Now it’s time to learn more about the authors we read. . .
What drew you to the genre you write?
I grew up reading and loving the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, and the Great Brain. This moved to share a love for James Michener and Leon Uris books. These historicals morphed into becoming a history major at Trinity College and then a history teacher at the middle school level. So, I write histories and mysteries. And recently, I have started combining these two loves into historical PI mysteries.
What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?
The name of my PI in my Brooklyn 8 Ballo would have to be near the top of the list. 8 Ballo was the eighth child of Hungarian immigrants in Brooklyn, New York. His mother was so sure that he would be a girl baby to even the scales at four boys and four boys that she had chosen the name Margrit for him. When he arrived as a boy, she was not prepared with a name, dad was out to sea, and so she just put down on the birth record the number 8, for child 8, meaning to change it later but never did.
How did you come up with your pseudonym?
Not really a pseudonym, but I do write my mysteries under Matt Cost and my histories as Matthew Langdon Cost. Same name, different versions.
Tell us how you got into writing?
A history professor in college was so passionate about his subject of Latin American History that I decided to write my first book. The first draft of I Am Cuba about Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution was finished in 1991. A short twenty-nine years later it was my first traditionally published book in 2020. I guess you could call me an overnight success story. And of course, the Hardy Boys….
What jobs have you held before, during and/or after you became a writer?
I owned a video store, a mystery bookstore, and a gym for about ten years before selling them and becoming a social studies teacher for the same length of time before being paroled from that occupation and sent on to the life of a writer. In and around these two careers, I’ve cut brush, landscaped, worked in a bank, painted, worked construction, and sold vacuum cleaners.
How many books do you have published?
I have fifteen published books with Encircle Publications, and the sixteenth, Mainely Mayhem, is due out November. My seventeenth book, The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed, will be published by Level Best Books in April of 2025.
Where do you write?
I write at a desk in my living room for the most part. I wear noise cancelling headphones and listen to jazz music, so any noise of my four dogs or family living life behind me disappears and I become engrossed in my work. This also works if I’m in an airport, doctors waiting room, or just about anywhere.
What is your ideal time to write?
I am most creative in the morning but will also write in the afternoon or evening if able. I try to devote the morning to writing and the rest of the day to all the other hats of a writer. That would be research, editing, marketing, and promotion.
What is your favorite deadline snack?
I’m not much of a snacker but upon completion of a book, I do like to raise a glass of brown liquor.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Mystery with some historical fiction thrown in. This apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
What is something people would be surprised to know about you?
I was voted best-dressed senior in high school.
What is your favorite beverage to end the day?
Scotch, bourbon, or whiskey on a good day but usually water or a cranberry/cherry mix.
Who is an author you admire?
I have recently read a couple Michael Koryta books and he has blown me away and makes me want to be a better author.
Have you any advice for aspiring or beginning writers?
Write. And then? Write on.
What are you reading now?
Night Tremors by Matt Coyle.
What is next for you?
Mainely Mayhem, the sixth book in my Mainely Mysteries is out in November. The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed is out in April of 2025. I am currently writing the second in that series, EveryThing vs Max Creed. And there is a 1955 historical PI mystery set in Raleigh, North Carolina, looking for a home.
Where can we find you?
At my desk, writing. Or on my website at mattcost.net, or on Facebook at MattCost8.
Now to have some fun. . .
Breakfast, lunch, or dinner
Lunch. A good grinder is my idea of a happy afterlife.
Fruits or vegetables
Fruit in the morning and vegetables in the evening.
Chocolate, vanilla, or another flavor
Coffee.
Sweet or salty snacks
Sweet by a nose.
Ice cream or cake
Cake.
Cooking or baking
Cooking.
Dining in or dining out
Dining in.
City life or country living
Country living.
Beach or mountain
Beach but love both.
Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall
Fall.
Extrovert or introvert
Somewhere in the middle?
Early bird or night owl
Early bird.
And even more fun . . .
What’s your favorite movie?
It’s a Wonderful Life.
You are stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?
My wife, a solar powered laptop, and a barrel of wine (only because brown liquor wouldn’t be fair to my wife).
My bio:
Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014 he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries. Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.