We are very excited to sit down and talk with Stephen Eoannou. Stephen is the author of “The Nicholas Bishop Mysteries” alongside several other published works.

Thriller Magazine: You’ve written across short fiction, historical fiction, and mystery, from Muscle Cars to Rook, Yesteryear, and After Pearl. How has your understanding of what makes a story truly gripping changed over the course of your career?

It took me a long time to grasp the concept of ‘story’. David Payne was one of my instructors at Queens University of Charlotte’s MFA program, and he finally pounded it into my head. My first book, Muscle Cars, was my master’s thesis. All seventeen of those stories were written and published after taking David’s class. I owe him a lot.

So, what secret sauce did he teach me? Tension, conflict, and forward motion are essential for gripping stories. This was nothing I hadn’t heard before, but, for some reason, it finally clicked at Queens. Now when I write, especially when I edit, I ask if a scene feels boring or flat. If it does, there’s not enough conflict which results in lack of tension which results in readers putting down the damn book. Conflict, tension, and wanting to know how it’s resolved, is what keeps readers turning pages. These elements are needed in all stories but especially in crime fiction and thrillers.

Since Muscle Cars was published, I’ve learned to raise the stakes, compound the tension, and have real consequences if my protagonist fails. After Pearl, for instance, begins with my alcoholic P.I. Nicholas Bishop waking on the floor after a five-day bender. He has no recollection of what he did, but two shots have been fired from his gun and the police want to question him about a missing lounge singer. This is all established within the first five pages. Then the tension steadily rises as Bishop pieces together what he did during his blackout. I don’t think I would’ve been able to construct a novel like that ten years ago.

TM: You grew up in Buffalo reading The Hardy Boys and watching Humphrey Bogart films. How much did those early influences shape your instinct for mystery, atmosphere, and the kinds of stories you wanted to tell?

That’s a good question. I’ve always thought that Bogart and The Hardy Boys marked the beginning of my love for noir and mysteries, but I’ve never considered how they’ve influenced my writing.

The first thing that comes to mind is that both are obviously from earlier eras. Bogart’s movies are from the ‘40s, and I read the revised, updated Hardy Boy books in the 1970’s. Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Frank and Joe Hardy all solved crimes the old-fashioned way—following clues, leads, using powers of observation and reasoning. They tailed suspects, interviewed witnesses, and Spade and Marlowe slapped mugs around if they cracked wise. There was no CCTV footage, databases searches, DNA matching, or tracking cell phones. I’m glad today’s law enforcement has all those tools, but I don’t want to write about them.

It’s much more dramatic and fun to craft a scene where my alcoholic private eye, Nicholas Bishop, is questioning a suspect in a smokey dive bar than having him yell, ‘The CCTV footage is here!’ and everyone gathers around a monitor. Mix in my love of history, especially the 1930s and ‘40s, and you can see where the atmosphere in my novels Yesteryear and After Pearl came from.

TM: After Pearl launched the Nicholas Bishop Mystery Series and earned major recognition after publication. What drew you to creating a series character at this stage in your career, and what does Nicholas Bishop allow you to explore that a standalone novel does not?

After Pearl was never intended to be the first book in a series. I thought it’d be a stand-alone novel like Rook and Yesteryear. Then something funny happened. I showed Pearl to my friends and fellow novelists Carla Damron and Ashley Warlick, and they both asked if it was part of a series. I said no.

When I submitted it to my publisher, SFWP, the director asked the same question because he thought Netflix might be interested if it was. Of course I told him it was Book One!

Looking back, it’s obvious After Pearl was always meant to be a first book. I’d subconsciously left plot strings to be explored—what happened to Bishop’s mentor, Lucky Teddy Thurston? Why did Bishop’s mother abandon him? Did Bishop try to kill himself by stepping in front of that cab? Will Bishop stay sober? Will his indomitable partner, Gia Alessi, stay with him?

These questions and the deepening relationship with Gia will be addressed as The Nicholas Bishop Mysteries grow. It’s great fun building this world set in 1942 and revisiting the crooks, cops, and private eyes who live there. I hope people have as much fun reading these books as I am writing them because I’m having a blast.

TM: Yesteryear earned major recognition, including the International Eyelands Award and the Firebird Book Award. Did that success change your confidence or creative process in any lasting way?

It took me thirty years to get my first book, Muscle Cars, published. That’s a long time to be lost in the desert. There were a lot of rejections and near misses along the way, but I hung in there when there was no reason why I should’ve. A sensible person would’ve quit long ago and taken up bowling or something, but I didn’t.

Winning an award and having my work recognized after such a long, frustrating struggle is a huge confidence boost, especially when it’s an international award like the Eyelands. I don’t think awards or having four traditionally published books has changed my creative process, but it has added to my confidence. I’m a much more confident writer now. If I hit a roadblock or struggle with a plot point, I know I’ll figure it out sooner or later. That kind of faith keeps me going. Bourbon helps, too, as Bishop would say.

TM: With The Falling Woman set for publication on March 16, 2027, what excites you most about this next chapter of your career, and what new challenge are you most eager to take on as a novelist?

It’s funny that you used the phrase ‘next chapter’ because I do see my career in chapters. The first chapter included Muscle Cars, Rook, and Yesteryear. There was a gap between the story collection and those novels getting published. It took me a minute to figure out the longer form. Rook, in terms of writing style and voice, was a continuation of Muscle Cars. I include Yesteryear with them because even though it was written in a wildly different style, I worked on it almost simultaneously with Rook. I alternated editing Rook with writing Yesteryear. They were published a year apart, so I was marketing both at the same time, as well. That was a lot of work. I don’t think I want to do that again.

The Nicholas Bishop Mysteries—After Pearl, The Falling Woman, and The Fifth Rose, my work-in-progress—make up my second chapter. I feel like I’m firmly in the middle of this part of my career. I’m enjoying watching Bishop trying to reclaim his life and remain sober.

So, what’s my next chapter? I’m working on a stand-alone boxing novel with my cousin. It’s a coming-of-age, prodigal son story about two young fighters, their coach, and the Golden Gloves tournament. The war in Afghanistan is the backdrop. And, of course, there’s mob guys involved. We have a draft, an outline, and pages of notes. That novel, I think, represents the beginning of my third chapter. I’ll start working on that in earnest when Bishop stops getting himself mixed up with Nazis, dames, and wartime murders. I’m not sure if that’s happening any time soon. I think Bishop’s going to be busy for a while.