Phoenix Real Estate Crash Spawns Reality-Based Paranormal Murder Mystery

PHOENIX, Jan. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- By the summer of 2008 Michael Allan Scott had risen from the mean streets to a successful multi-million dollar commercial real estate career. This busy career was a long way from his low point as a youth—jailed in solitary confinement for felony charges with a busted face.

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Then, on the heels of the Lehman Bros collapse in September 2008, Scott's net worth dropped by $7 million and, at age 58, his career imploded.

Scott's passion for writing fiction fueled a comeback. With a driving interest in reality-based mystery noir, he researched local crimes. He developed the material into plot lines that are both edgy and based on actual facts—like the shooting of a divorced martial arts instructor and his girlfriend in a Phoenix fast food drive-thru.

Within four years Scott converted professional disaster into a new reality-based murder mystery series with a paranormal twist—the first Lance Underphal Mystery, Dark Side of Sunset Pointe.

Lance Underphal is a down and out freelance photographer devastated by his wife's death and plagued by premonitions. The double shooting of an Arizona real estate developer and his mistress/bookkeeper draw Underphal into a world of unexplained phenomena.

Underphal is completely believable as a combo loser/superhero, who accidently unravels the mystery of murder.

Scott has a triple advantage in building paranormal crime scenarios. First, he knows the world of commercial real estate cold, providing a true "real-world" context.

Second, he has spent his life in the Arizona desert and the Phoenix metropolitan area, effortlessly evoking images that place the reader squarely in the local scene.

And finally, Scott has a firm grasp of the paranormal and how those who are no longer present may influence "real-world" events.

" . . . Scott crafts an intriguing hook and a sympathetic protagonist in a world that, while seemingly depraved and dark, is clearly recognizable and believable. A well-built mystery . . ."  – Kirkus Reviews

Likewise, reader reviews of Dark Side of Sunset Pointe have been both impressed and enthusiastic.

The book's trailer gives readers an intriguing glimpse into the world of Dark Side of Sunset Pointe.

The second Lance Underphal mystery, The Flight of the Tarantula Hawk, is also based on a Phoenix real estate market spattered with mysterious murders. It is already garnering readers at www.michaelallanscott.com.

For Scott, the wooden door of business slammed shut, opening wide the iron door of mystery, thriller & suspense fiction, luckily for all those who love a good read.

Contact:

Laurie Jessup, 
Jessup Communications Corporation 
(727) 743-9579

Read more news from Michael Allan Scott.

SOURCE Michael Allan Scott