Tinisha Nicole Johnson and Searchable Whereabouts

Tinisha N. Johnson is an author, writer and poet. Her newest book, Searchable Whereabouts, a mystery novel, was released Feb 1, 2008. Tinisha resides in Denver, Colorado with her husband and two children. She writes for a local urban magazine called Denver's Finest Underground. Tinisha's passion for writing began at the early age of eleven. It has always been her hobby and pastime and at the age of twenty-one, after her son was born, she took her writing seriously and began pursuing it as a career.

You can learn more about Tinisha at her website: http://www.tinishanicolejohnson.com/




Searchable Whereabouts is the story of woman - Rahkel Williams, who's trying to unravel the mysterious death of her beloved uncle. However, after finding clues into his life, she wonders if he was really the man she knew. She requests the services of private investigator, Darrin Miller and it's not long before things get personal between the two. Soon, strange things begin to happen, including people of interest in the case who turn up murdered. Rahkel doesn't know who to trust, and the truth of who murdered her uncle could either save her or kill her. But at all costs, she must find the truth.

I thought this book sounded fascinating. How often have you discovered that someone isn't who you thought they were? And how often does that lead to you being in danger? But what interested me even beyond that, is that this book was written by an African American woman. Maybe that shouldn't matter, but I can't remember ever picking up a mystery novel by an African American author, so I wondered, am I living in a hole or something? Have I just managed to avoid these authors? So, I needed to ask Tinisha if she faced challenges in getting her book published because of her ethnic background. Here's what she had to say:

Considering there aren’t that many Black mystery authors, I have run across some challenges, but I definitely haven’t allowed that to deter me, not even a little bit, because writing is my true passion.

However, being an African American mystery writer, people really want to know if your book is good enough; you’re critiqued almost just a little bit more. People want to know if there is a real mystery to be told and of course that is understandable. I’ve even received one comment about the book that it wasn’t urban enough; to that I don’t have a comment. But all in all, I try to view the challenges as opportunities -- An opportunity to get my name out there, and my book’s name out there.

I’m the type of person that makes myself think on the positive side rather then letting disappointments get the best of me. So far, regarding my mystery novel, Searchable Whereabouts, I’ve gotten some good reviews, so I am very happy about that.


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