One of them has a Spring Valley theme – it’s called ‘The Lot, 1961.’ The other book I was working on is called ‘Redemption.’ It’s also a mystery, but outside of the Zeb Hanks series. I have two baseball books completed, three other mysteries completed and a book of short stories, as well as one other work of fiction that is almost done.” And, he added, “Every book I have written takes at least six to nine rewrites. This one has some time-sensitive material, so as the story unfolded, so did some real-life events…it takes on a real-life, real-time situation in the world today. That required me to do some rewriting.”
Reps cited how he continued the Zeb Hanks series, sharing that the characters give him direction as to how to put his words together to become their actions. “With each book, all I need is a thread of a crime, and the rest follows naturally. I know these characters pretty well, so I know how they will react in a given situation. That makes writing them a bit easier and lots of fun. They’ve become friends in a manner of speaking. The better I know them, the easier it becomes to tell a story around them and through them.” The author went on, “I love Echo and Zeb, but this time, I concentrated more on expanding the character of former San Carlos Police Chief Rambler Braing, who is now deputy to Zeb Hanks with the hopes of returning to the appointed position of police chief on the reservation. Of course, there is always medicine man Jimmy Song Bird, whom I relate to personally. I like to write character and plotline as well as the twisty turns a mystery can take. I hope to teach the readers about the Apache culture either directly or indirectly, as well. I hope to stir the readers’ interest in the subjects I bring up in the books…as you will see in ‘Native Deception,’ Zeb Hanks’ crew has gone international in a big and important way.”
Challenges in writing for a sleuthing audience exist by the multitude, but thankfully, Reps is experienced at addressing his readers’ literary expectations. “Knowing the readership is a big, big deal. Amazon provides statistics to authors about age group, male and female reader ratios, and all kinds of other data, so I have to think of that stuff when I put in clues, reference time and place, et cetera. The stories are for the audience who reads them, and I do my best to give them what they want. I hope that I get better with each book. If my skills don’t continue to improve, there is really little point in continuing; I hope with each book to catch the reader un[1]aware and teach them something. So far, I’ve gotten great feedback, and people are genuinely liking the book very much.”
He acknowledged that if he could start the Zeb Hanks series over again, he’d have planned its trajectory long before he began typing. “I’d have plotted the stories so they could run in order more easily as well as fully develop each character over the 20 years that the book will span. Knowing the full potential of each character from the onset would have made writing all the novels easier. I would advise any writer of fiction to know their characters from start to finish and to write up their entire background stories before writing the first sentence of the first novel.”
By the time Reps puts the last punctuation on the final page of his final Zeb Hanks novel, he’s certain to have rounded out the traits of each character and cleared Echo Skysong’s reputation for good, but meanwhile, he’s contemplating what to do with the books that he’s written on other topics and how to publish them for readers’ enjoyment.
“I have finished a noir-style mystery with a 1940s feel to it– think Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in the movies from that era. It’s way different in style and language. It was a ton of fun to write, and it feels like a real page-turner. I am seeking out publishing houses for that one as well as the baseball books.”
Reps registered a request with his readers and potential readers of the Zeb Hanks series. “Please read them all from start to finish or from finish to start. They can basically be read in any order. Please go on Amazon and give the book five stars. The more 5-star reviews I get, the more Amazon will do to help the book get noticed by people who are unfamiliar with the book or the series.”
He concluded by stating that his writing career is ongoing and that “I will keep on writing books as long as people want to read them.” For more information on the “Zeb Hanks/Native” series, log onto Reps’ website at www.markreps.com, or find his novels on Amazon.
He concluded by stating that his writing career is ongoing and that “I will keep on writing books as long as people want to read them.” For more information on the “Zeb Hanks/Native” series, log onto Reps’ website at www.markreps.com, or find his novels on Amazon.
Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325
