Sheriff Sergeant Tim Lindsay is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Donor 73101, the latest novel in the PIP INC. mystery series.

Welcome, Sheriff Lindsay. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

I’m Sheriff Sergeant Tim Lindsay—hopefully Lieutenant Lindsey by the time you read this—newly married in the fourth book, “Dearly Beloved Departed,” in the PIP Inc. Mysteries series which stars…is that the right word…my wife, Private Investigator Pat. I met her in the first book, “The Glass House,” of this five-part series when she had been downsized from her job as Santa Cruz County Law Librarian and her best friend, Syda Gonzales, gave her a glass-making class as a birthday present/distraction from her situation.

A murder happened at the class and I was part of the team assigned to debrief witnesses. Pat was an excellent witness; I think because her law librarian background has trained her to be detail oriented and notice things others might miss. She’s also a lovely strawberry blonde haired woman with green eyes who is intelligent, caring, funny, daring…okay stop me because I’m as in love with her as Travis Kelce is with Taylor Swift and I could go on and on with superlatives.

After being blindsided and losing her job after she spent all her money on a car as a thirty-fifth birthday present to herself, she had to come up with a means of support. She’s clever and not a conformist so she printed business cards declaring herself Private Investigator Pat and started working for attorneys and government entities. I’m not thrilled that she sometimes takes risks, but she’s independent and I’m smart enough to know that, if I’m going to be in her life, I can’t tell her what to do or what not to do. I admit it helps that I know she’s a markswoman who always has a Magnum 357 in her briefcase.

But about the current book, “Donor 73101.” It all started when we had barely put down our suitcases after getting back from our honeymoon. Our next-door neighbors Robin and Tina asked Pat if she would find Tina’s birth father because they wanted to start a family and wanted to be certain they didn’t accidently use the same man’s sperm Tina’s parents used to have her. I thought this time it was going to be a computer job for Pat—I always hope that’s all her job will be—but I’m batting 0 for 5 so far. Oh, she did find Tina’s sperm donor in “Donor 73101” but then things got messy.

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say too?

I get to play a big role in what happens. Like I said, I met my new wife in the first book, but at the time, she had a huge crush on a slick attorney. I knew the minute I met her that she was the one for me, but convincing her I was the one for her took some effort. The writer originally intended for there to be a love triangle for a couple of books, but I’m a determined man who had a plan so I overruled the writer and got rid of the competition much sooner than she planned. Even so, I think the writer intended Pat’s and my engagement to be a long one, but I said, “No way,” and Pat and I got married after only seven months of knowing one another.

How did you evolve as the main character?

To be clear, I’m not the main character, Pat is, and I don’t know how much evolving I’ve done. I’ve always known who I am and am comfortable in my skin. I was in the military briefly and saw combat and am quickly moving up the ladder in the sheriff’s department so I have a lot of confidence in myself to handle crisis situations. The only thing that has thrown me so far is killing a man during a shootout. I needed some counseling after that. Another of the many reasons I love Pat is that she’s as good in a crisis s I am, which is a good thing because she often has to handle danger herself.

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them?

I mentioned Syda Gonzales, Pat’s best friend. She’s a strong personality in her own right and often is a cohort with Pat in getting info on suspects. She’s married to Greg Gonzales, a fellow deputy sheriff I met at work. We’ve become close. I like it when he’s in the books because we work well together, although I haven’t quite forgiven him—although I understand why his top priority was his wife—for throwing himself on Syda instead of Pat when the shooting stated at our wedding.

Then there are the critters. When I met her, Pat had a Dalmatian named Dot and a cat, Whimsey, Lord Peter Wimsey actually, after the Dorthy Sayers detective. Dot and I hit it off immediately. Wimsey and I are getting there, but he’s still not sure about me because I accidentally stepped on his tail early on in one of the books.

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story?

I’m a happy man. I know the woman I love feels the same way about me as I do about her—you know, she proposed to me in “The Corpse’s Secret Life.” I bought a fixer house, all I could afford in pricey coastal California, but I learned how to build helping my dad as a kid so it’s in good shape now, and I’m wearing a wedding ring which I thought might feel weird because, unlike my wife who loves bling, I don’t wear jewelry. But it doesn’t. It feels perfect.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book?

 I admit I kind of liked it when Pat was jealous of an old girlfriend of mine. It made me realize she was beginning to fall for me. (We don’t need to discuss that I was uncomfortable about her having dinner with that attorney she liked even though I knew it was just business.)

We’re breaking new ground in “Donor 73101” and learning how to work together and separately as our duties and opportunities to solve mysteries merge and diverge. We discovered it’s a good thing Pat remained Pat Pirard rather than adding Lindsey to her name because we can use that disconnect to get information we would never discover if we went after it as an official team. This case was a hard solve because there were so many potential suspects and because it wasn’t clear to anyone except Pat that murders scattered all over the country were connected.

Thank you for answering my questions, Sheriff Lindsay, and good luck to you and your author, Nancy Lynn Jarvis, with Donor 73101, the latest book in the PIP INC. mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Sheriff Lindsay and his author, Nancy Lynn Jarvis by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook and Goodreads pages.

The novel is available at  Amazon

About Nancy Lynn Jarvis: Nancy wore many hats before she started  writing cozy mysteries. After earning a BA in behavioral science from San Jose State University, she worked in the advertising department of the San Jose Mercury News, as a librarian, as the business manager for Shakespeare/Santa Cruz, and as a realtor.

Nancy’s work history reflects her philosophy: people should try something radically different every few years, a philosophy she applies to her writing, as well. She has written seven Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries; five PIP Inc. Mysteries; a stand-alone novel “Mags and the AARP Gang” about a group of octogenarian bank robbers; edited “Cozy Food: 128 Cozy Mystery Writers Share Their Favorite Recipes,” and short story anthologies, “Santa Cruz Weird,” and “Santa Cruz Ghost Stories.”