Collin sits down for a question-and-answer session with dru’s book musings so that we can learn more about him. Are you ready? Let’s get to know Collin.

What is your full name?
Collin Ross Flynn.

How old are you?
33.

What is your profession?
Homicide detective for the Metro Nashville Police Department.

Do you have a significant other?
Yes.

What is their name and profession?
I recently married carpenter and house flipper Whitney Whitaker. We’re still in our honeymoon phase, but I suspect things will be just as good when we settle into our marriage. We’re a good match.

Do you have any children?
Not yet, but I hope to someday.

Do you have any siblings?
One brother and one sister.

Are your parents nearby?
Yes, they live here in Nashville.

Who is your best friend?
My wife, Whitney. She understands me better than anyone else ever has.

Do you have cats, dogs, or other pets?
I have two cats, a gray tabby named Copernicus and a tuxedo cat named Galileo.

What town do you live in?
Nashville, Tennessee.

What type of dwelling do you own or rent?
After our recent marriage, I moved into a stone cottage that my wife owned. It was her first attempt to flip a house but, due to a murder on site, she couldn’t sell the house for what it was worth and decided to keep it instead. We now own it together.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
The couch. I like to relax with a cold beer after a long, hard day solving murder cases.

What is your favorite meal and dessert?
I love a good old-fashioned vegetable plate from Nashville’s famous Loveless Café, followed by a big piece of blueberry pie.

Do you have any hobbies?
I’m an amateur astronomer. I’ve always been fascinated by the stars and planets, and looking up at the sky helps take my mind off my cases. My interest in astronomy is why my cats ended up with the names Copernicus and Galileo.

What music do you listen to?
Indie rock and country.

What is your favorite color?
The blue of Whitney’s eyes.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
I love to vacation in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It’s got some tourist traps, but also lots of fun places to listen to live music and it’s right by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is beautiful and serene.

Are you a morning or night person?
I’m both. I work long days when a body has been discovered, so I’ve had to learn to stay awake for long periods of time.

What is your idea of a really fun time?
Stargazing in a dark, secluded place with Whitney and a bottle of wine.

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
“Murders in Music City.”

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
I’m a professional homicide investigator. I often work with my wife Whitney, who can’t seem to flip a house without stumbling across a body. I also sometimes work with Officer Hogarty. She was my training officer years ago and often ends up at my crime scenes.

What is a typical day in your life like?
I get to work early, first checking my email and voicemail for any new information that might have come in overnight, and then following up on any outstanding lab results in my open cases. Then I spend a few hours on field work, which involves interviewing witnesses and suspects and rounding up security camera footage. If I’m lucky, the evidence will clearly point to certain suspect and I’ll make a quick arrest. Unfortunately, not all cases are so easy. If the interviews and video footage don’t give me new leads, I’ll take a second look at the physical evidence that was collected to see if it might inspire some new theories. I often run my ideas by Whitney. She’s sharp and perceptive, and sometimes comes up with a new and different way of looking at the evidence. I’m glad I have her as a sounding board.

Dead Post Society ~ A House-Flipper Mystery, Book 7
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: April 2025
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

The seventh in the House-Flipper mystery series set in Nashville, TN, where the real estate market is to die for.

This year’s honor roll is killer…

Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are no strangers to murder. After all, they’ve encountered corpses on their properties before. But this is the first time they’d decided to take a chance on a property where two suspicious deaths have already occurred. Most buildings on the former boarding school property will be repurposed for an upscale retirement community, but the developer has no use for the headmaster’s house given its violent history. The headmaster and his wife were killed there decades earlier, their deaths remaining unsolved to this day.

Still, it seems a shame to see the beautiful Victorian give way to decay or the wrecking ball, even if many claim the unsettled souls of the victims still wander its halls, seeking retribution and justice. Can Whitney and Buck exorcise the structure’s demons, solve the cold case, and give the building new life? Or will ghosts from the past seek to silence them forever?

About the author
Diane Kelly writes funny mysteries featuring feisty female lead characters and their furry, four-footed sidekicks. Diane is the author of over three dozen novels and novellas, including the Death and Taxes white-collar crime series, the Paw Enforcement K-9 series, the House Flipper mystery series, the Busted female motorcycle cop series, the Southern Homebrew moonshine series, and the Mountain Lodge Mysteries series. When not writing, Diane enjoys volunteering at her county animal shelter, playing with her cats, or hiking with her dogs in the beautiful woods of her home state of North Carolina. Learn more about Diane and her books at DianeKelly.com. Find her at her Author Diane Kelly page on Facebook, or at @DianeKellyBooks on Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok, and YouTube.